ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION

  • Freedom to play, explore, imagine and connect with the unlimited natural world

  • Daily outdoor programs, through all weather and seasons, including: gardening, walking, hiking, yoga, art, music, and movement!

  • Observing and Classifying the natural world: weather, natural rhythms, plant and animal kingdoms (and their identification), animal habitats and behaviors, local flora and fauna

  • Outdoor skills: mapping, tracking, trail maintenance, fire-building, camping, and more

  • Stewardship: developing a sense of our powerful place in relation to the Earth and its living world. Learning to respect and care for nature and its resources through: sustainability, conservation, composting, and gardening practices

MONTESSORI PHILOSOPHY & MATERIALS

  • Respect for the “whole child” as an individual through social, emotional, physical, and cognitive education

  • Freedom of choice and movement

  • Mixed-age learning environment

  • Cosmic Education and teaching the inter-connectedness of all things

THE PROJECT APPROACH

  • Child-directed curriculum (influenced by Inquiry-Based & Reggio Emilia) where topics are driven by student interests and curiosity

  • Includes: research, project immersion and creative “culminating events” that celebrate our discoveries

PEACE CURRICULUM

  • Acceptance, diversity and inclusion - for ourselves and others

  • Teaching mindfulness and the values of “self-care and self-control” through: yoga, nature and animal connections, positive communication, solution-focused attitudes, and conflict resolution

THE ARTS

  • Daily experiences with art, music and movement

  • Free-choice and explorations with authentic art materials

  • Exposure to creative masters

  • Hands-on experience with musical instruments

BEST PRACTICES FOR EARLY EDUCATION

  • Green Earth embodies the nature-based professional practices for: teaching, environments, safety and administration - as outlined by the North American Association for Environmental Education

  • Our school follows the NAEYC (National Association for the Education of Young Children) standards for developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood programs

  • Our NATURE SCHOOLS (for ages 1-4) are licensed group child care facilities with the State of Montana- PV#83234 & PV#109386

RESPECT & CARE for the EARTH

GREEN EARTH is built upon a mission to support Children, Families and our Community in building connections with Nature. We offer experiences and learning programs that support others in forming their own “Sense of Place” in the Natural World.

THROUGH OUR WORK at GREEN EARTH, we facilitate Joyful Learning, Independence, Creativity & Discovery, in union with Nature. We strive to cultivate and model Peace & Respect for our Selves, Planet Earth and the infinite Others who dwell here.

WE RECOGNIZE AND HONOR the INDIGENOUS STEWARDS of the Land, Air, Water & Worldly Beings, in this place that we call home. We are grateful to the many others who have tended the Earth, cared for its creatures and inhabited these places before us.

INDIGENOUS PEOPLES have dwelled upon the lands where Helena is now situated, for over 12,000 years.  Throughout history, the Helena valley was a crossroads for many Indigenous Peoples, including the Salish/Sélish, Crow/Apsáalooke,  Bannock and Blackfeet/ Pikuni tribes.  Other tribes, like the Northern Cheyenne/Tsetsêhesêstâhase and So’taa’eo'o,  Assiniboine/Nakoda, Gros Ventre/A’aninin, and Sioux/Lakota and Dakota, traveled through this area during their seasonal cycles of hunting, trading & gathering.

WE EXPRESS GRATITUDE & RESPECT for the INDIGENOUS NATIONS for their on-going and vibrant presence.  We believe that acknowledging our Indigenous People’s history and their roots of wisdom connected to the native lands of Montana is essential for creating a more equitable world.