Green Meadow Waldorf School Announces Forest Preschool for 2018 School Year

TreeAnne McEnery, administrator at Green Meadow Waldorf School (GMWS) announced that the nearly 70-year-old school is opening a forest preschool in September on its 11-acre wooded campus. The forest preschool will serve children from ages 2-5.

Open houses, where interested parents can meet the current kindergarten teacher and GMWS parent Jessica Oswald and GMWS parent and see the forest location of the new preschool, will take place on May 19 and June 2 from 9:30-11am at the school.

May 3 was International Day of Forest Kindergarten. Forest preschools have a long history in Europe and have exploded in popularity in the US since about 2008. Outcomes of attending a forest preschool or forest kindergarten, which allow for several hours of outdoor play and work each day, have "been shown to have a positive impact on children's development, particularly in the areas of balance and agility, but also manual dexterity, physical coordination, tactile sensitivity, and depth perception."

The school's nursery and kindergarten programs all utilize local farm, field, garden, and forest extensively, but the new forest preschool will be almost exclusively an outdoor experience, in all weather. Students will have access to classroom space as needed.

“We can't wait to launch our forest preschool program next year," says McEnery. "All our early childhood programs incorporate ample outdoor time, but a forest program has several unique components that we know will benefit our youngest students and interest parents who want to prioritize their children's connection to nature.”

Green Meadow Waldorf School strives to create a social, cultural, and learning environment that recognizes the child's spiritual freedom and growth. Inspired by Rudolf Steiner's insights into human development, Green Meadow nurtures the physical, emotional, and intellectual capacities of the growing child through a developmentally appropriate curriculum. Green Meadow Waldorf School engenders in its young people the academic, social, artistic, and practical abilities that will enable them to become self-reliant and generous individuals capable of meeting whatever challenges they face in the future.

Nearly 70 years old and serving about 310 students from 90 towns and more than 10 counties, Green Meadow Waldorf School is one of about 300 Waldorf Schools in the United States and approximately 1,000 Waldorf Schools internationally. Rather than teaching to the test or adhering to Common Core standards, the Waldorf curriculum fosters independent, critical thinking and problem solving, develops ethics and morality, and promotes true joy in learning.

Green Meadow Waldorf School
307 Hungry Hollow Rd
845-356-2514
gmws.org/forest-preschool