Park West Cooperative Nursery School

“Where children and their ideas are taken seriously.” Park West Cooperative is a Piaget, play-based nursery school located in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago, IL since 1971. Park West offers a nurturing and stimulating nursery school program. Through self-discovery and positive interactions, Park West children gain self-confidence and form friendships. Our relaxed, though structured, format of free-play intermingled with non-competitive group activities allows our children to explore their environment and learn more about themselves and the world around them. As a cooperative, parents enjoy an active involvement in the school’s daily activities and administration. Park West’s mission is to provide a place where children and their ideas are taken seriously, where every child is respected as a growing individual who experiences each developmental stage in his or her own way. We aim to achieve this by: -Providing a play-based curriculum influenced by the work of Jean Piaget, Lev Vygotsky, John Dewey, and the Reggio-Emilia approach -Encouraging children to learn by actively constructing knowledge through play and mutually respectful relationships with their teachers and peers -Creating an emotionally secure environment in which children can work, play, experiment and explore, both alone and with their peers -Facilitating hands-on experiences and small group activities that allow children to learn about numbers, literacy, arts and science in a context that is meaningful and appropriate for young children Find out more at https://www.parkwestcoop.org