Explorer Preschool in the News

Please select a news item from the following list:

• Outdoor Classroom Dedicated in 2004

• Learning Together: Co-op Preschools Make Education Fun for Kids and Parents (PDF file 1.74MB) From Bay Area Parent Magazine 2004-2005 Childcare and Preschool Finder. Click here to go to Bay Area Parent website to reference the entire article. Bonny Doon CommunityPreschool - Santa Cruz, 831-459-7795, www.calcentral.com/bdps. The website is in error in this article.

• Curriculum Disputes in Early Childhood Education This link will take you to the following website: http://www.ericdigests.org/2000-3/disputes.htm

Explorer Preschool celebrated the completion of its Outdoor Classroom with a Ribbon Cutting Ceremony on April 29.  The celebration marks the end of a year-long project to create an outdoor educational environment that stimulates the students’ senses and provides endless opportunities to explore and learn.

With the guidance of teachers Konne Ainsworth, Annie Deckert and Jackie Kite, Alissa Noguez Landscape Architect designed a space full of winding path ways, water and sand areas, two climbing structures and a full scale play house.  The design also included more than thirty different types of plants to add texture, color, smell, and taste to the classroom.  West Bay Landscape Company turned this design in to reality.  But the best work off all is done every day by the students who continually find new ways to interpret the space to fit their individual needs.  Like the student who learned a “new way” to work the tire swing or the other one that sees the climbing structure as her very own pirate ship.

Much of the volunteer work and funds needed to build the Outdoor Classroom came from current and alumni families of Explorer.  As part of the Child Care Playground Safety Initiative, the school also received a large grant from the Packard Foundation and Community Ventures Incorporated.  Local businesses such as South Bay Materials, Ogawa-Mune Nursery and KOMPAN Unique Playgrounds contributed supplies and materials at considerable savings making this a true community effort.

Explorer Preschool is an NAEYC accredited parent participation school where children, at an individual pace, can learn and develop through play.  Parents learn to be child educators at home, at school, and in their community, through observation in the classroom, seminars, and discussion with the credentialed teachers.  The school has been working with the families of our community since 1960 and is located at 2700 Booksin Avenue in Willow Glen.

Climbing Structure with Monkey Bars