Overview
Founded in 2018, Palouse Roots is located on over 26 acres of nature preserve at the Palouse-Clearwater Environmental Institute (PCEI) in Moscow, Idaho. Palouse Roots is an outdoor nature program for children ages four through seven years old. Our program is hosted Monday through Thursday from 9:00am to 1:00pm. Families have the flexibility of selecting and committing to any combination of weekly days, with a minimum of a 2-day-a-week commitment. To ensure a low student-to-teacher ratio, we intentionally keep our number of participants small. As a result, classes fill up quickly.
Palouse Roots children are fully immersed in nature and experience the beautiful Palouse landscape as it changes through the seasons. From the thrill of climbing trees and exploring gardens, ponds, orchards, streams, nature playscapes, playgrounds, mud kitchen, stump climbing, and swings to the wonder of making maple syrup and bees-wax candles, or exploring nature and art lessons, there is no shortage of adventure. We use our greenhouse space during the winter months, exceptionally inclement weather, and for special events. Our Palouse Roots children make keen observations of their environment and develop a deep connection with the natural world while learning, building confidence, strengthening their bodies, and creating rich friendships.
Our Teaching Philosophy
Our primary objective is to create a positive connection between children and nature while encouraging them to be curious about the world around them and foster positive relationships with their peers. We provide an environment that encourages child-led learning and exploration. Our days are flexible and flow organically within a base structure. The role of our teachers is to guide and model curiosity and engagement while being aware of the children’s level of wonder and development.
Our Daily Rhythm
We start our day with open play as everyone arrives and checks in. We begin each morning with a morning circle where we greet each other, make note of the season, month, date, day, moon cycle, and observe the weather and the landscape around us. We share our observations of the environment and natural world and explore how things work, whether it is identifying cloud types, learning the water cycle, the life cycle of frogs, or identifying birds around the nature center. Often, we show illustrations of the natural world by notable artists who relate to our lesson. We sing songs, practice movement, say poems, hear stories, and share a community snack. After our morning circle, the children gear up, and we hike to our Palouse Roots site, where the children explore non-structured, open-ended play and enjoy art and nature-based activities until our mid-day meal. After the children have cleaned up, they go for an adventure hike and explore the Nature Center together. The children return for community sharing and reflections at our closing circle before heading to the playground for pick-up. Our days flow organically; we adjust our activities to adapt to the weather and environment around us.
The Palouse Roots Experience
Palouse Roots understands the significant impact a strong connection with nature can have on a person’s physical and emotional well-being. Our Waldorf-inspired education approach emphasizes nature-based learning that prioritizes the child’s comfort in a gently structured day of child-led exploration, play, and teacher-guided activities. Practical life skills and fostering an inclusive, caring community lie at the core of the Palouse Roots experience.
Children are guided by nurturing teachers and mentors who aim to instill a sense of awareness and wonder towards nature and learning. Through unrestrained, open-ended play, children develop a sense of self-efficacy and identity in the world. Spending time outside in all kinds of weather helps children become conscious of their whole selves as they learn to identify and communicate their needs. Our teachers build strong connections with each child, enabling them to develop their unique voice in the class. We strive to create a safe, nurturing environment that fosters a lifelong respect for the earth and deep appreciation and respect for one another. At Palouse Roots we provide children with opportunities to nourish their hands, minds, and hearts.
Playing Outside
Rain or shine, our Palouse Roots children spend their time outdoors, regardless of the weather. As the saying goes, “There is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing.” The children develop strong and healthy bodies by experiencing the outdoors in various weather and seasonal states while expanding their sensory experiences. Depending on the season, the children may sled down snowy hills, climb rocks and trees, balance on logs, or work in the garden. These activities promote a lifelong respect for the earth and deepen their appreciation for nature. Our cabin and greenhouse space provides a dry place for extreme weather conditions.
Playing outside for prolonged periods has been shown to positively impact children’s development, particularly in balance and agility, as well as manual dexterity, physical coordination, tactile sensitivity, and depth perception. An active relationship with the greater natural world enhances emotional well-being. According to studies, children who attend Forest Preschools and Kindergartens improve a child’s ability to assess risks when directly engaged in practical skills and working with natural elements.
Nature-Based Learning
Waldorf-inspired education approaches nature-based learning with a unique understanding of the child’s authentic engagement with real-life activity and self-initiated discovery. At Palouse Roots, we spend as much of our day outside as the weather permits. Research shows that this results in decreased overall stress and behavioral issues and improved self-discipline among students, along with the benefits described above. On rainy or snowy days, we move our lessons into our cabin or greenhouse space.
Story Time
Our Palouse Roots morning circle is designed to help children improve their attention and focus. Through a variety of activities inspired by nature and life experiences, our morning circle includes songs and stories that not only support language development but also enhance vocabulary, listening skills, comprehension, and recall abilities. The morning circle also helps strengthen attention span and cognitive skills and promotes relevant conversations, and invokes their sense of wonder, all within the context of learning about the natural world.
Creative Play
At the heart of our early childhood program is our understanding that self-initiated play is critical to healthy development. As soon as children learn something new, they start to explore their new capacities, practicing and testing their skills until they are able to tackle more and more complex tasks. Play is where the real learning happens. As children use their imagination, allowing a stump to become a mountain, a dragon, and then a table as different children join and leave the play, they are learning how to negotiate, compromise, share, include, problem-solve, and work with one another within a community establishing the foundation for life-long social and emotional skills.
Nurturing Creativity
Nature makes the best open-ended “toys.” There is nothing like the joy of children finding their own natural treasures. We all have fond memories of collecting seashells but the natural world is not limited to the beach. Collecting natural treasures nourishes the child’s developing senses, sharpens their observation skills, allows the children to access their creativity and imaginative capabilities, and develops their fine motor skills. Moveable structures that they can explore help develop gross motor coordination. We believe that creative play is a child’s most important development tool, whether to develop new skills, work with experiences they have had, or express emotions.
Movement
Young children come to know and understand the world around them through movement. Outdoor play over various ground conditions helps children strengthen their core muscles, sharpen their balance and agility skills, and build their physical strength and endurance. The joy and sense of accomplishment that comes from a child finally being able to climb a tree, jump over a puddle, or balance the length of a fallen tree are also foundational skills of determination, resilience, and independence.
Artistic and Practical Experiences
Children engage in a broad range of skill-building activities, allowing them to expand their attention and focus, learn resilience, determination, and craftsmanship, improve their dexterity and fine motor skills, and develop an appreciation for aesthetics. Children learn to observe the landscape around them, sharpening their observation skills, drawing on their creativity and freedom to express themselves through art. Working with their hands provides a foundation for focused attention, critical thinking, and problem-solving, allowing children to create objects of beauty and function, as well as a sense of accomplishment. Through the act of creating, focus and patience are tangible and are foundation life skills.
Purposeful Work
Practical activities include taking care and responsibility for their gear, setting up and clearing up our site, caring for our shared materials, and stewardship of our site and the nature center. Children take joy in collecting kindling for a fire on a cold day, helping to carry our nature guides and binoculars, working in the garden, and hiking our trails to the orchard, where the children enjoy the easy-to-climb old apple trees. These activities build strength, agility, social skills, responsibility, and a sense of accomplishment. The children carry out these practical experiences with as much independence as possible and take pride in doing so.
Tuition/Scholarship
Our program fee is $40 per four-hour program day, with a minimum of a 2-day-a-week commitment. We ask that families commit to a schedule. We intentionally keep the number of participants small to ensure that we have a low student-to-teacher ratio. As a result, our classes fill up quickly.
To ensure our program is accessible to our local community, we offer scholarships based on need and availability. Submitting a scholarship application does not guarantee availability or placement. Each Fall and Spring, we receive more applications than we can accept. To ensure that our scholarship fund’s impact reaches its full potential, we conduct a weighted lottery for open spots (after returning student priority). For more information, please send an email request to info@palouseroots.org.
Contact
Ariel Mack, Palouse Roots Coordinator
info@palouseroots.org
208-310-7077