Charlottesville Preschool in the Forest
A full-day project-based and play-based preschool with a Reggio Emilia approach
We are intentional about observing how the children interact with their world, as well as engaging with them to:
model problem-solving strategies,
ways to enter and sustain partner or group play,
and appropriate ways to engage with and respect each other and the natural world.
Building a Solid Foundation
Our preschool aims to help children build a solid foundation of social and emotional competence, self-help and independence, connection to community, and a love for the natural world.
Children are encouraged to develop wonder, a deep connection to our environment, and a wide range of practical skills.
Social and Emotional Development
The core of our curriculum is informed by social and emotional development, and as such, our goal as teachers is to create a safe space where children feel empowered, inspired, and in community with one another.
We connect daily with the Jewish principle of Tikkun Olam, as we love and care for each other and the earth.
We observe and listen to our children
As educators, we observe and listen to our children and build lessons and experiences based on their interests and needs. We offer the children an ever-changing classroom filled with trees, creeks, rocks, animals, and opportunities to witness cycles of life.
We support the children in their natural exploration of their environment. This leads to child-led discoveries in a wide range of areas such as physics and natural sciences as well as imaginative storytelling and collaborative play.
Developing Wonder & Independence
Developing Wonder & Independence
What Parents Say —
“CBI Forest School provides wonder and magic and comfort to our most precious resources for our future, our sweet kiddos.”
“While we as parents do everything we can to protect our children, we know that day in and day out, CBI's number one priority is teaching our children how to be resilient in the face of all of those challenges, how to learn in the forest and how to explore the beautiful world around us.”
A Day at CBI Preschool
After being greeted at their car by their teacher, children are free to converse, explore, and play with a variety of manipulatives (rotated on a weekly basis) such as:
vehicles
small woodland creatures
connecting/construction toys
children’s magazines & books
When all the children have arrived, teachers invite children to don backpacks with a transition song (“Find your backpack and put it on”) and the class starts their hike up the hill with a hiking song (“Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It’s off to school we go!”).
During the walk, children talk with teachers, discuss and observe the nature around them, and sing songs.
At 9 am, our class has a daily morning meeting. Morning gathering time includes familiar routines (greeting, checking the weather), a pre-literacy game, and content & dismissal game that change daily.
Today’s content includes learning about evergreen trees and deciduous trees. We sing our Evergreen Tree song, invite children to share what they remember about the details of each type of tree (we observed and recorded details yesterday) then walk a short distance to the edge of the forest.
We play a movement game to warm our bodies, running to different evergreen and deciduous trees, sometimes stopping to discuss different trees.
The dismissal game is a ritual that helps young ones transition to the next activity, calming their bodies and preparing for what’s next. We practice deep breathing, then sing our regular song. When a child hears the silly rhyme for their name, they head inside to use the restroom, wash hands, and then return to the tarp with their snack and water.
During snack time, one teacher tells a social story, focusing on a social-emotional learning theme. They may use simple storytelling, or puppets/other small creatures, and engage the children in interactive problem-solving for the characters involved.
After snack, we head out on our morning adventure. The class hikes together to our adventure location (today is a wooded space nicknamed Treeland). We review the physical boundaries of the space to be explored and explain the adventure options. Today’s options are art, magnifying glasses, beads, or simply exploring.
During this time we are intentional about observing how the children interact with their world, as well as engaging with them to model problem-solving strategies, ways to enter and sustain partner or group play, and appropriate ways to engage with and respect each other and the natural world.
After our adventure, we head back to the cabin for lunch, transition and storyime. Storytime involves movement, songs, and books:
Movement: Today we use a yoga story to stretch and move our bodies, pretending we are different types of trees, our arms are the branches, etc.
Books: We read “I am a Tree”, a simple story about the parts of a tree, and “Mae Among the Stars”, as part of our month-long storytime theme reading books by black authors, featuring black characters.
Songs: We sing the Evergreen Song, Icky Sticky Bubblegum (a current favorite), Twinkle Twinkle Little Star to help quiet our bodies, and our Goodnight song.
Then we head inside for naptime; or children who no longer nap have 45 min of quiet rest time outside on their yoga mats, and then have options of books, drawing, and naptime toys to explore independently.
The afternoon is spent engaging in a number of activities near the cabin, at small picnic tables outside and throughout the nearby field/garden space:
Practicing scissor snipping with grass
Loose parts play
Name tracing
Gross motor obstacle course with benches and stones
Imaginary play in the outdoor sensory mud kitchen
Take the Next Step
Come see if CBI Forest School is the right Charlottesville preschool
for you by visiting our location, meeting our staff,
and seeing our school in person.