What makes Eastern Ridge different from other preschools in the area?
Eastern Ridge Nature Preschool is a nature-based and play-based learning environment influenced by the Forest School model where children spend much of their day outdoors, exploring, playing, and engaging with the natural world. Our approach nurtures and celebrates curiosity, creativity, resilience, and independence while fostering social-emotional and intellectual growth and skill building.
The heart of Eastern Ridge is our strong sense of community. We are a small school with a big heart. This means that every child and every family is truly known and valued. Our teachers are dedicated and passionate about their work; our families are engaged and connected; and our students thrive in body and spirit from the joyful and wonder-filled experiences of outdoor play-based and inquiry-based learning in an environment that cultivates respect for and connection to self, others, and the natural world.
What does “nature-based preschool” mean?
A nature-based preschool integrates our sense of place in the natural world into all aspects of learning. At Eastern Ridge, children spend most of their time outside engaging in hands-on exploration, creative play, and project-based learning in our meadows, gardens, free-form sand pits, and wooded areas. Nature serves as our classroom, offering endless opportunities for discovery, problem-solving, and connection with self, others, and the environment.
How much time do the children actually spend outdoors?
Children are outdoors as much as possible! They are typically outside from 1 to 4 hours per day during core school hours. Our Early Childhood classes spend their core school hours outdoors daily, in all weather (except for stormy conditions), amounting to 3.5-4 hours/day. Our Toddler class starts their day indoors during certain seasons, so their outdoor time ranges from 1.5 to 3.5 hours daily. Children who stay for Aftercare typically go back outside for another 1-2 hours. Naps and/or rest time are indoors.
What’s a typical day at Eastern Ridge like?
Each day combines outdoor exploration, group activities, and child-led play. Mornings often begin with free play and nature exploration, followed by a morning meeting. Children engage in hands-on projects, storytelling, art, and social-emotional learning throughout the day, emphasizing child-led collaborative play and experiential learning. Other regular weekly features include working in our vegetable garden, immersive forest days, and weekly Song Circle. Lunch is communal, and afternoons include quiet rest and individual activities based on children’s interests. See the “A Typical Day at Eastern Ridge” page for more details.
What should my child wear to school?
We provide comprehensive gear checklists organized by season, including specific product recommendations. Generally speaking, children should wear durable play clothes, sturdy shoes or boots, winter or sun hats, and weather-appropriate layers. This gear helps to keep them comfortable while exploring, climbing, and engaging in hands-on outdoor learning.
What’s your disciplinary approach?
Eastern Ridge practices positive discipline and adheres to the philosophy that challenging behaviors are a child’s way of communicating that they are struggling with something. Our job is to figure out what they are trying to tell us and then support skill development to manage those challenges better. We do this through connection, modeling, and setting clear, sturdy boundaries. Positive discipline also involves positive choices, preemptive coaching, redirection, consistency, and follow-through.
Through modeling mutual respect and learning to identify and communicate their feelings and needs, children build self-confidence, self-regulate, and develop essential social and emotional skills that support them now and in the future.
How do Eastern Ridge alums adjust to kindergarten?
Most Eastern Rige graduates transition successfully to traditional public and private schools. Parents report that their children enter kindergarten as confident, curious learners with strong social and problem-solving skills and the ability to collaborate and cooperate with their peers. While some experience an initial adjustment to a more structured setting, they adapt quickly and thrive. Eastern Ridge alums occasionally move on to non-traditional school settings, but most move on to traditional public or private schools. We have yet to encounter a family that says they would have traded the many benefits of their child’s nature-based early learning for that adjustment period.
What is character-free play?
Character-free play encourages children to create imaginative worlds rather than rely on commercialized characters from movies, TV shows, or video games. This fosters creativity, problem-solving, and cooperative play. Children are welcome to invent their own superheroes and stories, but we discourage branded character-themed clothing and toys.
Why does Eastern Ridge recommend limiting screen time at home?
Screen time can impact attention span, social skills, and imaginative play. At Eastern Ridge, we encourage hands-on, active learning and interaction with peers. Limiting screen exposure at home supports children in engaging more deeply in creative play and social connections at school.
What if my child isn’t fully potty trained?
No problem. Our Toddler Program supports children in all stages of the toileting process and considers potty learning an integral part of the curriculum. For those still wearing diapers, we ask that families provide chlorine- and character-free pull-ups so children can actively participate in upright pull-up changes. Teachers partner with parents in assessing readiness and helping children develop independence and confidence in their potty-training journey. We do require that children entering our Early Childhood classes can use the potty with minimal support, although pull-ups for naptime are welcome, as needed.
How long do children rest during the day?
Per Virginia state licensing, preschoolers must rest on their family-provided nap mats for at least 30 minutes daily. Given their active days, we offer up to two hours for napping. Non-nappers engage in quiet, independent activities (individually or in small groups), like reading, puzzles, small manipulatives, or drawing.
How do you handle food allergies and dietary restrictions?
With small class sizes, our teachers work closely with families to provide necessary attention to food allergies and restrictions. Families may supplement Eastern Ridge meals with home-provided foods if needed. We work closely with our meal coordinator to ensure our food providers deliver wholesome, allergen-conscious meals that align with Eastern Ridge’s food guidelines.
We discourage foods with “extra ingredients” like fillers, sweeteners, and preservatives. Ingredient lists are available upon request. We generally encourage children to work towards positive relationships with food and discourage supplements — even for picky eaters. We like the idea of all children learning together and experiencing positive peer pressure to try new foods!
How involved are parents in school activities?
Eastern Ridge thrives on family involvement! We encourage parents to complete 30 volunteer hours during the 10-month school year through community workdays, administrative tasks, committee participation, and other tasks that match their skills and interests. This fosters a strong, supportive school community and models the importance of community engagement for the children.
How do I know what my child is doing each day? How can I participate in the process and conversation?
Teachers share daily journals, photos, and videos via email that illustrate the group’s experiences, projects, processes, and adventures. We strongly recommend that children and parents review these daily to strengthen the home-school connection and support children’s reflection on their learning experiences.
How is the school calendar created?
Our school year typically starts the week before Labor Day and follows Fairfax County Public Schools for most holidays and breaks. Teacher workdays and parent-teacher conference dates may differ, but we provide advance notice for planning.
Do you take field trips? If so, do you provide transportation?
Yes! We take two kinds of “field trips” at Eastern Ridge regularly. Each week, the children visit one of two places: 1) “Far Away Hill” is a wooded section on our property to which the children hike for five minutes and spend time exploring “the woods;” and 2) Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts, where the children (depending on the class program, ability, and time of year) spend a few hours to most of the day hiking and exploring this incredible national park. These field trips happen on separate weeks.
Eastern Ridge does not provide transportation. Families are responsible for driving children to and from field trip locations. We encourage carpooling to make travel easier for families.
What kind of training do your teachers have?
All staff meet Virginia’s licensing requirements and complete at least 16 hours of continuing education each year. Our staff undergo a rigorous hiring process to ensure their dedication to meeting children’s developmental and emotional needs.
We also provide in-house training and support in addition to outside courses on key topics relevant to our school, such as classes and certifications offered by the Association for Nature-Based Educators, Early Childhood Investigations, and Penn State Extension, among others. Staff are also trained in CPR, First Aid, Medication Administration (MAT), Daily Health Observation, and mandated reporter training in recognizing and reporting suspected abuse and neglect cases.
What emergency preparedness training do teachers have?
All staff members are certified in CPR and First Aid, and each class has at least one teacher certified in medication administration (training). We also conduct regular emergency drills (fire drills, shelter-in-place, and lockdown) and maintain clear safety protocols to ensure children’s well-being. These procedures were created in consultation with local fire and law enforcement agencies. They are reviewed annually by all staff and are the basis of ongoing discussion throughout the school year.
What’s the difference between the school year and summer camp?
Summer camp extends our nature-based philosophy into weekly sessions led by our year-round teaching staff. The daily rhythm and routines are the same as during the school year (except for our Toddler Program, which adopts a more fully outdoor schedule like our Early Childhood classes).
Enrollment runs week to week, which means there is some variation in class make-up each week. Morning snacks and lunches are brought from home, and we suspend our field trips to Wolf Trap.
Summer Camp is easy-going and full of simple “old-fashioned” fun and learning, often centered around what is growing in the garden, lots of sensory art-making, and what feats of imagination and ingenuity are springing up in our large, water-infused sand pits!
Do you apply sunscreen and bug spray?
We do! We use KINeSYS 30SPF and Buzz Away bug spray, free of parabens, PABA, preservatives, alcohol, oil, fragrance, and DEET. However, we ask parents to apply their own before arrival each day, and we will reapply ours during the school day to ensure your child is well protected.