St. Elisabeth’s Nursery School has traditionally offered a mixed age-group classroom setting. Within such a setting, younger children and older children have the unique opportunity to learn from one another during the school day. The children are encouraged to recognize and respect differences in abilities and personalities. As such, the majority of the daily classroom acitivities involve all of the children in a large group. However, a short period of time during each school day is devoted to grouping the children according to age to participate in activities specifically tailored to them. To assist the children (and their parents!) in making the distinction between the two age-groups, the nursery school affectionately refers to the group of three-year-old children as the “Caterpillars” and the group of four-year-old children as the “Butterflies.” It is a wonderful experience to see the Caterpillars learn from and admire the Butterflies and the Butterflies care for and take the Caterpillars under their wings as the school year progresses.