About the school:

The connection to the community and nature will play a vital role in the educational environment at Roots and Wings School. Children at Roots and Wings School will spend time outdoors exploring everyday both on site and within the community. Preschoolers are naturally curious and Roots and Wings School will provide enriching opportunities for them to be outside connecting to their environment. Roots and Wings School’s play based, outdoor experiences will improve the development of gross motor skills, attention, visual skills, auditory processing, fine motor skills, social skills (sense of community), creativity, emotional stability, and conflict resolution skills.  These lessons also include being prepared, dressing for the weather, listening to your body to build awareness of one’s self, as well as how to interact with the environment. 

 

By observing nature, children learn to build a connection to their immediate environment and community to foster positive citizenship roles in the future. Nature can be used to connect all curricula: math, science, literature, as well as physical and social-emotional growth. As the children learn to connect to nature, they will also be taught how to connect to the community through projects, events and activities that foster citizenship and community involvement.

 

Roots and Wings School uses nature and the seasons as a backbone for all curricula. We also use Blossom and Root, Heggerty, UFLI Foundations with inspiration from other supplemental materials that follow the Montessori, Waldorf, Emile, and Mason educational philosophies. These can be seen in daily routines and general atmosphere of the school. In addition to these, Roots and Wings core values are rooted in love and respect. Love and respect for individuals, groups, our school, the community and the environment.

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Our daily school flow will be a mixed age grouping with small group learning instruction, occurring at all different levels. Every child will participate in a skills check, three times per school year to monitor growth and development. Results of those will be discussed with families during a winter parent-teacher conference. Skill mastery data will be collected using a skills check benchmark sheet that was developed by owner/director/lead teacher Theresa Elliott. A written narrative will accompany the skills check as a means of interpreting and more thoroughly understanding the child's learning profile. The skills are based on Kindergarten benchmarks aligned with the state of New Hampshire's Department of Education's recommendations. As children age through our school setting from 3 to 6 years old, parents can easily monitor growth and progress over time using the same benchmark goals. 

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History: 

Roots and Wings School has been a dream of Theresa’s for a long time. As opportunities presented themselves in 2020, she decided to take the leap and pursue the opening of her own school after a 17 year career in the public school system. 

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Little People’s Depot, a pillar in the community of New Boston since 1977, had operated as a voluntary, non-profit cooperative organization. It was planning to close in June of 2020, but when the pandemic hit, LPD closed its doors for the last time earlier than expected in March 2020. The building at 20 River Road was not LPD’s original location but was purchased in 2006 to save the school. It’s previous location was being renovated into the Gravity Tavern of Molly Stark’s Restaurant. In 2006, lifelong community members Jon and Jess Willard purchased the property at 20 River Road, originally built in 1890. It was the perfect location for the new home of Little People’s Depot in the barn at the back of the property. LPD was able to thrive for 14 more years before closing its doors in 2020 thanks to the Willards. 

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In 2021, a new school began its journey at 20 River Road, bringing back a community preschool and Kindergarten.