What goes on behind the scenes at a school? Well, a lot, an awful lot! To love, to design curriculum, to program details, to ensure safety and challenge, takes a team to work hard to bring these outcomes to a program. Last week, on our professional development day, we spent time dialoguing as a team,…Continue reading →

The arrival of Lunar New Year, celebrated by many Asian cultures, and arriving this year on February 16, has been cause for continued celebrations in both the Eagles and Owls classes.  Throw in the lingering Valentines decor (it’s so hard to put away pink and red sparkly things!) and some late season snowfall, and you…Continue reading →

Love in all its splendour. We love deeply here at Nature School. We love each other, we love this land and all its beautiful gifts, we love the animals and we love love LOVE being here together. Love is joyful but it is also hard, prickly, complicated and layered. Even in preschool! We work hard…Continue reading →

The ‘restaurant’ inside the Cottage has been very popular – perhaps in preparation for our Eagles “Feast Day” with families. Figuring out how to use mallets and pegs has been the focus of recent Owls classes.   As the school year goes by, we bring out some more challenging puzzles.  Thank you to Ginny for…Continue reading →

This is a story. A story about two educators who had a dream about creating a school where children can learn about the world around them and fall in love with this world. A place for children to explore with all their senses; to indulge their curiosities with questions and wonder; to develop relationships with…Continue reading →

Moving into our second week back after the holiday feels wonderful! It is a joy to laugh, play and learn with these children! Please enjoy this mini- blog; our week is fun and very full so we want to share our experiences thus far as we head into a couple of busy days to finish…Continue reading →

As we reflect upon images from our recent days together at TNNS, we see celebration! Whether in small quiet moments that recognize individual accomplishments, or energetic gatherings honouring our community, there is much to celebrate!  Part of the joy of celebrating is in the planning and anticipation.  With young children, the repetition of stories, songs,…Continue reading →

This week my mind is thinking about gingerbread cookie decorating. I know it sounds trivial but it has been a big part of our last couple of weeks in terms of preparation ( calling to order the dough from the bakery, picking up the dough and arranging our bakers- thank you to Kate and our…Continue reading →

As our weeks together fly by, it is rewarding to see how the children are increasingly seeking out one another for assistance with tasks and routines; for sharing their ideas during imaginative play; and for problem solving together.  We frequently hear “I can do it for you!”, “time to wash hands, I’m the soaper!”, “How…Continue reading →

LOVE I love bringing children and adults together to make healthy, wholesome, delicious food! My heart is full from yesterday’s Family Cooking Class and I believe everyone who attended have not only full bellies, but full hearts as well! Current TNNS families joined us, as well as alumni families (and Kate’s son , Grayson!)- the…Continue reading →

As corny as it is, I think we just have to say it is all rainbows and butterflies here at TNNS! All joking aside, it truly is an exceptional place to work and live together. We are blessed to have many people interested in seeing our work here at Terra Nova and they always comment…Continue reading →

Our staff team often remarks that, in terms of curriculum, our work at TNNS could not possibly be more emergent.  Every day something presents itself as a topic for further inquiry: a change in the land or weather, a library book, a child returning from holidays, celebrations, dead animals, visiting teachers, a perfect stick,  or…Continue reading →

All of a sudden we are well in to our routines, friendships are forming, and the days are flying by!  The trees are shedding their leaves, the snow geese have arrived, and the garden is being put to bed for the winter.  We have hosted visits from local Early Childhood Educators, neighbouring school district teachers,…Continue reading →

It has been a whirlwind of a week; literally and figuratively! The wind howled and the rain pelted down sideways, forwards and backwards! We were wet and then we were dry. We were wet and then we were dry.  We were wet and then we were dry. This is what we do here at TNNS,…Continue reading →

Each moment of each day we are all learning side by side. We all work hard to do this learning, really hard! Children are working hard to figure out this new world of being in a large group. Educators are working  hard to support all their learning and social interactions. Together, with our families, we…Continue reading →