Enrichment Classes at FTCNS

Families Together offers afternoon enrichment classes for current FTCNS students, alumni (ages 5-6), and the broader community. Topics for FTCNS’s Enrichment Classes include: Science (STEM), Visual Arts, Nature, and Performing Arts. Current and former FTCNS staff and outside content experts will teach fall, winter and spring sessions of a changing selection of classes. Sliding scale tuition is available for current and alumni students.

For more information, contact Kate Brenner at businessmanager@ftcns.org.

Fall 2025

FTCNS Play Club: A Special Alumni Experience
  • Tuesdays, 4 to 5 p.m., for 4 weeks from September 9 to October 7 (no Play Club on 9/23)
  • Open to FTCNS alumni entering Kindergarten in Fall 2025, ages 5 to 6.

FTCNS Play Club is a special short-term experience designed to provide support, connection, and fun for FTCNS alumni entering Kindergarten in the fall. Each Play Club session will offer open-ended classroom play options such as playdough, blocks, and pretending.

Club participants will have a chance to connect with FTCNS friends and revisit some of their favorite play activities with teacher Kirsten Ruckdeschel and director Ann Gadzikowski. Play Club seeks to reassure children that FTCNS friendships and open-ended play are still important, even as they make the transition to Kindergarten.

$60 is the price for the 4 week session of FTCNS Play Club.

Register here: FTCNS Play Club Application – Fall 2025.

Music Engineering: Building and Playing Musical Instruments
  • Thursdays, 4 to 5 p.m., for 6 weeks from October 16 to November 20
  • Open to current and alumni FTCNS students as well as the broader community, ages 4 to 6.
  • 10 spots available.

What is music? What is sound? How are musical instruments made? These are just a few of the questions we’ll explore in our Music Engineering class. Children will engage in both the art and science of making and playing musical instruments with director Ann Gadzikowski and teacher and professional musician, Carey Farrell.

We’ll demonstrate instruments and experiment with making percussion sounds and rhythms as well as wind, string, and electronic music. Children will be encouraged to collaborate, compose, and make music together using their own inventions. Due to a change in the local elementary school schedule, this class has been shortened to one hour in length. NOTE: Children who took Music Engineering in the past are welcome to enroll again – activities will vary every time!

Register here: Music Engineering Application – Fall 2025.

 

Story Studio: Creative Play Activities
  • Tuesdays, 3:30 to 5 p.m., for 6 weeks from October 14 to November 18
  • Open to current and alumni FTCNS students as well as the broader community, ages 3 1/2 (by 9/1/25) to 6.
  • 10 spots available.

Art, movement, puppets, and pretending are just a few of the creative play activities offered in Story Studio. We’ll base our play on folk or fairy tales drawn from a variety of traditions and cultures. Using many different methods and media, children will be invited to represent the story, setting, and characters. For example, children might enjoy a reading of the tale “The Three Billy Goats Gruff” followed by opportunities to act out the plot using puppets or costumes, build “troll bridges” out of blocks or cardboard, and draw maps or pictures that show different scenes and locations in the story. Taught by director Ann Gadzikowski and alumni teacher Molly Roudebush.

Register here: Story Studio Application – Fall 2025.