Lauriston Thrush Avery, MS Ed, was the founder in 1988 and has been the Director of the NAEYC Accredited Five Mile River Nursery School in Norwalk, CT since 1997. The Five Mile River Nursery School earned distinction of being the first in Connecticut, and one of the first 17 in the nation to achieve NAEYC Accreditation under the new Standards.
She is a member of the Norwalk Early Childhood Council serving on their Professional Development Programs and Transition to Kindergarten Sub-Committees. She holds a Connecticut Director's Credential at the Masters Level and is part of the Connecticut Consultants Network. She has been an ELLCO (Early Language and Literacy Classroom Observation) and STERS (Science Teaching Environment Rating Scale) trained observer for EDC (Education Development Corporation), and a STARS (Striving to Achieve Literacy Success) literacy mentor for early childhood professional students taking the Literacy Environment Enrichment Program (LEEP).
Lauriston Avery
She has also led a variety of CDA Modules, workshops on the Connecticut Preschool Curriculum and Assessment Framework, and led Director's Roundtable Discussions for Early Childhood Education and Training Institute in Danbury, CT. She is deeply passionate about the whole development of young children.
Lauriston's favorite children's books include "A Child's Garden of Verses", "Lost Bear", "Mr. Bear's Chair", "Bear Shadow", "Goodnight Moon" and "The Piggy in the Puddle". Her favorite Quote is "The curriculum is so much necessary raw material, but warmth is the vital element for the growing plant and for the soul of the child." - Carl Jung
Lauriston's favorite book, the Brothers Karamozov, is quoted in our enrollment literature and it captures her understanding of the impact that kindness, beauty and happy memories has on a person's life:
"...there's nothing higher, stronger, more wholesome and more useful in life than some good memory when it goes back to the days of your childhood....You are told a lot about your education, but some beautiful sacred memory, preserved since childhood, is perhaps the best education of all. If a man carries many such memories into life with him, he is saved for the rest of his days. and even if only one good memory is left in our hearts, it may also be the instrument of our salvation one day."
The first five years of life are the most important years for brain growth and development. In order to best support children and their families, I believe people in the Early Childhood profession must be committed to providing the highest quality care and education possible. It has become my mission in life to help our community understand the importance of the early years.