About our school
Willow Creek Forest School is an outdoor, place-based kindergarten for children ages 3-5 in SW Portland. The school runs for nine months, from September to June, Tuesday through Friday from 9:30am-1:30pm, with an option to add aftercare each day until 3pm.
We are located at Tryon Life Community Farm, a seven-acre sustainability education center and home to eight goats, five chickens and nineteen humans. The land is bordered on three sides by Tryon Creek State Park, where children spend part of each day hiking and playing among the old growth trees and ferns. The rhythms of the land guide each day and inspire our curriculum, stories and songs.
Daily Life at School
Students enjoy a consistent daily rhythm in which they can allow their imaginations to blossom and be immersed in the magic of the forest, while learning to be good stewards to the land and each other. The flow of the day includes: Circle Time, a hot snack provided by the school (including bread baked in our cob oven!) , crafts, story time, forest free play time and lots of singing.
We value friendship, reverence for the Earth and learning practical homesteading skills
Children learn to make plant medicine harvested from the farm and forest, natural dying, wood working and much more, all guided by songs and stories inspired by the changing seasons on the land.
The year is punctuated by seasonal holidays where families are welcome including our Salmon Field Trip, Lantern Walk, Spiral of Lights, Winter Fireside Story Time, May Day and the Last Day Celebration.
