LAKESIDE SCHOOL AT BLACK KETTLE FARM
An Associate Member of the Association of Waldorf Schools of North America
KINDERGARTEN
FARM & FOREST PROGRAM
In our Kindergarten class, every day is an Outside Day. The children hike to a different outdoor ecosystem each day of the week and experience first-hand the wonders of the natural world and its many cycles. In their forest classroom, the children's imaginations are inspired by huge trees, fallen logs, mossy boulders, and winding creeks. While exploring their imaginations, the children also build outdoor skills and become comfortable with the seasonal North Country climate.
Our teachers explore language arts orally through stories, songs, poems, and puppet plays—awakening a love of language and laying a key foundation for literacy. Sensory integration takes place through joyful movement, farm and domestic chores, and physical activities. Number sense, weight and measurement, and pattern recognition are explored through practical activities and nature-based experiences. Artistic opportunities include painting, drawing, sewing and beeswax modeling as well as seasonal crafts.
Dates and Times
September 4, 2024 - June 11, 2025
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Monday - Friday from 8:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.
(Extended care available until 2:15 p.m).
Parents may choose 4 or 5 days per week.
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Clothes
​We begin our day outside rain or shine, so it is essential for our children to be comfortable and mobile out in the elements. The children are dressed in layers that allow for changes in weather throughout the day. Rain pants and boots are a staple for our morning journeys through the dew in the meadows. In Winter, they need a warm hat, waterproof mittens, snow boots, wool socks, snowsuit, and/or snow pants and coat.
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Transportation
Bus service is available for children ages 5 and older from the Willsboro, Westport, and Elizabethtown School Districts.
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Rhythm of Our Day
Each morning we begin outside. Once everyone arrives we have a Morning Circle. This time honors the season with songs and gestures, incorporating small and large motor activities in a story form. This is a great opportunity for the children to demonstrate their understanding of spatial relationships and sensory integration.
After Circle, we help with farm chores, and then head out for our Journey of the Day. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, we stay out the whole morning until rest time.
On colder days we collect wood for a fire, work with rasps to make spoons, or string rose hips for tea and decoration.
Inside of the schoolhouse, children participate in imaginative play, domestic arts and various types of purposeful work.
With tired legs and full hearts we journey back to school and take a rest in the high meadow of the Kindergarten. We end our day with another time outside in the play yard.
Afternoon Song
by Kristie Karima Burns
I greet the noon with open arms
The sun has risen in the sky
I spread my arms just like a bird
I want to soar and jump and fly!
(Refrain)
Oh Sun…
Play with me, Sing with me,
Shine your lovely rays on me
Oh Sun….
Walk with me, Talk with me,
Dance with me so happily!
My friends and I we gather here
And make a circle like the sun
We play the afternoon away
The Earth, the Heavens and we are one.
(Refrain)
Oh Sun…
Play with me, Sing with me,
Shine your lovely rays on me
Oh Sun….
Walk with me, Talk with me,
Dance with me so happily!
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