A Serene New School Grows at Tappan Hill

The smell of fresh baked bread permeates the pink-walled room of the Green Meadow Waldorf School that recently took over the lease of Tappan Hill School. Two kids come in from the garden, their aproned teacher softly singing to them as they replace rain boots with indoor shoes. Today these two planted kale, harvested parsley, and played in a mountain of sand despite the chill and gloomy skies. Now it’s time for the puppet show.

Clearly, the Green Meadow early childhood program is special, and though the attendance is slight this year, administrators anticipate much growth to come.

“We signed the lease in early June, prepared the school in two months, and started enrolling students for September,” said Vicki Larson, Director of Communications.

Currently the school houses a small mixed-age nursery/kindergarten from 8:30am to noon, and plenty of full parent/caregiver-child classes from birth to age 3. The goal for future years is to utilize both large rooms, separating nursery-age children from kindergarten, and expanding the class offerings.

For now it’s small and sweet. The room we’re in is homey and bright, populated with all-natural materials: wood, silk, wool, cotton. The centerpieces on the low tables include moss collected from the surrounding forest, and “everything is made with care,” head teacher Karen Atkinson said. She pointed out the large wooden shapes, good for imaginative play, and giant round rug for rolling on.

Atkinson, a veteran Waldorf teacher, tends to the mixed-age nursery. Her current flock consists of Rose and Alex, and will potentially grow to four in the next few weeks. The children sit rapt as Atkinson, brimming with earth-motherliness, narrates her tale with handmade dolls and wooden horses.

Then it’s goodbye, and caregivers and parents come to collect their children, a bag of fresh baked rolls, and a bunch of parsley per kid. Katie Karpenstein, of Tarrytown, mother of Rose, was thrilled to have this younger version of the program closer to home.

“We love the school,” Karpenstein said. “I love that she plays outside every day. I really trust that they're being nurtured. They don’t stress academics so much for kids so young, they just let them play.”

Play here seems sacred, and is indeed the central philosophy of the program. Atkinson said that unlike other programs that may claim to go outside daily but truly are weather-dependent, “we really mean we go outside every day.” 

“We are building the foundation for more a formal academic learning experience that begins at a desk and chair in first grade,” she said. For now though, these kids learn loosely through a mix of imagination and practical experience like kneading dough.

“It’s really quite a joy to be doing this with these children,” Atkinson said.

Parents, caregivers, and children are invited to attend several free programs meant to introduce the public to the offerings here. Monday Oct. 17 and 24 are "Tea and Play" (kids play, parents sip tea and chat with the teacher). Saturday Oct. 29 is a "Joyful Beginnings" event, condensing a typical morning's experience at the school into two hours (registration required). Then there’s a film screening of Mother Nature’s Child co-sponsored by Green Meadow at Warner Library this Thursday Oct. 6 at 7 pm.

And if you can’t make these, Atkinson said, “just come some morning" and see for yourself.

For more information, visit the Green Meadow website. 

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