South Hill
Children's School
A small school with big ideas
Learning Through Play
At South Hill Children's School, Families, Children, Teachers, and best practice matter! We know and advocate for young children's right to play and believe without a doubt that children's play is important. Rarely will you see a teacher providing direct instruction, rather teachers are on the ground playing with children, observing closely their interests, questions, and problems they are working to solve. Projects emerge based on the children's play, teacher and children's reflections, and through collaboration. The learning that happens is observed and documented by teachers and then later made visible to parents. About once a month, Parent Meetings are held. These meetings give the adults in the community an opportunity to hear about what the children are expressing, the problems they are working together to solve, and the kinds of personal and social skills that are being developed.
The Community
South Hill Children's school is a preschool for children three to five years of age. To be eligible to apply for the 2023-24 school year, children must be three years of age by August 31st, 2023. The classroom is a mixed age group with three-year-olds attending for their first year, and four-year- olds returning for their second year. School starts each day at 9am and there is an early care option from 8am-9am. Children attend either three, four, or five days a week depending on availability and need.
Schedule
8am-9am: Early Care
9am: Morning Meeting
9:15am-11:35am: Open play indoors or outdoors/ project time
11:45am-12:00pm: Closing Meeting
12:00pm: Dismissal
The Classroom Environment
South Hill Children's School is located in the lower level of a home on Spokane's South Hill. There is a small indoor classroom with room for class meetings, spaces dedicated to collaborative play, an art studio with a "Makers space" feel, filled with high quality tools and materials to be used by the children. Equally important is the school's outdoor environment. The learning that takes place outdoors is followed just as closely as the projects taking place indoors. The outdoor play area is huge and has undeveloped sections, a garden area, a large play structure, a basketball court, and a castle wall-the result of a year long project that grew from the interests and hard work of the children and families in the school's first year.
Applying to SHCS
To be eligible to apply for the 2023-24 school year, children must be three years of age and fully potty trained by August 31, 2023. If you would like to apply we ask that you first come in and tour the school. To set up a tour, please e-mail southhillCS@gmail.com.
South Hill Children's School Team
Carrie Little
Founder and Early Childhood Educator
Carrie Little is a passionate Early Childhood Educator and advocate. She has been teaching and learning in high quality early childhood programs for the past twenty years. Carrie is highly inspired by the schools of Reggio Emilia, Italy. It is important to her that Children are seen as important, valuable members of society and that their work and ideas be taken seriously. Carrie received her AS degree in Early Childhood Education and then earned a BA in Early Childhood Studies (EC and EC special education, birth through grade 3.)
Ally Karr
Early Childhood Educator
Ally has developed a passion for Early Childhood Education from an early age. She has seen what a quality, play based education can do for children and strives to bring that here to South Hill Children's School. Ally grew up in Boise, ID then moved to Spokane to attend Gonzaga University and earned a B.A. in Developmental Psychology, She then went on to gain her Master's of Education from Eastern Washington University.