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Our Facility
Welcome to our beautiful new space...
We've moved to 820 Ontario Street in Oak Park, Illinois, in the spacious building owned by First Baptist Church of Oak Park. (See map, driving directions and parking info. below)
Our gorgeous new location is a historic place for education, one we share with an existing preschool/kindergarten that is almost a century old. Our move is a chance to start a new chapter in our own 20-year history: one full of promise, joy, the love of learning, community-building, and growth.
We've completed Phase One of remodeling our new space, and plan to build out additional classrooms on the 2nd floor to complete our full vision in 2025. We are so grateful for our community's financial support, as well as the many experts and hard-working volunteers who made it possible to renovate our new school location for our own unique needs.
Here are some scenes captured in our new school home from our first 3 weeks:
Our Classrooms Are Designed to Invite Curiosity and Make it Fun to Learn
We design our classrooms so that students can move freely about, working and playing as independently as possible at their developmental level.
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In a typical classroom you will see: work areas of tables and chairs rather than individual desks to foster collaboration and cooperation; a rug or other meeting area where the entire class can come together for discussions, stories, and planning sessions; a play area with blocks, games, and puzzles; and a cozy reading area where children can snuggle up with a book, enjoy independent study, or have a quiet conversation.
Rarely will you see commercially-produced posters or decorations on the walls; instead you will see artifacts of the children’s current learning projects.
Our classrooms are purposefully designed so that they can be easily rearranged to accommodate a large project. At any given point in the year, you may walk into a classroom and find it reconfigured as the International Space Station, or an American town during the Great Depression, or a tropical rainforest. We want the curriculum to live and breathe in our classrooms rather than being constrained by furniture.
Our School Facilities Over the Years
Our school was founded in Oak Park by Daniel P. Ryan, Ed.D., where in 2004 we had 13 students in grades K-1 in a two-room space. We moved to St. Mary of Celle campus in Berwyn in 2006, where our school grew and we added a middle school in 2014. In 2018, we returned to Oak Park, and stayed in the former St. Edmund's parish school building until Fall of 2023. Now, we are located in the historic First Baptist Church of Oak Park building at 820 Ontario Street, in Oak Park, Illinois. The building is beautiful and spacious, and designed by the renowned architect E. E. Roberts in 1927. Learn more about our history, or enjoy a video describing our early days at TCS.
Campus Map and Parking Information
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Our mailing address is: 820 S. Oak Park Ave., Oak Park, IL 60302; phone: 708.484.8033. Use the maps below to find our school building and entrance on campus. Our door is the westernmost door that faces Ontario Street. Parking can be tricky, so please read all signs. We have included a Parking Guide below to help.
Need Parking or Drop Off Info?
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Here are a viewable and dowloadable/printable pdfs that you can keep in your car. Click below:
Driving Directions to TCS from Chicago:
TCS is located 10 miles east of downtown Chicago in Oak Park, IL. Exit I-290 Eisenhower Expressway at Austin Avenue. Turn right and continue north on Austin to Lake Street. Turn left (west) onto Lake and continue to Oak Park Avenue. At Oak Park Avenue, turn right (north) and continue to Ontario. We are in the First Baptist Church of Oak Park building on the corner of Oak Park Avenue and Ontario. Turn left onto Ontario. Our entrance door is the westernmost door that faces south on Ontario.
From the Western Suburbs:
Exit I-290 Eisenhower Expressway at Harlem Avenue. Turn left and continue north to Madison Street. Turn right (east) onto Madison and continue to Oak Park Avenue. At Oak Park Avenue, turn left (north) and continue to Ontario. We are in the First Baptist Church of Oak Park building on the corner of Oak Park Avenue and Ontario. Turn left onto Ontario. Our entrance door is the westernmost door that faces south on Ontario..
By Public Transit:
Take the CTA Green Line elevated train to the Oak Park Avenue stop and exit toward Oak Park Avenue. Exit the station and walk north on Oak Park Avenue two blocks. The Children's School is on the northwest corner of Oak Park Avenue and Ontario. Enter through the furthest west door that faces Ontario.
