Mud, Sticks and Rocks: Nature Is The Focus At New Ansonia Preschool

Jacqueline Lema looks out the windows of the Ansonia Nature Center’s Redwing Pond House, and envisions the future playground for the new nature-based pre-school there.

It will be 7,100 square feet of fenced-in nature — including trees, rocks and mud. 

It’s an enclosed safe place for kids to be outside in nature, dragging logs around and stacking up rocks and playing in the woods,” Lema said. 

If that’s the kind of pre-school experience you envision for your 3- to 5‑year-old, give Lema a call.

Lema and the Friends of the Ansonia Nature Center are currently signing up children for their new nature-based pre-school, which is scheduled to open in January. It’s only the fourth such program in the state, Lema said. 

The pre-school will focus on nature, the outdoors and exploration.

The board’s, and my hope is to really awaken the curiosity for our environment and nature to the kids and their families,” Lema said.

While the fenced-in nature” playground hasn’t been created yet, the school is otherwise ready to launch. 

It will be housed in the Redwing Pond House, a solar powered building on the 150-acre grounds of the Ansonia Nature Center. 

The building has everything you’d expect to see in a pre-school: building blocks and books, painting easels and sandboxes. 

PHOTO: Jodie MozdzerBut it also has a greenhouse for growing food and large aquarium-like tanks for investigating pond water and creatures.

Then there’s the outdoors — the real focus of the program. The pre-schoolers will have access to the Ansonia Nature Center’s grounds, trails and animals. 

Lema envisions most of the learning will take place outside. 

The students will each have a garden plot in the outdoor garden. They can walk along trails to the Nature Center building. And they can just explore nature. 

Lessons will take off on what the students take interest in, Lema said. 

So if students are focused on a salamander they found outside, Lema plans to incorporate that creature into future lessons. 

We can incorporate art, literacy, letters, numbers,” Lema said. We can count the legs, spell the word salamander.” 

The Details

Lema, 43, of Milford, was hired to be the school’s director. She has taught at the pre-school level for 19 years at two schools in New Haven. Lema also has a background in photography. 

PHOTO: Jodie MozdzerShe hired two teachers to staff the program. 

The school will enroll 16 students for each session, Lema said. For the first couple of months, January through June, they will have only one session. 

But next year, starting in September, Lema expects to have a morning and an afternoon session available. 

There are three different price levels for the pre-school. 

  • Two days a week — $250 a month
  • Three days a week — $360 a month
  • Five days a week — $610 a month

Children ages 3 to 5 will be eligible to enroll. 

Lema said the Friends of the Ansonia Nature Center want to provide financial assistance for up to eight Ansonia students who want to enroll in the program, to make sure that students from the city have a chance to attend the school. 

Click here to visit the pre-school’s website for more information. 

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