The Earth School, El Nido

As our Earth Month celebrations came to a close, students created prayer flags, writing their personal wishes on fabric strips before hanging them to flutter in the wind. In Tibetan tradition, wind carries these intentions out into the world, spreading peace and compassion. Students wrote their hopes for family, dreams for the future, care for the earth and their communities, and then watched the wind carry out their prayers.

Hope carries weight when children hold it.

 

We spent Earth Day planting mangroves at Lio River yesterday. Students got their hands muddy, learned why mangroves matter by actually planting them, and left knowing they just did something real for the coastline. Parents joined in too. That's how you teach kids to care about the planet.

 

Our Elementary Wellness Fair was all about making, sharing, and connecting. Students ran booths with healthy snacks, creative workshops, and handmade goods they created themselves. Block printing gave old shirts fresh life - why buy new when you can transform what you already have? Last year we did silk screening, this year we switched it up! An afternoon of creating and connecting. To us, that's what wellness looks like.

 

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Two weeks ago, brought bio-sonic music to Earth School, showing us how plants make music. They turned living plant frequencies into actual sound, blending nature with technology while students and parents experienced it together, some even trying their hand at creating bio-sonic compositions themselves. Turns out plants have a lot to say when we listen.

Thank you Bottlesmoker for sharing with us your wonderful music!



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Last week, our students carried gifts and Noche Buena packages to Bucana for families affected by Typhoon Tino.

Watching children practice compassion through action reminds us why community connection matters. Thank you to the Parent Representatives, Ops Palawan Relief, and everyone who made this outreach possible.



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Living classrooms turn education into something children experience with their whole being.

Harvest season means the kids are finally eating what they planted! We also did art outside the classrooms because learning just works better when they can move around freely. Gardens, beaches, forests - it's all our classroom. That’s how learning about nature becomes a part of them.

 

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In October, we invited parents to join a half-day workshop on the Restorative Approach: Creating a Culture of Care, Belongingness, and Harmony facilitated by our co-founder Dona Tumacder Esteban who has extensively studied, practiced, and shared Restorative Justice as applied in Education, including sharing our approach in a consultative forum by the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Council of the Philippines.

The Earth School is a pioneer in fully integrating the Restorative Approach, a way of being in relationship, from forming to norming to managing conflicts and challenging behaviors, that maintain the dignity and wholeness of each person and the community, with an emphasis on healing, especially when
conflicts and harm happen.

It teaches children (and adults!) that mistakes are opportunities for growth, that conflict can be navigated skillfully, that harm can be repaired through honest dialogue and meaningful action, and that strong communities are built on empathy, accountability, and the courage to make things right.

When Typhoon Tino hit El Nido directly, devastating homes and communities across our town, our Earth School students, parents, and teachers stepped up. Our young learners helped prepare meals at El Kusina Kitchen and distributed food to affected families, while other students worked to restore the school and clear debris from our beach. This is what education for real life looks like - children learning compassion, community, and action when it matters most.

Our deepest gratitude to every soul who has responded when our community needed it most - those who cooked with love, packed with purpose, delivered with determination, gathered funds to multiply our reach, coordinated the overwhelming logistics, and showed up in whatever way they could. In the face of devastation, everyone chose connection. This is the heartbeat of the community.

We believe natural learning happens when children follow their intrinsic need to explore with their hands - to touch, build, and discover. Learning at Earth School happens in motion through experiential projects that engage the whole body. Your child's urge to investigate everything is an intelligence expressing itself. 

We design education around how humans are naturally wired to learn: through doing, creating, and experiencing the world firsthand.

Gardening classes for all levels have started and everyone's ready to dig in!

In this project, students discovered that math is more than just numbers—it’s a way of
recognizing patterns in nature and telling the stories hidden within them. Applying their
understanding of perimeter and area, they conducted a quadrat sampling activity in their
school’s backyard. With careful measurement, they created square sampling plots (quadrats) of
a fixed size and systematically counted plant and animal species within them. Through this
hands-on process, they explored how mathematical concepts bring structure and insight to
scientific investigations.

Beyond measurement, students analyzed plant distribution patterns, researched the uses of the
plants they found, and uncovered the ways in which plants support ecosystems by providing
oxygen, sustenance, and habitat. They came to see that math is another form of language that
helps us interpret the world around us, revealing the intricate relationships that connect life on
Earth. This project integrated math, science, and ecology, illustrating how numbers, patterns,
and data come together to tell the story of nature’s delicate balance.