SWEET PEA NURSERY

Facility Number 553616388

Classes for children ages 2 years 9 months to 3 years 6 months emphasizing imaginative play and the joyful imitation of real domestic work.

As the feeling life grows and expands, each day fills with new attractions, yet the young soul cannot navigate safely alone amidst its own overwhelming likes and dislikes. The familiarity of daily and weekly routines form the vessel that holds a child between the anticipation of every little joy and protection from life’s little sorrows. A strong rhythm, alternating between times of activity and times of rest, will carry the child joyfully through the preschool day.

Honoring the need of the preschool aged child to find security in the familiarity of the home setting, this program seeks to offer a social experience in the Waldorf tradition of a beautiful, homelike environment. Held in our licensed building on the Rawhide campus, children happily join together in real domestic work activities like bread and soup making, washing and ironing, as well as singing, painting and free imaginative play.

MOSS ROSE, RED ROSE, & WHITE ROSE MIXED AGE KINDERGARTENS

Facility Number 553616388

Classes for children ages 3 years 6 months to 6 years exploring the social aspects of being together as a class and building the rhythm of the school week.

Our Kindergarten provides a loving home-like setting with predictable rhythms that meet the young child’s abilities and developmental needs. Everything in the Kindergarten is nurturing and purposeful, from the natural toys and surroundings to the wise Kindergarten teacher melodically singing, “Follow, follow, follow…” each time she “magically” guides the children to and from the play yard.

A Waldorf Kindergarten, by design, is free from formal academics and instead focuses on developing strong bodies and a lively imagination, which are the foundation of learning as they move on into the Lower Grades. Our Kindergarten gently stimulates the development of curiosity, verbal capacities, sequencing, sensory integration, memory, social skills and motor skills that are essential for later learning and are the foundations for academic excellence.

What does a mixed age kindergarten look like?

A mixed age kindergarten is a program that meets the kindergarten child and the preschool age child in a classroom setting. The intention is to provide a warm atmosphere and cultivate an environment that engages the budding six year old and the capable five-year-old while holding a soft space for the emerging  4-year-old. This is achieved by developing a rhythm that allows for the curriculum to be brought to the older children in the group in such a way that it provides the younger child a view of what the future holds. 

Like looking into the window of a cozy room 

lit by imagination and imbued by purpose.

And being invited in.

The  kindergarten child is fed by purposeful work and a story rich environment that allows for an opportunity to create inward picturing, building on a capacity for critical thinking. We bring this through strong rhythm and daily activities that support these emerging skills. The preschool child thrives in an environment of warm rhythm and intention. Given gentle opportunities to begin to learn how to care for themselves, their friends and their space, the older children benefit from being able to lead by example. The younger children, learning through imitation, develop their capacities in a casual, dreamy manner by mimicking their peers, allowing for an un-rushed, natural awakening of the child. This social gesture is held and modeled by the teacher and the assistant.

The children in our kindergartens…