Amalgamated Nursery School

The Amalgamated Nursery School is a community parent cooperative school that focuses on encouraging children to be creative, confident, and curious through interactive activities in the classroom, such as dramatic play, cooking and block building.

The well-regarded program is recommended by Kym Vanderbilt of Lehman College and the NY Early Childhood Professional Development Institute, who has visited the program.

The Amalgamated Nursery School allows the involvement of families in projects and inside the classroom. The preschoolers take local field trips and learn from neighborhood experts. A newsletter on the website mentions a trip to the Little Red Lighthouse and a scavenger hunt for geese, seagulls and boats. Science is a key feature including hatching chicks in the classroom. The photo, from the Amalgamated Facebook page, shows a homemade dragon kids made for the celebration of Chinese New Year.

The Executive Board, a group of elected parents, organizes events throughout the year, such as potluck dinners, weekend pancake breakfasts, and quilting sessions, according to the website.

All teachers have a master's degree in early childhood education.

There are optional extended hours.

ADMISSIONS: Preference to low-income families (Katie Radvany, web reports, August 2016)