Schlitz Audubon Nature Center Preschool
The Schlitz Audubon Nature Center provides award-winning environmentally-themed education for over 35,000 children per year through its Nature Preschool and related on-site programs for elementary and secondary schools. Situated on 185 wooded acres along the shores of Lake Michigan, this TKWA-designed facility is the only nature preschool in Wisconsin, and one of a small but growing number of nature-oriented preschools in the United States. The SANC Nature Preschool teaches mixed classes of three-, four-, and five-year olds using both classroom supervision and both structured and unstructured play in specially designed indoor-outdoor playscapes.
LOCATION
Bayside, WI
SCALE
39,000 sf
STATUS
Completed 2003
The SANC Nature Preschool has a strong commitment to both environmental education and active learning. Based upon seasonal changes, the broad-based curriculum includes art, music, perceptual and cognitive skill development, large and small motor skill development, natural science exploration, and, most importantly, daily outdoor discovery of the Center’s prairie, forests, ponds and marshes. The natural world is used as both theme and material in the education of the whole child.
In addition to the Nature Preschool the Schlitz Audubon Nature Center provides a wide range of nature-based programming for elementary, middle, and high school students. All content for these classes is organized to reflect the Wisconsin Model Academic Standards. As with the Nature Preschool, programs for older children have the goal of helping each child develop the ability to work independently and cooperatively, and to act in a caring and responsible way towards their environment, themselves and others.
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