Growing with the Children: Bringing Nature-Preschool Practices to Elementary Schools

About eight years ago at this time of year, we were visiting nature-based preschools in the Midwest in preparation for opening the doors of our “Nature Preschool” at Chippewa Nature Center (CNC). Each site we visited had wonderful insights to share, and each and every one of them, usually as we were saying our goodbyes, would say with a grin something like, “You won’t regret starting a nature-based preschool! And be prepared: the parents will want a kindergarten and elementary school.” We would offer a dismissive giggle thinking, “Elementary school? We don’t even have preschool teachers hired yet!”

The fact is they were right on—parents did start asking about kindergarten. It wasn’t possible for us to open another school, so we started thinking about potential alternatives.

Full article: http://naturalstart.org/feature-stories/growing-children-bringing-nature-preschool-practices-elementary-schools