Wellesley Curriculum Night

An opportunity for parents to get their hands dirty, play, and engage with the curriculum!

By: Lu Agosti

On October 6th we invited families from our full day preschool and toddler classes to get a feel for forest school. The night started with attendance taken through a hands on activity put together by Shela. There were rocks with each child’s name, and the parents used markers to answer the question “What are your hopes and dreams for your child at BOPN?” on the back. Many of our classes have a hands-on element at drop-off to engage the children. By posing a question or having them identify their names on objects such as rocks it gets the children’s brains ready to learn. It is the first step in our daily schedule which at this age we know order of sequence is everything!

Provocations were displayed throughout the preschool classroom, parents were invited to do what their children do and PLAY! It was so fun to see the families jumping into the provocations. Much like our days at school, it was their choice to decide what they were most interested in doing, whether it was dissecting mushrooms, replicating a pattern on the rubber band and peg boards, or just standing back to observe, maybe quietly chatting with another family. We ventured to a BOPN Wellesley favorite spot at Dirt Hills, the walk over was a wonderful opportunity for teachers and parents to catch up a bit. As we walked through the forest, parents began to see things like the giant muddy puddle which their children go home and talk about. At one point I heard “ohhh, so this is Dirt Hills”, I think they were just as impressed as their child is at one of the spaces we get to learn and explore in.

Much like a typical morning at BOPN as we settled into the space everyone gravitated towards an activity that spoke to them. We got the chance to play in the forest together and have meaningful conversations about the children and the richness of the learning environment. By the end of our time everyone had naturally come together where a group discussion took place. It was such a lovely community building experience that makes our BOPN family such a special one. Thank you to Shela, the Wellesley staff and of course all of the parents for supporting our mission to provide programs that meet the developmental needs of the whole child while initiating them into a lifelong relationship with the natural world.