Imagine your child exploring the natural environment around Sisters: the forest at the end of Adams Street, the fields and parks around town, touring the local businesses.  This is the basis for Place-Based learning.  The children develop an understanding of the place they are growing up.

The wonder and awe of watching the seasons change colors, learning about the local trees and plants, meeting the shopkeepers and learning geography are all important aspects of Place-Based learning.  Based on the work of Richard Louv, we know the importance of having children outside and familiar with their surroundings.  Place-Based learning encourages children to become familiar with everything within one kilometer from their school, A Joyful Noise, Sisters.

Intertwined with our environmental curriculum is the warm, nurturing aspects of the Waldorf influence.  Waldorf education is based on a developmental approach that believes young children learn primarily through imitation and imagination.  the goal is to educate the whole child-the head, the heart and the hands.  The goal of a Waldorf-influenced early childhood program is to promote a sense of wonder and reverence for all living things.  With science and wonder, exploration and awe, nature crafts and home skills, A Joyful Noise provides a complete education in preparation for academics needed in kindergarten.  This creates an eagerness for learning.

Our goal is to foster a love of learning and a love of the natural environment.

As the preschool children prepare to enter kindergarten, they learn letters and numbers for a successful transition to public school.  Academics begin with poetry and singing so the children become familiar with sounds and syllables.  Phonemic awareness and the love of language promotes a child's readiness for reading.  The printed word begins with the child's name written on the cubby and mail box.  Letter sound familiarity is enriched with songs and poems as well as phonetic games.