The Campbell Reporter

Education

Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer

Sunnymont Parent Co-op Nursery School director Tinka Niedermier plays with children on a tire swing. The parent participation school was established in 1954 and serves children ages 18 months to 5 years and 11 months.

Sunnymont's hands-on learning makes going to school fun and educational

By Emilie Crofton

It's after Halloween but pumpkins of all colors, sizes and textures are strewn around Campbell's Sunnymont Parent Co-op Nursery School, where the holiday vegetables aren't just for decoration but are used as educational tools.

Emphasizing parent participation, Sunnymont Parent Co-op Nursery School, at 771 Waldo Road, is a hands-on learning environment.

"We pay attention to how children learn, not how adults think they should learn," says Justine Saffir, co-director and teacher. "We teach children academic skills through their play."

The school was established in 1954 for children ages 18 months to 5 years and 11 months. The nursery school grew out of the grassroots effort of parents who wanted a more hands-on curriculum. Today the school has about 60 students, with one parent or teacher to every five students.

Alumni parents like the school's philosophy so much that it has led to the creation of a number of parent-participation elementary schools, including Village, Christa McAullif Elementary and the Mulberry schools.

After Halloween, Saffir brought in dozens of pumpkins that are being reused in a variety of ways.

As the pumpkins mold, they become a tool in explaining the cycle of life. They are used in art projects as a way to teach students about shapes and colors. It's all part of the school's hands-on educational philosophy.

"The school is an oasis of childhood in the heart of Silicon Valley," Saffir says.

In the classroom there are numerous learning stations. Children are free to roam from activity to activity, which include a science area, a writing center and a children's library.

Allison Fox, a parent at Sunnymont for the past five years, says, "My son was comfortable here the second he stepped into the classroom, which wasn't the case anywhere else."

Teachers and parents say the school's philosophy helps students leave with increased confidence, problem- solving abilities and critical-thinking skills. According to the instructors and parents, the students enter first grade emotionally and socially prepared.

Leslie Hammer, a parent at the school, says she tried the more traditional nursery schools but it was Sunnymont that helped her 2-year-old son Evan.

"Evan dealt with separation anxiety, but it was here that he learned to trust other parents," Hammer says. "He's much more confident and interacts more with other children."

Saffir admits it can be tough sometimes for teachers when parents are always in the classroom, but the positives outweigh the negatives.

"It can be like teaching in a fishbowl," says Saffir, a 12-year instructor at the school. "But together we can really make magic for the kids. We get the sense that we're truly making a difference."

The environment proves beneficial not just for the students but for the parents, too.

"Here parents can share the trials and tribulations of parenting and know that they aren't in it alone," Saffir says.

As part of the commitment to sending a child to the co-op, every month parents must attend adult education programs to learn more about child development, positive discipline and ways to further their child's learning at home.

Hammer says the program has proven itself to be beneficial in just a short time.

"We've been here for less than one month but I have more tools as a parent," she says. "It also gives me ideas of things to do when we're back at home."

According to Saffir, the school's philosophy has generated interest even at the middle and high school levels. Parents working on approval for South Bay Preparatory, a charter school, have based the foundation of their curriculum on many of the co-op's hands-on learning principles.

Saffir says Sunnymont is currently looking for a new site because the school, which is renting from Canyon Heights Academy, will lose its lease at the end of the school year in June.

Sunnymont Parent Co-op Nursery School will have an open house Jan. 26 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. or families can visit the school during on Feb. 4-6.

For more information, visit the school's website at www.sunny mont.com