What is Curious Gardeners Preschool?

Curious Gardeners is a food-education-focused, play-based, community-oriented preschool serving children ages 3 through 5 in Portland, Oregon. We are located in Southeast Portland, just south of the Woodstock neighborhood.

At Curious Gardeners, we strongly believe that every child has the right to a rich and joyful childhood. We get our hands dirty in the garden, run, climb, create art, cook, sing, dance, laugh, and engage in pretend play together. We work to inspire curiosity, build healthy habits, connect kids with nature, and foster community.

We believe that children are competent and capable of directing their own learning and are able to choose and create for themselves. Our learning happens through self-directed play with intentionally chosen, open-ended materials that allow children to exercise their natural creativity and imagination.

In a world where children’s lives have become more and more scheduled, Curious Gardeners aims to offer children a chance to slow down, take deep breaths, and connect with nature. We ensure that our students have plenty of free, unstructured time in which to invent and interact. When we come together for circle time, we reflect on our experiences and discoveries, practice simple forms of yoga and meditation, and share observations about changes in the natural world.

At Curious Gardeners, we respect each child as a unique individual and work to form a partnership with each family. We believe that early childhood experiences shape children’s ideas about who they are and what they deserve. We want to work with families to empower children to develop a sense of themselves as capable, confident learners and kind, curious, engaged community members.

Our Environment

Curious Gardeners is a certified in-home family preschool. We believe that a beautiful, homelike environment provides the sense of comfort and security that children need in order to optimize learning. We aim to be a home away from home for our students – a place where they can explore who they are as individuals and become part of a loving and supportive community.

Both our indoor and outdoor “classrooms” are intentionally set up to spark children’s natural curiosity. Our spaces provide many opportunities to investigate, manipulate, and experiment in ways that help children to build knowledge and understanding. These environments allow children to experience their agency – their ability to make decisions that have an impact – helping them to develop a strong sense of self. The spaces are designed to be flexible and responsive to children’s interests and ideas.

At Curious Gardeners, we believe in the maxim, “There is no such thing as bad weather,only inappropriate clothing.” We spend time playingoutside each and every day. Our outdoor environment is set up to encourage exploration and discovery with many natural loose parts, an extensive garden area, and a covered deck area for quieter activities or particularly rainy days. We strive to cultivate joy and wonder by investigating and engaging with the world around us.

Our school also acts as a community hub for parents and families – a place where they can connect with and support one another. We aim to make sure that parents and families always feel welcome and informed.

Meet Teacher Carly

Carly is Curious Gardeners’ founder and head teacher. She is passionate about working with young children as well as about edible gardens as tools to teach academic and life skills while connecting children to healthy food and community.

Carly grew up outside New Orleans, Louisiana, but her interest in agriculture wasn’t sparked until her family moved to rural Tennessee when she was fourteen. She worked on her first farm in high school and fell in love with growing good food and the outdoors.

Carly earned her bachelor’s degree in biology and environmental studies at Middlebury College in Vermont. While at Middlebury, she also led a service organization (NOM – Nutrition Outreach and Mentoring) that sought to build relationships between college students and the local community through food and cooking. As part of NOM, she led an after school cooking program at a local elementary school, which convinced her that she wanted her work to combine her passions for healthy food, relationship building, and working with children.

After college, Carly spent two years working with FoodCorps – an AmeriCorps program that connects kids to healthy food in school. In her first year, she worked in a K-8 school in Newark, NJ, leading garden and kitchen-based lessons in every subject from math to social studies. In her second year, Carly managed the 10 FoodCorps service members throughout the state of New Jersey, providing them with the mentorship and resources they needed to have the most impact during their service terms.

After moving to her husband’s hometown of Portland, Carly spent a full growing season working on an organic farm, helping grow six acres of organic vegetables for grocery stores, restaurants, and a CSA. During that time, though, she dreadfully missed working with children, and at the end of the season, she began working at Little Seeds Farm School, a food and farm-based in-home family preschool.

It was at Little Seeds that Carly discovered early childhood education was her true calling – the perfect arena in which to combine her passions for growing good food, exploring the outdoors, and working and playing with young children to inspire curiosity and help instill a sense of wonder about the world. After a year and a half at Little Seeds, Carly ventured out on her own to start Curious Gardeners Preschool.

In addition to her time at Little Seeds, Carly has completed many hours of training in the early childhood education field including several graduate level courses at PSU and over 40 hours of training through Mt. Hood Community College. She has achieved Step 10 on the Oregon Registry for Childhood Care and Education.

In her free time, Carly swing dances and sings in a three-part-harmony jazz group called the Newport Nightingales. She is also an avid reader, cook, rock climber, and crossword puzzler.