Nursery school
The Harriet Johnson Nursery School opened in 1918 at the Bureau's new quarters in a series of houses on West 12th and West 13th Street. The staff included teachers, psychologists and researchers who worked to discover the environments in which children grew and learned to their full potential. The staff observed how children learned, and they began documenting the learning process in order to determine the environments and educational practices best suited to foster the growth and development of children. Their findings contributed to a fundamental reform in the way children were taught. Graduates from Johnson's Nursery school went to Caroline Pratt's City and Country School. The nursery school also educated teachers and others on how to create these environments. Children at Johnson's Nursery school were given opportunities to draw, paint and model in clay. These were unusual forms of expression in schools at this time. A child's education was recognized as something other than prescribed curriculum. The children here and at Caroline Pratt's City and Country School, under the support of the Bureau, had all of New York City as their classroom. They were able to ride ferries, visit zoos and look at bridges.