Fiddleheads washington state

We are fully enrolled for the school year. If you would like to be added to the waitlist you can apply here. Our Mission: At Fiddleheads Forest School we believe that children are intrinsically motivated to learn, and that they do so by exploring the world around them.

Our goal is to create an ideal setting for students ages to grow into citizens of the world, with a respect for all cultures and environments and the desire to engage with their communities. Methods to control them include cutting, crushing, livestock trampling, burning, and plowing.

According to my father, a license used to be required to pick them, with the limit five gallons per person. He directed me to a patch of fiddleheads—so plentiful, they looked like a field of hairy alien tendrils furling up to grab the unsuspecting hordes. He pulled out a garbage bag and crowed gleefully. Some of the fiddleheads broke off at six inches, others were a little longer or shorter.

The shoots parted easily and cleanly from the stalk, just like the way the green of an asparagus separates from its woody stem. Everyone loves hunting for gosari. There was also a mindless physical pleasure in picking, not unlike popping plastic bubble wrap.

We moved from patch to patch, filling our plastic bag with large Dr. Seussian curlicues. Occasionally, my shoes sank into a damp spot of earth, and I would be surrounded by the faintly fetid loamy stink of all the tiny organisms decomposing in the soil. Such a rich, heady perfume, it made me swallow with anticipation.

Because that is exactly how bracken fiddleheads smell and taste—like everything buried deep and dark under the ground welling up to release itself in ecstatic green bursts and sprays, to announce the arrival of spring. To learn about regulations for finding fiddleheads, click here. Fiddleheads Forest School is an entirely outdoor, nature-based program where the premise for our day-to-day activities is play and exploration.

As children engage with the world around them and inquire about it we will supplement with curriculum to further engage their curiosity. Fiddleheads is restructuring for the school year to split the 2-day, 3-day and 5-day students into their own classes as well as making space for our third classroom so we can launch a more full-day option.

These changes have been a long time coming and we are thrilled to be announcing them for this upcoming school year! Opening a full-day class is contingent upon the passing of Bill to make these standards law.

If for some reason the bill does not pass, this class will become a 5-day, half-day class. The lottery for the school year is complete. If you are interested in adding your child to our waitpool please fill out an application.

We pull from the waitpool as individual spots open between now and the start of the school year, and during the school year. Sign up for our interest list to receive updates. Open House — We are not hosting an open house this year. Weighted Lottery Submitting an application is free.

Applications must be submitted before Monday, March 22nd in order to be considered for the school year. We will notify families by Friday, March 25th of their enrollment or wait pool status. Fiddleheads is committed to maintaining a community representative of Seattle and upholding equitable enrollment practices. When we opened eight years ago we adopted the lottery system for enrollment because it felt fair and removed our own biases from the process.

Over time we have realized that the lottery is fair, but it is not equitable. We have moved to conducting a weighted lottery ahead of the general lottery. Our hope is that this updated enrollment process will help us see the full potential of our financial aid fund and reach a wide diversity of Seattle families.

Financial Aid: We are committed to making outdoor preschool accessible to a diversity of families. We believe every child should be able to access the wonder, joy, and educational value of forest school.

Each year, we designate a limited number of spaces set aside for families qualifying for financial assistance as a part of our continued commitment to fostering equity in education. Actual awards are dependent on available funding.

Fiddleheads is committed to undoing systemic racism through interrogating our policies, procedures, community conduct, curriculum, teaching practices and all aspects of our school. We continue every day to consider how we can be culturally responsive and meet the needs of our community; question how to break down barriers of access to nature and build a welcoming community for all.

As a school, we are dedicated to social justice, racial justice, and environmental justice. Our goal is to provide an inclusive classroom environment that is accessible to all children and that embodies anti-bias, anti-racism, and multicultural learning. As teachers, we actively identify and counter stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination, and we educate and empower our students to do the same.