Hayground’s Early Childhood groups match the natural energy of our youngest learners with the abundant resources of our 13-acre campus. Whether planting seeds in the garden, partner-reading with an 8-year-old student, or learning Shakespeare with an artist-in-residence, Early Childhood students engage daily with the fundamentals of language, math, art, and science, all as valued members of a shared community.
EARLY CHILDHOOD (AGES 3-5)
Early Childhood introduces children to the primary tenets of the Hayground community -- collaboration, mentoring, and a respect for individual differences -- while discovering literacy and numeracy through hands-on experiences connected to the natural world. Every day, our youngest learners explore:
Language: Storytelling, reading aloud, group discussion, singing, poetry, pre-writing
Numbers: Counting, comparing, measuring, adding, learning shapes and numerals
Art: Painting, drawing, collage, self-portraits, building, making materials
Nature: Garden, greenhouse, outdoor play, identifying seasons
Socialized Play: Identifying and talking about feelings, considering the needs of others, finding good solutions
Hayground’s Middle Groups are composed of mixed-age classes that bring together children aged 5 through 11 in small groups of 12 to 15 students led by an experienced teacher. Middle Group classes combine individualized learning and peer mentorship to deepen fundamental academic skills and to explore in-depth, project-based interdisciplinary studies. Key aspects of the Middle Group experience include:
Peer Mentoring: Middle Group students are expected to act as mentors to their classmates, both as academic learners and as members of the school community. On a daily basis, older Middle Group students explain complex ideas in relatable terms, model problem-solving, collaboration and discussion skills, and pair with younger classmates for partner reading.
Individualized Learning: Middle Group teachers engage each child in an ongoing conversation about their personal strengths, challenges, strategies, and goals, and regularly work with students in one-on-one and small group settings.
Classroom Endeavors: Each year, Middle Group classes immerse themselves in a sustained project that forms the basis of a year-long interdisciplinary exploration. This in-depth study incorporates research, history, reading, writing as well as multiple hands-on projects, and culminates in an end-of-year performance or demonstration for the school and community. Recent areas of focus include: Filmmaking, Bookmaking, Inventions & Innovation.
Interdisciplinary Intensives: Middle Group students participate in Art Studio, Culinary Arts, Science and Gardening, where focused 6-week rotations enable academic disciplines come to life in tangible ways.
““What Hayground is very good at is giving kids the confidence and the belief that they can honestly do anything they want as long as they make an effort and try their hardest.””
While children between the ages of 12 and 14 still thrive on Hayground’s intensity, the emphasis of depth over breadth, insistence on authentic work, development of expertise, and the school’s powerful sense of community, they also seek new kinds of experiences and challenges.
Thoughtfully considering the distinctive characteristics of pre-adolescents, in 2005 Hayground began offering a program designed especially for Senior Learner students that build on the intellectual, artistic, and social qualities we value for the younger groups, yet accommodates the unique and dynamic needs of this age group.
As they begin to form their identities and thus look to adults in a new way, students have one head teacher who oversees their whole program, provides continuity to their experience, and helps them to link different aspects of their work. This year, Liz Bertsch's classroom focus on the Reconstruction Era examines this pivotal and transformative time in American History. Through reading the works of historians and developing research skills with primary source material, Liz's class explores the contrary capacities of American democracy to restore and yet diminish the rights of its citizens of color. Heeding the words of Ida B. Wells, "The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them," students researched and wrote essays about topics such as minstrel shows, lynching, the remarkable life of Robert Smalls, and the Confederate Constitution.
Along with 6-week rotations in Art Studio, Culinary Arts, Science and Garden, primary curricular components include:
Senior Learner Essay: A published writer offers a topic for the students to write about and complete in a finite time period. The 2015 prompt was “What is the purpose of school?”; the following year, students were asked, “Imagine you encounter an off-planet being who asks you: what does it mean to be a good human?” In the past, Susan Engel, Nicole Ferret, and M.T. Anderson have read and critiqued these essays.
Apprenticeships: Students work as apprentices in an industry or place of business within the local community. These apprenticeships currently take place three afternoons per week, and typically run for eight weeks per semester. The experience concludes with a final written piece and a presentation to the school community. Past apprenticeships include: Narrow Lane History Project, East Hampton Veterinary Clinic, Hampton Library, Culinary Arts Great Chefs Program, Second Star Toys, and Studio with artist Perry Burns.
Senior Learner Project: Adding an additional element of academic rigor, each member of the class works on an ambitious long-term project resulting in expertise and performance for a larger audience at the end of the year. Members of the local community are invited to view and evaluate the culminating presentations and extensive work. Past Senior Learner Projects include: a study of Islam, a photography exhibit of remarkable abandoned buildings on the East End, a study of deaf culture, Building a Solar Oven, Building a Guitar, a study of the art of comedy ending with a stand up comedy performance, The Culinary History of Ramen, a comparative analysis of school lunch programs, The Science of Waves, and studies of special effects make-up and silk screen printing.
Hayground offers a variety of after-school enrichment programs led by Hayground faculty and teachers from the community. Programs include Basketball, Fitness Club, Wilderness Education, Hip-Hop, Jewelry Making, Mixed Media Art, Rock Band, Sewing & Fiber Arts, Spanish, and Yoga.
