Laura Burns

Stone Forest Preschool adopts Reggio Emilia and Waldorf approaches to learning. Provocations and open-ended materials are staples here. We build upon the children’s interests, their shared life experiences, and the natural environment. Our driving principles are: exploration, self-expression, and stewardship. Exploration here is open-ended, through provocations, investigations, observational opportunities, and immersion in the natural world. The children use various means of self-expression, such as clay modelling, drawing and painting, paper-making, drama, dance, or building. Children become confident in their creative abilities and fluent in various modes of self-expression. They develop an understanding and love for the natural environment and sustainable living. They plant, nourish, and harvest; they learn nature’s cycles from things such as birds’ nests and vegetable plants. All in all, we celebrate the children's wonder about the world and offer different ways for the children to express themselves and their ideas. During the day, children are encouraged to share their ideas and explore these ideas with the teacher and with one another. The conversations not only enable the children to develop their creative thinking but also promote cooperation and negotiation among the children. The children draw on their experiences, hypothesize, wonder, and enter new territory together. Foundational skills are developed through engagement with the natural world, multi-sensory learning, self-expression, and guided exploration. Each week we gather evidence and artifacts. This documentation gives us the opportunity to make the learning process visible and to share with the parents what the children have explored.

Initial License Date: 8/14/2015.