Throughout the day in the Nursery School, children develop thinking skills by exploring, experimenting, and questioning. Both planned and spontaneous activities serve as stimuli for learning. Integrated within these activities are opportunities to expand logical thinking, acquire factual information, process increasingly complex directions, and build foundational skills in important disciplines.

As children explore the outdoor and indoor learning environments at St. Patrick's, they try new physical skills. Nursery and PK students spend an hour playing outdoors each day. The skipping, running, jumping, hopping, pedaling, climbing, lifting, and balancing provide natural opportunities to refine gross-motor skills.

Meanwhile, in small-group physical education classes and twice-weekly music classes children develop locomotor skills, body-control, rhythm, and ball-handling skills. Finally, classroom activities help students practice fine-motor skills through sand and water play, painting, drawing, usings scissors, clay and other manipulative and modeling materials.

Nursery School students learn to express their emotions and resolve conflict appropriately. Morning meetings provide experience in turn-taking and sharing and opportunities to express opinions and feelings.

Teachers encourage students to take risks, make mistakes, and persist.