The classroom and children at Jewel's Learning Center are thriving!

With each newly added component, the children, along with the teachers, have discovered new learning ideas.

Teachers hold back on suggesting things to do in the classroom and allow the children to use their imagination. The teachers have come to know that it is so much more meaningful when the children come up with the idea. They own it and they take much better care in their play, even correcting each other when needed.

New amphitheater style coverings were added to the Music and Movement Area stages. This led to the addition of streamers, starfish and a "Luau Dancing Stage" created by the children. With the addition of more sand in the Sand Area, the children can actually cover the lower portion of their bodies in the sand, which they absolutely love! A new water table feature has the teachers just waiting for someone to discover "mud"! An umbrella structure was installed over the Messy Materials Area and two more trees were added to provide shade. Flowering plants have been planted around the classroom.

Not a day goes by that teachers and staff are not watering, pulling weeds, deciding when things need to be trimmed, or looking to see what needs to be replenished or repaired. Charlotte's father is always around making sure that the Nature Explore Classrooms look it's very best. Blessed to have an owner who loves to be outside, everyone is thriving in this beautiful outdoor space.

The entire staff participated in a summer long refresher training series on the ten guiding principles of the Nature Explore Classroom as outlined in the Learning With Nature Idea Book by Dimensions Educational Research Foundation.

In order to increase family awareness, parents are invited into the classroom to play and see how their children are engaged in the classroom. Newsletters and tidbits of information are sent home with the children to explain the benefits of being outside and reconnecting with nature as it relates to successes and gains made in the classroom. The parents are really beginning to understand that the more the children are outside, the better they are. Three 90 minute parent trainings sessions are planned; an infant & toddler training, a preschool training and a prekindergarten training.

Parents are excited about all of the outdoor efforts their children are engaged in. They are amazed at the fact that mustard greens and turnip greens were grown, picked, washed, cooked and ate by the children. The children were so excited to share with their parents in the idea of eating what they had harvested. Other plants will be grown and sent home for parents to use in cooking.