• Every child is capable and competent
• Children learn through play, inquiry, investigation and exploration
• Children learn and play in collaborative relationships with peers, parents, teachers and the environment
• Teachers and parents recognize children’s expressive languages, learning and play styles, and strategies
• Process is valued, acknowledged, supported, nurtured and studied
• Documentation of the learning processes acts as memory, assessment and advocacy

Theoretical Framework and Inspiration

At CHS our theoretical framework, inspiration and pedagogical choices are firmly rooted in constructivism. Constructivism is an approach to teaching and learning that asserts that people actively construct their own understanding of information—that learners combine existing information with new information such that new knowledge provides personal meaning. In the constructivist viewpoint, people build their own knowledge and their own representations of knowledge from their experiences with others, with materials, and with their environments. Learning does not occur by transmitting knowledge from the teacher, the book or rote memorization to the child’s brain; instead each competent, capable child constructs his/her own personal and valid understanding of information.

The constructivist teacher/learner helps the young learner attach to new information by finding connections to what the learner is interested in and/or already knows. This process of learning is called co-constructing information, as both teacher and learners are engaged in a reciprocal experience: the child learning with the teacher, the teacher learning about the young learner’s abilities, and meaning-making expanded, developed and transformed.

Outdoor Experiences

At Cow Hollow School we believe children have the right to a nurturing, safe, stimulating, and authentic environment in which to grow, build relationships, and make connections to the world around them. Children are dynamic, curious, and extremely capable learners inside, and outside of the classroom. Young children interpret, read, and represent the world with all of their senses.  As natural born scientists and explorers, children’s are drawn to the outdoor environment for the rich, authentic, sensorial, opportunities and endless potential for inquiry and discovery. 

 Through outdoor wonderings and wanderings children learn to:

• Develop a sense of control and competency
• Challenge themselves
• Understand the power of their own bodies, their thoughts, and their senses
• Understand how they are connected to other living, natural elements and beings (“If I eat food, water, and get sunlight, will I grow like a plant too” Sirisvati, Age 3.6)
• Understand their role in protecting living things
• Find ways to use the land’s topography to develop physical strength and coordination
• Act as stewards for their environment, their world
• Develop habits of mind related to questioning,  theory-making,  discovery,  inspiration, problem solving, and imagination.

At CHS the teachers guide children as they  ‘learn to see’, the beauty and drama of the natural world so that they my gain an appreciation for, and develop a relationship with, nature beyond the houseplant and sandbox. While in collaboration with teachers and parents, children develop limits and boundaries for staying safe, but there is no limit to what the imagination can do out there, or how the senses are stimulated. An outdoor space is not crafted, organized, and created the same ways that an indoor space is organized.  Outside children sense the wild, ever-changing qualities of the outdoors.  There is no “right way” to play outside, to use the given terrain, touch natures’ loose parts; take in scents, and sounds.

Art Experiences

Cow Hollow School’s approach to art is very intentional and thoughtful, and is guided by stages and developmental age. We are careful not to emphasize product at the expense of process, so as not to sacrifice creativity, imagination and inspiration. This process is valued, acknowledged, nurtured and celebrated. At all ages, their exposure to art is related to their learning experiences; because the children make connections to a project, their learning is visible within a context and becomes meaningful to them.

Initially, the children are presented with materials to explore; the focus is on the experience (sensory, exposure to materials, collaboration) and is less representational (not focused on the end product). Then teachers will interact with questions and observations (What do you notice? Tell me about that color you chose. I see you took materials from the other table to add to what you’re doing here.). Next, the children can take these experiences and learn (still collaboratively depending on the context) about technique: color, proportion, line, composition, balance, space, shape, etc. Learning technique gives the children tools to use to express their ideas. The teachers guide the children as they learn to “see” by playing with materials, appreciating nature, interacting with teachers and parents, visiting museums, listening to experts, and working collaboratively on projects. The valuable skills they learn during the process are captured in moments throughout the day, they make the children’s learning visible in the classroom, and they act as memory for their experience. At times their actual art projects cannot be sent home because they are part of a large, collaborative and ongoing (might take weeks or months to finish) investigation into an idea or interest. We encourage parents to come into the classroom to view and study the ongoing, growing projects and documentation of the process as it unfolds.

Throughout the year, parents are encouraged to look closely at the journal entries and to see the children’s exposure to art. Gathering, organizing and presenting project work provides opportunities for the children to revisit the experience, helps them appreciate the process of creating, and helps them understand the meaning of their experience and build upon it.

Music Enrichment

Cow Hollow School is fortunate to have, within the parent community and as an enrichment program faculty member, an extraordinary music specialist, Dr. Julia Hunt Nielsen.  Her approach to music with young children is clearly aligned with our guiding principles and play based program and is guided by the following core beliefs: 

• All children are musical. Every single one. Most often, the very young children who are labeled “musically talented” are merely those who have received the most exposure to music.
• Children learn through play. And children learn music through musical play. When young people are provided with music-rich environments and appropriate musical “toys” (i.e., the sounds of music), their playful exploration and experimentation—manipulating sounds and moving to music—lead them to discovery and understanding.
• Music should be a key component in every child’s education. Research continues to pile up that points to music’s profound influence on the brain and brain development, especially for young children. Regardless of whether a child will grow up to be a musician, the benefits of a comprehensive music education are tremendous and are becoming more and more widely recognized.
• Children’s musical experiences must grow as they grow. Through thoughtful but informal guidance in music during early childhood, children are absolutely capable of learning progressively more and more challenging musical concepts, skills, and literature.
• Children need opportunities to make meaning with music. Children learn language so they have a tool with which they can create meaning and communicate with others; the language of music can serve the very same functions. Children naturally use music when they are actively encouraged not just to imitate, but to improvise, compose, and create with the musical tools they possess.