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Admission & Tuition

Times: 9:30-3:30pm

Days: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday

Location: Hazelton Road Cottage Grove, Oregon 97424

Tuition: $___per month

We have space in our Kindergarten and Elementary classes. Student enrollment is limited to maintain our small class sizes and uniquely low teacher/student ratios. We are excited to get to know your family!

Apply Now

What is Forest School?

Forest schools are a learner-center approach that has proven to benefit children holistically as well as academically.

Forest schools:

  • Build confidence and resilience
  • Support mental & social health
  • Improve academic engagement
  • Develop a passion for learning
  • Improve physical wellness
  • Boost creativity and critical thinking
  • Foster a connection to nature
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About Our School

Our transdisciplinary curriculum is hands-on, with focal areas in:

  • Naturalist studies
  • Traditional wilderness skills
  • Field trips and engagement in our wider Cottage Grove community
  • Phonetic reading
  • Creative & critical writing
  • Applied math and science
  • Formal music education
  • Sistema
  • Arts & crafts
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“The secret of good teaching is to regard the child’s intelligence as a fertile field in which seeds may be sown, to grow under the heat of flaming imagination. Our aim, therefore, is not merely to make the child understand, and still less to force him to memorize, but so to touch his imagination as to enthuse him to his innermost core.”
Maria Montessori
Maria Montessori
"Nature presents you with so much amazing science, you can't help but be fascinated."
Cathy James
"If a child can't learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn."
Ignacio Estrada
“There must be provision for the child to have contact with nature; to understand and appreciate the order, the harmony, and the beauty in nature.”
Maria Montessori
Maria Montessori
"This seems clear enough: When truly present in nature, we do use all our senses at the same time, which is the optimum state of learning."
Richard Louv
“The child who has felt a strong love for his surroundings and for all living creatures, who has discovered joy and enthusiasm in work, gives us reason to hope that humanity can develop in a new direction.”
Maria Montessori
Maria Montessori
“There’s a world of difference between insisting on someone’s doing something and establishing an atmosphere in which that person can grow into wanting to do it."
Fred Rogers
"You can’t bounce off the walls If there are no walls: outdoor schools make kids happier—and smarter"
David Sobel
Play is the highest form of research.
Albert Einstein
"They're not just playing in nature, they are: Learning, creating, sensing, believing, relaxing, exploring, observing, wondering, connecting, discovering, appreciating, understanding, experimenting..."
Penny Whitehouse
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Our Mission

We focus on giving students rich and varied experiences that will help them grow holistically, love learning, and be active participants in the world.

We spend our entire day outdoors and have fun in every kind of weather. Even when we are in our 3-sided classroom we are connecting with nature through monitoring the weather and nearby birds, insects, and plants. Students build resilience and respect for the natural world.
 
Our school culture has a strong emphasis on building community. We practice active inclusivity daily, we have students of all ages in class together to benefit from having older & younger friends, and we collaborate on epic projects that everyone contributes to in their own way.
 
We also take field trips to local natural areas, community events, the library, museums, local small businesses (we gave them each cards for Love Day!). We have guest teachers from the community. 
 
Academics: As part of our holistic education, we teach reading, writing, math, and science both formally and through applications in our other activities. Formal teaching during our school week is complemented by students’ families working with them at home on activities we provide, in order to offset the time we spend on a breadth of rich experiences at school. 
 

Our Curriculum

With our decades of experience and university training, we’ve created a one-of-a-kind learning community that fosters empathy, resilience, creativity, and focus. In addition to our academic curriculum, we have curriculum featuring:
  • Music: voice, drums, piano, acoustic
  • Systema, yoga, circus arts, and dance
  • Gardening: preserving, fermenting, soil science
  • Crafting: wood working, jewelry making, pillow sewing, embroidery, leatherwork, weaving, baking & cooking
  • Fine arts: watercolor, clay sculpting & wheel, crafting wild pigments
  • Primitive skills: fire by friction, lost-proofing, debris shelters
  • Naturalist studies: biomes, ethnobotany, animal tracking, birding
  • Seasonal traditional crafts & celebrations
  • ASL & Spanish taught immersively

Flow of the Day

Morning Meeting & Game: Check in with each other, share stories, take care of our bodies so we are ready for the day.

Focus Time: Teacher directed lessons in science, geography, reading, and math. This is followed by student-choice activities in crafts and skills.

Lunch together as a community <3

Forest Camp: We set up camp in the forest or by the firepit and practice nature skills like tracking animals, making fire by friction, and basketry. This time of day also includes some intentional unstructured play in the forest.

Closing circle to review our learning and integrate our experiences.

 

On Field Trip Day, we travel to CRL for music class, Systema, and gym time. We often having outings in the wider Cottage Grove community after that, such as to the library or Branch Road Farm.

Meet the Teachers

We have a contagious passion that inspires students! We pride ourselves on being lifelong learners and dabblers in all things, so we can support students in a wide range of activities from ASL poetry to leathercrafting, from board game design to carpentry. 

Alyssum "Sprig Sparrowhawk" Smith-Carstens

Founder, Director, & Lead Teacher

  • B.A. in Social Studies Teaching with a focus on Political Science
  • Founder and Director of Frolicking Ferns Farm Preschool & Childcare since 2018
  • Instructor at Whole Earth Nature School (7 years)
  • Co-op Family Center Teacher (2 years)
  • Fluent in ASL

Also, hobby farmer, lover of adventure, and avid book reader!

Alicia "Foxfire" Rose

Teacher & Curriculum Specialist

  • B.A. in English and Anthropology
  • M.A. in Environmental Education
  • M.S. in Game-based Community Learning
  • Creator of Wildkin, a program used coast-to-coast for inspiring student engagement in outdoor programs
  • Lead Teacher at Frolicking Ferns 
  • Programs Director and Instructor at Whole Earth Nature School (2013-2022)
  • Living Earth School Instructor (2013)
  • Adams International Montessori School instructor (2012-2013)
Mallory Glasser

Teacher & Music & Physical Education Specialist

  • Studied music at a jazz conservatory in NYC
  • Has played music professionally for 20 years, both locally and in touring bands
  • Has been teaching music to kids and adults of all ages for 17 years
  • Dedicated to a daily movement practice that has included Yoga, Systema (Russian Martial Arts), MoveNat, Weightlifting, Kettlebell training and West African Dance over the years. Inspired to bring these arts to kids!
  • Passion for Storytelling, especially old tales from Europe and Siberia that have been passed down mostly through oral tradition.
Devin "Sprout" Hinshaw

Teacher & Homesteading Education Specialist

  • AAS in Sustainability Coordination & Resource Management
    Lane Community College, 2010-2012

  • Local Foods Teacher (6th grade elective)
    Lincoln Middle School 2017

  • Program Coordinator for Dirt to Dish Day Camps and Field & Forest Cooking Classes Branch Road Farm Non-Profit Cooking Collective (2013-2018)

  • Outdoor Preschool Teacher
    Little Mountain Preschool 2019-2020

  • Assistant Teacher
    Wandering Wolves Forest School (2024-Current)

  • I find joy in parenting, yoga, primitive cooking and adventures in the snow!

QUESTIONS?

For our parent handbook, to schedule a tour, or ask for more details, reach out!

 

Speak to our director Alyssa “Alyssum” Smith-Carstens at 541-743-1074.

or email frolickingferns@gmail.com