Ijams Nature Center in South Knoxville is accepting students for its new nature preschool, which is in the middle of its first school year.
"It took a lot of planning because we needed to learn what facilities we'd need, both inside and outside to really help learning come alive for kids ages three to five," Education Director Jennifer Roder said.
"Our model is what we call a nature model, so they’re outside usually 60 percent to 70 percent of the time, but they’re also inside doing lessons and learning gross motor skills and fine motor skills. They do their language and their math lessons inside. It’s a great balance of being outside and having some great lessons inside as well."
Leslie Moore is the preschool's lead teacher. Roder said Moore's experience as a former park ranger and Montessori teacher made her the perfect candidate to lead the school through its first school year.
"When I found out about this job that combined both of those things, It seemed like a perfect fit," Moore said.
The little kids are learning big lessons. This month's theme is geology, and Moore said the kids get to experience first-hand the different rock formations by visiting Mead's Quarry.
"Every day is a field trip," Moore said. "It can be a challenge because rocks can be boring, but when you really talk about the story of the rocks and what happened millions of years ago, and they get to see and touch them, it just shows them that there's so much to be explored."
Ijams Nature Center is currently accepting students for the spring semester. For more information about tuition fees, visit Ijams.org.