{"id":1485,"date":"2015-11-14T02:55:23","date_gmt":"2015-11-14T10:55:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/explore.globalcreations.com\/theblog\/?p=1485"},"modified":"2015-11-04T22:21:52","modified_gmt":"2015-11-05T06:21:52","slug":"seattle-forest-pre-school-tiny-trees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/explore.globalcreations.com\/theblog\/featured\/seattle-forest-pre-school-tiny-trees\/","title":{"rendered":"Seattle Forest Pre-School: Tiny Trees"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Kids<\/p>\n

I wrote\u00a0a blog post about the concept of Forest Kindergartens<\/a>\u00a0awhile back. \u00a0Soon Seattle, Washington, will have a similar school for pre-school kids .\u00a0Tiny Trees plans to open six\u00a0schools in 2016, with room for 32 kids in each school.\u00a0Three more will open later.<\/p>\n

Building a Partnership for Pre-School<\/h1>\n

\"Partners\"The Seattle Parks and Recreation Department recently indicated its support for using the City Parks for the schools, beginning with the six-park program in 2016 as a pilot effort to see how it works. \u00a0The Parks Department is now working out the details with Tiny Trees. \u00a0As a new program the Parks Department and Tiny Trees will need to clarify each other’s roles and responsibilities. \u00a0They also need to identify and satisfy regulatory and indemnity hurdles. \u00a0At this point the parties are partnering to find a way to make the preschools work, rather than the more typical role of a government bureaucracy that tries to find reasons why it can’t work. \u00a0This approach virtually assures that Tiny Trees\u00a0will\u00a0be able to use the parks.<\/p>\n

Pre-School Without Walls<\/h1>\n

\"TwoTiny Trees will offer pre-schools without walls. \u00a0They will have no facility and all sessions will be outdoors in a neighborhood park regardless of the weather. \u00a0Besides offering all the benefits to the kids that I discussed in the earlier post<\/a>, this will \u00a0greatly reduce the cost of pre-school for parents. \u00a0To keep the\u00a0kids warm during the\u00a0Seattle winter each child\u00a0will get a free\u00a0rain suit from Oakiwear<\/a>\"\". Since the\u00a0curriculum is\u00a0play based \u00a0the kids will be on the move a lot, keeping themselves warm.<\/p>\n

The Curriculum<\/h1>\n

This is a real school – the kids don’t just play without learning. They might count pebbles instead of marbles, but they will still learn to count. \u00a0Tiny Trees will be using the HighScope Curriculum<\/a>\u00a0as recommended by the City of Seattle for its pre-school programs. In addition the school will be measuring and evaluating its quality and continually tracking the progress of each student. \u00a0Overall it should be as rigorous a program as any pre-school and leave the students in much better shape emotionally and physically than students in an indoor school.<\/p>\n

More Information<\/h1>\n

This video offers a quick overview of the program and its benefits:<\/p>\n

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