Fantasy Island Schools for Kids gives five- and six-year-olds from Edgebrook, Sauganash, and the rest of Chicago’s Northwest Side a full-day kindergarten that gets them ready for first grade, gifted programs, and American schools.
Edgebrook sits in the far northwest corner of Chicago, in the Forest Glen community area. Its center is the stretch of Devon Avenue around the Edgebrook Metra station, with the Old Edgebrook landmark district, Edgebrook Golf Course, and the Caldwell Woods forest preserve close by.
When your child turns five, the questions change. You weigh your CPS options through GoCPS, think about gifted and selective programs, and look for a kindergarten day long enough to cover a downtown commute.
This page is about kindergarten near Edgebrook. It covers the drive from Devon Avenue, the parts of the neighborhood our families come from, how GoCPS fits alongside a private kindergarten, and how our full day and gifted curriculum work. For daycare and preschool near Edgebrook, see our Edgebrook neighborhood page.
The clearest way to judge a kindergarten is to see one in session. Schedule a tour, bring your child, and watch a kindergarten class at work.
Fantasy Island is at 6100 N Milwaukee Ave, Chicago, IL 60646, about 1.6 miles by car from the Edgebrook Metra station. In light traffic the drive takes only a few minutes.
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Old Edgebrook was platted in 1894 as a railroad suburb and became a Chicago Landmark district in 1988, known for its Colonial Revival and Queen Anne homes. Families here often have a long view of school: kindergarten is the first step on a path they want to plan well, from the GoCPS application to first grade.
The storefront strip on Devon Avenue grows around the Edgebrook Metra station, with the Edgebrook Branch of the Chicago Public Library a short walk east at 5331 W Devon Ave. For a kindergartner who is starting to read, a weekend stop at the library pairs well with the reading work done in class.
Edgebrook Elementary, at 6525 N Hiawatha Ave, is the district-run CPS school in the neighborhood and serves pre-K through 8th grade. Many parents on these blocks look at it alongside a private, full-day kindergarten and decide based on schedule, class size, and what they want for the year before first grade.
Caldwell Woods is a 160-acre forest preserve on Devon Avenue, with picnic groves, a sledding hill, and the start of the North Branch Trail at Devon and Caldwell Avenues. It lies right on the drive between Edgebrook and our school, so trips to the woods after pickup are easy to fit into a weekday.
Sauganash shares the Forest Glen community area with Edgebrook, and many Sauganash parents follow the same GoCPS and gifted-program timeline when their children reach kindergarten age. Families from both neighborhoods use the same routes along Devon Avenue to reach our classrooms on Milwaukee Avenue.
Our school is in Norwood Park, at Milwaukee and Elston Avenues near Indian Road Park, just southwest of Edgebrook. Kindergarten families from Edgebrook join children from Norwood Park and nearby neighborhoods in small classes, so your child meets classmates from across the Northwest Side before first grade.
Your five- or six-year-old needs a year that builds real skills and real confidence before first grade. Our English-language kindergarten uses a gifted, hands-on curriculum in literacy, math, science, social studies, and art, taught in small classes by teachers who all hold Early Childhood Education certifications.
An overwhelming majority of our kindergarten graduates are accepted into gifted programs. For Edgebrook families weighing a CPS application through GoCPS, that gives you a strong, steady year while the process plays out. The day runs from 7:00 AM to 6:00 PM, a few minutes’ drive west along Devon Avenue.
If your child is three or four, kindergarten preparation can start now. Our preschool builds early reading, counting, and listening skills through the same gifted curriculum that continues into kindergarten, so children move up with teachers and routines they already know.
For Edgebrook families, that means one drop-off on Milwaukee Avenue from age three until first grade, with no change of school just before kindergarten. Brain Gym sessions twice a week, led by our founder, help children practice the focus and coordination they will use when they sit down to read and write.
Many Edgebrook families have an older child heading to kindergarten and a younger one who just turned two. Our daycare cares for children ages two to three, so siblings can share one stop on Milwaukee Avenue at the start and end of the day.
Your toddler spends the day in a small, warm classroom with certified teachers, three meals cooked on-site, music, and plenty of play. Full-time and part-time schedules are available, which helps when one parent rides the Metra from Edgebrook and the other works closer to home.
Planning care for children ages two to six is easier when the numbers are clear. Tuition at Fantasy Island includes three locally sourced meals cooked on-site each day, weekly music class with a qualified music teacher, Brain Gym, and our Gifted Enrichment Program.
We accept families in the Illinois Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP), including families assisted by Illinois Action for Children. Edgebrook parents can compare full-time and part-time options on our tuition page before a tour. We are open Monday through Friday from 7:00 AM to 6:00 PM, and all staff are First Aid and CPR certified.
For most Edgebrook parents, the kindergarten decision starts with GoCPS, the single online platform where Chicago families explore and apply to nearly every CPS school and program. Your child can attend the programs at your neighborhood school, and you can also apply to other elementary schools across the city. Edgebrook Elementary on Hiawatha Avenue is the CPS school in the neighborhood. Application windows change every year, so check go.cps.edu for current dates.
A private kindergarten is a different kind of choice. At Fantasy Island, your child has a full day from 7:00 AM to 6:00 PM, small classes, and a gifted curriculum, and you keep the freedom to apply through GoCPS for the years ahead. Our private kindergarten page explains how that works.
Edgebrook is a Metra neighborhood. The Edgebrook station on the Milwaukee District North Line sits 11.5 miles from Union Station, and many parents ride it downtown. A school day that ends in early afternoon does not fit that commute, and arranging a sitter for the gap gets old fast.
Our kindergarten runs Monday through Friday from 7:00 AM to 6:00 PM. Drop-off on Milwaukee Avenue is about 1.6 miles from the station along Devon Avenue, and three meals are cooked on-site, so there is no lunch to pack. Your child spends the whole day with the same teachers and classmates. Our full-day kindergarten page has the details.
Gifted and selective programs are on the minds of many Northwest Side parents by the time a child is five. CPS handles selective enrollment applications and testing through GoCPS, and the dates change each year, so start at go.cps.edu.
What we can do is make the kindergarten year count. Our gifted curriculum is experiential and collaborative, with hands-on work in literacy, math, science, social studies, and art. Twice a week, founder Beata Bielic, a certified Brain Gym instructor, leads short movement sessions that build focus and coordination. An overwhelming majority of our kindergarten graduates are accepted into gifted programs. Our gifted prep and kindergarten readiness pages go deeper.
We are about 1.6 miles from the Edgebrook Metra station, so drop-off fits into the morning before a train or a drive to work.
Edgebrook families with younger children can start in daycare or preschool and stay with the same school through kindergarten.
Kindergarten is taught in English. Most of our teachers speak Polish, Polish classes run every Friday, and Ukrainian-speaking teachers lead language activities, so your child can keep a home language while getting ready for American schools.
Choosing a kindergarten means trusting people with your child’s whole day. Here is what Edgebrook families can count on a few minutes down Devon Avenue.
Leave your phone number and your child’s age. We will call you to pick a time to visit our classrooms at 6100 N Milwaukee Ave. Prefer to talk now? Call 773-206-4627.
No. Edgebrook Elementary, at 6525 N Hiawatha Ave, is the CPS school in the neighborhood and serves pre-K through 8th grade. Through GoCPS, you can also apply to nearly every other CPS school and program across the city. Application windows and offer dates change each year, so check go.cps.edu for the current calendar before you plan.
From the Edgebrook Metra station at 5438 W Devon Ave, it is about 1.6 miles. Head west on Devon Avenue past Caldwell Woods, turn left onto Milwaukee Avenue, and drive about half a mile south to 6100 N Milwaukee Ave. In light traffic, the trip takes only a few minutes.
Our gifted curriculum is hands-on and collaborative, covering literacy, math, science, social studies, and art in small classes. Twice a week, founder Beata Bielic, a certified Brain Gym instructor, leads movement sessions that build focus and coordination. An overwhelming majority of our kindergarten graduates are accepted into gifted programs. CPS testing dates are set each year through GoCPS, so check go.cps.edu.
Kindergarten is taught in English, because our goal is to prepare children to continue in American schools. Your child does not need to know Polish or Ukrainian to enroll. Most of our teachers speak Polish, structured Polish classes run every Friday, and Ukrainian-speaking teachers lead language activities for Ukrainian-speaking children.
It depends on openings in our kindergarten group. The first step is to schedule a tour, so you and your child can see the classroom and meet the teachers. After that, you choose full-time or part-time and plan a start date. Our kindergarten is for children ages five and six, and we are open Monday through Friday from 7:00 AM to 6:00 PM.
Railroad stops at Edgebrook and Forest Glen drew commuters to this corner of Jefferson Township by the 1880s, and the area was largely annexed to Chicago in 1889. Arthur Dixon platted Old Edgebrook in 1894. The city named Old Edgebrook a Chicago Landmark district on December 14, 1988.
Edgebrook is a set of small pockets, each with its own feel.
You are never far from the woods here, with Caldwell Woods and Edgebrook Woods on the neighborhood’s edge and the North Branch Trail starting at Devon and Caldwell. The Edgebrook Branch Library on Devon opened its current building in 2000, and Edgebrook Golf Course on Central Avenue offers 18 holes beside the Chicago River.
Edgebrook feels tucked away, but it connects easily to the rest of the city.
See all areas on Kindergarten by Area, or read about our kindergarten program.
