The Curriculum

Growth and play are central.

Our Philosophy

The Heartberry Playschool philosophy is inspired by the Reggio Emilia approach. Heartberry PS core concepts to learning include:

  • The belief that children are filled with natural curiosity, bursting creativity, and a will to grow in their agency and relations with others.
  • The environment is a “third” teacher.
  • The curriculum is emergent, inquiry based, and fosters many ways of seeing and multiple ways of being.

The Reggio Approach

The Reggio approach describes the “infinite ways that children can express, explore, and connect their thoughts, feelings, and imaginings.”

The approach unites and develops all “languages”: innovation, nature, construction, fantasy, art, music, dance, building, writing, talking, signing, science, body, and soul. These multiple languages are referenced in the “Hundred Languages of Children” and are used to help children build knowledge and understand the world around them.

Our Spaces

The future classroom building that can be rented by Heartberry PS pod members. This provides the space for pods to operate up to four 4-hour sessions per day (two in the morning, two in the afternoon). The greenhouses provide additional space for learning.

Through generous local investment by the Port Townsend Preservation Alliance, the classrooms are undergoing construcion.

Benefits of the Pod Model.

  • Create a safe environment for child care
  • Support parents in sharing the load of child care
  • Foster social interactions between children
  • Provide structured, early learning opportunities
  • Promote mixed age and intergenerational connections

Heartberry PS offers a unique opportunity for parents to stay involved in their toddler’s care, while also providing affordable support that is missing from so many of our communities

– Corinne Adams, Heartberry PS Co-Creator