The Nest at Evergreen Country Day School's Mission

The Nest, Evergreen Country Day School's Early Childhood Program, is committed to cultivating character and inspiring the imagination of the child through limitless learning in a safe and loving environment. We recognize the importance of learning through play and facilitate both child-directed activities as well as teacher-directed instruction. To enhance opportunities to problem solve and collaborate, we emphasize process-oriented learning, promote freedom to take risks, and challenge our children to discover and learn. 

The Nest at Evergreen Country Day School is for our students who are 18 months to 5 years old. Students may begin when they are 18 months old in our Nursery class. When the children are three years old and potty-trained, they begin our Preschool program. From there, they continue on to PreKindergarten. See class descriptions, below.

Our Program Options Include:

Morning Exploring (8:30 am - 11:30 am)

Our Mornings at The Nest are filled with active learning. The children are presented with a wide variety of developmentally appropriate materials and experiences. We encourage each child to expand their development both individually and as a member of a group.

Within our curriculum, each month has a fun and engaging theme. Students develop their skills in phonics/pre-reading, pre-writing, math and science all based upon the themes for the month Creativity is encouraged through many hands-on projects. We understand the value of learning through play!

Morning Special Classes

Our morning specials classes include Spanish, art, libary and music. All students participate in these classes along with their regular classroom time. Students are sure to enjoy a book in our comfortable Nest library, complete with an interactive Smart Table!

Lunch Bunch Add-On (8:30 am - 12:30 pm)

Select the option of adding Lunch Bunch to your morning program. Either bring your lunch from home, or preorder a delicious, nutritious hot lunch.

Full-Day Adventures with Afternoon Enrichment (8:30 am - 3:00 pm)

Follow naptime, our students soar into our Afternoon Enrichment Program. Exciting class options are available each trimester. Some of these exciting classes have included: Little Chefs, Kids Yoga, Fledglings Nature Study, Math Magic and Music and Movement.

The Early Riser and All-Day Explorations (7:00 am - 6:00 pm)

This all day program is a combination of all of our Nest options. It includes our Morning Exploring with classroom circle time, activities and lessons, specials classes of Spanish, art, music and library, Lunch Bunch and Afternoon Enrichment. It also includes an early-day/late-day program where students continue to engage in exciting learning activities and further develop social skills.

Field Trips

Our students leave The Nest for fun-filled field trip. We explore and learn from the world around us.

Beyond the Nest

The experiences provided for your children while at The Nest set the foundation for future learning in our Evergreen Country Day School elementary and middle school programs.

Our Nest students are paired with their ECDS elementary and middle school "study buddies" to read and share other learning opportunities.

Our Nest students alos join the elementary and middle school classes for the all-school Town Meetings. Early Childhood students take the stage to share songs and poems, laying the foundation for future public speaking.

In addition, our Nest students participate in many cultural and special events offered to the entire school. 

Our Classes in The Nest

Nursery: 

In the two year old to toddler classes, social skills are being introduced. At this young age, the students are learning to play and talk together, share and explore their environment during open center time. Through play, the children are exposed to colors, letters, sounds, and shapes. Language, math, and science skills are also being introduced through counting, patterning, and matching.

Pre-School:

In the three to four year old program, the monthly units cover colors, friends, school rules, shapes, holidays, seasons, nursery rhymes and planting among other things. The objectives of the Preschool program are to teach children appropriate behaviors during both structured and unstructured class time. Development of fine and gross motor skills is an important of the Preschool program. We also incorporate math, language skills, and science into our daily activities of art, cooking and dramatic play. Alphafriends helps incorporate phonetic awareness. The children start to write and recognize their name as well as the names of their classmates. They learn to make their own choices and decisions, to cooperate with others, and to listen in a group.

Pre-K:

In the four to five year old class, we construct knowledge in a creative hands-on environment by working on cognitive, physical and emotional skills. Building with blocks, drawing with markers, playing with water and sand, journaling, patterning, learning to recognize and write letters, days of the week, and months of the year, make for a fun day of learning. We encourage the children to be independent and take responsibility for their own things and actions, facilitating interactions between the children. Show and share, poems and finger play helps to enrich and expand vocabulary skills.

Visit these links to learn more about our programs in art, music, language (spanish), and library, specifically for early learners. 

click on links below to view curriculum maps:

www.ecdschool.org/uploads/files/file/Preschool%20Curriculum%20Map.pdf

www.ecdschool.org/uploads/files/file/PreK%20Curriculum%20Map.pdf

www.ecdschool.org/uploads/files/file/Nursery%20Curriculum%20Map.pdf