OUR MISSION
Our mission is to instill in children the confidence to be curious lifelong learners who can contribute meaningfully in creating a kinder, more sustainable, and more equitable world.
We are committed to providing an enriching educational environment built on relationships and playful exploration. We believe in advancing social justice and that by focusing on children's strengths we promote their inherent capacities to construct knowledge and develop positive social identities.
Read more below about the ways in which our mission is enacted.
Our Curricular Approach
Drawing inspiration from the Reggio Emilia schools in Italy, we use emergent and inquiry-based approaches to curriculum design, where topics emerge from the interests and questions children bring with them into the classroom. Teachers provide materials and guidance to help them build upon their interests. Children begin to develop their own conclusions through exploration and carefully-scaffolded learning activities. These activities, or provocations, frequently involve natural, open-ended materials that are thoughtfully staged in a way that inspires play and investigation. We believe that children have infinite ways of “seeing and being” in the world and that children have the right to express themselves using their “hundred languages.” Our most important job is to provide them diverse tools to inspire novel thoughts, express feelings, and provoke wonder as they play.
Three Core Elements of Children’s Education
In our school, we believe children’s learning is guided by three distinct but equally important parts. First, children and their peers are central to the learning that takes place in the classroom. Together, they co-construct knowledge as they learn to work together with kindness and respect. Secondly, adults (both teachers and parents) are collaborators in children’s learning as they facilitate, guide, observe, support, and inspire children. Finally, the environment is considered the “third teacher.” By seeing materials presented in new ways, children uncover new questions and follow their sense of wonder to learn about the world through research, exploration and discovery. Our approach naturally lends itself to differing curricula from one year to the next, as children, families, teachers, and the classroom space collectively define the path for a given year.
The Role of Documentation
Like the Reggio Emilia schools, we rely heavily on documenting the activities and progress of our students. Photography, videography, and note-taking weave together children’s learning in the areas of literacy, STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math), anti-bias education, and the arts (including visual arts, music, and creative movement). Teachers then use these observations to form a curriculum plan that is derived from the children’s interests and to make the children’s learning visible to both the children and their families.
