Kindergarten

Kindergarten {{Audio|De-kindergarten.ogg|listen}} (German for garden for children) is a name used in many parts of the world for the first stages of a child's classroom education. In some parts kindergarten is part of the formal school system; in others it may refer to pre-school or daycare.

History

Friedrich Wilhelm August Fröbel officially opened the first Kindergarten in 1840 to mark the four hundredth anniversary of the invention of movable type by Gutenberg. It was founded at Bad Blankenburg, in the small principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, Germany, where Fröbel had opened a Play and Activity Institute in 1837.

Related Topics:
Friedrich Wilhelm August Fröbel - 1840 - Gutenberg - Bad Blankenburg - Principality - Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt - Germany - 1837

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The first kindergarten in the United States was founded in Columbus, Ohio by Louisa Frankenberg, a student of Fröbel who came to the city in 1838. Another early kindergarten was established in 1856 by Margarethe (Margaretta) Meyer Schurz (wife of activist/statesman Carl Schurz), in Watertown, Dodge County, Wisconsin. It was run as a public institution beginning in 1873.

Related Topics:
United States - Columbus, Ohio - 1838 - Carl Schurz - Watertown, Dodge County, Wisconsin

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