Parent Handbook

Our Mission

Our mission is to nurture a child’s natural curiosity in the world around them and their desire to learn. We will do this through unstructured play and seasonal learning through exploration, helping them to become resilient, self-reliant, and confidently inquisitive.

Our Vision

We will create a place for children to explore the natural world and move freely within it.

Maple Sprouts Forest School

Situated just outside Canton on a very low-traffic back road our school house is situated in a small clearing surrounded by a sprawling forest. The forest contains a small sugar bush which is used to make syrup in the spring, with some of the trees reaching over 100 years old. The property has a running brook, perfect for play during hot weather. It also has many rocky outcroppings to climb and explore. With so much time spent out in the forest, the children will be able to experience seasonal changes, naturally learning the rhythm of a year.

Our Philosophy

Forest Preschool is guided by the idea that children are naturally drawn to nature. They learn with enthusiasm and a sense of wonder by spending ample time outdoors. We aim to use outdoor spaces and unstructured play to support the development of the whole child. Spending time outdoors helps children to learn self-care and develop resilience and confidence in all weather conditions. We will be using an inquiry-based style of teaching to guide rather than lead children as they explore. The natural world is full of opportunities which encourage imaginative play, creativity, cooperation, empathy, confidence, healthy risk taking, as well as social, cognitive, fine and gross motor skill development.

Teachers.

Megan Holloway

Megan grew up in Winthrop, NY. She moved to the Adirondacks and worked at Lakeside School at Black Kettle Farm for 2 years in Essex, NY after graduating from SUNY Potsdam. She has always had a passion for working with children and at Lakeside she found a deep connection with the Farm and Forest Kindergarten model that they used. Her goal is to bring this wonderful outdoor schooling experience to children here in the St. Lawrence Valley, especially now that she has two little ones of her own.

http://www.lakesideschoolinessex.org/

Tasha Akins

Tasha grew up in Lisbon, NY. As a young adult she discovered a love of hiking in the Adirondacks. Through spending time in nature, she found a combination of physical and mental peace. She graduated from SUNY Potsdam with a Bachelor of Fine Arts and Psychology degree. She worked with children in BOCES Applied Behavior Analysis program for 3 years in Potsdam, NY before becoming a mom. After becoming a mom and struggling to find a balance between a new identity of self and spending "enough" time outside, she is happy to be part of a program that can help parents and children do just that.

Our Approach

Each child will be directly interacting with nature in a variety of weather conditions. Our goal is to make this experience pleasant, wondrous, and exciting for them in order to deepen their connection to the natural world.

Safety: Our teachers have up to date infant, child, and adult CPR/First Aid certifications. When we head into the forest, we will carry a first aid kit, a list of all children’s emergency contact and medical information, and each of us will carry a cell phone. Our teacher to student ratio will also be kept low. We will count heads frequently.

Support: We know that a cold, nervous child will not enjoy their time spent in the forest or take in any of the interesting things we may find. Therefore, we strive to work together with parents to ensure each child receives all of the comfort and s

upport, both physically and emotionally, that they need to have a pleasant experience.

Physical Comfort from Parents

A parents’ best contribution to Forest School is to send their child with warmth, sustenance, and permission to get dirty and play freely. Keys to a successful day include dressing children appropriately for the weather (suggestions in the Packing List) and sending them with hot food when necessary.

Physical comfort from Forest School

The woods and weather can be intimidating and we want the children to feel at home. We have separate campsites for each day of the week and will rotate through them to create a weekly rhythm. Each location will have a place for a campfire, which will serve as a place to rest and warm our hands in the winter. In the winter we will also have warm tea to serve with our snack and fitted wool “eating mittens” perfect for holding food comfortably. Maintaining a positive attitude is a key element for us. By doing so it helps to create comfort and confidence in exploration for the children.

Emotional Comfort

We will strive to honor the dignity of each child and respect their effort to endure the elements by spending a day in the woods. We recognize that the weather and unfamiliar setting can be a challenge in itself to children, so we approach discipline with positive statements, gentle redirection, and a supportive presence.

What are the adults doing during unstructured play?

While the children settle into the location and their play, the teachers will be doing purposeful work, observation, and exploration. Children often become curious about the purposeful work adults engage in and will move back and forth between work and imaginative play with their peers creating a sense of place and community. Examples of purposeful work include: carving sticks, sawing wood, gathering wood, cooking, and building a shelter. Observations we might point out during playtime could be the geese flying overhead, the species of a tree we are building a shelter around, or a toad hiding near a rock. Our camps will be continuously changing and through exploration we can look for a new shelter spot or a good limb for a swing, also noticing seasonal changes that will be occurring all around us.

Conflict Resolution

Our basic expectations are that the children follow directions and treat everyone (and nature) with kindness and respect. Young children are just beginning to acquire these skills. Our goal is to model appropriate behavior and gestures, maintain gentle but firm boundaries, and coach them as they navigate through this part of development. In order to manage conflict through empathy, self-control, talking and listening, and seeking agreement we will use reminders and logical consequences. Examples of logical consequences would be removing them from an activity, redirection, or suggesting some quiet time if needed. If your child is consistently having trouble meeting our basic expectations, we will let you know so that we can work together to find the way to best support your child.

We will inform you if a behavior exists that could be a danger to your child or others. We reserve the right to separate your child from the program if the behavior is extreme or repeated, or the child cannot discuss it with us. Additionally, we reserve the right to ask families to leave the program if behaviors do not change after reasonable measures have been implemented.

Daily Rhythm

By designing our days and weeks in a rhythmic schedule, this predictability gives the children comfort and familiarity. Our rhythm will gradually evolve with the change in seasons and the children in the program. The day will begin with free play and various structured activities at the school house such as gathering food from the garden for our shared snack and filling bird feeders. Some of these activities will change with the seasons, such as harvesting and drying mint in the fall, sledding in the winter, and planting the garden in the spring, immersing them in the rhythm the seasons provide. Once everyone has arrived, they will be called in for a morning circle which will consist of a song paired with movements. After the morning circle, we will head into the woods. Our morning hike distance varies, but is usually around a ¼ of a mile. Once we reach our destination, we have snack and story-time. Tasha and Megan alternate telling a story each week and once a month our local librarian, Ms. Val, visits to do snack story time. After they are done eating they will clean up their snack things. Then the children will be free to participate in imaginative play with their peers or purposeful work with one of the teachers. We will be providing tools and materials such as chalk, shovels, buckets, and rope to be used in their self-directed play. A variety of activities will be offered to mark the changing seasons. The majority of the day is spent in unstructured play allowing each child to meet their strong developmental need to jump, twist, tug, pull, balance, roll, run, climb, dig, sort, build, and create. Our program will also provide a mixed-age experience. This will allow the older children to share their knowledge and experience with younger children, developing their capacities for leadership and compassion, while the younger ones look up to and learn from them. In the afternoon we will hike back to the school house where the children will eat lunch and have a period of free play in the play yard until their parents arrive for pickup.

Daily Rhythm Example:

9:00 am Outdoor activities and morning circle, followed by hiking to our camp location for that day

9:30 am Snack

9:45 am Unstructured play at camp

10:45 am Pack up and hike back to the school house

11:30 am Lunch

12:00 pm Play time at the school yard and pick-up

** In extreme weather (thunderstorms, wind storms, or extreme cold) we will remain at the school house for shelter and indoor free play.

Drop-off/Pickup

Our day begins at 9 am and ends at 12 pm. Please notify us through text or a phone call if your child will be significantly late or absent before the start of the school day. Our cell phone numbers are located on the last page of the handbook. It is imperative to notify us if another adult is picking up your child at the end of the day.

Packing List

Our program will take place outdoors year-round in all types of weather. It is essential for children’s well-being and learning experience to come with proper weather appropriate clothing that will keep them warm and dry.

**Please do not send any toys from home to Forest School

Please send the following items with your child:

Snack

Pack in a separate bag

Lunch

Contained in a lunch box or bag

Cold-weather specific clothing suggestions

Head:

Hat (one that covers ears in colder weather)

Scarf, neck gaiter, or balaclava

Torso

Base layer (wool or synthetic recommended)

Mid-layer shirt (wool or fleece recommended)

Winter coat

Legs

Base layer (wool or synthetic recommended)

Mid-layer pants (fleece recommended, polyester fleece pajama pants work!)

Snow pants

Feet

Socks base layer

Over socks (bigger, wool recommended)

Snow boots

Hands

Winter gloves or mittens

Rainy-weather specific clothing suggestions

The Forest School now provides rain coats, pants, and gloves for all its students. These items will be kept at the school in your child's cubby to be used as needed.

Depending on the season children may or may not need some or all of the under layers listed above. To keep them warm and dry on rainy days children should be dressed with:

Raincoat
Rain pants
OR Rain Suit
Waterproof boots (Muck boots and Bogs work well for both rainy and winter conditions because they are well insulated)

Dressing in layers is an excellent way to stay warm and comfortable in the colder months and as the temperature changes throughout the day. It is also a good idea to stay away from cotton because cotton will NOT keep your child warm, especially if wet.

** A complete change of clothes must be provided and can be kept in a bag hung in your child’s designated cubby or kept in their backpack that travels to school with them. This should include socks, underwear, a shirt, pants, and a sweater –all weather appropriate.

School Calendar and Weather-Related Closings

Our school calendar will be provided. We will be following the Canton Central School District calendar for holiday breaks as well as closing for an additional two weeks after Christmas break. We will also follow their decisions on inclement weather. If Canton Central School District is closed, delayed, or closing before 3pm the Forest School will follow the same schedule (Delay examples: for a 1 hour delay our program will run 9am-12pm, for a 2 hour delay our program runs 10am-1pm). An email/text will be sent out to alert parents of any inclement weather decisions.

Illness

The Forest School program can be physically demanding for young children. An ill child will be unable to participate fully and have a negative experience. If a child becomes ill, we will notify you by phone. We will keep them comfortable until they can be picked up by a parent or caregiver.

Pricing

Days/week Cost/month

5 $420

4 $338

3 $255

2 $170

Sibling costs with 10% discount

5 $378

4 $304.20

3 $229.50

2 $153

Tuition Policies

Tuition payments are required whether a child is present or absent. The tuition will remain the same regardless of the holiday schedule. The first month of tuition is covered by the non-refundable application deposit, which is due with the contract by August 1 st.

Tuition may be made in one full payment (due September 1st) or nine monthly payments (starting September st and ending June 1st). Check or cash payments are requested. Checks can be made out to Maple Sprouts LLC.

We offer a sibling discount of 10%. The first child is full price and each sibling receives a 10 % discount.

Please notify us 2 weeks in advance if you plan to withdraw your child from our program. Families who choose to pay in full and decide to withdraw their child early will receive a refund for the remaining unattended months.

Communication

You can follow us on Instagram or Facebook to see what we are up to. You will also receive emails/text messages regarding any cancellations or other important information. Please feel free to contact us with any questions, comments, or concerns. We appreciate feedback and the opportunity to grow.

Email: maplesproutsforestschool@gmail.com

Megan’s Cell: (315) 212-2526

Tasha’s Cell: (315) 244-3338

FOREST SCHOOL GUIDELINES

These are the guidelines we will be upholding at Forest School in order to keep everyone safe and to promote an enjoyable experience for all. Please go over them with your child before the first day of school and as needed.

I will play where I can be seen/heard by a teacher
I will remain at the designated play area until it is time to leave as a group
I will treat others kindly and will not push, kick, bite, hit, or use sticks/rocks to harm others