EARLY CHILDHOOD

 Our Early Childhood is designed to receive children from 3-6.  We provide an environment that supports a child's imagination, sense of wonder, capacity for creative play, appreciation for beauty, and connection to the natural world.  

The teachers engage in practical activities including cooking, sewing, knitting, gardening, woodworking and cleaning, in which the children are encouraged to participate and imitate. They become authors of their own creations through watercolor, crayon, knitting and crafts.   Storytelling, circle time, singing, reciting verses, and performing rhythmic games nurtures their imagination, coordination, concentration and fine motor skills and develops their language for social interaction, expression, growth and reasoning.

Healthy imaginative free play takes up most of the day, for it is the single most important activity through which children challenge and perfect their abilities as a whole. Motor, language, reasoning, construction, fantasy and imagination, planning and organization, and interpersonal skills are being tested and improved. It is the space in which children digest their experiences and emotions, and strengthen their minds through the use of open ended natural play materials.

We spend a large portion of the day outside learning intimately from nature. We observe wild- life, the changes of the seasons, and the coming and going of the tides. We honor the rhythm of the seasons, the movement of the stars and planets, and the wisdom of our ancestors through yearly celebrations and story telling. 

Ultimately the children are provided with the tools for a healthy development within their present stage and a strong foundation for academic learning and social skills necessary for the grades.