LAKESIDE SCHOOL AT BLACK KETTLE FARM
where every day is an outdoor day
Lakeside School at Black Kettle Farm is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
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 3:15 p.m. (2:15 p.m. dismissal on Thursdays)
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 head out for our Journey of the Day. The teachers pack our backpacks with our snack of the day, water, tools and other Kindergarten necessities. Each day of the week has its own site that we visit, which allows us to build forts, explore fallen trees, dig clay pits, and cultivate each site for play.
On colder days we collect wood for a fire, some days we use hand tools to create fairy furniture, and there is always a log or two to be climbed.
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During our outdoor play, the children enjoy an apple nibble. We engage in more play, and at around 11 a.m. we settle in for our snack of the day. Each day two children are chosen to be the helpers and assist with setting up our snack circle and hand out our snack to the class. Our snacks rotate between rice, soup, millet, bread, and egg and potato.
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After snack, we play a little longer, then head back to school. During the warmer months we will have a seasonal story and short rest in the barn. This moves into the school house as winter progresses. After story and rest we play in the Kindergarten yard until lunch.
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The afternoon is filled with mixed age play as the Saplings (Pre-K) children rejoin us outside after their rest. The Kindergarteners may partake in seasonal crafts of weaving, basket making, cloth dying or felting, before heading home at 3:15 p.m.
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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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