Nursery

The Nursery Program at Notre Dame harmoniously blends faith, fun, discovery and learning! Young children learn most meaningfully through play, interacting with their environment, their peers and the adults in their life. At Notre Dame School, teachers and parents work as a team to nourish the social/emotional, physical, cognitive and spiritual growth of the children. Through play, our program encourages curiosity, discovery, “hands-on” experiences and intentional weekly learning themes.

The content areas of ELA, math, science, social studies and faith formation are all incorporated into our program. The children study colors, shapes, letters and numbers. In the Fall, we have fun learning about apples, pumpkins and colorful Autumn leaves. In the Winter, the children explore the frozen worlds of snow, ice and Arctic animals. In the Spring, we study the green world of growing things and creeping, crawling insects.

Nursery children enjoy three special content areas: Gym, Music and French. We go outside often to play in the playground made especially for the Nursery children. On cold or rainy days, we play in our indoor playroom.

As the children take their first steps on their spiritual journey, we learn about our Heavenly Father’s great love for us. The children learn to pray! We pray in the morning, before meals and for any of our friends who need our help. Our Catholic faith and traditions are incorporated in all aspects of our school life. The children learn about the Holy Family and Catholic holidays. We participate in Adoration services and visit our beautiful church.

Nursery children love to celebrate! Our special celebrations include a Halloween party and parade, Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations that include families, Valentine’s and St. Patrick’s Day parties and a Mother’s Day Celebration with our beloved Mothers. Our Blessed Mother is also honored at this Celebration.

St. Joseph holds a special place in our classroom! We celebrate his feast day in March. Fr. McCartney celebrates with us and blesses a very special table that we create and fill with bread, oranges and St. Joseph plaques handmade by the children. At the end of the year, our Step Up Ceremony celebrates our accomplishments and growth as we look forward to Pre-K!