Seattle Earthkeepers Preschool

I got to sub today for Teacher Tasha- was a fun water day for sure!

This Saturday the 18th at 5PM, Rainier Beach Presbyterian Church is having a Holiday Jam Concert. Everyone is invited. You can come in person (with masks), or find us virtually on the Rainier Beach Presbyterian Church's FB page. I know I'm looking forward to some live Holiday music, how about you? Picture of my home-made wreath to capture your interest.

Seattle Earthkeepers Preschool, located in the Rainier Beach neighborhood of South Seattle, is seeking a part-time (16-20 hours/week) teacher to join the lead teacher/director and volunteers in offering care and growth to children aged 30 months to 5 years. We operate on the Seattle School District calendar and meet 8:30 am - 12:30 pm.

Seattle Earthkeepers Preschool is a diverse, inclusive preschool centered on eliciting wonder, delight, and respect for the natural environment using urban farming, outdoor play, and cooking food from our garden. We are looking for a teacher who loves the outdoors to assist our lead teacher in supervising and caring for children, teaching, and planning. Although the preschool is owned and operated by the Rainier Beach Presbyterian Church, it is entirely non-religious. We welcome teachers, families, and children of all genders, sexual orientations, religions, and ethnicities. Our values include diversity, inclusion, compassion, mercy, empathy, environmental stewardship, kindness, and the dignity of each person.

Duties include:
*Supervising children and keeping them safe
*Interacting with children as they play and learn
*Honoring children’s emotions and feelings; helping them learn how to regulate their
emotions
*Communicating with parents
*Assisting in planning and implementing projects, mainly outdoors
*Cleaning and disinfecting
*Light diapering, clothes changing

Qualifications include:
*Must love the outdoors and be willing to be outside in all kinds of weather
*Must have experience supervising/teaching/assisting children
*Must be positive and practice positive discipline
*If you speak a second language, that would be terrific! Spanish preferred, but others will be considered
*Moms/Dads with a preschool-aged child are welcome; must pay half tuition for their child
*Must be able to be active and moving on your feet for four hours; must be able to lift children
*Must be a citizen of the US, a refugee, or an immigrant with authorization to work in the US (a green card)
***Payment DOE (range $16-18/hour)

EDIT: AFter some thoughtful feedback I have edited the biginning of this statement:

Dear Seattle Earthkeepers families, teachers and friends,

Seattle Earthkeepers Preschool condemns the killing of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Armery and countless others at the hands of police and stands in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement protesting their killing and wider injustices. We stand with our black brothers and sisters in our Rainier Beach community and beyond to fight against all forms of racism whether overt, insidious, or structural and encourage our SEP families to do the same.

We acknowledges the presence of institutional racism in all facets of American life and is resolved to achieve racial equity in our programs. As we reflect on how we serve children in our community, we commit ourselves to practice and teach racial justice. We pledge to continually examine ourselves for our own biases, and to engage in ongoing work to root them out. We are a program of Rainier Beach Presbyterian Church and live out our core values of justice, compassion, kindness, and radical inclusion. While we do not teach our faith at the preschool, we consider these values to be non-negotiable in our preschool. We will not allow speech or actions that encourages racial prejudice or discrimination from our teachers, children, or parents.

We also believe it is our responsibility to acknowledge the reality of white privilege, and to always strive to use our privilege to lift and amplify the voices, experiences, and gifts of all of the members of our diverse community. We will not remain silent in the face of racial injustices in our community, and will use our voices, our class projects, and our discussions to in no uncertain terms teach racial equity. If you would like to be involved in this work by sharing a project or activity with our class, please reach out to me!

Rainier Beach Presbyterian Church is also committed to work for racial justice. You are invited to join us Thursday evenings in June (6:30 - 7:30 pm) for a time of outdoor music and vigil, led by Pastor Jane, in which we will encourage those who are interested--of all ages--to play rhythm instruments along with the drums, keyboard, and violin.

Summer is near and we're having a great time in the warmer weather! We're learning about composting, insects and how to be good neighbors and friends.

Good Morning SEP friends and families! Join Teacher Tasha for a live circle time here, M-F at 11am. Wear your pjs and come sing and read with me!

We had a wonderful time at our work party over the weekend (before the snow hit!).

Families, kiddos and community volunteers got a little dirty helping make the space look more beautiful by cleaning walls and windows, sorting toys and filling up the sandbox!

Also, we prepped for our future living playhouse that will be installed early spring! (See example picture) Bamboo stalks were cut for the base, but we could use 2-4 more 8 ft. stalks if any families have a few they could donate!

We have our first open house of the decade happening soon! 😊

Come by and say hello Saturday January 18th!!

We had a lovely time over the weekend hosting a Las Posadas in the neighborhood! It was so wonderful to experience a Mexican Christmas tradition together with the community, complete with singing Pidiendo Posada in Spanish and a homemade piñata!