About Community Farm School
A Reggio Emilia-Inspired, Farm and Nature-Immersive School
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Community Farm School is a licensed, farm and nature-based preschool and kindergarten located at Clark Organic Farm in Carlisle, Massachusetts. Our school is rooted in the belief that children learn best through direct experience, meaningful relationships, play, inquiry, and deep connection with the natural world.
With an endless respect for children at the forefront of our philosophy and pedagogy, we combine best practices from current research in constructivist models, the Reggio Emilia approach, Montessori, Waldorf, David Hawkins, Vivian Paley’s storytelling and story acting, the project approach, farm-based education, nature-immersion learning, and so many more. |
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We believe educators are lifelong learners, and we are dedicated to understanding and implementing
best practice in all we do.
Our school is driven by a commitment to creating a child-led and open-ended curriculum, with teachers as co-discoverers and children as active protagonists in their own learning and experiences. At CFS, our classrooms extend beyond walls and into forests, fields, gardens, trails, barns, wetlands, and active agricultural spaces. The natural world and the working farm are essential parts of our learning environment.
Community Farm School is located on a working farm, and our property continues to be held in active agriculture. This gives children the unique opportunity to immerse themselves in the daily rhythms of farm life and to develop a meaningful relationship with the land, food, and the living systems that sustain us. Children are able to witness and participate in important environmental practices such as planting, tending, harvesting, composting, observing soil and weather, caring for plants and animals, and learning about sustainable farming practices through hands-on experience.
Our farming curriculum is woven naturally into the life of the school. Children may plant seeds, tend garden beds, harvest seasonal foods, care for compost, observe insects and pollinators, ask questions of farmers, prepare and share farm-grown snacks, and notice the ways that soil, water, weather, plants, animals, and people are connected.
These experiences support curiosity, responsibility, patience, scientific thinking, cooperation, gratitude, and ecological intelligence.
best practice in all we do.
Our school is driven by a commitment to creating a child-led and open-ended curriculum, with teachers as co-discoverers and children as active protagonists in their own learning and experiences. At CFS, our classrooms extend beyond walls and into forests, fields, gardens, trails, barns, wetlands, and active agricultural spaces. The natural world and the working farm are essential parts of our learning environment.
Community Farm School is located on a working farm, and our property continues to be held in active agriculture. This gives children the unique opportunity to immerse themselves in the daily rhythms of farm life and to develop a meaningful relationship with the land, food, and the living systems that sustain us. Children are able to witness and participate in important environmental practices such as planting, tending, harvesting, composting, observing soil and weather, caring for plants and animals, and learning about sustainable farming practices through hands-on experience.
Our farming curriculum is woven naturally into the life of the school. Children may plant seeds, tend garden beds, harvest seasonal foods, care for compost, observe insects and pollinators, ask questions of farmers, prepare and share farm-grown snacks, and notice the ways that soil, water, weather, plants, animals, and people are connected.
These experiences support curiosity, responsibility, patience, scientific thinking, cooperation, gratitude, and ecological intelligence.
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With the guidance of our educators and Farm Director and partnership with Clark Organic Farm, children build meaningful connections to farming, food systems, sustainability, and land stewardship. We believe in the importance of raising future farmers, environmentalists, caretakers, and community members who understand that the health of people, land, food, and ecosystems are deeply connected. Through daily life on the farm, children begin to understand where food comes from, why sustainable agriculture matters, and how each of us can participate in caring for the earth.
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By creating a warm, welcoming, and dynamic environment, empowering children as citizens, and supporting a community of learners, we believe children’s capabilities are endless. With a whole-child, holistic approach to development, we value and recognize children’s unique selves. We are committed to working with children and families to know ourselves, our community, our food systems, and the earth on a deeper level.
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“As we work to heal the earth, the earth heals us.”
Robin Wall Kimmerer |
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CFS is licensed by the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care (EEC). Our program number is 9116704.