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Channon Richardson

University Nursery School

CEO & Head Director

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Thank you for your interest in our program! University Nursery School is a network of three nursery school sites throughout the city of Duluth. We are a nonprofit organization, open to all children ages 6 weeks to 6 years of age. Our centers have been providing quality Early Childhood education and care since 1972.  All of our centers are open Monday - Friday year-round. At our schools, we believe that a quality early childhood experience is fundamental to school readiness. We feel our program has the ability to profoundly affect the children in our care, and thus, the community in which they live. Our schools provide a balanced program of learning experiences designed to foster the cognitive, motor, as well as social, emotional, and aesthetic development of the preschool child. Our school environments are structured to stimulate the child’s curiosity and encourage self-directed learning. Children alternate between independently exploring a planned environment and teacher led group instruction. Age and developmental level will determine placement in groups. The daily program includes outdoor play, art and music experiences, as well as opportunities to develop pre-academic skills in math, science, and language. Because we believe that learning for the young child takes place where there is direct interaction with the environment, our curriculum will be based on experiences that emphasize functional learning at the child’s age of development. We strive to structure an environment that provides natural opportunities for language development, manipulation of materials, sensing of meanings and relationships, developing work habits, and obtaining social maturity.

PROGram

Philosophy

University Nursery School provides a balanced program of learning experiences designed to foster the cognitive, motor, as well as social, emotional and aesthetic development of the preschool aged child.

 

The school environment is structured to stimulate the child’s curiosity and encourage self-directed learning.  Children alternate between independently exploring a planned environment and teacher led group instruction. Age and developmental level determine group placements. The children have the same teacher for small group time, language arts, and music and movement. The daily program includes outdoor play, art and music experiences, and opportunities to develop pre-academic skills in math, science, and language.

 

At University Nursery School we strive to provide an atmosphere, which is conducive to a sense of emotional security and self worth.

 

We believe the child needs such an atmosphere in order to develop new skills and abilities, which produce feelings of self-confidence and enhance self-esteem.  All children are encouraged to try any new experience for which they seem ready.

We believe that learning, for young children takes place where there is direct interaction with the environment.  Our curriculum will be based on experiences that emphasize functional learning at the child’s stage of development.

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We plan to structure an environment that provides natural opportunities for language development, manipulation of materials, sensing of meaning and relationships, developing work habits, and obtaining social maturity.

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Our program will be sensitive to the individual needs of the child.  The physical and emotional environment will be conducive to the needs of children at differing stages of cognitive and social-emotional development.  The materials that are provided and the plans that are made will be appropriate to each child’s developmental level.

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We feel that there will be few difficulties in achieving our goal of providing appropriate learning experiences for the individual child.  The experiences that young children have today are the foundation for future learning and living. By allowing the young child to observe, experiment, and draw conclusions, we are setting these foundations.  We believe that in a nurturing and caring emotional environment, such learning can take place

structure

curriculum

University Nursery Schools, Inc. is made up of three individual  early childhood centers.  The day to day operation of each center is expertly managed by our on-site directors. 

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The directors meet weekly with each other along with our CEO and business manager to share information and new ideas, as well as workshop any problems or trouble spots.  These weekly meetings also serve our goal of consistency and cohesiveness throughout all the centers. 

 

Our CEO reports to the board of directors on the state of the program each month.  The Board of Directors, made up of program parents and community members, works diligently to help us continue to improve our program and meet and exceed the needs of our families.

University Nursery School strives to provide a child-initiated environment where children can learn by doing and by challenging themselves and others to become members of society.  We provide a play-based environment that promotes individual challenges, developmentally appropriate activities, and support from adults to learn individual skills.

 

All three of our locations have recently started using Creative Curriculum to guide teachings and subject matter within the classrooms.  Curriculum plans are to be based on the age, developmental level, and the individual children in your group.

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Teacher's create weekly lesson plans that are available for parents via the Brightwheel app.  Teachers use a wide array of fine motor, gross motor, and cognitive activities to challenge the children.   All activities are presented in a secure environment where the children feel safe and welcome to ask questions, experiment, make mistakes and to learn from them. 

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Group times start with a welcoming time, during which the small group can learn to recognize and get to know their peers.  Following welcoming time  teacher-initiated learning experiences incorporating literacy, gross and fine motor movement, science, music and social learning  will be presented and practiced. Parents will receive both weekly lesson plans and monthly news letters from their child's teacher.

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