A Morning in Treetops
It is a busy morning in Treetops. Baking day. Two children are milling grain for flour. Three are mixing and preparing the dough. Others are tying one another’s aprons, sprinkling flour on the table, and oiling baking pans. Once the dough is prepared, it is shared out and we all knead, roll and shape in unison. There is a flow and everyone has their part. While the buns are baking, some children are helping to prepare the bonfire where we will all sit to eat together later in the morning. This is a scene in all our kindergartens on baking day.

What Makes Treetops Unique
Treetops is kindergarten, elevated slightly to meet the needs of the eldest children. Where the teacher might “do”, as is appropriate, for the youngest children in kindergarten, the Treetops children “do” for themselves in all areas. We are educating the will through repetition, lengthy projects, robust movement, and age-appropriate expectations.

Movement-Based Learning
In addition to clear speech and articulation, songs with lots of repetition and rhyming, and puppetry with much repetition, our pre-Class 1 literacy and maths are taught through movement, movement and more movement!
Because Treetops consists of older children who are more physically developed, we can engage in ringtimes that are longer and more involved than those that may suit the younger ones. Our ringtimes occupy all spatial directions – above, under, around, through, between, up, down, inside, outside, over - fast, slow, loud, soft, etc.
Lengthening each week, building in challenge over time, introducing unexpected changes in order or rhythm and new surprises – all strengthen memory forces, tied to the will, as well as resilience.

Stories & Puppetry
Treetops stories are longer, more involved and require real attention from the children. We incorporate puppetry with much repetition, moving the story from left to right. This provides proper left to right movement and development of following sequences, imagination and memory. Children may help to move the puppets, as well, and bring storytelling into their play. Puppets may be made by the oldest children. Rhythmic time often incorporates dramatic enactments of stories heard in class”.

Long-Process Projects
Treetops children have long-process projects that take at least a couple of months to complete requiring real sustained effort, once again strengthening their will forces and resilience.