Growing Place, Santa Monica

Emeka and Zachary first met at Growing Place as preschoolers exploring the outdoors side by side. Years later, after not seeing each other since childhood, they reconnected at Harvard-Westlake before starting 7th grade- rebuilding a friendship that began all those years ago at Growing Place!

Emeka’s mom recently shared that Growing Place helped shape the foundation of who he is today: confident, curious, kind, and fully himself. Now finishing 8th grade, Emeka plays competitive soccer for LA Breakers and contributes to goes into a thoughtful and driven young man.

Stories like these remind us that the relationships, confidence, and sense of belonging built in early childhood can last far beyond the classroom.

We were grateful to welcome Zach Gaidzik, Coastal and Mountains Field Deputy for Supervisor Lindsey Horvath’s office, to our Ocean Park campus this week as renovations continue to take shape.

It was a meaningful opportunity to share more about our work, our community, and our vision for creating thoughtful environments where children can learn, explore, and grow. 🌿

This summer, we’re looking forward to welcoming educators into the work through three Specialty Workshops at Growing Place Lab School. 🌿

Through classroom observation, presentations, and collaborative discussion, we hope to create space to pause, reflect, connect, and deepen practice together.

Workshop themes include:
• Democratic Classroom — May 29
• Conflict Resolution — June 4
• Creative Environments — June 18

We believe meaningful learning grows through relationship, reflection, and shared inquiry, and we’re excited to learn together. 💚

Scholarships available. See flyer for details + registration.

The ideas were big… so the building had to be too.

When children are given time, materials, and trust, incredible things can happen!

Thank you to all the families who joined us for our Open School Nights this week!

These evenings were filled with thoughtful documentation, meaningful conversation, yummy food, and a very competitive game of rock paper scissors.😉

You all mean so much to us!💚

Growth doesn’t come from getting it “right”, it comes from trying, adjusting, and trying again.

In our classrooms, children are:
•testing ideas
•working through frustration
•collaborating with peers
•building confidence through persistence

With supportive guidance, and space to explore children learn: “I can do hard things!”

Celebrating forty years of Growing Place—forty years of community, relationships, and shared imagination across our campuses. With founder Ellen Kohn alongside us, we celebrated our history and the future we continue to shape together.

Join us as we celebrate all year. ✨🌱