We are a community to the extent that we share common ground.  Surrounding us and flowing
through us, nature is our common ground.  Nature is inside and outside.
Friends with Nature offers
a curriculum that actively engages learners in observing and exploring nature both within and
without.  Projects are collaborative and meant to have community presence and impact. Particular
attention is paid to the wild and native plants and animals as members of our community and are
readily available in our outdoor classrooms held in Community Gardens.  Curriculum objectives are
to expand awareness of what it means to be a friend, of what it means to be in a community and to
foster a sense of reciprocity and sustaining relationship with our environment. Lesson plans follow
the seasons:  Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall
  Natural Learning Curriculum
Friends with Nature
Social, Environmental, Science, Art

Our earliest ancestors looked into the natural world for signs that would give them information
about what had happened in the past and to predict what might happen in the future.  Survival
depended on it.  Needing to share information, they began by copying lines and shapes found within
the natural landscape to make the marks and maps which became the first alphabets. Literacy is
about communication: it is about “speaking” and “listening” through the use of marks or
representations. As civilization became more complex the ancient alphabets, which depicted real
things, developed into letters which stood for sounds.

Early age learners are naturally very curious about the world of real things.
Landscape to Language
directs learners to follow with brush, pencil and pen, the horizontal, vertical and spiraling lines we
see in nature.  
Landscape to Language associates the tools of literacy and fine motor development
with an engaged imagination, self expression, and a confident use of voice and hand.
Landscape to Language
Literacy, Math, Art

Infancy is a process.  During the first year, identifiable patterns of spontaneous movements
appear but, unknown to most, these movements have objectives, each pattern builds on the one
before with a purpose: to bring the infant to vertical mobility with maximum freedom for
intentional movement. The ability to move through dimensional space, the ability to use tools,
the ability to use language and the whole internalization of the outside world into what is called
mind is conditioned through the infant's experience of these patterns of movement. Though the
patterns are innate and universal, successful resolution into intentional mobility can be disrupted
by other factors: cultural practices, illness, the presence or absence of bonding, nurturing and
other behavioral and environmental factors. Each child is tasked with integrating the patterns
into a unique way of being. Knowledge of these patterns enable observing adults to engage
infants in ways that support their process.
Infant Learning
Gross and Fine Motor, Social and Language Development
"Growing Lines"
Storefront Gallery
Current Curriculum :Landscape to
Night Sky
Science, Math, Geometry, Art
Geometry means "earth measure"  It is an ancient branch of math concerned with questions of
shape,size,the near and the far, the positions of objects and properties of motion and space.
Modern geometry is also deeply connected to modern physics and theories of how the universe is
made. Geometry is found in art, architecture, engineering, robotics, survey, astronomy,
sculptures, space, nature, sports and much more.  Looking into the night sky, young learners are
able to identify and compare shapes and forms, discover how points, lines and shapes interconnect
and can relate to one another in wholes or in parts. Cognitive skills for science and math are
reinforced in the creativity of art.