Our school enjoys a daily outing – to a playground, a neighborhood stroll or story time at the local library. Our staff ratio is 1:4 or better whilst outdoors. We take Muni (24 or J-Church) to access numerous playgrounds. Riding public transport safely is a favored activity among all our children.
We value the importance of daily exercise, we walk to many local playgrounds. Children build vital gross motor skills on our outings and we get to meet our local community.
As the year goes on and children’s gross motor skills develop, we love to extend ourselves to hiking to Walter Haas Park via Billy Goat Hill, or strolling to St. Mary’s or Glen Park playgrounds which are farther afield.
We like to visit our local bakery, mail letters and engage with our community whilst on our daily outings. Inclement weather does not restrict our outings.
Our day unfolds in several stages. It often differs but relies on an established schedule that children find comforting. We love to sing and do so daily; songs about numbers, letters and in Spanish too. We invite the children to jam along with musical instruments. Story-time is both organized (with interactive characters) and one-on-one. We chant nursery rhymes and use clapping to develop coordination.
We also have a weekly in-house session with a professional musician, Alexei Wajchman. The children have the opportunity to learn about instruments from all over the world, whilst dancing, singing and practicing rhythm patterns in this interactive lesson.
Nutrition is of paramount importance to us. We serve a hot lunch and two snacks daily, including a raw fruit and vegetable. Organic milk and water are always available. We endeavor to serve local and seasonal foods, and to recycle and compost our food scraps.
We are fortunate to have a sunny backyard and keep a flock of chickens, both for their wonderful company, and their eggs. Children are involved with feeding and collecting their eggs.
We enjoy harvesting our strawberries and tomatoes during the Summer and the children love to juice apples from our bountiful yard in the Fall.
Our art curriculum is an enjoyable way to reflect and celebrate seasonal changes and events, in addition to building fine motor skills.
We undertake a weekly themed art project and children have the opportunity each day to explore different mediums of child centered art; painting, pasting or sculpting individual projects.
