Beginning School

In the Beginning School, numeracy develops through play and conversation. Children explore numbers and number recognition, but also the many ways that numbers, math, counting, spatial reasoning, measurement, and logical thinking are part of their world. Just as children express ideas through drawing, movement, and storytelling, they also express thinking through pattern, quantity, space, comparison, and structure. Rather than memorizing numbers in isolation, they are developing deep number sense and problem-solving skills that prepare them for later academic math.

Children tell stories as a way to make sense of their world and process what they are learning. The Beginning School uses the Story Workshop approach for literacy development. Story Workshop teaches early literacy by positioning children as authors from the very beginning. Rather than starting with letter drills or prescribed prompts, Story Workshop begins with oral storytelling, play, and symbolic representation, then gradually bridges into drawing and writing. Literacy grows from meaning-making, not from memorization. In Story Workshop, children become authors. They begin by telling and drawing their stories, and writing develops naturally from there. This approach builds strong language skills, phonemic awareness, letter recognition, and a sense that children’s ideas are important. All are essential foundations for reading and writing.

Beginning School children visit the library every other week as part of our ongoing commitment to inquiry and community connection. During our visits, children participate in a thoughtfully curated storytime led by our librarian, with selections that connect directly to current classroom investigations. These shared reading experiences invite children to listen deeply, ask questions, and make connections between text and their own emerging theories. Library time also nurtures important social competencies. Children practice patience, turn-taking, and collaborative listening within a group setting. They learn how to care for books, respect shared spaces, and see themselves as members of a larger learning community.

Science grows from children’s curiosity about the world around them. Through observation, experimentation, and dialogue, children develop the habits of scientists: asking questions, testing ideas, and refining their thinking. We focus on building deep understanding and a relationship with the world around us, rather than simply teaching facts. We see children not as passive recipients of knowledge but as capable thinkers, researchers, and meaning makers.

In our forest program, children are offered meaningful opportunities to engage with “risk” in thoughtful, supported ways. Risk invites critical thinking: “How do I keep my body safe? What is my plan? Am I capable, or do I need more practice? This feels scary — can I still try? “In a culture that often equates safety with restriction, we recognize that children have a fundamental developmental need for risky play. Rather than removing every challenge, we remain risk-aware, not risk-averse — standing nearby as children assess, decide, and grow. These low-stakes opportunities in the natural world allow children to discover their own competence, strengthen judgment, and build resilience in ways that highly designed environments cannot replicate. Time in the forest also powerfully supports sensorimotor development, strength, and coordination. Uneven terrain, climbing logs, balancing on roots, and manipulating natural materials engage children’s proprioceptive and vestibular systems while strengthening core muscles, posture, stamina, and fine motor grip — all essential for later classroom learning.

Outdoor exploration integrates the senses in rich, whole-body ways that support attention, regulation, and cognitive growth. Just as importantly, extended time in nature nurtures emotional development and collaboration, as children problem-solve, create, and negotiate together. In a time when youth mental health concerns are rising, research increasingly points to outdoor immersion as protective and restorative. We believe children must feel they are in relationship with the natural world — in community with the trees, bees, blackberry bushes, and living systems around them. Long stretches in the forest allow for awe, imagination, and deep noticing. Nature itself becomes a teacher, offering abundant opportunities for literacy and numeracy — from storytelling inspired by creatures and habitats to patterns, symmetry, and fractals visible throughout the landscape. Through this connection, children develop not only skills, but a profound sense of belonging — to one another and to the living world they are learning to care for.

An atelier is more than an art room — it is a learning studio: a space for research, invention, and empathy expressed through many symbolic languages. In the Reggio tradition, the “languages” of children refer to the diverse ways they communicate and make meaning — through drawing, clay, wire, paint, construction, light, movement, and more. Honoring these languages affirms the vast potential within each child and respects the unique perspective they bring to their community.

Our atelier is a shared environment where children engage with carefully curated materials designed to provoke curiosity, creativity, and discovery. Invitations often emerge from ongoing classroom studies and project-based investigations, creating continuity between the atelier and the broader curriculum. Play remains the authentic mode of exploration; here, children are given the time and space to dive deeply into their questions and theories. Atelier experiences are grounded in child voice and agency, allowing each learner to follow their own wonder while participating in a culture of co-learning with each other and alongside educators.

In the atelier, children are invited to get messy, take risks, experiment, and revise. Mistakes are welcomed as part of the creative and intellectual process. The atelierista, in partnership with classroom teachers, listens closely to children’s ideas and designs responsive, evolving environments that inspire new ways of thinking. The atelier functions as a working studio: materials are abundant and accessible, and the space encourages collaboration across mediums and perspectives. In these conditions, community flourishes, stories unfold, and meaningful learning — sometimes even a little magic — takes shape.

In the Beginning School, we recognize that young children are actively constructing knowledge about who they are and how they belong. Through project-based learning, children explore questions of identity and place: Where do I live? Whose land is this? What plants and creatures grow here, and why? How am I connected to the natural world? Who am I within my classroom, my school, my neighborhood, and my city?

Engaging with these questions over time creates meaningful conditions for growth. Children develop a strong sense of self, a deep connection to their community, and a lasting relationship with the natural world. Projects unfold through inquiry, collaboration, research, and representation, allowing children to revisit and refine their thinking throughout the year.

Each project culminates in a meaningful artifact — a learning portfolio that documents the child’s questions, discoveries, reflections, and growth. This portfolio not only captures academic learning but also tells the story of the child’s evolving identity, relationships, and understanding of their place in the world.

At Charles Wright Academy Beginning School, children rise to kindergarten already knowing themselves as learners through our approach that nurtures the whole child. Our forest program develops the postural strength, coordination, and stamina children need to sit, focus, and attend throughout a school day, while also building their capacity for emotional regulation and risk assessment. Our Atelier and inquiry-based classroom environments foster the intellectual dispositions — curiosity, resilience, creativity, and intrinsic motivation — that underpin all future academic learning. Children develop early literacy and numeracy foundations naturally through play, small group work, and experience, progressing through milestones in letter recognition, phonemic awareness, counting, and basic math concepts. Equally important, children build the self-management skills essential for a kindergarten classroom: waiting their turn, working cooperatively in a group, identifying and expressing emotions, solving problems with peers, and following multi-step directions with growing independence. Finally, self-care skills — dressing for outdoor play, cleaning up, and following safety routines — round out a readiness picture that goes far beyond letters and numbers, sending children into kindergarten as confident, capable, and joyful learners.