Nature-Based Public 4K at The Ridges Sanctuary

Learn more about Gibraltar School District’s three 4K programs Jan. 25

The Gibraltar Area School Board unanimously approved the addition of a public 4K classroom at The Ridges Sanctuary for the 2024-2025 school year on Dec. 11, expanding Gibraltar’s offerings for free, public 4K and presenting an opportunity for the community to participate in a unique program of outdoor, nature-based learning. 

The Ridges’ Dragonfly Nature Preschool 4K Program joins the already-established Community Collaboration Gibraltar 4K sites at Gibraltar Elementary and the Northern Door Children’s Center. 

Dragonfly Nature Preschool is designed to provide a high-quality early childhood experience that meets young children’s developmental needs while initiating them into a life-long, meaningful relationship with the natural world. The curriculum is nature-based, play-based and child-centered.

The child-development goals are the same at The Ridges as at Gibraltar Elementary and Northern Door Children’s Center, and the Ridges 4K site will achieve these goals through nature-based experiences. The curriculum will align with the National Association of the Education of Young Children and Wisconsin Models of Early Learning Standards as well as feature best practices in Environmental Education (as outlined by North American Association of Environmental Education, Natural Start Alliance).  

“We find nature to be very hands-on, real, sensory-rich, and therefore perfect for inspiring young children’s engagement and play,” said Environmental Educator, Sheryl Honig from The Ridges Sanctuary. “This kind of play supports collaboration, language development, natural knowledge, balance and strength, problem-solving, creativity, risk-taking and resiliency, independence, and contentment. We are outside in almost all weather for the vast majority of every morning. We play outside, we hike outside, we have circle time outside, we eat snacks outside, we do art outside.”

Families interested in learning more about Gibraltar School’s 4K Community Collaboration should plan to attend an informational meeting at the Northern Door Children’s Center, 10520 Judith Blazer Dr., Sister Bay, on Thursday, Jan. 25 at 5 pm. Representatives from all 4K sites will be there to present program information, answer questions and provide enrollment information. 

Any child who will be four years old by Sept. 1, 2024, and who lives in the Gibraltar Area School District is eligible to enroll. There will be a limited number of spots available for open enrollment for interested families who live outside of the district. 4K enrollment will begin on Feb. 1, 2024.