Friends’ Central School has been nurturing the connection between body, mind, and spirit for more than 170 years.

 

Their mission to “cultivate the intellectual, spiritual, and ethical promise of their students” began in Philadelphia in 1845, and continues today at their two sprawling campuses in Wynnewood. Fittingly, an aerial view of these campuses paints a scene in which greenery envelopes architecture.

 

“Our rolling, green 18-acre Lower School campus with an extensive organic farm, chickens, playgrounds, fields, trees, ponds, and a bird blind, is nature’s classroom,” reads Friends’ Central School’s website. 

 

 

Nestled in those 18 acres is the Nature Nursery, the first of the Early Childhood Programs, where a child’s love of learning is fostered in educational environments that are largely found outdoors.

 

“We are outside every day; sun, rain, snow, whatever the natural world is bringing us is what we are exploring in, learning about, and playing in,” said Lead Nature Nursery Teacher Natalie Martin in a recent interview. “We say that nature is the kids’ teacher.”

 

 

In collaboration with nature and with her assistant teacher, Martin described a daily routine in which the kids have constant opportunities to connect with their natural surroundings. 

 

The children are greeted by their teachers upon arrival and always start the day with an art invitation. “Sometimes we draw in some of the things that we’ve been doing in nature, like projects with leaves in the fall and projects with flowers in the spring,” Martin shared. 

 

The children move onto open play before coming together for their morning circle on their green rug, aptly named “the green green grass”. This is the time where the teachers bring in some of the school’s “bigger learning moments”.

 

“It’s the beginning of the school year now, so we talk a lot about kind hands, kind words, and kind bodies,” Martin said. This is also a time where core Quaker values are introduced. “We refer to them a lot as the SPICES; simplicity, peace, integrity, community, equality, and stewardship,” Martin added.

 

In addition to the green green grass, the indoor space includes tables for project making and sensory experiences, a train table, countless books on shelves and in baskets, and a cozy couch area complete with a faux fireplace. 

 

After their time indoors, they head out for a hike to one of the many places on campus that the kids love to explore.

 

“We might hike to the chicken coop, to the wildflower field, to the fairy forest, or to the frog pond, depending on what we’ve been learning about and what the kids are interested in,” Martin said. “After our hike, we sit down, we have a snack, and we do a bit of exploration and play outside. We believe that for this age group, play is the most authentic way of learning,” Martin added. 

 

With surroundings that offer nature in every direction, students are also able to explore multiple gardens and a forest within walking distance of their indoor learning space. 

 

“There’s the playground, there’s the garden where our science teacher Tiffany is growing the most amazing assortment of flowers and vegetables, there’s the chicken coop where we take turns caring for the chickens and collecting their eggs,” Martin explained further. “We talk about the plants, they learn the names of the trees and the flowers, there are so many lessons to be taught.”

 

Some of those lessons are planned,  while some happen organically in opportunities that only nature can provide.

 

“Today, for example, there was a cricket on the stairs as we were heading back into the building and one of my students got a bit startled and scared,” Martin said. She picked it up and brought it back into the classroom for a lesson.

 

“We put it in a big, round vase so that all the kids could look in and see it,” Martin continued. “We made observations about the cricket and had a chance to interact with it, we noticed that the cricket kept flipping upside down, and so we problem-solved how to help the cricket to feel more comfortable in the glass vase using rose petals left over from an earlier project.” 

 

Martin credits nature for this invitation to empathy and unpacking fears, and the organic incorporation of science, literacy and social emotional learning; lessons she says the kids will bring with them throughout their lives. 

 

And while Martin is quick to credit nature for these inherent opportunities for growth and development, Assistant Principal Rowena Lesher also credits the Nature Nursery teachers themselves, calling them “patient, compassionate, and adaptable” leaders.

 

“They each have a gift of helping our 2.7 to 4 year old learners feel secure, understood and valued as each day involves creative learning opportunities and unexpected challenges,” Lesher said in a recent interview. “The Nature Nursery team serves as guides to our youngest learners, encouraging them to be curious, make discoveries, and ask questions.”

 

 

They also practice an interdisciplinary approach as they integrate academic “specials” like art, science, music, Spanish, equity and social justice into the curriculum. These specials take place after the students’ outdoor exploration, and before their closing circle to conclude their day at the Nature Nursery. 

 

“The trajectory of the Early Childhood Program has maintained play, discovery, and child-centered learning at the core,” Lesher said. “We have continued to focus on the development of the whole child by aligning the academic needs with the social, emotional and physical needs of our students.”

 

To learn more about the Nature Nursery at Friends’ Central School, visit their website or download their Early Childhood Education Brochure.

 

Read more about Friends’ Central School on Main Line Parent. Are you a FCS family? Share a testimonial about them with us on their profile page, all comments count as a nomination for a Main Line Parent LOVE Award for Excellence in Education!

 

This story supports the Main Line Parent Community, and was written by Jennifer Warner. Photos by AnneMarie Hamant Photography.