An interview with Founder and Executive Director, Suzanne Gabli
What makes your school special?
Our school is a special place, for children and families, because of the outstanding teachers dedicated to young children and nature. The teachers here at Building Blocks have backgrounds in early childhood education, environmental education, fine arts, child psychology, and a deep belief that time in nature is a necessary part of growth and development for children. We provide a space for children to grow with trees, gardens, wetlands, and open space to play and wonder. In 2004, my husband Joe and I invested in our community to create a safe growing space for young children. As a child this "Land as a teacher" gave me calm and adventure while living in a chaotic world. I knew that this environment is where I wanted my children to grow and that other families would want this for their child.
Learning is child-led and teacher-supported, with children learning through play, conversation, and direct experience. This developmental approach respects everyone for who they are and encourages growth in all realms: head (knowledge), heart (social and emotional), and hands (physical).
Building Blocks Preschool has two outdoor classrooms, backs up to 5,000 acres of land, and is part of Highland Recreation Area. We have access to almost endless natural resources, including a pond, streams, prairie, forest, a variety of wildlife, gardens, bees, birds, and wildlife.
It is also unique that we have a nature-based constructivist model, offering beautiful learning environments from indoors to outdoor classrooms, inquiry, farm-to-table, and Highland Recreation Area in our backyard. Often a nature preschool may be in one or the other setting but not have all of these components available.
What is a day like at Building Blocks Preschool?
We usually spend about 70% of our day outside, Children can either play in our large outdoor classrooms or go for a nature walk to a number of locations around Highland Recreation Area. Children are greeted with thoughtful provocations, can engage in sand and water play in our large sandbox, recall familiar stories with our ever changing story walk, or build elaborate creations in our loose parts area. With the help of our teachers, the children plant and maintain impressive gardens filled with raspberries, strawberries, beans, cucumbers, as well as many flowers and herbs. This large variety of crops allows us to sample and try new things as become part of our play in our mud kitchen.
We often leave the outdoor classroom to visit Highland Recreation Area where children enjoy group time, exploration and adventure. The intention and experience varies with each visit as the seasons change and new things happen in the area. Our time outdoors sparks curiosity about science, nature, and art that are available at our nature-based school. We also have four classrooms inside. Time inside is spent in various interest areas such as blocks, art, loose parts, cooking, dramatic play, clay, observational drawing, exploration, and discovery. There are many objects from nature and opportunities to reflect and respond through art materials, blocks, and dramatic play.
How do you involve parents in the school?
Parents are involved in many ways in our school. We have volunteer opportunities such as playground clean-up, Nature Walks, annual egg hunt, Light at Night, and fundraising; parent workshops on topics such as Balanced and Barefoot, the importance of play, clay play, family picnics, parent night out, and gatherings; and classroom visits are encouraged, where families often participate in March is Reading Month, family holidays and heritage rituals, and outdoor experience together.
How do you manage risk at the school?
We work as a staff to be prepared for risk. Risky Play is discussed during in-service and regular staff meetings. We look at the value of risk and determine what the children will gain through the risk. We have taken time to evaluate situations to determine whether the benefit to the child outweighs the risk. For example, we value climbing and ensure our outdoor classroom has ample depth with pea gravel and wood chip base under all fall zones. When out on a nature walk, we lower our child ratio to ensure we have 3-4 teachers are present working with a low child-to-teacher ratio.
How do you use Highland Recreation Area as The Land as Teacher?
Give a child long enough time on the land, to feel engaged, there is nothing that they would like to do more than to talk about the stories that they heard or shared. The Environment is the third teacher. This space allows children to visit it year round. Children climb low trees, there’s a sandy jumping spot, and have space for dramatic play. A teacher will have a blanket for friends to do observational journal drawing, and often read and tell stories together here. Sticks in the woods make shelters. Sometimes we go on a two-mile hike to our Tree House. Children climb trees and these are great spaces for dramatic play and a letter search.
Do you offer extended learning opportunities?
We are also unique in including space for our alumni to return in the summer. School-age learners can unplug and reconnect with the natural world, free from the distractions of technology & screen time. Our Summer school-age programming provides a cooperative outdoor learning environment where children make choices, build, create, and grow as friends. We emphasize and integrate these traditional camp elements with our high-quality programming, ensuring that the Building Blocks Creative Art and Nature Day campers will have a well-rounded camp experience that builds memories for a lifetime. School-age learners will visit Highland Rec., Dodge 10, Huron Valley Council of the Arts, and other local hot spots in our community. Children enjoy eco-adventures and environmental education.
You have been operating longer than most nature preschools. What advice would you give to those just starting new schools?
Next year we will be celebrating our 20th anniversary. It comes with a passion for creating a wonderful environment for young children. Anything is possible with a vision, research, and collaboration with like-minded communities. I wanted a school that was a safe place for childhood. One that I often recall of Awe and Wonder in my backyard. Having a strong image of a child, parent, and teacher was an ongoing process. Trusting little by little. The heart of Learning and Teaching. Early on, we connected with Heavner Canoe Livery here in Milford, MI, and found we were both passionate about No Child Left Inside. Through our local business association, we became part of a bigger community creating Heavner Nature Connections in 2009. A reminder that nature is everywhere. With a bigger vision of a nature school, we collaborated with parents and started fundraising in 2010-2011 to create an outdoor nature playscape. Making great connections with our families inspired a movement to make great changes in our school. Making connections and talking about our nature-based vision and Rusty Keller's book Natural Playscapes gave us so much inspiration and momentum.
You can transform your outdoor space. Even in the smallest spaces, you can add container gardens and design spaces that are outdoor havens for children to explore. I recommend hiring nature educators with an early childhood background. Those who may be thinking about starting a nature preschool need to think carefully about staffing patterns, timing, and classes offered. Making learning visible is a foundational value for our school. We value reflective practice by documenting the child and their work here. This gives all partners, parents, educators, and the community to be involved with the learning process. There is great value in teachers having time to reflect on their work with each other and writing about the child's work, and presenting it to others. Building this time into the day and week is important.
It is important to realize that teachers who do this work are specialized. We have specialized training for our teaching team and collaborate with other ECE educators to grow in our practice. Teachers need to know and understand early childhood development. They have to have an understanding and appreciation for nature and the environment. There is a certain amount of grit that is needed to be able to go outside in all of the weather. Understanding the compensation and benefits needed to be competitive in education is very important.
And last but not least, collaborate & get connected to other teachers who are doing nature-based practice. We have learned so much from others. Leaders and teachers want to connect. Sometime we feel like we are in our own island. Its important to connect with others in the ECE field, teachers and leaders love to connect about classroom management strategies, best practices, trainings, outdoor gear, social emotional, and how they connect with nature. Its important to pick up the phone or email to connect. Even meeting via zoom, and the best is in-person conversations and school tours.
You can follow our program on FB or Instagram by searching Building Blocks Preschool-An Early Childhood Learning Community #natueschool #BBPre or visit our website www.BuildingBlocksSchool.com