A Memorable Year at Rivendell Preschool!

/in

Another memorable ‘Summer in City’ at Rivendell School concluded last Friday after the last sprinkler day was enthusiastically enjoyed by all.  Built on the continuity of familiar spaces, teachers and old friends, summer school at Rivendell is the just right combination of well-known and new experiences.  Children who will return in September have had the advantage of getting to know other Rivendell teachers, new friends and, in some cases, a different classroom, all while exploring ocean creatures, insects, creative and challenging classroom work, growing vegetables in the backyard with Brigitte, making ice pops and sandwiches, singing with Adam and extending the experience of joyful community throughout the summer with their teachers.

The school year was a very memorable one, too.  Teachers and children, along with SEITS and related service providers, worked together to create an inclusively powerful early childhood experience for the benefit of all.  The children learned about themselves, about how to think and care about others and the environment, gained competencies across developmental domains and celebrated strengths and goals together, truly the Rivendell School mission in action!

As always, parents made powerful contributions to our successful year, too.  They visited to share birthdays, brought family celebrations to life in our classrooms, volunteered to coordinate the CHIPS snack bag project, organized family gatherings at school, in the park and at the carousel, thanked teachers for their dedication, held the annual cheese tasting event to benefit the SEIT program and produced yet another successful auction to benefit the Scholarship Fund.  Rivendell would not be Rivendell without their spirit and partnership.

We’re poised to welcome many families back for another Rivendell year in September.  We’ll miss those families who will be moving on and trust they’ll keep in touch! They will always be part of the Rivendell family!

With warm summer wishes,

Katy

Summer in the City @ Rivendell School

/in

Another amazing season of Summer in the City @ Rivendell School is already underway! Just take a look at these beautiful photos of children relishing in the sprinklers and water play on the roof or engaged in indoor work and play in our beautiful, air-conditioned classrooms.

Rivendell’s Own Katy Hill Featured in NY Family’s Ultimate Guide to Schools

/in

Katy Hill, Executive Director
Since 1999, Katy Hill has held a variety of positions at Rivendell School including classroom teacher, SEIT and Preschool Director, leaving her well prepared when she became Executive Director in 2014.  Educated at Brooklyn College and Teachers College at Columbia University, Katy is committed to Rivendell’s mission in support of the very best inclusive education for her preschool students.  Parents agree, she provides expert developmental guidance and oversees a warm, welcoming environment for children and families!

 

We’re featured in New York Loves Kids’ Comprehensive Guide for Families!

/in

New York Family’s Ultimate Guide to Schools 2024 is Out and We Made the List!

/in

Lessons From the Growing Connections Garden:

/in

Reflecting on our Growing Connections this past school year, I want to share what is behind “gardening” here at Rivendell. First, our school community is lucky to have a garden and a greenhouse in our urban setting. It is a place full of wonderment that sparks questions, surprises, and appreciation for beauty in our environment.

It is a place of growing together. As our children go through physical and emotional changes during their school years, we can relate many of their feelings to lessons in the garden. Children need new clothes as they might get too tight as they grow. When plants grow, they need to get transplanted into bigger pots, as the roots need more space. When children move on to a bigger school, we connect that with our butterflies. We release them in the garden when it is time for them to move on.

Our garden is also a place of inclusion. Everyone can come to the greenhouse when they are ready. Transitions can be tricky for some children; the trip there may be overwhelming. I work closely with classroom teachers and SEITs so every child can be successful in Growing Connections. Groups are small, and there are few distractions in the greenhouse. It is also wheelchair accessible. As children learn about what a plant needs to grow, such as soil, water, and sun for light and warmth, they learn about caring for the plants and what that means. We talk about fairness. Every seed and plant can grow into something beautiful if we treat them with care equally. We count while we water. After the children reach number three, they move to the next plant to share the water among all the plants.

Most importantly, the garden brings our Rivendell community together. Every classroom participates in collecting food scraps and adding them to the food compost tumbler. This year, the school effort is evident as we are rewarded with beautiful and nutritious soil. Next spring, the children will use it to fill many pots, plant seeds, and produce another beautiful garden.

Brigitte Yohe

Growing Connections Teacher

📚📚We’re excited to announce that next week is Rivendell’s Book Fair!📚📚📚

/in

The Book Fair is a wonderful way for Rivendell families and friends to fulfill teachers’ wish lists of books to add to the classrooms.  This year, Rivendell has partnered with Cobble Hill-based bookstore Books are Magic, and the Book Fair will take place entirely online from Monday, March 14th to Friday, March 18th.  Books are Magic has created a special website for Rivendell with all of the teachers’ requested books.  Families and friends are invited to shop using the code “RIVENDELL20” – feel free to not only shop for books for the classroom, but for yourself as well.  As an added bonus, 20% of all proceeds purchased with the special code during the Book Fair week will be donated to Rivendell!

The Details:

When: Monday, March 14 – Friday, March 18

Where: Books are Magic (https://booksaremagic.net/young-readers/rivendell-school-fair)

How: Use the code “RIVENDELL20” at checkout when you shop!

First CHIPS Food Drive of the School Year!

/in

The first fall Food Drive for CHIPS (Community Help in Park Slope) was a wonderful success!  Rivendell families contributed granola bars and individual servings of milk or water, which were counted and packed by our preschoolers in ‘take away’ bags that they decorated in their classrooms at school.  We deeply appreciate the opportunity the Food Drive offers parents and teachers to talk with our young students about ways to support others who don’t have enough.  It’s all in keeping with the Rivendell belief that learning about others and learning to think about and accept our differences and similarities, has lasting benefits for everyone. This lies at the heart of our firm commitment to each other and to inclusive Montessori education.

New Friends From Halfway Around The World

/in

It was a pleasure to host a visit from the teachers and some of the students from The Inclusive Outdoor Classroom, a program based in Malaysia.  Our colleagues at the Maple Street School organized the visit to Rivendell and the group was accompanied by Maple Street Assistant Director Peggy Francois.  We enjoyed a lively tour with lots of opportunities to share thoughts about our Montessori philosophy and shared mission of inclusion and answer questions about Rivendell Preschool as well as our CORE, evaluation and special education itinerant teaching programs.

Here’s a photo of our visitors with Peggy Francois and Rivendell’s Director, Katy Hill.

Planting the Seed of Kindness at Rivendell School

/in

This article originally appeared in the Brooklyn Paper on June 15, 2018.

https://www.brooklynpaper.com/stories/41/25/biz-rivendell-school-in-gowanus-2018-06-15.html

 

BY CAMILLE SPERRAZZA

It sometimes seems that Rivendell School, for children ages 2–5, is the best-kept secret in the Gowanus area.

The beautiful, modern building is an inviting environment, surrounded by restaurants, coffee shops, and gardens.

The school has its own garden, too, tended by the children. It’s all part of Growing Connections, the hands-on program that allows the children to experience planting and harvesting. They get to feel dry and wet soil. They water plants. Then, they share the fruit, vegetables, and herbs that they have grown, taking pride in seeing it all from start to finish. At the same time, they learn valuable and age-appropriate science lessons about composting, the life cycle of seeds, and how the changing seasons impact gardening. They see for themselves that soil, water, and sun are essential to growth.

Brigitte Yohe, the Growing Connections teacher, says, “Children have watched their Halloween pumpkins decompose and become soil throughout the long winter months.” Now that spring is here, “They see first-hand how the seeds left inside germinate and produce a beautiful new pumpkin plant.”

Every day is Earth Day at Rivendell, where the children collect food scraps from lunch to share with composting worms. They separate their trash into the correct recycling bins, learning at a young age to become responsible world citizens who respect the earth.

This positive environment is in keeping with the philosophy of Maria Montessori, who believed that a more peaceful world begins by nurturing each child’s spirit with kindness, compassion, and love of learning. Such activities also encompass the school’s philosophy that emphasizes the power of team-building activities.

Children from all backgrounds, and with a variety of learning styles, are welcome, as the school’s philosophy stresses the importance of learning to get along with everyone. Accepting and respecting differences among people has lasting benefits for everyone.

Rivendell offers inclusive programs that promote excellence in early childhood education. Emphasis is placed on learning designed for different levels of readiness, and the school is committed to providing support to the families that it serves. There is a generous child-to-teacher ratio in every classroom at Rivendell as well as extra support for students who need it. As a result, the school is a place where children thrive and learn together.

“Rivendell is a special place for our daughter and for us,” say Rivendell parents, Angela and Scott. “What our daughter learns from working alongside her peers has helped her become inquisitive, empathetic, and kind.”

The history of Rivendell dates back to 1977 when the pre-school opened in a Park Slope brownstone called The Children’s House of Park Slope. In 1998, it was incorporated into Rivendell School, which was founded in 1995.