I checked out all of the centers that were listed on that page. I wanted to see a school that was limited in space and how they made the best of what they had, but none of those really had that problem. My main reaction to the outside view of those centers was “That’s an early childhood center!” The sizes of those centers are amazing, and I can’t even imagine something that big opening up in Hawaii. I also wanted to see what all of their playgrounds looked like because I believe the outside environment is just as important than their inside environment. The following are the three centers that had some type of attribute that I really enjoyed and stuck out above the rest of the centers.

http://www.designshare.com/index.php/projects/mothers-club-family-learning-center

This is the first school I virtually toured. This center is the Mother’s club family learning Center in Pasadena, California. Their mission is to help prepare families living in isolation and poverty to succeed in school and in life through two-generation learning. The attribute that I thought was amazing was the interior view of the classrooms. Like many Mainland schools, the whole center is indoors and all the hallways and classrooms are under one roof. They made the pathway in the hallway, two-toned to present a trail. I liked the idea of using glass walls; it gives the illusion of the room being open and spacious while keeping it enclosed and separate from the rest of the center. It gives each classroom the privacy but doesn’t feel like your surrounded by walls. I also saw in another classroom, the see through garage door. I thought that was a neat idea, to have in the classroom and to open it on warm days. It also provides a lot of natural light and it is see through so the children can check the weather and outside.

http://www.designshare.com/index.php/projects/the-childrens-school

The children’s school, in Stamford Connecticut is a modified one-room school. It’s a beautiful site and I really enjoyed reading the narrative on how it’s a “green” school. It was clever how they thought about harvesting the sunlight and building a schedule based on the sunlight, and how to ventilate the school. I also like the idea of harvesting the rain to use for water play and other activities. I didn’t see an actually playground, but I enjoyed reading that they use the different trees in their backyard and science garden to connect nature to food. The question that popped into my mind when I actually saw the inside of the classroom was the noise level. Since it’s open and all the children are in the center at once, the high ceilings must provide for a loud environment. I don’t know much about Montessori schools but how do the staff prevent the children from running in the classroom with that much open space. In every site, there are moments when it feels like there is not enough staff to watch everything that is going on in a center. I wonder if one open room like that school solves that problem or just makes it worse.

http://www.designshare.com/index.php/projects/auroville-kindergarten/team

This was my favorite school out of all of the schools. I really enjoyed the natural openness of the center. Each separate hut seems to have a flow between them and it creates a natural blend between nature and structural school. I felt like all the other centers had a defined inside and outside area, which make it feel so ridged. I also enjoyed their playground, it wasn’t much but I really like the natural feel of the playground. We always talk about how fancy toys don’t do much for children at this age; they rather play with the box. It goes the same with playgrounds, why invest in the fancy playground equipment when they can benefit the same from a more natural form of gross motor activities.