The Highlander School

This morning on our way down to the outdoor
playscape Timothy noticed one of our dinosaur
friends being wounded. The toy dinosaur
unfortunately had a hole in it.
Timothy: Uh-oh, dinosaur has a boo boo. Are you okay dinosaur?
Ms.Jordyn: How do you think the dinosaur feels?
Timothy: Him sad because he’s hurting
Ms.Jordyn: What are some ways we can help our dinosaur friend feel better?
Timothy: A bandaid for his boo boo
This conversation highlighted Timothy’s immense level of empathy and care for others. Children are innately, constantly, connected to one another and the natural world around them.
He was determined to find a way to help his dinosaur friend feel better. He offered him gentle hugs, touches, words of affirmation and a bandaid.
Ms.Jordyn took this opportunity to introduce the healing benefits of one of the plants growing in our apothecary area. We explained to Timothy how our aloe vera plant (along with many others) contain healing properties and how we could use the gel inside the plant to heal our skin.
The question of How can we raise children to serve as custodians for the Earth? Comes up when reflecting on powerful interactions like this-returning access to natural and holistic
remedies into the hands of allWe brought our aloe vera plant onto the porch so that we could further explore its healing benefits. Ms.Jordyn demonstrated how to access the aloe vera gel from the plant by gently breaking a small piece of the plant off and revealing the gel inside.
Timothy seemed intrigued by this process.

Timothy: I want to try
Ms.Jordyn: Of Course, remember we have to be what? With our plant friends
Timothy: Gentle
Timothy whispered. He used a steady gentle hand to break off a piece of aloe and
held it up into the sun as he admired it. We discussed all the healing properties of
the aloe vera plant and mainly focused on how it has the power to heal and protect
our beautiful skin. After listening intently Timothy sat quietly for a bit observing
the aloe vera plant.
Timothy: I need some
As he applied the aloe vera to his skin
Timothy then noticed an old scar on Ms.Jordyn’s arm
Timothy: Need some for your boo boo ?
He asked
Ms.Jordyn: Yes, Timmy. Thank you, and thank you aloe vera plant
Timothy: THANK YOU aloe vera plant
Timothy shouted
To observe the children combine empathy and their interconnection to Mother Earth is revolutionary.

Our spaces have been filled with the magic of rainbows, lights, colors, and the joy of it all!

Recent Highlights
From a week of action, celebrating the Lunar New Year, building community everyday, and exploring our beautiful and fierce identities together, there's never a dull moment at The Highlander School

Week of Action
Inspired by the book, "Saturday at the Food Pantry", Children continue to designs a school pantry with both drawings and found materials because "everybody needs help sometimes"
Recently the children wrote a letter to their families for help.

A Message From the Children
“Dear Parents,
Please help us build a pantry for everybody. Please and thank you. We need wood. We need machines. We tools.”

As a community we continue to explore and share our identities, including exploring a piece of art entitled, “Toussaint at Ennery” and how the artist Jacob Lawrence depicts black liberation and the story of Haitian revolutionary Toussaint L’Ouverture and the traditions of celebrating the lunar new year and preparing dumplings.

Many weeks ago, we celebrated fall and the time of harvest, by clearing our space and making offerings to our mother tree. We are constantly thinking and rethinking the purpose of school and education. We believe school should be a place of reclaiming and Remembering our connections and traditions. Baba Enoch and Neemah, who joined us throughout the summer, guided us on this day, sharing Yoruba traditions of clearing the space, blessings and bringing in positive energy. Children were first invited to place intentions upon the water.
Neemah shares: Water holds memory. Water is alive.
Remix responds: I gonna speak to the water.

Bundles of herbs and water (omiero) were dripped into the water and used to clean, bless and protect our portals, our door.
We walked the corridors together, singing and beating the drums.
Shortly thereafter, we sang to the mother tree and made sweet offerings of honey, oranges, chocolate, coconut flakes and sweet bread.

In reflection, we were in awe of the children's innate ways of knowing and our collective joy!
Much gratitude and

Rethinking the Role of Early Childhood Education in a Reimagined World: Cultivating a Culture that Nourishes a Sustainable Earth, Our Peaceful Co-Existence and Liberation for All.

"Join us for an inspirational and practical session that delves into the possibilities for rethinking and reframing early childhood education programs that center our relationship with this earth and our communities. In a world where children are increasingly living in conflict zones and our earth is in peril, we have been compelled to rethink our roles as early childhood educators and schools. What school culture must we nurture to support children’s innate abilities for empathy and compassion as we strive for a more equitable and just world?

The session highlights the collaborative work at the Highlander School with families, educators, community members, and children and our collective resistance to the status quo or the presumption that school is a place for children to learn to be workers. We see school as a place of resistance and revolutionary love. We’ll share the tangible shifts in our environments, both indoors and outdoors, planning, approaches to learning and commitment to anti-bias work. We invite our colleagues, fellow teachers, and leaders in the field to join us on our journey to create the social and emotional environment that is responsive to the individual child, the family, our global community, and the rights of this earth."

Grateful to share the work of our community with Sonya Shoptaught and Robby Astrove!

The educators in the Toddler One room have been paying close attention to the innate children's connection with the land, their fondness, curiosity and wondering:
How do we as a community, provide space for children to express these stories of connection with the land, using and uplifting their own language of expression? They invited families to explore with them, sending paper bags homes and asking them to collect items found on the land that they lived. Children and families collected and gathered materials over a week and then shared their stories together. The children seemed to have a deep connection with found items. Many narratives unfolded. Stories of exploration, sharing, counting and shared excitement. Remy: It's a rock!
The encounters with these natural materials is on-going and has become apart of the identity of the space .

What Are The Stories of Our Land?
A Story Shared By Our Naturalist

We have been thinking deeply about the relationship and connection to the land around us, especially with questioning from a state licensing rep about whether or not to remove the morning glory vines on our playscape. Do they pose a danger to our children, who have a deep connection to the natural world around them? Upon further discussion, we learned that these flowers were a gift from a parent to the Highlander School years ago, morning glory flowers having been that person’s mother’s favorite. It brought a lovely reminder, how the gifts given by our community can be treasured, nurtured, and cared for long after by new students and new members of our community. We have seen and experienced the children taking the morning glory flowers to put in their teacher’s hair. We see the children interacting with these vines and flowers, sometimes with the multiage children picking them to give as gifts to one another and to family members, continuing the story of these flowers, once seeds, being gifted to our community.
D- “They’re so pretty! We’re picking flowers. Can I keep them?”
E- “I’m picking pretty flowers. I picked this one for me and this one for my mom... They are beautiful.”
As she began to observe and draw the blooming Morning Glory flower, she held the flower up by the stem,
R-"It’s a princess! And these green things are hair and here’s her body,” drawing her finger down the curve of her flower.

It's an interesting dynamic to navigate the often opposing points of views of early childcare programs and the state. The state sees nature as something to protect children from. We want to protect from guns, violence and abuse not from the embodiment of who we are, nature.

We value children's relationship with our entire community and across the different age groups as children would experience in a family. Children are too often segregated
by age, denying them the essential connections and opportunities to hold different perspectives and empathy.
We strive to create as many encounters as possible for children to play, love, and live together as a family.

We will continue to share the many stories of the children's connection to land, earth and to themselves. An essential part of program has been planting and caring for numerous fruit bearing shrubs, vines and trees over the years and gardening from a place of reciprocity. This is the story of an elderberry tree and the children's collaboration to make tea...their collection of the berries, the drying of the berries, the searching for recipes, preparation and all the joy!!!

Our relationship with earth is beautifully intertwined. It's an honor to listen to the stories of children's play and earth. The stories of life, a birthday cake or a house for an ant. Their play not only reveals their inner thoughts but our identity with the land and earth. Children help us to remember.
"We are of earth. We are the clay of earth who walks upon herself"
Sonya Shoptaugh

As we lean into our new school year, we continue to listen closely, to the interwoven identities of the land and all that inhabits her. Educators and caregivers have fashioned experiences for the children, especially for those new to our community to encounter and know the land and our shared history. We shared the stories of the Breonna Tyler and George Floyd mural and why it was created? We shared the stories of the community garden and how it came to be. We tasted the muscadines and greeted the pineapple guava trees. We harvested the elderberries, with the intent to prepare syrups and teas. We introduced and reintroduced the rain barrel, watering the garden until its last drop. We shared the preciousness of water and spoke the words mvto or thank you as taught to us by Mekko Chebon. It's a space to celebrate our present, future while honoring our past. We are the land and she is us.
Nature's Candy Farms the gardens you helped us start are still strong ❤️

We've noticed so many patterns in the children's play. There's a thread of interest and meaning that continues to show up, whether a child is alone and playing with others. Children's Lively Minds has helped us to pay attention to those details. What do you notice about the patterns?

"I'm trying to build a whole city"

Today, we watched as Kay manipulated the hollow blocks with such diligence, determination and courage. She proclaimed at the beginning of her play “ I’m trying to build a whole city”. And for a long period of time, she was unwavering in her efforts.
Kay used a stool to lift the hollow blocks over her head and then when she couldn’t reach it any more, she stood on top of the table to stack the blocks on top of each other. Her process revealed her understanding of balance and symmetry.

"It needs ramps so that it can be taller and taller."

The question: “ What are the identities of the children? ” has been held in our minds as we’ve observed the children’s play. This story highlights Kay's comfort with risk taking and using her mind and body to navigate challenges in pursuit of a goal. It was powerful to watch her tenacity. We want to create spaces for children to feel courageous and to hold the confidence to express their ideas even if there's a struggle to actualize it.

Images from our first days together for the new school year!

Louise Boyd Cadwell reminds us:
We want to know what the children think, feel and wonder. We believe that the children will have things to tell each other and us that we have never heard before. We are always listening for the birth of a new idea. This practice supports a searching together for new meaning. Together we can become a community of seekers.

Images from our open house for the 2024-2025 school year! It's been 11 years ya'll!
Relationships are at the center of our "work" together and our community. Prior to the first day of our new school year, home visits, play dates and layers of introductions are organized as a way to welcome new families and build relationships.

Bringing people together is what I call “ubuntu,” which means “I am because we are.” Far too often people think of themselves as just individuals, separated from one another, whereas you are connected and what you do affects the whole world. When you do well it spreads out, it is for the whole of humanity.
—Widely attributed to Bishop Desmond Tutu

We have openings in our Multi-Age Room for the 2024-2025 School Year. The Multi-Age Room is for children ages 3 to 5 years old. Our school is an anti-bias and anti-racist, nature-centered learning program that believes in uplifting the voices of young children. Submit an application online on our website if you are interested in joining our community!

www.thehighlanderschool.com/enrollment/application/

This week, we continued to honor who we are in relationship to this Earth and land by spending time outdoors, studying the ways that the Earth heals, gathering and preparing our food, and creating shelter to live deeply connected to the outdoors.

We are continuously grateful for Whitney Barr’s support in sharing her knowledge on the many ways that nature heals.

We are very appreciative of Robby Astrove
for joining us to set up comfortable spaces for children to connect with the outdoors and each other in a joyful way. Robby set up tents and hammocks for the children and helped the children continue learning about the rituals of foraging and making tea.

Expression is the right of every being. We want to know what children are thinking ? What rich ideas are unfolding in their hearts and mind? This week during our Storytelling & Propaganda Camp, teachers invited the children to use materials to express their thoughts and communicate their ideas.

The Toddler One children experimented with creating symbols; communicating their interests with each other and their educators. Mark-making is a means for understanding children’s perspectives and to empower children to share their voices.
How are you exploring mark making materials with young children in your program?