Hours of Operation

Our programs run from 7:30am to 5:30pm. We offer a 9 or 12 month schedule.

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School Schedule

We close for federal holidays and the period between the Christmas and New Year holidays. We also close one week at the end of each summer to prepare for the upcoming school year. The third Wednesday every month we close at 4:00 for faculty training and meetings.

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Program Offerings

We offer 2, 3, and 5 day programs for children 2 to 5 years, half, full or extended day. Our half day schedule is 8:30am to 1:00pm. We offer a wide range of cross curricular activities including; working in our atelier (art studio), creative movement, yoga games and various team sports are offered on-campus during the day.

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Nutritious Snacks

We serve 2 snacks per day of organic locally raised foods. We will also eat what we grow in our community garden.

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Environmentally Aware

We will be mindful of our resources and responsibilities to the Earth. We will try to keep our paper consumption low, we will recycle and re-use whenever possible and we will use people and Earth friendly cleaning products.

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Outdoors

We are an outdoors program. We go outside every day. Most of our instruction is based upon what is happening in the natural world. We will spend a good deal of time engaged with Mother Nature (2 to 6 hours most seasons of the year) and we will get dirty! We have a 40+ acre campus with a children’s community garden, fields, streams, hiking trails, and for older children, access to an outdoor pool in summer.

 

We have a combination of both fenced play areas and open space. During the school day the children can experience the joys of planting and harvesting in the garden, running through the fields, observing wildlife and exploring the streams. They can climb on the boulders, trees and playground, create endlessly in the sand, snuggle up in the shade of our “tree-ish” house with a great story or art materials.

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Class Size

Small. We have no more than 10 children in any one class. The average is 3 to 5 children per teacher during the day.

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Teachers

Our experienced staff meet and exceed all Maryland State requirements and are mindful practitioners of their vocation. Each year they participate in both in-service training and additional educational opportunities to meet and exceed all MSDE continuing education requirements.

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Technology + Computers

We are following the position statement made by NAEYC (National Association for the Education of Young Children) which says computers may have "positive effect" on children's learning but in no way replace highly valued early childhood activities and materials. For us this means the children will have very occasional opportunities to use search engines to support inquiry but they will not take the place of developmentally appropriate materials.

 

The children will have varied and ample opportunities to express themselves and practice skills using a large variety of artistic and explorative expression. This means we will be making messes for creative purposes, playing, often outdoors with actual objects and writing using actual writing implements.

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Inclement Weather

We do not follow Baltimore County Public Schools' schedule exactly. We use it as a guide when deciding on the best course of action for delays/closing. When schedule changes occur, families will receive text and email by 6:00a.m. Updates will also be posted on FB.

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Tuition

We offer several programs to meet the needs of families. You can see our Program options here and download Tuition information here. Please call us at 410.329.9867 or click to schedule a tour and discuss the program that fits your family's needs best.

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Location

We are located in the middle of Hunt Valley on the gated campus of the iconic Beaver Dam Swim Club pond. To find us turn onto Lakefront Drive off of Beaver Dam Road. Follow into office complex and make the left turn onto our gravel lane. You will see our rustic building on the right.

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Land

We absolutely love our location, and our deep connections to the land. At the same time, land use is a complicated topic. It is with this in mind that we proudly share The Nature Preschool of Baltimore Land Acknowledgment Statement:

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It is in the spirit of gratitude in which we would like to honor all of the ancestral stewards of this land on which we spend our days. The Susquehannock, and other groups who have seemingly vanished since the arrival of colonialism, were the people who originally maintained symbiotic relationships with this region of what is now called Baltimore County, Maryland. We acknowledge our ancestors arrived as, and we remain as uninvited guests.

 

We as members of the Nature Preschool community will try to tread softly and respect the land and waters and their histories through policies, daily practice, and education. We do this in hopes that we may contribute to the restoration of a mindset of conservation and a balanced, nurturing relationship with this place we now inhabit.

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For more information please visit:MSAC's Land Acknowledgements or Native.ca.