Woodsong Forest School practices nature-based learning
All photos courtesy of Woodsong Forest School.
Pre-K, kindergarten and first-grade aged children show up to Woodsong Forest School ready to learn. Rather than sneakers, they wear hiking boots. Instead of pencils, they carry magnifying glasses. While most children learn inside a classroom, these students get an education in the forest — rain or shine.
Woodsong Forest School is centered around nature-based education for children ages 3-12. Located at Johnston Woods in Cleveland, students have 385 acres of wooded property to explore, play and learn about the world around them.
Bonnie Cretton, founder and executive director of Woodsong, came across the idea of Forest Kindergarten while researching early education opportunities for her daughter.
“It just felt like a collision of everything I feel really passionate about,” said Cretton. “It seemed like it was a really expansive early childhood education versus one that felt really boxed in.”
According to the American Forest Kindergarten Association, the core pieces of Forest School include child-led learning, daily nature immersion in all weather and inquiry-based teaching style.
“Children need a place where they can experience trial and error, and the forest is a great place to experiment,” said Lee alumna Monica Wright, a forest school and music teacher at Woodsong. “Through experience and discovery-based learning, they’re interested in knowing more — curiosity is every child’s natural tendency.”
A typical day at Woodsong starts with “mindful arrival.” This routine includes the children going to their “sit spots” where they can center themselves and observe the nature around them quietly. After meeting up and sharing their observations, the children split up into classes and spend the rest of the day in the classroom and the forest.
In the woods, the classes practice play-based learning. As they play, they ask questions, and with the help of their teachers, they learn about topics that interest them. Mushrooms, bugs and tree bark are just a few of many subjects covered in this unique curriculum.
In the classroom, students have “growth flow,” which are teacher-facilitated play-based learning experiences. They do science experiments, make art projects and have storytime. A typical early elementary education has these same concepts, but nature-based education takes a different, child-centered approach to learning.
“If you can teach kids what they really want to learn, they will have such a deep understanding,” said Lee alumna Ellington Adair-Clark, Woodsong’s full-day kindergarten teacher. “We’re teaching the kids, but the kids are also teaching us.”
Due to the current situation regarding COVID-19, Woodsong, like every school, has converted to online schooling for the time being.
“It’s definitely difficult,” said Cretton. “What we do is the furthest thing from a virtual experience.”
Though at home, students are still experiencing the joys of nature-based education by exploring their backyards and talking to their teachers over video chat. Through rain or shine, coronavirus or not, students at Woodsong Forest School remain excited and engaged by the world around them.
“I think it’s really great that they are able to foster this love of learning, rather than it being squashed by their learning differences or their struggles,” said Adair-Clark. “I can already see that they’re going to be life-long learners because of this school.”
More information about Woodsong Forrest School can be found here.
