Campus
Our beautiful 12.5-acre campus was designed with engaging, meaningful education in mind. Each of our four buildings invite children’s curiosity and promote a sense of community and connection. Spaces are designed to honor the social, physical, emotional and intellectual development of each child. We invite you to explore our interactive map and to learn about our student-named natural landmarks at the bottom of the page.
“The woods are their own playground. They make me feel calm and connected to the earth.”
— Anthony, TLS Alum
Legend
Map Points 2
Welcome
The entrance to campus where our community is greeted and start their TLS journey each morning.
Rivers Building
This 15,000 sq. ft. building is the newest addition to TLS. It includes our gym, the Sequoia Stage, administrative offices and classrooms for many of our specialists.
The Commons
Situated in the center of campus, the Commons serves as a pathway to our classroom buildings and has spaces for gathering, learning and play.
Big Field
The Big Field is home to many community events, after-school play and community building opportunities in a wide-open space for learning and playing throughout the school day.
Gardens
Our student-created gardens invite hands-on stewardship activities throughout the year and provide a delicious harvest for cooking projects.
Meadows Building
Home to our Early Childhood and Kindergarten program, the Meadows Building has 4 dedicated play yards including climbers, sandboxes and learning spaces to discover.
Woods Building
The Woods Building is where you will find our 1st-3rd grade classrooms. At its center is the Courtyard, a larger indoor space that can be used for a variety of learning experiences.
Cedars Building
Hidden in the trees, the Cedars Building is home to our 4th and 5th grade classrooms. The building includes spaces for full class and small group work, inviting learning and collaboration in a variety of settings.
Covered Court
This large covered area is a perfect place to be outside and still under cover, providing flexibility for both classroom learning and play time choices.
Outdoor Classrooms
Each classroom has a dedicated outdoor classroom space for learning as part of our blended indoor/outdoor learning program.
The Woods
Six acres of woods is preserved on our campus for learning, exploration and discovery.
Visitor Parking
This parking area is conveniently located near the front of the Rivers Building, just a few steps away from our welcoming front desk.
How We Use Our Spaces
Specialist classrooms and home classrooms are filled with student work and faces, documenting the learning and friendship that occur at school each day. Further, we use our spaces to reinforce the different learning identities that students develop at school. Students at TLS are becoming readers, writers, mathematicians, scientists, historians, designers, artists, musicians, athletes, environmentalists, engineers, researchers, analysts, collaborators, community members, friends and so much more. Our spaces offer a physical reminder of the ways that everyone is growing each day.
Learning continues beyond the classroom in our stunning outdoor spaces. Like most other schools, The Little School has fun playground equipment such as climbers. However, what sets us apart are the extensive green spaces available to our students every day. Teachers may take students to the garden to tend the plants or learn about the growing cycle, or they may venture into the outdoor classroom to learn about shelter building or have the natural beauty of the woods inspire artistic creations. Students may play Capture the Flag on the Big Field during Outside Time or stay and play after school while their families also take the time to connect. The covered court, labyrinth and six acres of woods provide even more areas for reflection, engagement, play and learning. Though our campus is vast, students move through it as though they are home – safe, known, respected and loved.
Nose Tree
This tree, as far as we know, has been a landmark in our forest for the longest period of time. Close to the 1st and 2nd grade classrooms, the students spend a lot of outside time in that area making potions, building forts and telling stories.
The Village
Popular fort building area where students can work together to create structures that hold up for years using only the materials found on the forest floor! The new student-made pond has helped us see that we share this particular space with coyotes, deer, bobcats, bunnies, woodpeckers, owls and more. Lots of team-building, compromise and creativity in this space.
Mother Tree
One of the largest Western Red Cedar trees in our forest, students have great respect and admiration for this tree. An often fought-over sit spot location because it’s far from others and has plenty of space to sit back and read or use binoculars to look for birds, and she’s just such a well-known member of the forest. Students have written her letters and buried them at her roots, harvested nettle from around her trunk and held hands around the base to see how wide the tree is. It is great spot for teachers to sit and tell stories.
V Tree
The clearest landmark for students as they develop a sense of direction and spatial awareness, acts as our boundary for free explore play. Students love to peek their head out between her trunks, taste the sweet flowers in spring, spin the helicopter seeds and harvest licorice fern from her trunk. Home to mice, ferns, moss and more – known as the “friendliest tree in the forest” because her leaves are always waving at you and she creates a home for so many!
Throne Madrone
It’s incredibly special to have so many Madrone trees on campus, even a few particularly large individuals. The Throne Madrone is so big you can comfortably seat multiple students at the base of the trunks. The trees have smooth bark great for sensory exploration with bright red colors; one trunk reaches out and “hugs” the nearby cedar tree, which students really love. Trail cam footage has indicated it’s a hot spot for deer, coyotes and bobcats