Welcome to the 2½ – 3-Year-Old Class

Our 2½ to 3-year-old class is for our youngest children, who are cared for in a nurturing environment with a ratio of two teachers to twelve children. A primary focus is spending at least 50 minutes outdoors each morning and afternoon in our private outdoor classroom.

Outdoor Exploration

In this unique outdoor space, children enjoy an oasis filled with native plants, trees, a sandbox, a mud kitchen, a gazebo, and other natural features. They interact with changing weather, observe insects, birds, and animals, and watch the world from the ground up to the sky. At times, they pay attention to the sounds and sights of Main Street through the fence and wooded buffer. 

Enriching Activities

The class also enjoys walks around the library gardens and adventures in the park behind the school, where sledding hills and tree enclosures provide natural spaces for discovery. Here, children collect acorns, sticks, leaves, and rocks—perfect loose parts for imaginative engineering projects and creative play. On particularly cold days, when the temperature drops below 20 degrees, or when a change of pace is needed, the children play inside in our spacious gym. 

Curriculum and Daily Routine

Teachers guide daily activities, which feature high-quality children’s literature, complex art projects made with sustainable materials, music, science, and mathematics.  For snacks, the school provides fruits, vegetables, and crackers in both the morning and afternoon. 

Flexible Scheduling

Families have the option to choose either full-day or half-day schedules, with lunch scheduled from 12:00–12:30 PM. 

Enrollment Details

Potty training is not required to begin this class.  

Monthly Tuition Rates 2026 – 2027:

3 days per week
8:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.: $600   |    8:30 a.m. – 2:45 p.m.: $978   |   8:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.: $1,188

4 days per week
8:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.: $800   |    8:30 a.m. – 2:45 p.m.: $1,304   |   8:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.: $1,584

5 days per week
8:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.: $920   |    8:30 a.m. – 2:45 p.m.: $1,487   |   8:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.: $1,802

Before Care (7:30 – 8:30 a.m.): 

Monthly fee for 1 day per week: $64 
Monthly fee for 5 days per week.: $288 

After Care (4:00 – 5:00 p.m.): 

Monthly fee for 1 day per week: $64 
Monthly fee for 5 days per week: $288 

Typical Class A Schedule

8:30 a.m.: Classroom Activities
(Floor play, dramatic play, water table, art)

9:30 a.m.: Small bathroom/Diaper changes/Handwashing

10:00 a.m.: Snack

10:20 a.m.: Fingerplays/Poems/Story/Science Discussion

10:35 a.m.: Small Bathroom/Diaper changes/Gear on for Outside

10:50 a.m.: Outdoor Play in Sideyard or Field

11:40 a.m.: Small bathroom/Diaper changes/Handwashing

12:00 p.m.: Lunch

12:30 p.m.: Dismissal of half day children/Begin Naptime

2:15 p.m.: Nap wake up/ Small Bathroom/Diaper change/Handwashing

2:30 – 3:00 p.m.: Snack/Gear on for outside

3:00 p.m.: Sideyard

4:00 p.m.: Dismissal/Aftercare begins

Nature-based Learning:

In the 3-and 4-year-old classes, children play and explore outdoors for at least 50 minutes each morning and afternoon.  Teachers take the children to either the park behind the school or to our private, outdoor classroom. These natural settings provide direct interaction with plants, animals, and various weather conditions, encouraging children to know their world from ground to sky. 

The outdoor classroom is a green oasis of trees and gardens filled with native plants and vegetables.  There, children play in a sandbox, mud kitchen, gazebo, or use ride-on toys, art and science tools, and more.

At the park, children encounter streams, puddles, and hills that are perfect for activities such as rolling or sledding. Open fields invite running, while trees offer enclosures for climbing, building, or dramatic play. Nature offers an infinite amount of "loose parts," such as acorns, sticks, leaves, and rocks, for creative engineering or imaginative play props.

When temperatures drop below 20 degrees or a change of setting is needed, classes move indoors to the school’s gymnasium.

Classroom Activities and Curriculum

Inside the classroom, teachers present high-quality children's literature, science activities, multi-step art projects, music, dramatic play, and mathematics through hands-on experiences.  Teachers organize these diverse learning activities according to the children’s felt sense of nature’s four seasons, their family holidays, and the week-to-week emergent interests of a class.  Overall, activities are designed to foster child-led, authentic learning in a nurturing environment. 

Healthy Snacks

Snack time consists of fruits, vegetables and healthy crackers provided by the school in the morning and in the afternoon.

Class Size and Structure

Class Size: The classroom for three-year-olds includes two lead teachers, one assistant, and 14–15 children each day. The four-year-old group consists of one teacher and eight children. Two small groups of 4-year-olds join together for outdoor or gym activities. 

Scheduling Options

Families can choose between full-day or half-day schedules, both of which include lunchtime from 12:00 to 12:30 p.m. 

Monthly Tuition Rates 2026 – 2027:

3 days per week
8:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.: $576   |    8:30 a.m. – 2:45 p.m.: $954   |   8:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.: $1,164

4 days per week
8:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.: $768  |    8:30 a.m. – 2:45 p.m.: $1,272   |   8:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.: $1,552

5 days per week
8:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.: $884   |    8:30 a.m. – 2:45 p.m.: $1,451   |   8:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.: $1,766

Before Care (7:30 – 8:30 a.m.): 

Monthly fee for 1 day per week: $64 
Monthly fee for 5 days per week.: $288 

After Care (4:00 – 5:00 p.m.): 

Monthly fee for 1 day per week: $64 
Monthly fee for 5 days per week: $288 

Typical Schedule

8:30 a.m.: Arrival and Morning Meeting

8:45 a.m.: Gear On

9:00 a.m.: Outdoor Play and Science in Sideyard or Field

9:45 a.m.: Gear Off and Bathroom/Handwashing

10:15 a.m.: Snack

10:30 a.m.: Storytime/Art/Music/Science Discussion/Free play

11:30 a.m.: Cleanup/Bathroom/Handwashing

12:00 p.m.: Lunch

12:30 p.m.: Dismissal/Rest Time Begins

1:00 p.m.: Free Play

1:45 p.m.: Gear On

2:00 p.m.: Outdoor Play and Science in Sideyard

2:45 p.m.: Dismissal or Extended Care

3:00 p.m.: Gear Off/Bathroom/Handwashing

3:20 p.m.: Snack

3:30 p.m.: Free Play

4:00 p.m.: Dismissal/Aftercare Begins

The Rising Five class is designed for our oldest four-year-olds and young five-year-old children, providing a unique opportunity for growth within a small, supportive environment at an age when children begin to discover exciting abstract concepts.

Curriculum Approach

Children thrive through hands-on, playful exploration outdoors, which leads to deep collaborative investigations indoors using non-fiction field guides, experiments, applied math and extended art projects. Daily reading of high-quality children’s fiction enriches classroom inquiry related to seasonal themes, social events, and personal interests. The teacher also incorporates music each day.  Applied math and pre-reading skills are introduced organically in an unpressured way.

Learning Environment

By maintaining a small group of 8, our program encourages personal interactions and relationships. The Rising 5s teacher can ensure that each child feels comfortable and confident as they explore and discuss ideas.  There is a strong emphasis on developing social-emotional skills and a sense of respect for people and the environment.

Building Connections and Confidence

Children are encouraged to make meaningful connections across subject areas, creating an integrated view of the world that helps them develop a strong desire for future learning.  Children preserve their curiosity and develop lasting confidence in their ability to examine evidence and think critically.

Field Trips and Community Connection

Walking field trips to downtown Chatham, the Passaic River, and Kelly’s Pond are essential components of the curriculum. These outings allow children to collect, classify, and assess data, while strengthening observation skills, sense of direction, and understanding of Chatham’s history. Each trip serves as inspiration for follow up investigations and creative classroom projects. 

Healthy Snacks

Snack time consists of fruits, vegetables and healthy crackers provided by the school in the morning. 

Full Days, 5 days per week, 8:30 - 2:45

Monthly Tuition Rates 2026 – 2027:
8:30 a.m. – 2:45 p.m.: $1,422 
8:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.: $1,737

Before Care (7:30 – 8:30 a.m.): 

Monthly fee for 1 day per week: $64 
Monthly fee for 5 days per week.: $288 

After Care (4:00 – 5:00 p.m.): 

Monthly fee for 1 day per week: $64 
Monthly fee for 5 days per week: $288 

Kindergarten with an Emphasis on Learning Through Nature and Play

Sprout House kindergarten features a small class size of 8 children, which means individualized attention on academics and more time for nature, play, art, and music. 

Hours are from 8:30 – 2:45, with an option for before care and after care.

During outdoor play and exploration, our students develop their physical strength and imagination. They enjoy hands-on experiences of snow, rain, wind, clouds, mud, soil, and more. Our kindergartners also become curious observers of the vertebrates, invertebrates, and plants they encounter in our environment. 

Science: Guided lessons take inspiration from first-hand experience with ever-changing natural phenomena (e.g., weather, animal behavior, or gravity at work). Sprout House kindergarteners develop proficiency in locating, utilizing, and extending information about the natural world they encounter during play. Science concepts are reinforced in the classroom through experiments, art and a wide variety of fiction and non-fiction texts for the curious mind.

Social-Emotional Skills: Ample time for play is crucial to nurturing social-emotional skills--negotiating with peers, engaging in meaningful relationships, developing empathy and independence, and working creatively in a group. 

Language Arts Program:

1. Wilson Fundations: Letter sounds are presented in a systematic and sequential manner and integrated with reading and writing skills development.

2. Heggerty Phonemic Awareness: Daily phonemic awareness lessons that complement Fundations.

3. Shared Reading to teach reading comprehension, story elements and oral and written narration skills.

4. Children keep a Daily Writing Journal. 

Math: We use Math and You textbooks from Big Ideas Learning. Our math program emphasizes problem solving skills using both traditional math workbooks and mathematical manipulatives that let children experience numerical concepts in a tangible way. Math also enters our children’s play outside, such as the seriation of daily changes in bud growth, rates of puddle evaporation, shapes of ground contours or numbers of acorns in their pocket.

Art & Music tie into the seasons, holidays and lesson content each day. Art Projects are multi-step with real art tools and no disposable plastics. Teachers sing and play music that is varied, with a broad range of musical styles and accompanying movement.

Monthly Tuition Rates 2026 – 2027:
8:30 a.m. – 2:45 p.m.: $1,375
8:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.: $1,690

Before Care (7:30 – 8:30 a.m.): 

Monthly fee for 1 day per week: $64 
Monthly fee for 5 days per week.: $288 

After Care (4:00 – 5:00 p.m.): 

Monthly fee for 1 day per week: $64 
Monthly fee for 5 days per week: $288 

We offer a relaxed summer program for children ages 3 to 7 to play with friends and develop their individual interests and talents. All children are presented with a wide range of relaxing nature activities, games, crafts, arts, projects and free choice. Summer lead teachers are members of our year-round staff, and continue to include literature, music and nature-based science in many forms.  

Typical Camp Schedule:

9 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.: Outdoor play, including water sprinkler, sandbox, teacher-guided art and science.

10:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.: Snack, indoor play, music, art, dramatic play, literature and more.

12:00 p.m. - 12:30 p.m.: Lunch

12:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.: Small groups for 1 hour at Memorial Pool with plenty of supervision, and indoor snack, rest times, music, stories, art, free play.