Apple Blossom Nursery School

Specialties

Apple Blossom is truly a mixed age program offering care for your little one as young as 3 months old up to kindergarten age.

We are a media free space with only Mother Nature as our greatest source of inspiration and your child’s natural curiosity. Your child will be surrounded by natural beauty, gentle hands, warm hearts and soothing daily rhythm. We will sing, play, and explore each day.

The surroundings are soothing with natural toys like, silks, wooden toys, felted animals, and home made toys. We will bake, clean, garden and play our day away!

Our staff to child ratio is ⁴⁄₁.

We are «ECO» certified and have an excellent and professional staff.

We have 3 different groups of children depending on their age & ability. There is a good mix of age appropriate activities within your child’s group & time to interact with all the age groups.

Through the inspiration of Steiner’s research in child development and current research on brain development and the importance of bonding, we recognize that this model of care supports the healthy development of the child.

The younger ones learn basic self-​care and social skills from observing the older children and the older ones learn basic nurturing skills by observing the caregivers tend to the little ones. Another benefit of having mixed ages is that the ratio of children to care providers enables more of a family feeling. The caregiver/​teacher is able to meet the special needs of each age group.

History

Established in 2004.

Apple Blossom Nursery School (ABNS) offers a beautiful and peaceful home setting in southeast Portland, Oregon. The reason for a home setting was simple. In all my years of teaching, we teachers would always strive to make our classrooms more warm, inviting & home like.

This has been proven to meet a young child’s need of comfort, safety & warmth that cannot be met in a building, no matter how home like we tried to make our classroom. With this in mind, I sought out the most beautiful, warm & central location in SE Portland that I could find. And I believe I found it! Many families walk, bike or take public transport here as their commitment to the environment is very close to ours. A low impact on our neighborhood, school & community.

I believe we have to start with the very young child to make a great impression on them about our world & our impact. We teach about recycling, reusing, reducing, composting, gardening & animal tending as part of our daily curriculum.

Meet the Business Owner

Carrie R.

Business Owner

Carrie Riley, director, founder and lead teacher of Apple Blossom Nursery School, is a state — and Waldorf — certified teacher with special studies in early childhood development. She has over 25 years experience in child care and 15 years as a lead teacher. She is also state registered and a WECAN certified care provider.

Carrie’s previous experience includes starting 4 Waldorf inspired schools and programs. Carrie has studied the 11 Intelligences theory, the Reggieo Amelia, and is comfortable continuing her studies in childhood education that encourages the natural gentle rhythms of child development.

Carrie is the proud mother of three grown children and 5 grandchildren.

Carrie has been asked to contribute at conferences as a speaker over the last couple of years and has enjoyed this newest challenge & has met it with enthusiasm and joy. She has also helped host a few early childhood conferences in Portland Or.