Working Outdoors With Young Children Throughout Winter
co-hosted with NINPA
This 90 min. webinar was presented on December 3, 2020.
We’ve got them outside — now what?!
We address staying active and having fun in winter while making connections to developmental domains in nature-based education. This event was co-hosted with NINPA!
Meet the panelists:
Maryfaith Decker Miller
Founder and Director of Lime Hollow Forest Preschool in NY. Maryfaith believes with all her heart in defending children’s space for joyful learning and growing, and in the power of nature-based education.
In 2014, she piloted the program, and two years later helped lead the program through the state licensing process to become the first fully outdoor, licensed preschool program in NYS. She grew the program from a one half-day/week, to a five day, full time, outdoor alternative to indoor schooling, which currently serves 34 children ages 3-5
In 2018 she led a group of parents from Lime Hollow Forest Preschool to design a Reggio Emilia Approach nature immersion program, the Forest Learning Collective, where she is the Pedagogista. This program operates three days/week and serves 24 children ages 6-15 as homeschool support. Along the way, she earned a Masters of Education in Foundations of Education with a Nature-Based Early Childhood Concentration from Antioch University, New England.
Sarah Sheldon
grew up roaming around on her family's farm land in Western Illinois before moving to the big, beautiful city of Chicago. She is passionate about supporting and connecting educators and children alike to the natural world around them no matter how big or small, urban or rural. Sarah has been in the field of Nature-based education for 12 years and is a lead nature preschool teacher at the Chicago Botanic Garden Nature Preschool. Her work, focusing on urban tools and storytelling at the Garden is featured in a book titled, “The Sky Above and the Mud Below.”
Sarah holds a BA in Environmental Studies with a certificate in Sustainability from Loyola University and Masters of Education, with a graduate certificate in Nature-based Early Childhood Education from Antioch University of New England. Sarah is the President of the Northern Illinois Nature Preschool Association and serves as an Advisor on the Natural Start Alliance’s Council of Nature and Forest Preschools.
Jada Berg
is the Director of Sweet Clover Nursery of Orchard Valley Waldorf School. She splits her day between directing the program and teaching in the Dandelion Room with children aged 2 to 3.5 years old.
She was a member of a small team that was instrumental in creating Sweet Clover Nursery in 2016, one of only three such programs in North America. Sweet Clover Nursery is a nature based Waldorf Birth to 3 program built on the foundation of rhythmical, loving and respectful care. Jada earned a Bachelor's degree in Progressive Education from Goddard College in 2001 and since then has taught throughout central Vermont. She completed her Waldorf Early Childhood Teaching Certificate for children 0-7 years old at Sophia's Hearth Teacher Education Center in Keene, NH. She enjoys mentoring and supporting newer teachers, helping them develop and expand their teaching skills
Jada’s multifaceted range of experience makes her a dynamic and creative teacher with a focus on heart-centered, respectful, progressive education that honors the unique strengths of each individual. When not in the classroom you can find Jada singing, crafting, cooking, studying herbalism, and spending time in nature.
Jennifer Olson
has worked with young children for over 16 years, both in the classroom and in museum and nature-based settings, but her passion for sharing the natural world with children, and belief in the power of unstructured outdoor play was solidified at Prairie School of DuPage. Jennifer holds a BA in Art from Illinois State University and an MA in Teaching from National Louis University. She is a certified Forest Kindergarten Teacher through Cedarsong Nature School and completed Outdoor Play Training through Okanagan College and the Canadian Child Care Federation.
Jennifer is a member of the American Forest Kindergarten Association and serves on the board of directors for Northern Illinois Nature Preschool Association. She is also a Certified Interpretive Guide, through the National Association of Interpretation, and a Growing Up WILD Curriculum Facilitator, through the Council for Environmental Education.
Jennifer looks at each day as an opportunity to get muddy, climb trees, build forts, run through the grass and PLAY!
