“I cannot imagine our lives without St. Mark’s. It is so much more than a preschool. It is immersion in a community of trust and support, with a bottomless well of love and respect for all children.”
Our Mission
We believe that children learn best through play and meaningful relationships with peers and loving adults. Our environment allows children to experience and develop a deep love of learning. The tools for healthy social interactions are modeled, taught and applied. We foster a sense of wonder with opportunities for discovery and experimentation. We value and accept each child’s developmental stage and unique style. We provide a supportive network for families to build a bridge between home and school.
St. Mark’s is a place where:
Children begin to develop a lifelong love of learning
Children PLAY
Children are empowered
Children learn through experience and discovery
Children’s early literacy is valued and encouraged
Children learn to trust and are trusted
Children’s natural creativity and curiosity are fostered
Children and adults become a peaceful community of learning, sharing their joy and wonder
Our History
In 1969, a small group of parents from St. Mark’s United Methodist Church joined together to begin our part-time nursery school program. Starting with one classroom of three-year-olds, a play-based curriculum was designed to foster the physical, emotional, social and cognitive development of young children. The following year, the program expanded to include four year olds. From our inception, required parent participation has elevated our program and created a valuable opportunity for families to experience our classrooms first hand. In celebration of our 10th anniversary, our program expanded to include community outreach events such as “Young at Art” that continues today. We received our initial accreditation by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) in 1990. We have maintained our accreditation since then, and we take pride in receiving special commendations in the area of teacher-child relationships. In 2000, a building renovation allowed new programming opportunities for both infants and toddlers. Nine years later, we added our long-awaited and cherished kindergarten program.
We celebrated our 50th year anniversary in 2019 not knowing that the following year would bring the Covid 19 pandemic, requiring immeasurable resolve and adaptability. Finding our way through the next couple of years was both a challenge and an opportunity to grow stronger. Our community’s creativity, passion and resilience during this time served to reignite and reinforce our school’s mission.
As our school continues to grow, administration and teachers look forward to providing a rich experience for families including unique music and literacy experiences, creative opportunities for children to take risks and get messy during play, free parent classes and greater community events for families. Our staff has a renewed commitment to humility, flexibility and partnership as we learn alongside families. We are grounded in our school’s mission to provide an empowering, play based, child led experience for young children that is rooted in loving relationships, and to helping create community for young families. We cherish our history while embracing the children of our future with an understanding that some things never change—the need for companionship, love, safety and acceptance.
Curriculum
At St. Mark’s Nursery School and Kindergarten, we follow an emergent curriculum which means that the curriculum is guided by the interests and needs of the children and can change from minute to minute. Teachers prepare the indoor and outdoor classrooms with activities and materials that prioritize play, considering each child’s different learning style and focusing on the whole child. This intentionally curated environment complements our relationship based approach to foster growth and exploration in the areas of social-emotional, physical, cognitive, and language development.
Within these environments children have opportunities to create art, build, take risks, sing, explore books and literacy, socialize, move, be alone, pretend, observe, experiment, and wonder. When the children's interests don’t follow what has been prepared, teachers are flexible and make the necessary changes for the children. We honor wherever a child is at developmentally, and follow their lead as they grow and change throughout the year.
Parenting Support and Education
Becoming a parent and the first years of a child’s life are significant periods of transition and growth, inviting self discovery, challenges, and beautiful surprises. At St. Mark’s Nursery School and Kindergarten we prioritize supporting everyone in our community, including parents.
A curated parent resource library in the school office contains books on a range of topics from general development to specialized topics such as supporting sibling relationships and coping with pregnancy loss. Our teachers, education coordinator and director routinely share insight through newsletters and classroom updates that include helpful articles and resources such as podcasts. Our community wide events are intentionally infused with meaningful strategies and modeling to support the parent/child relationship and the parenting journey. We carefully listen to parents’ feedback through surveys and conversations.
Parenting support and education classes are offered throughout the year. Classes provide helpful information for all stages of child development, as well as a space for parents to learn from each other at different phases of their parenting journeys. Parents are given the opportunity to sign up for classes after the school year begins.
“St. Mark’s has made me a better parent! I have learned so much from volunteering alongside such skilled teachers and have benefitted from the knowledge they share in the free parenting classes.”