Apple Blossom Nursery School

Apple Blossom Nursery School offers a beautiful and peaceful home setting in southeast Portland, Oregon. We balance our program with activities that support your growing child’s gross & fine motor development, with plenty of time to explore their ever-expanding world. Here at Apple Blossom Nursery School, your child is surrounded with environmentally stimulating and enriching activities balanced with nutritional foods and a sense of community.

(Apple Blossom Summer camp info below)

ABNS is inspired by Waldorf education and specializes in working with children 3 to 5 years of age. Carrie Riley, director, founder & lead teacher of Apple Blossom Nursery School, is a state- and Waldorf- certified teacher with over twenty years experience in child care and 15 years as a lead teacher. She is also state registered. Apple Blossom is an ECO certified school. All teachers take yearly continuing education courses to keep up to date on child development knowledge. We far exceed the state mandated 15 hours per year. Our average is over 50 hours each!

All teachers have completed their child CPR & first aide, and a criminal history background check.

Apple Blossom offers year-round school including aftercare Monday thru Friday. We observe the same break schedule as Portland public schools; this includes holidays and inclement weather days.

Apple Blossom Nursery School observes seasonal festivals, building a close-knit community with new friends & neighbors. We have annual potlucks, zoo and farm trips and other activities to enjoy with the other members of our school community. There
are also parent enrichment evenings. We talk about child development, the school & up coming events. The school offers toy-making workshops for the parents as well.

During the school year we offer delicious homemade organic & vegetarian meals with a
focus on nutrition. As the children arrive for school they are welcomed with warm herbal tea & a light breakfast of warm cereal & fruit.

Some activities the children might enjoy are puppet & finger plays, circle time and sand/water play. We have age appropriate puzzles and manipulatives to explore. Each week we offer enriching activities like baking, play dough; water coloring, world crafts and more. We surround children with all natural handcrafted wooden toys to boost their imagination.

We have pet bunnies and two adorable cats & are building a chicken coop so we can raise chickens & collect their eggs. The children just love their pets at school and they get to help with the feeding & care of the animals if they wish.

There is also the option of summer camp! It is so much fun & the children enjoy eating their wonderful meals outside. During the summer term, time is spent outside and we offer activities like gardening, painting, weaving, papermaking, coloring, and whatever else Mother Nature inspires us to do. At ABNS we sing every day & live in the natural rhythms of each season.

We are state certified. Childcare options in Oregon include exempt family, registered family, certified family, or center care. There are over 5200 child care homes in Oregon. Of that number just 225 are certified homes. There are about 1020 centers. Certified homes are regulated like centers and have many of the same requirements. Every certified home goes through an annual certification process, unannounced visits and is inspected by the childcare division and the county health department. The certifier also observes the staff working with children. Staff in certified homes must have at least one full year of previous childcare experience or college training in early childhood education, child development, or in a related field. We are also required to take at least 15 hours of continuing education each year. Our staff takes well over that each year. Last year we took over 195 combined hours of continuing education (4 teachers).
When making your choice, know that going with a certified & licensed home, you are making a best choice there is! It’s a lot of work, but I feel worth it for you & your child’s well being.

Waldorf education is about teaching your child to learn through imitation & action. We recognize each childs unique spirit & strive to be worthy of their imitation.

We invite you to come see the school and experience the magic!

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Apple Blossom Summer Camp Is for children ages 2.5 up to age 8, so a nice mixed age group! We also have a summer cook now, so no more packing lunches!
June 15^th-Aug. 15^th 2009

We are in the process of building a chicken coop so there will be baby chicks to care for along with our 2 bunnies & 2 cats & one dog.

Summer Camp will be full of fun theme weeks.

Butterfly weeks (2 week block) (hatch them, Watch butterflies; make them, songs, crafts, acting)

Lady bug week (release them into our garden, make them, paint a rock to look like one, ladybug bracelets)

Tree Week (Look to see how many different trees in our neighborhood, make one out of collected branches, take a real one home to plant, be a tree, puppet show on things that live in trees)

Water Week     (Make a pond, float a boat we make in it, play in it, see what floats, what sinks, freeze it , water colors)

Flower Week (collect them, press them, make flower paper, flower head wreaths)

Animal week (Share a pic of your pet, animal puppet shows, fun animal songs, crafts)

Native American Week (Native Story tellers, crafts, songs & dances)

Camp is $65 a day for full day ($50 for half day) & all supply fees & food are included!

    Come play with us!

Carrie Riley owner/director
3438 SE Main St.
Portland, Or 97214 971-404-9291