Since 1954, Berrybrook has inspired a curriculum that awakens the joy of discovery and learning in young children. Children participate in a variety of cherished Berrybrook traditions that help students learn respect, compassion and a sense of interconnectedness while having fun. These include:
Family Traditions ~ To begin a strong home-school connection, teachers conduct Home Visits where they visit children at their home during the first weeks of school. This brief yet valuable time strengthens the bond between teacher and family and helps children come to school with an increased sense of familiarity. The very first day of school is called Visiting Day where a parent accompanies their child so understanding about school can be shared together. Throughout the year teachers provide written assessments describing the growth and development of children and meet with families to discuss these exciting changes.
Cooking Traditions ~ Creating recipes both in the classroom and Berrybrook Kitchen allows for meaningful learning involved in the cooking process. Skills involved in all areas such as math and science, as well as literacy and social emotional development, provide a way to use cooking to further extend our home-school connection. Traditions include making jelly, butter, and cornbread in the fall, then cherished sugar cookie baking at the holiday time. Winter holds lots of treasured sweet-treat recipes, and in the spring classes enjoy maple syrup in different ways after tapping the Maple Trees on our Berrybrook grounds. The school year wouldn’t be complete without enjoying our homemade, hand-cranked, vanilla ice cream on the last day of school!
Art Traditions ~ Each program from Beginners to the 2 and 3 Day Classes, and on up to the 4 and 5 Day Classes create art projects that have become traditions in themselves over our 60 + years here at Berrybrook. Appropriate to their age and development, children create art projects using a variety of art mediums from paints to watercolor, acrylics to pearlescents, finger paints to many different colors of paints used with a large variety of art tools. Children create with wood, make special gifts to give to their families, paint blown eggs in springtime, and more… all pertaining to the seasons and nature around us.
Music Traditions ~ The voices of children and teachers are heard singing daily at Berrybrook! Musical instruments are created by children and are used in conjunction with the large array of instruments we already have. Children also participate in many song games and movement activities as we visit our large Multipurpose Room space often.
Nature Traditions ~ With our wonderful outdoor spaces, children visit our outdoor classroom called the Nook weekly, as well as grow in strength (and fun!) by playing on our large, spacious playground overlooking Berrybrook Fields. Other outdoor spaces such as our Courtyard area and Rocket Ship playground allow for many different ways to enjoy the outdoors. Children and their teachers go on nature walks, bring a lot of nature indoors, and learn from the changing seasons all year long. It is from nature that we plan our curriculum rich in tradition!