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Community Corner

Construction Begins in Town & Country on Missouri's First Forest School

Construction has just begun on the new $2.3 million Raintree School, the area’s only Reggio Emilia-inspired Forest School.  The new kindergarten and preschool facility, located in Town & Country, will encompass 6,800 square feet of learning space with four child-centered classrooms, a large Atelier (art studio) for hands-on science and art exploration, a teaching kitchen, dining room, an outdoor piazza, a nature-based playground with a large garden, and acres of woodland for exploration and learning.  Scheduled to open in late 2013, the new school, located on Mason Road just north of Manchester, will serve approximately 70 children from age two to six.  Brandi Cartwright and Ilya Eydelman started Raintree in Ballwin in 2006.

 

“Ilya and I searched for four years for the perfect site to build our new forest school, so we could create a magical and challenging environment for young children in St. Louis County and the surrounding communities,” said Brandi Cartwright, academic dean.  “Our Reggio Emilia-inspired school offers a unique design and nurturing environment to help the children in our community thrive in ways not available elsewhere.”

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Raintree, already a Reggio Emilia-inspired school in its current Ballwin location, will be the only Forest School in Missouri.  Developed in Northern Italy shortly after World War II by lifelong educator Loris Malaguzzi, the Reggio Emilia approach is based on the principles of respect, responsibility and community through exploration and discovery in a supportive and enriching environment based on the interests of the children through a self-guided curriculum.

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Forest Schools are a type of outdoor education that uses woods and forests as a means to build independence and self-esteem in young children.  Children learn teamwork and problem-solving while exploring the complex ecosystem supported by a wilderness.  With this new facility, the school greatly increases its square footage and student capacity.  The school’s new facility will sit on 11 acres of woodland and prairie with 91 percent of the property dedicated to green space, enabling chil­dren to gain aca­d­e­mic breadth while main­tain­ing their love of learn­ing through outdoor education and project-based explo­rations. 

 

“This will be a sustainable school and we are recycling already,” said Kristy DeGuire, of landscape architect’s DG2 Design.  “Previous property owners had begun digging up boulders, but then abandoned their project.  We are using these boulders to build natural play features and an outdoor amphitheatre.”

 

“This is the perfect location for our green school because of its natural surroundings which are ideal for the school's nature-based science and arts curriculum,” said Cartwright. “We have worked incredibly hard to make this a reality, and we are thrilled to be able to share this fascinating approach with the community.”

 

The environment within Raintree will be conducive to exploration and learning, and each classroom, as well as all common areas, has a specific purpose within the learning environment.  Outside, various gardens help students learn to grow food, and inside the children will cook the food they grow in the only green kitchen in a St. Louis-area school.  Opportunities for physical education are available in the form of logs for jumping and balancing, as well as mounds and boulders for climbing.  Every element within the playground will be multi-use and encourages interaction between the children and the wild spaces around them.  There will also be a 1,000-square-foot covered outdoor play area, an outdoor amphitheatre and nature trails.  Additional green elements will include the preservation of surrounding woodlands.

 

Cartwright and Eydelman have been in the educational field for more than ten years.  Rain­tree is also a co-founding institution behind the Gateway Children’s Nature Connection, a local coalition devoted to inspiring and educating children through nature.  The building project team includes: General Contractor: Bbi Constructors; Architect: HKW Architects and Designer: DG2 Design.   For more information about the school go to: www.undertheraintree.org or call (636) 386-0900.

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