Elisha Georgiou is the Founder and Executive Director of Willow Nest Studio, which has been growing in community with Brooklyn families since 2015.
Willow Nest began as a dream after graduating from Teachers College Columbia with a Masters of Education. The path to opening her own school was years in the making. Originally from Napa, California, Elisha has been a first grade classroom teacher, a k-6 language arts specialist teacher, and then a teaching artist in schools all over New York City.
She has lived with her husband and raised two children in Brooklyn since 1999. Becoming a mother further grew her resolve to create a program for children that would be exciting and creative and that would build community and holistically nurture the development of all the children in her care.
Our approach
Our mission is to guide and support children’s early development so that they may grow stronger into the confident, expressive and thoughtful human beings they are meant to be.
Our curriculum centers on interdisciplinary arts. We try to integrate visual arts, music, creative movement, dramatic story play, puppetry, light and shadow theater, nature and science exploration, sensory play, adventures in group planning and social skill development.
Our philosophy is child-centered, holistic and inquiry based. We believe that children thrive when given permission to explore sensory rich materials, to direct their own learning, and to share their thoughts and feelings. Guided play, provided by caring, interested and listening adults, lies at the heart of our practice. We know that every child is unique and filled with potential and therefore we focus our attention on children's strengths. Our teachers are fun and dedicated to making the learning experience a positive one for every child.
We are influenced by the Reggio-Emilia approach, the play theories of Lev Vygotsky and many other leaders in the importance of play and the multi-modal arts in early-childhood development. These approaches aim to help children develop a sense of self and the executive functioning skills fundamental to becoming life-long learners.
At Willow Nest Studio, children develop their potentials and skills needed for school readiness in a holistic way. It is our goal to serve the whole being of each child so that they may be helped to grow their potentials as innovative thinkers and caring citizens of the world.
OUR CURRICULUM
We provide a safe, nurturing and beautiful space where children can thrive and support children’s early learning and growth through creative experience, exploratory inquiry and documentation.
We aim to nurture young children's innate interests, curiosities and capacities by listening to them and co-creating experiences with them. Our methods utilize the environment, documentation, story play, materials exploration, art, poetry, music, and dance to develop a truly child-centered, developmentally appropriate, emergent curriculum.
The Parent Handbook
The Parent Handbook outlines the policies and practices of Story Tree and must be read by all who intend to enroll.