Our Farm-to-School lunch program is designed to support awareness of where our food comes from, seasonal cycles, and allergy safety. GPCP works with and supports local farmers and our chef prepares vegetarian meals fresh from scratch daily. All children enjoy a healthy, nutritious, and nut-free lunch, consisting of a protein, grain, vegetable and/or fruit, and a glass of organic milk daily.

This program began in 2011 with the creation of a Naturalist position and expanded to the addition of a tasty, hearty lunch cooked in our school each day in conjunction with the creation of our Farm-to-School Coordinator.

The naturalist work is guided by the consideration of the processes children devise to interpret their connection to the natural world and how we, as adults, can encourage children to utilize these curiosities to create a deeper understanding of our ecosystem. The work reflects the continuation of the research and cataloging we have done in past years, as well as developing new strategies for giving close attention to the natural world in ways that inspire a deeper understanding of our role within our environment. This, resulting in empathy and a sense of stewardship for the earth, inevitably connects our community to a larger picture of environmentalism and activism.

The Atelier plays an especially important role in enhancing and guiding the school community.  It is not a specialized space but a place in dialogue and connection with the classrooms, with the “mini-ateliers” and all the other spaces present in the preschool.

The Atelierista, as well as the other educators, recognizes that children are born with thousands of ideas and have hundreds of languages of expression.  In the Atelier, it is an opportunity to provide as many of these languages as possible and to be open to the possibility of many, many more.