Montessori Preschool Moving to New Crown Heights Location

• Pictured: The future location of Wortspiele, Brooklyn. Photo by John V. Santore

CROWN HEIGHTS, BROOKLYN — A local German immersion Montessori preschool is moving to a new location in Crown Heights.

Wortspiele, Brooklyn will be moving one block east from its current space at 459 St. John's Pl. to the first floor of 807 Classon Ave., as first noted on Brooklynian.

German-born educator Christine Krabs said she founded the preschool in 2004, after running a playgroup for her own children.

Wortspiele currently teaches about 20 children, aged 2 to 5 years old, Krabs said — although she hopes to grow the school to 30 students.

The school's new location will open in September, Krabs said.

It will offer full-time programming from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., and after-school programming until 6 p.m. for children 3 to 6 years old.

Krabs is also the co-founder of the nearby German School of Brooklyn, which opened in 2014 at 17 Eastern Parkway.

Crown Heights has seen a recent influx of families with some connection to Germany, Krabs said.

She said her students typically come from families with one German-speaking parent and one who speaks another language.

A good number of her students are trilingual. Krabs said she has taught children who speak Farsi, Hindi, Polish and Russian.

"We have families from all continents, from many different countries," Krabs said. "It's a very interesting community. Very Brooklyn."