Hola!
We are excited to announce that we are partnering with Bilingual Birdies to bring Spanish and French into our schools weekly rhythm.
Using puppetry, live music, stories, instruments and movement games, learning about different cultures and languages couldn't be more fun!
We are a A Waldorf inspired nature and play based curriculum for ages 3-5,
Mon-Thurs
in West Asheville.
Additional programming:
Squirrels Nest 1:05-3pm
Mon-Thurs
Meet Mrs. Jenny
and Mr. Joel
We believe in providing a strong early childhood foundation with an emphasis on the healthy development of social/ emotioal skills. empathy, problems solving and positive peer relationships.
"One of the best parts of our move was finding Little Acorn preschool. It’s everything I could want for my children’s early learning - a Waldorf based curriculum focusing on connection with nature, rhythm, art, imagination and outdoor play. Little Acorn is a warm, peaceful, nurturing environment for these little ones and it warms my heart every single time I walk through the front door."
Mama Kira Starhill Smith
Children find something magical here every day!
Dear prospective families,
It is hard to put into words the feeling of community and care that Little Acorn fosters for 8-12 special families each year! You just have to be here to experience it. But let's try... Little Acorn offers a sacred learning experience that fosters a true sense of belonging and support for both children and their parents. We believe in the importance of providing families a safe and health-giving place for their child to learn and grow.
Our school is a wonderful fit for those that want to be part of a small school community with families that strives help create and maintain a healthy school community and a healthy home life.
Crafting a community of families that are not only the right fit for our school but the right fit for each other is part of our school mission. "Lasting friendships between the parents and the children just seem to naturally happen here." I guess you could call Little Acorn a matchmaker of sorts :).
A school is really nothing without the solid community of teachers and the families that make it!
With excitement to meet you,
Team Little Acorn!
OUR MISSION...
Our mission is to offer a sacred learning journey that fosters a true sense of belonging and support for 8-12 children a day, and their parents! This is what it truly means and feels to be part of a meaningful community! We strive to be 100% present for your child! Little Acorn has a total of 8 children and 2 teachers per school year. With a ratio like this we can honestly BE 100% present for your child! We strive to provide impeccable modeling and encourage healthy and joyful learning experiences for each child. We work hard to honor every child's whole being; head, heart, and hands.
OUR 4 DAY PROGRAM PHILOSOPHY...
As experienced educators we firmly believe in the 3 R's of early learning: Relationships, Repetition, and Routines.
We offer only 4 day programing to best support those 3 R's. Children need a consistent daily and weekly routine to develop a deep sense of belonging to their class of peers, comfort in their environment and confidence in their ability to anticipate and participate in daily transitions and activities.
In past years, we offered 2 and 3 day enrollment options. But going 4 to 5 days without seeing ones new friends, participating in our daily rhythm, retuning sooner to that wonderful game they made up or missing out on bread or happy soup day just didn't support the 3 R's and it certainly did not feel consistent. In fact, what we saw was that those 2 or 3 day attending children didn't pick that game back up, they didn't enter into deep imaginative play as much as the children that attended 4 consecutive days, and they totally missed out on bread or soup day!
We firmly believe in giving each child the right amount of time and consistency to develop a deep sense of belonging to their little class family, to develop a deeper sense knowing and ease in transitions and activities and to dive deep into imaginative play with one other.
We are not an academic focused program (math, reading, writing). We are a nature, play and learning how to be a good, kind and empathic human focused program that nurtures the soul of each child. Our Waldorf inspired beliefs on the physical development of children informs our daily activities and engages each child's physical, social and mental growth while building a strong foundation for later, academic learning to stand firmly upon. Our mixed age program also provides the opportunity for littles to have helpful older friends to look up to, and for older children to lead by example and thats just a plus.
WE ARE NATURE AND PLAY BASED..
Our magical play yard with its little bamboo forest, play structure, balancing logs, swings and our cozy outdoor classroom provides the perfect, safe, inspiring and nurturing environment your child needs and deserves as they learn and grow. Little Acorn is a safe haven for children to socialize, connect with nature, art, language, music, and movement. Did I mention our play yard is epic :)?
We are not an academic focused program (math, reading, writing). We are a nature, play and learning to be a good and kind human focused program and that nurtures the soul of each child.
WE ARE INSPIRED BY THE SEASONS....
Our daily and monthly rhythms and activities observe and honor the changing of the seasons. Our activities speak deeply to the whole child. Head, heart and hands! Painting, drawing, crafting, weaving, balancing, building, chopping vegetables for our weekly vegetable soup... Dailey activities engage both fine and gross motor skill. Long outdoor and indoor play times allows children to engage in deep imaginative play and connect with nature. Our Circle time is rich with song, movement, and language, while story time is a time to practice deep listening and quieting ones self to live into the magic of a fairy tale, nature story, puppet show or play.
There's no better feeling for a parent than knowing your child is in good hands. Jenny was my daughter's teacher for a few years during the important formative years. Everything from the way Jenny spoke with her class to how she told stories and performed the activities for the day as the class went from one mode to another was so deliberate and full of care.
-Jeff Agostinelli
OUR DAILY RHYTHM
9:00 .a.m. Arrive
9:05-9:30 Morning Activity 3 days a wk
(Bilingual Birdies, Bread Making, Chopping veggies for soup day)
9:00-10:30 Outdoor play
(Painting, drawing, clay shaping and seasonal crafts are woven into the play times of our days)
10:20 Bathroom time
10:30 Circle time
10:50/11- Lunch
11:30 Story time / puppet shows
11:45 Outdoor or indoor play
12:00 potty time
12:50 Closing verse
1:00 p.m Pick up
ALL NATURAL & ORGANIC MEAL PROGRAM...
Monday: Brown Rice w/optional toppings of carrots, nutritional yeast, seaweed, tamari.
Tuesday: Oatmeal w/ optional toppings of pecans, raisons, chia seeds, cinnamon sugar & apples.
Wednesday: Bread making day. Children help make and bake bread. Optional toppings of nut butter and honey.
Thursday: Happy Vegetable Soup. Families contribute veggies for our soup and the children help chop the veggies with the teachers.
FESTIVALS, FAMILY DAYS, FIELD TRIPS & A SUPPORTIVE COMMUNITY...
Little Acorn School has several festivals over the school year where the children and families gather and celebrate. Family days include pot lucks, family clay day where children and parents create with clay, watch a visiting ceramics artist work on the clay wheel and try out the wheel themselves. All the creations are glazed and fired.
We also strive to visit lots of local farms, forests, and parks during the more friendly months of Fall, Spring and early Summer. What could be more fun than spending the day visiting a favorite farm animal friend, exploring a nature trail, dipping your toes in a creek, creating a beautiful nature craft, or exploring a forests garden....
On days like these children bring a snack and a lunch for a picnic, and a healthy sense of adventure!! We encourage parents to join! Just a few of the local farms and forests we visit include Goodyacre farm, Hickory Nut Gap Farm, The Botanical Gardens, strawberry picking, the fire station, Animal sanctuaries, the Nature Center, the Arboretum....
Little Acorn strives to uniquely support each parent too! Inquire about our Swap and Save clothing swaps, and Friends of the Forest program. We are working on our Big Acorn Enrichment programs and hoping to provide some wonderful art and cooking classes for children 6+ years of age and workshops for both parent an child to connect. Stay tuned!
