The sun, the warmth the birds chirping outside—Spring is here! Finally! After weeks of rain we are finally moving into warmer weather and Stretch is alive with excitement and enthusiasm for how to continue to incorporate the natural world into our learning. We are lucky to have our resident birds and their new babies again nesting under the stairs in San Francisco. This is their 2^nd year and 3^rd nest, bringing an authentic opportunity for the children to investigate a small wonder of spring right in our backyard.

The study of living things has been a large thread in the learning that has taken place this year in both our San Francisco and our Marin locations. Whether planting, watering, or harvesting our organic garden or exploring questions such as “What is nature?” our children have been invested in nature. We are educating children in an urban setting so it is always a question and priority for us to find ways to bring nature into our classroom. Read the rest of this entry »