Wildflower Open Classroom -

Come join us on February 5th for an Open House 9am-1pm! You will get the chance to meet our parent ambassadors and visit classrooms to witness your unique learning experiences in action. Full campus tours, refreshments, and questions galore await you!!

Our first sunshine in months! The Dandelion's read the "Wonder Walkers" at Forest Day today, then they went for their own wonder walk to ask big questions. Here is the poem that was put together with their questions:

I Wonder
By the Dandelions

I wonder...
Are planets the universe's heads?
Is grass the Earth's hair?
Is water the Earth's blood?
Are rocks the Earth's eyes?
Are clouds the Earth's teeth?
Are leaves the trees fingers?
Are parks the world's playgrounds?
Are humans the world's germs?
Does the Earth feel tickled when you dig up it's pebbles?
I wonder.
Me to.

Wildflower Open House January 8th and February 5th between the 9am & 1pm. Come for a tour and see what Wildflower is all about!

Absolute Joy! Those are just two words used to describe our last Forest Day of the school year. This day was also special because it was our first time bringing out two classes, Sammie's 1st/2nd Fawn Lillies, and Cassandra's 5th/6th Dandelions. These two classes have shared much growth together as big-buddy/little buddies, and this was a perfect end of the year experience with each other. We learned the different trees at Horseshoe Lake with a leaf scavenger hunt, harvested Tule Reed and admired it's soft, squishy texture as well as it's strength when made into cordage, and we spent the 2nd half of the day at Big Chico Creek exploring the creatures, habitat, and force of water.

The resident Great Blue Heron spent lots of time with the Monkeyflower kids today at Horseshoe Lake as they experienced Sit Spots, made Red-winged blackbird puppets, spied on RW blackbird nests, and developed secret clans in small groups. All along the GBH flew overhead, creeped up nearby, or entertained us with his grace from across the lake.

Osprey visits, catching frogs and tadpoles, playing in muddy water, adventuring through grassy fields and up big hills, planting bean seeds for our Three Sisters Garden, laying in the warm sand, Katie's Leopard Lillies had a wonderful day at Horseshoe Lake on May 2nd.

On April 23rd, Sammie's Fawn Lilies went back to Horseshoe Lake for school. Quietly and respectfully, they watched with intent as they released their four beautiful Painted Lady butterflies that day, which they had nurtured in their classroom in the past months. They made nature collages with items they collected around camp, colored in the shade, and had silent reading time in the afternoon. Finally, they learned about the Legend of the Three Sisters, a Native American tale about companion planting, then they planted seeds of the oldest, Sister Corn.

On April 22nd, Earth Day, Jess' Starflowers visited Far View Ranch for their second Forest Day! What a way to spend Earth Day! We prepared mulch and cages for planting baby Blue Oaks, played games, soared on the big swing, got our heads wet under the 75 yr old water well, visited an old rock with Acorn grinding bowls, and enjoyed peaceful sit spots under the shade.

On April 2nd, Linda's Lupines enjoyed a Wildflower scavenger hunt, building a fort on the edge of the lake that's been visited by other classes, saving tadpoles and bullfrongs from a vernal pool, exploring and naming "raft world", a bed of Tule reeds, and getting plain old muddy!

On April 11th, Morgan's Poppys had their 2nd Forest Day! We enjoyed a beautiful and peaceful Sit Spot moment, collected beautiful Wildflowers to build Oak Folk, and an Oak Folk Village, played in the sun, and took a walk to the creek to get our hair wet! Another beautiful day of joy and cheer!

ANNOUNCING: The Wildflower North Valley Community Foundation Fund. We are excited to announce a way for our community to financially support our innovative school model and philosophy. Through generous donors we can continue to provide a nurturing and dynamic learning environment for our students. Donate here: https://www.nvcf.org/funds/wildflower-open-classroom-support-fund

Our 7th and 8th grade Adolescent Program had an amazing time on their annual San Francisco camping Immersion! Some of their experiences included: Old Town Sacramento River History, San Rafael Guide Dogs for the Blind, The Cal Academy of Sciences, a ferry ride and exploration of Angel Island, Japanese Garden, Miniature Golf at Scandia, and multiple trips to the beach. "I learned on the trip that you don't need electronics every second of the day. Now I go outside more of the day and stopped being on electronics" - Seventh grade student "I think immersions really change us as a class, community and family. Every time we leave for an extended amount of time, we all seem to make new bonds. Myself included." - Eighth grade student

A Forest Day for the Dandelions; Cassandra's 5th/6th graders enjoyed a windy day at Horseshoe Lake! We learned all about the scientific, medicinal, and cultural value of their classroom flower, the Dandelion, and after removing 6 trash bags of star thistle, we reseeded the area with thousands of Dandelion seeds and wishes! This class was the first class to use our new tent! It protected us from the 20 mph gusts of wind, so we could use hand microscopes to look at Dandelion's tiny parts. Another fantastic day at Horseshoe Lake.

Our Kindergarten Buttercup's Theme this year is Food: past present and future. This week they tried got to try qual eggs, and painted rainbows using natural dyes made from plants. Red = Beets, Orange = Carrot Juice, Yellow = Turmeric, Green = Parsley, Blue = Cabbage + baking soda, Purple = Cabbage.

Wildflower's Adolescent Program (7th & 8th grades) had a Forest Day at Far View Ranch where they have been doing Blue Oak Restoration over the past 4 years! On this particular day, they used manure to buffer the plants. Manure patties placed around growing plants helps in three ways: 1) helps keep water in the soil, 2) eliminates weed growth directly around the growing native plant, 3) offers nutrients to the plant! Our manure days at Far View Ranch are some of the most fun!

Sammie's Fawn Lillies experienced our first rainy Forest Day at Horseshoe Lake!

Buttercups at Horseshoe Lake - Kali's Kinders made V's in nature, laid 100 rocks in a row and then threw them into the water one at a time, practiced with tools, went on long hikes, colored under the sky, and sang lots of songs. Another wonderful Forest Day.

Forest Day at Far View Ranch in February! Last week Jess's 3rd/4th grade Starflowers installed bird boxes, hiked a couple miles, climbed the famous Lone Tree, learned about control burn piles, and played in the beautiful creek! The joy of learning was palpable! Huge thanks to Alex Palmerlee of Far View Ranch!

Dirty hands and belly laughs! That is a sign of a good day at Wildflower Open Classroom! Wildflower School is Butte County’s option for alternative TK-8 schooling models, including integrated-thematic open classroom, TK Forest School, and TK-8 Forest Days! Enrollment for the 2025-2026 school year is now open! Visit our webpage to learn more about us and enroll, or view the QR codes below!

Forest TK, February 3-7, 2025! What a week of rainy wonder! Our Forest TK kids are growing such grit, resilience and appreciation of all weather! And our teachers are such hero's as they show up for all that nature has to offer our litte ones!