Our mission is to nurture children’s innate connection to the Earth, to themselves, and to one another through joyful, community-centered nature immersion.

Mission, Vision, Values

At the heart of our educational approach is play.

Pedagogies

Our Curriculum is informed by our 4 values:

At our school, we speak both Spanish and English—a practice that not only cultivates valuable language skills but also reflects our commitment to diversity. 

Language

We envision a world where all children grow up feeling at home in nature, proud of who they are, and inspired to co-create communities rooted in reciprocity, belonging, and joy.

Our 4 core values are Kinship, Community, Justice and Joy. We bring these values to life in every part of our school from curriculum to management to outreach. Learn more here.

Through them we cultivate reverence, reciprocity and interdependence. 

Kinship with nature is the understanding that our fellow earthlings are family members with whom we are in cherished relationship and who remind us of our belonging to a larger web of life. In her book Braiding Sweetgrass, the Potawatomi ecologist and author, Robin Wall Kimmerer, describes kinship: “Knowing that you love the earth changes you, activates you to defend and protect and celebrate. But when you feel that the earth loves you in return, that feeling transforms the relationship into a sacred bond.” We believe that maintaining this sacred bond is the most important work of our time. 

This bilingual environment lays the foundation for openness to other forms of communication.
Before children use words, they express themselves through their body. We nurture literacy in body language and introduce elements of sign language to support both expression and understanding.

From this foundation, we expand our awareness to the ways other beings communicate. We learn to listen to the languages of birds, plants, trees, and the natural world around us.

Circle time and daily rhythms are guided in Spanish, while a blend of Spanish and English is used throughout the day. Conflict resolution takes place in English to ensure clarity and comprehension.

Roots y Ramas Forest School is a forest-based, bi-lingual preschool dedicated to nurturing children’s connection to themselves, one another, and the natural world.

We believe that the greatest impact we can have on future generations is keeping children connected to Mother Earth and her creatures, knowing they themselves are part of nature too.

Our guiding belief is that Nature is Teacher. 

Philosophy

From her we understand that we are Nature - we are born of stardust, rivers flow through our veins, minerals make up our bones, and the oxygen we breathe comes from the exhalation of plants and trees.

When we play under the great dome of sky, experience the feel of the seasons, and are immersed in her soothing stillness every day, this awareness of our belonging in the web of life is enlivened and strengthened.

As this awareness becomes a part of us, it ensures we value and protect it. 

Social-Emotional Learning:
The big work of preschoolers is learning to be in community and acquiring the social-emotional skills to do so. Every interaction at school is an opportunity for children to build the skills of identifying and regulating emotions, self-awareness, conflict resolution, cooperation, self-confidence and empathy. Our low student to teacher ratio ensures we are able to provide individualized guidance to ensure a positive learning experience for all.

1) Nature Kinship

2) Community

3) Justice

4) Joy!

There is plenty of time in life to be serious. We fill up these little humans with as much joy and silliness during these years as we can. Puppets, singing, and dancing are the way we learn!