How We Learn

We believe that encouraging children to develop a strong sense of self, while nurturing their disposition for empathy, will enable our youth to navigate a rapidly changing world with confidence, compassion, critical thinking, and flexibility.

This is why we protect their play.

With a view of the child as competent and innately wired for learning, an understanding of play and brain development to support the whole child, and our desire to create a safe, inclusive, and beautiful environment in which they can play and experiment, we draw on best practices from the top four social constructivist education models.

  • Forest School

    The Forest School movement affirms that children have a right to long, uninterrupted periods of play and exploration in the natural world. With the support of a trusted adult mentor—ideally grounded in both wilderness skills and a holistic understanding of child development—children build life skills, resilience, and curiosity. Nature and the child themself are the richest educational resources.

  • Reggio Emilia

    Rooted in anti-fascist resistance, the Reggio Emilia approach centers democracy, collaboration, and respect for the child’s voice. Children, parents, and teachers are equal partners in learning. The environment is a third teacher, and learning unfolds through observation, dialogue, and co-creation. Children are seen as capable, creative, and expressive in a hundred languages. Parents are valued as essential partners in the process.

  • Waldorf

    The Waldorf philosophy invites us to slow down and honor the natural rhythm of childhood. Learning is aligned with developmental milestones and steeped in rhythm, song, story, herbal tea, nature, and warmth. It values imagination, repetition, beauty, and a sense of wonder as foundational to early learning, emotional wellbeing, and healthy development.

  • Montessori

    Dr. Maria Montessori revolutionized early education by creating carefully prepared environments where children could engage independently with child-sized tools and meaningful materials. Hands-on work and purposeful play builds confidence, focus, and agency. This approach nurtures concentration, responsibility, and respect for both self and others.

“At Sunbeam, we trust in the power of children’s intrinsic motivations. We acknowledge that they are already equipped with the best tools for learning: their curiosity and imagination. Our learning is hands-on, and always growing from what matters most to the children themselves.”

- Shawna Thompson, Founding Director

We are most strongly influenced by the Reggio Emilia approach and pedagogy.

This beautiful way of learning began in Italy after World War II, when a group of parents and teachers came together to build a better future for their children.

In Reggio-inspired schools, there is a strong emphasis on developing a culture of listening to children’s many forms of expressions. Teachers learn to thoughtfully respond to the child’s discoveries and questions - also known as emergent curriculum. Teachers, parents, and children are partners in learning.

In the spirit of Reggio Emilia education, we regard the environment as a “third teacher”; we put care into creating spaces that are natural, beautiful, and full of open-ended materials to explore, often what we call loose parts. Children are encouraged to express themselves in many different ways: through visual art, movement, music, storytelling, mixing, making, ordering, categorizing, constructing, deconstructing. These are what we call “the hundred languages of children.”

The Cycle of Inquiry

We build meaningful experiences around the children’s discoveries and interests by following the Cycle of Inquiry. Through this framework of questioning, observing, representing, reframing, and revisiting, we guide the children through deeper meaning-making, problem solving and project work.

The cycle of inquiry is used in many other fields, by entrepreneurs, innovators, scientists and engineers. This is a process that is methodical yet organic.

Through work samples, notes and photos, our goal is to document the children’s play and learning processes in order to place value on their unique and interesting perspectives and on their current competencies, so that they too may look back and see their growth, offering more room for reflection and reevaluation.

“When children play in natural spaces, they’re far more likely to invent their own games than in more structured settings—a key factor in becoming self-directed and inventive adults later in life.”

- Richard Louv, 2005