Outdoor Experience
When you step onto our campus, you readily notice the creative and artistic work of our students in the colorful murals that decorate building walls and tree trunks. On our 18 acre campus, students develop a deep appreciation for the natural world through authentic, meaningful learning experiences.
Teachers work to extend scientific and environmental learning beyond the walls of the classroom, utilizing the outdoors as an educational resource for hands-on learning.
RESPECT FOR NATURE
We value the time children spend in nature and strongly emphasize outdoor play and environmental stewardship. Students not only play a leading role in our recycling and composting programs, they tend our community garden, harvesting and donating produce to food banks.
The importance of play
Whether it's a pick-up game of soccer, imaginary play in our state-of-the-art Playscape, or fort building in the woods, we believe unstructured, physical, outdoor time provides an important break from studies, providing many benefits:
- Sensory experiences with natural materials connect children to their world and encourage development of fundamental motor skills
- Freedom from structure allows children to develop important socio-emotional skills so they can grow into confident, compassionate, patient contributors who are good citizens of the world
- Better school performance - time spent in nature and increased fitness improve cognitive function
- Creativity - outdoor play uses and nurtures the imagination
- Higher levels of fitness through increased activity
- Lower incidence of stress and hyperactivity
- Stronger bones - exposure to natural light helps prevent vitamin D deficiency
- Better sleep - physical activity and exposure to natural light help reset natural sleep rhythms
- Longer life span and healthier adult life - active children are more likely to grow into active adults.
At any given time, classes from different grade levels play together throughout our outdoor spaces. Our number one rule? Everyone can play.
