Our Programs

Nature Playgroup

The Nature Playgroup meets weekly for two hours at Salem Lake. Our playgroup is a great introduction into our programs.

Families and children will engage in the following:

• Nature walks along the lake and surrounding area
• Exploration of the woods and creeks
• Meaningful conversations

Students will engage in play-based learning while doing the following:

• Exploring with their senses
• Working with loose parts (mud kitchen supplies, nature finds and art materials)
• Increasing their independence
• Observing and interacting with insects, animals, and plant life

Toddlers who reach 2.5 years old and exhibit the appropriate level of autonomy may be eligible to transition to our Forest Kindergarten/Nature Preschool program for the next school semester.

Forest Kindergarten / Nature Preschool

The Forest Kindergarten/Nature Preschool is a drop-off program that meets for four hours at Salem Lake. Play and learning is child-led as Learning Partners support age appropriate needs and learning interests. While following the child’s interests, we can integrate early literacy, math, and science concepts and skills. Learning Partners model curiosity while encouraging children to apply their knowledge and find answers to their own questions.

Students will engage in play-based learning while doing the following:

• Observing and interacting with insects, animals, and plant life
• Exploring with their senses
• Working with loose parts (nature finds, mud kitchen supplies and art materials)
• Building muscles and increasing coordination to help with fine motor skills (playing with natural clay, opening snack packages, fastening buttons and zippers, opening and closing velcro)
• Engaging in conversations and storybook sharing while increasing vocabularies and language comprehension skills Growing creativity, imagination and social skills during self-directed pretend play with peers and interaction with Learning Partners
• Learning self-regulation (for 4 years and above)

Child-led learning will look different depending on individual interests and needs. Age-appropriate, play-based learning supported by our Learning Partners may include one or more of the below elements:

• Early literacy in the context of nature play and nature study may include:
  • Oral phonemic awareness through rhyme games, sound blending, and initial-sound wordplay activities
  • Written words incorporated into art and mud-kitchen time
  • Print/sound correspondence pointed out in books
  • Oral comprehension skills practiced with storytelling or story acting
• Early math and science skills in the context of nature play and nature study may include:
  • Counting and comparing quantities
  • Measuring natural items with tape measures, rulers, and temperature gauges
  • Identifying plants, insects, and birds through conversation, guidebooks, and nature journals
• Gross Motor skill-building under supervision of Learning Partners may include:
  • Using tools
  • Climbing
  • Balancing

Nature Explorers

The Nature Explorers is a drop-off program that meets during a four-hour morning session or our two-hour afternoon session at Salem Lake. Self-directed play and learning is our focus with our Learning Partners supporting age appropriate needs and interests.

Depending on student interest, play-based learning supported by Learning Partners may include one or more of the below elements:

• Nature journaling, measuring and graphing while learning to identify and making observations about plants, insects, and birds
• Participating in long-term projects, nature study, and environmental stewardship activities
• Engaging in elaborate socio-dramatic play scenarios with peers that span days and weeks.
• Skill-building under supervision of learning partners may include:
  • Using tools safely
  • Building nature-friendly structures
  • Starting a fire safely
• Learning Leadership skills while helping peers and younger children
• Practicing conflict resolution skills

Nature Explorers for homeschooled children is designed to provide enriching experiences mentioned above, rather than academic-oriented study. These activities may provide them with the opportunity to apply what they have learned at home, but this may not be the case all the time.

Bushcraft

The bushcraft course is a drop-off program that meets for two-hour sessions over the course of six or eight weeks at Salem Lake. Students learn bushcraft skills that will help them gain a greater appreciation of the natural world, as well confidence in their own abilities.

Teaching methods consist of instructors leading by example, asking questions, and following the child's interest while providing opportunities to practice skills and techniques in different situations.

Students will learn the following through discussion, demonstration and experience, depending on student interest:

• Gathering and shaping local materials to meet human needs while in the woods
• Building emergency shelters
• Identifying flora, fauna, and edible plants in the Southeast
• Making a fire in different situations
• Choosing safe campsites
• Navigating the landscape
• Learning accurate track identification skills
• Skill-building under supervision of Learning Partners may include:
  • Using tools safely
  • Gathering materials for trapping, fishing, and hunting
  • Cooking techniques

An important principle of Bushcraft is to live off of the environment, yet leave it better than you found it. This is exactly what we plan to do and teach here at Piedmont Forest School.

Forest Friends

PFS Forest Friends is a 12 week playgroup designed to support and promote the socio-emotional development of children between the ages of 8 and 12 years who have difficulty making and maintaining friendships. Children will engage in nature play and stewardship, simultaneously building their connections with each other and their connection with the natural world.

Not only will they gain new knowledge and techniques but they will gain a greater appreciation of nature and their own abilities.

Features:

• Keeping Friends
• Weekly 2 hour sessions from 3:30-5:30 pm on Tuesdays with Sheri H Grace, PhD
• Predictable schedule, including whole group and small group meetings, abundant authentic play opportunities, as well as group chosen nature-science projects which may include:
  • Bushcraft, such as shelter and equipment building
  • Trail and grounds maintenance
  • Container gardening
• Welcoming of older siblings, caregivers, and 1:1 support professionals for children with high needs
• Pet therapy provided by Dr. Sheri Grace, PhD and Ava the PFS ATD Certified Therapy Dog

Children will:

• Build social skills
• Foster friendships
• Build nature connection
• Build knowledge of nature science while having fun together in the woods!

Nature Journaling

Nature journaling helps children connect with the environment.

The journal is a tool for extending our thinking and our Learning Partners will scaffold how to journal, utilizing three components:

• Observations: “What do I notice?”
• Questions: “I wonder...”
• Connections: “It reminds me of...” “How is this related?”

Summer Camps

Summer camps are a drop-off program that meets daily for four hours Monday-Friday at Salem Lake. Multiple weeks of enrollment are possible, depending on interest and availability. Self-directed play is child-led as Learning Partners support age appropriate needs. Sessions are conducted one week at a time, but in a similar format to our Forest Kindergarten/Nature Preschool and Nature Explorers programs.