The Willows Nursery School

Blending unconventional and traditional building materials: "A treehouse for Squirrels!" #blockbuilding #dirtandweeds #earlychildhoodeducation #thehundredlanguagesofchildren

RIP Eric Carle. May your books continue to spark joy and wonder in many generations of children to come.

"I am just going to paint ALL day. That's what I will do today." S, 4 years old. Paint is one of the basic materials we always make available to children in the school environment. It's one of the "hundred" languages children use to explore, express, and know. That's why we value it so much. #thelanguageofpaint #childrenlearning #earlychildhoodeducation #sanjose https://www.instagram.com/p/CPEApeNsTIL/

"We are wrapping, so much yarn!" "Snip! Snip! I am snipping" "We can make it nature! Let's get some flowers and keep weaving them in." "Oh wow, I can smell the rosemary." We found a log in our back garden. From there a project slowly emerged . After wrapping, knotting, and wrapping some more, the children began to gather natural materials to weave through the yarn. #yarn #naturalmaterials #weaving #earlychildhood #expression #thehundredlanguagesofchildren #aesthetics

Taking a closer look at a common winter sight: "They are pointy!" "So spiky!" "It smells like a tree." "A pine cone is so tricky to draw!" #pinecones #observationaldrawing #learningfromnature #earlychildhood #texture #closelooking

The Willows Nursery School is collecting new and gently used coats for those in need in our local community. We invite you to drop off donations on our front porch between 9 am-2 pm Monday- Friday. Whether you are a current/former family or Willow Glen neighbor, we hope you will join us! #wintercoatdrive #willowglen #sanjose

The Willows Nursery school is now collecting gently used and new coats for children and grown-ups in need in our community. Please drop off your donations on our school front porch from now until December 15th. Thank you so much!

"It's a half dinosaur, half robot." J, 4 years old. #recycledmaterials #studiothinking #childrensart

The rich sensory world of paint! #paintingwithchildren #earlychildhood #colormixing

The children are busy prepping the beds for our fall/winter garden. We asked them, what should we plant for winter? Some of their suggestions: Carrots and peas Broccoli and celery Dancing tomatoes Grapes... And chocolate! #wintergarden #gardeningwithchildren #edibleschoolyard #outdoorclassroom See more

What pattern will you create? Exploring counting and patterning with collected materials from nature. #earlychildhood #learningfromnature #loosepartsplay

Two of our children spent some of this first day of fall picking tomatoes in the "tomato forest." After gathering as much as they could reach, they brought their harvest back to the whole group to share. #gardenlearning #tomatoharvest #edibleclassroom #earlychildhoodeducation

"Look how high my treehouse is! I just need 2 by 2 to make it tall. Blue by blue, then red by red." L, 4 years old. "It's a pattern. Look how high it is! How do you feel? You could say proud?" A, 4 years old. #kaplablocks #blockplay #smallgrouplearning #investigation

I think when we fragment our day, we fragment children’s thinking. I think when we ask them to follow only our agendas, they lose sight of their own and don’t ...keep that fire that I see burning in children invested in a project. Pam Oken-Wright Innovations, vol.5, no.2, p.4 . #NAREA #northamericanreggioemiliaalliance #reggioemiliaapproach #reggioapproach #reggioinspired #reggioemiliaprofessionaldevelopment #innovativeeducation #earlychildhoodeducation #innovationsinearlyeducation #innovations #nareainnovations See more

A "Cream Cookie Candy Centipede" to brighten your day. L, 4 years old. #thehundredlanguagesofchildren #earlychildhood

While we are thrilled to be back to school, we feel the impacts of these fires. Our hearts go out to all affected by the many, many wildfires burning throughout our beloved state-- and especially to those who have lost loved ones, homes, and livelihoods. Thank you to Cal Fire and all of the helpers keeping our community safe. #willowglen #sanjose #thankyoucalfire #lookforthehelpers

The Willows Nursery School features in the current issue of Innovations in Early Education: The International Reggio Emilia Exchange. We can't wait to get our copy!

The language of painting: "This is a sea star on a rock and this is a butterfly fish and a clownfish and a lionfish and a horseshoe crab and a sunfish. The clownfish is a pattern-- black, white, orange." #lookclosely #observationalpainting #color #earlychildhood #studiothinking

We have a few 5 day spots available for the upcoming school year. In order to keep our community safe, our program will take place entirely outside and will make special use of our beloved outdoor learning environment, complete with garden and open air studio. Please pass this along to anyone who might be interested to learn more. We look forward to hearing from you! #earlychildhoodeducation #outdoorlearning #outdoorclassroom

The children have grown quite enamored of our two regular hummingbird visitors, Willow and Pillow. #hummingbird #observingnature #natureplay #thehundredlanguagesofchildren @ The Willows Nursery School

"Is it a moth? Is it a butterfly? I thought it was a moth but now I think maybe it's a butterfly. I hope it doesn't have sand on its wings. If you get sand on the wings, it could die. And I don't want to kill a butterfly." R,. 4 years old. #childrensvoices #earlychildhood #spontaneousvisit

"This is a school bus. This is The Willows School bus with the willows letters. Let's build one so we can go on field trips to the aquarium when coronavirus is done. It can be big so we can all go inside." #painting #coronavirus #childrensvoices