Welcome to Bridge School Beginners!
Addison County’s only preschool program attached to
an independent elementary school!

Our Phone Number: (802) 388-3498

Bridge School Beginners is a high-quality, full-day, year-round preschool program for children ages three to five years. Our preschool program runs from 8am-3:30 pm twelve months of the year with an aftercare option until 4:30.

We have one preschool classroom with a maximum of fifteen students with three teachers. We ensure low child to teacher ratios for the best individualized learning experience. 

Mission Statement

Bridge School Beginner’s mission is to provide a warm, welcoming, and safe space for children and teachers alike to be true to themselves, take risks, propose questions, and learn about the world around them side by side. Bridge School Beginners believe that young children learn best when they feel emotionally supported and have ownership of their learning. Bridge School Beginners mission is to support each child’s individuality by curating a curriculum based on emerging interests. Bridge School Beginners program embraces the beauty of having diversity that is inclusive of all human beings recognizing the importance of building a community of unique individuals. 

Our goals and values for our program are to celebrate and support unique individuality within a cohesive community built on close interpersonal relationships. The Bridge School and the Bridge School preschool are considered a “laboratory in freedom and responsibility for both children and adults.” As a result our curriculum is focused on social and emotional learning to help children feel confident to develop a love for themselves, a love for others, and a love for their surrounding natural environment. We are play-based and nature-based with an emergent curriculum. The teachers as protagonists act as companions on a learning journey alongside the children. We provide a great deal of time in nature that will propel the children’s  creativity, curiosity, questioning, and exploration within the natural world that gives light to all other aspects of learning. 

If you are interested in Bridge’s preschool, please contact our Beginners Director, Lindsay Hard; lindsay@bridgeschoolvermont.org 

Enrollment

If you are interested in enrolling your child as a “Beginner,” either imminently or in the future, please fill out the below Google form and fill out the Preschool Application to put your child’s name on our waiting list and fill out our application. You may also email our Beginners Director, Lindsay Hard, lindsay@bridgeschoolvermont.org, to set up a tour.

We also seek to have a balanced classroom, so we may take into consideration ages and genders of children on the waiting list.  

Click here to fill out the waitlist form

Bridge Beginners Preschool Application

We are committed to providing educational opportunities that meet the needs of our local families. 

Philosophy

Bridge School’s preschool is child-centered and play-based, and follows social constructivist educational theory. Our emphasis is on the natural world, the community around us, and respectful interactions with each other. Bridge Beginners is rated 4 out of 5 STARS, and is qualified for Universal Pre-K funding.

You may read our family handbook, access our calendar by clicking the following links:

Beginners Family Handbook 2024-2025 – updated 8/5/24

Bridge Preschool 2024-2025 Calendar

Daily Schedule

8:00-8:45 am Arrival and Morning Responsibilities 
Weather permitting we have morning drop off outside. Children arrive, put their things away, and wash hands with the adult dropping them off for the day. Children can then join the teachers and classmates playing outside in our play yard to get fresh air at the start of their day.  In the winter months there will be table activities and play choices offered inside the classroom. 

9:00-9:30 am Snack
Clean up and get ready for snack. During this time, there are lots of conversations about the day, children’s favorite things to do and how to negotiate social interactions. 

9:30-10:30 am Curriculum Opportunities & Provocations and Free Play

While children finish up snack at their own pace, after they are cleaned up they can make a play choice in the classroom. Teachers will begin to offer curriculum activities for small groups as some children participate in free play. 

10:30-11am Morning Meeting
Morning Meeting is a time to come together as a community, and start our day intentionally together. This is a time to check in on how children’s days are going, and to introduce any activities or ideas for the day. At morning meeting we sing silly songs, play fun games, and come together to support forming a cohesive community together. 

11-12pm Explorations and Outside Time
Weather permitting we head outside to enjoy our play yard and expansive natural space in the fields behind our school. We enjoy the mowed paths through the grass, pine forest, willow forest, and the hills. Much of our emergent curriculum is nature based and provocations are offered outdoors as well. During this time of day we focus on our curriculum activities and small group explorations whether inside or outside the classroom. 

12:00-12:30 Lunch

12:30 -1:00 Quiet Choices
Children may choose books, puzzles, or art. Books can be with a friend, on their own, or during a story time read aloud with a teacher. 

1:00-1:45 Beginners Rest Time 
All Beginners rest in the classroom. Children who do not sleep may read quietly on their mats and will be offered quiet choices after a short rest period. 

2:15-3:00 Afternoon Choice
Weather permitting the children have another chance to enjoy outside time. During the colder months we offer various activities or even participate in gross motor play in the gym. 

3:00-3:30 Whole Group Free Play

During pick up all children in both groups will be combined either to play outside or in the gym for gross motor play in the final part of their day. 

3:30 Dismissal 
Children get picked up or after care begins.

3:30-4pm Afternoon Snack

Aftercare students eat snack.

4pm-4:30 Afternoon Free Play

Children participate in calming activities or outdoor exploration. Children have the opportunity to help teachers with end of the day tasks. 

Weekly Options & Tuition

Weekly Options & Tuition

We offer both a two, three, four, and five-day program, and an aftercare option until 4:30pm starting again for fall 2023. The preschool program runs from 8:00am-3:30 pm everyday, all-year. We follow the Bridge School calendar for in-service days and holidays.  

2024-2025 Monthly Rates:

Aftercare: 306.67 a month for 5 days, 245.34 a month for 4 days, 184 a month for 3 days 

Pre-K Funding: Children who turn 3 by September 1, 2024 are eligible for pre-K funding if they live in a district that has agreed to partner with us. If children qualify for the Universal Pre-K funding, this is deducted from the tuition cost for 35 weeks of the year. For the 2024-2025 school year, this is $110.97 per week. VT Act 166 Information and Public PreK (vtpublicprek.info)

Bridge Beginners also accepts subsidy for those who qualify. For more information on subsidy or to apply, visit the following website:

Child Care Cost, Middlebury, Vermont VT – Mary Johnson Children’s Center (mjccvt.org)

Teachers 

Lindsay S. Hard- Beginners Preschool Director and Lead Teacher 

Hi, my name is Lindsay Hard and I am very excited to begin the year
as the Lead Teacher and Site Director of the Beginner’s Preschool
Program. I have been working in the Early Education field for over ten
years in a variety of preschool settings in both Rutland and Addison
County. Throughout my preschool experiences I have served in different
roles including Lead Teacher and Site Director.
I attended four years at the College of St. Joseph, majoring in
Elementary and Special Education. I have also received my Associate’s
Degree in Early Education from CCV. I then went on to pursue my
Bachelor’s Degree in Human Services with a concentration in Early
Education from Springfield College. I currently hold my Professional
Educator License in Early Childhood Education, Birth- PK.
In my spare time I enjoy reading and spending time with my friends
and family. I also enjoy swimming, walks, and traveling to explore new
places. One of my favorite spots I like to travel to is Maine. This is my third
year here at the Bridge School and I’m looking forward to a fun filled year of
learning!
I feel it’s very important for children to have a fun, safe, and nurturing
environment filled with kindness as they explore, play, and learn each day!

Natali Sullivan, Teaching Assistant

Hello! My name is Natali Sullivan and I am looking forward to my second year at Bridge School as I step into my new role as a full-time teaching assistant! I grew up in Addison County and attended Wheaton College (MA) for two years before returning home to pursue my passion for childcare. I spent a total of three years as a nanny and a year and a half subbing at local childcare centers, including Bridge School, before accepting my position in the Bridge Beginner’s Preschool. Outside of school, I enjoy spending lots of time with my friends and family, skiing, long walks and hikes, babysitting, beach days, helping out in the Middlebury and Vergennes UCC church nurseries, reading, and going to my favorite coffee shops. I am so excited to get to know more members of the Bridge community and to help cultivate a warm, safe, fun, welcoming, and nurturing environment for our preschoolers to learn and grow in this school year!

Wendy Grunthal- Teaching Assistant 

Hi! My name is Wendy Grunthal and I am very excited to teach in the Beginner’s Bridge School starting in the 2024-25 school year. I come to The Bridge School with several years of teaching experience. From 2003-2011, I taught elementary school classes ranging from first grade to fifth grade. When my first son was born in 2012, I opened an in-home childcare in my home at the time in Boulder, Colorado. I ran the in-home childcare which both of my sons attended for over ten years. During that time, we took walks to the local park, creek and library. We explored the natural settings around us, read books together, sang songs and explored and talked about the world around us. I loved this time with my children and their friends! I realized that my true passion is in early childhood education. I love the little ones! I look forward to getting to know the children at the Bridge School. I look forward to reading to them, singing with them and guiding them indoors and outdoors in a respectful and positive way.