Our children and adolescents have been deeply immersed in nature during the first month of school. From our youngest children working and exploring the outdoor environments to our Elementary and Adolescent students venturing off campus for field trips and overnight trips, there is so much happening at Greenspring!

Our focus this year is the Spiritual Nature of the Child and we are supporting our children with beautifully prepared outdoor environments and opportunities to engage with nature. Click through the photo galleries below to see photos and learn more about this big work!

Toddlers

Our Toddlers have been exploring their classrooms and outdoor environments with all of their senses. Guides and Assistants carefully model how to use the materials and the children eagerly soak in new experiences.

Children’s House

In Children’s House, our students have been enjoying the gifts of the outdoors. This year, our Children’s House Naturalists introduced sit spots – a place where the child can sit for five minutes away from distractions to observe nature and enjoy time in quiet reflection. Sit spots are a way for our children to try out a new way to enjoy the world around them – observing the sights, sounds, smells, and touch of the natural world. 

In addition, our children have enjoyed the classic activities of the outdoor environments – working with manipulatives, gardening, reading stories, and fine and gross motor play.

Elementary and Adolescents

Our Elementary and Adolescent students have been exploring the natural world of the greater Chesapeake Bay watershed. Along with their work in the outdoor environments, Lower Elementary students recently traveled to Marshy Point Nature Center for a field trip to hike and explore. The children loved seeing and learning more about the creatures who live in the Bay watershed. Seeing the Monarch caterpillars and chrysalis was certainly a highlight!

In Upper Elementary, the students visited Echo Hill Outdoor School for an immersive three day trip. They had the opportunity to explore the Chester River by boat, complete a ropes course, and enjoy many team-building activities. See photos and learn more about their trip here. 

Our Adolescents have been working on campus to prepare the new rain garden and sensory trail for our younger students. They have also been harvesting tomatoes from our gardens to create various dishes before the end of the season. In Art and Physical Education enrichment, they also have ventured off campus to visit Sherwood Gardens to sketch and Oregon Ridge Nature Center to hike.

What’s Next?

We look forward to sharing the many ways that our children and adolescents explore the outdoors this year. Stay tuned for more updates this fall. 

Toddlers

In the Toddler classrooms, students have been working in the outdoor environment gardens – planting and weeding. They have begun learning the names of types of animals and plants. They also enjoy practical life activities in the classroom, such as watering and caring for plants, as well as feeding fish. One of our Toddler classrooms is even home to bullfrog tadpoles in the final stages of their metamorphosis (which can take up to 2 years to make the transformation!).

Children’s House

In our Children’s House classrooms, students have been working in the outdoor environment gardens – planting and weeding. Campus walks are a big part of our nature curriculum for Children’s House. Our Dual Language classes have enjoyed nature walks where they have begun learning the names of animals and plants in Spanish.

The children have also planted native host plants such as milkweed, lemon balm, and fennel which are the only plants where the monarch, white peacock, and swallowtail butterflies lay their eggs. Caterpillars are essential nutrition for nestlings. Bird parents have been recorded feeding over 700 larvae to their chicks in a single day! To support the birds who make their homes on our campus, a classroom parent generously made birdhouse kits for our children to assemble. In order to have diverse ecosystems we need to provide native host plants and safe nesting sites.

Elementary

Our Elementary classrooms have been busy with outdoor projects this month. Our Mulberry Lower Elementary classroom inoculated a log with mushroom spores and the students have been caring for them with frequent watering. In the classroom, they have been learning about the body parts and functions of mushrooms to support this project. The Redbud Lower Elementary class also worked hard to remove invasive plant species from our grounds. Both classes recently moved their outdoor environment to the Susquehanna Village, and they are preparing their raised garden beds for summer planting. Upper Elementary students have been working to identify species of plants and animals on campus. 

Adolescents

Adolescent students are currently beginning a study of climate change, which will culminate in a mock climate summit that is open to the community as an Igniting Voice event on May 25th.

Additionally, one of our Adolescent students was inspired to create a rain garden on campus. He coordinated with his peers to purchase and plant many new native species on the north side of campus. These trees, shrubs, and flowering plants will provide water retention and filtration, as well as essential habitat to native species. We are looking forward to seeing the rain garden grow and flourish in years to come. Thank you to our Adolescents for taking on this big work!

This month our community celebrated Earth Day with two special campus-wide events! First, we had a visit from Irvine Nature Center presenting Nature in the Classroom: All About Animals. We also hosted a special Grounds Day to spruce up our campus. Some of our big projects included the Lower Elementary Outdoor Environment move, Adolescent Rain Garden planting, invasive vine chopping, mulching, weeding, and so much more! Enjoy photos of our celebrations here.

Nature in the Classroom with Irvine Nature Center

Grounds Day on Campus