In 1992, teachers and parents in Manhattan’s East Village founded the Earth School on a dream: to create a peaceful, nurturing place to stimulate learning in all realms of child development–intellectual, social, emotional and physical. Visit the Earth School and see how that dream has flourished. Today it is a thriving community of approximately 300 children in pre-kindergarten through grade 6 and a teaching staff dedicated to the core founding values of hands-on exploration and interaction, an arts-rich curriculum, responsible stewardship of the earth’s resources, harmonious resolution of conflicts, and parent-teacher partnership.
Earth School educators believe that children have different styles of learning and flourish when their individual needs and abilities are respected. While hewing to rigorous academic standards in literacy and math, Earth School students are encouraged to explore, experiment, and even sometimes make a mess in the pursuit of their own particular interests as well as the educational goals set for them. Earth School children come from a diverse array of cultural, ethnic and economic backgrounds. Most classrooms combine two grades so that older students can thrive as guides and mentors while younger ones gain confidence in being part of a caring community of learners. This caring community comes together each Tuesday morning at a lively school wide Town Hall meeting. (Parents invited, of course.)
