suggested reading
ON RAINTREE SCHOOL
West Newsmagazine
“Schools are an excellent choice for public fast charging,” Ilya Eydelman, president of Raintree School, explained. “It allows drivers to easily charge their car while chatting with teachers, enjoying breakfast with their child and during school events. Located in the heart of every community, schools are an easy stopping point in the neighborhood.”
STL Health & Wellness Magazine
"As the only school-based green kitchen in the St. Louis area, Raintree and Head Chef Katie Brown uphold sustainable and kid-healthy principles ..."
The Healthy Planet
"At a local kindergarten and preschool with large, child-centered classrooms, gardening is part of the curriculum. It’s a place where students learn to grow and harvest food before cooking it in the St. Louis-area’s only school-based green kitchen."
St. Louis Kids Magzine
"We strongly believe that good nutrition benefits not only our students' overall health, but their mental well-being as well...when properly fueled, our students come to the classroom alert and ready to learn," says Ilya Eydelman.
West County Kids
"Research says [experiential learning is] essential, [and] parents, teachers, and children say so too. We’ve all experienced the boredom of flashcards and worksheets. We have also relished the thrill of digging into an exciting project with a team of friends – brainstorming, inventing, collaborating, discovering. In this way, learning was an adventure that was active and endless. During those learning experiences, we discovered our talents and developed passions that shaped the way we live our lives."
St. Louis Kids Magazine
Say goodbye to hairnets and icecream scoops. Food at Raintree is not only worthy of eating. It's delicious, chock full of nutrients, and worth every bite.
BOOKS
Wild Play: Parenting Adventures in the Great Outdoors
by David Sobel
How the parent/child/nature relationship changes from early through middle childhood and into adolescence, and how I parented my children to bond them with nature.
Bob Coulter
"We strongly believe that good nutrition benefits not only our students' overall health, but their mental well-being as well...when properly fueled, our students come to the classroom alert and ready to learn," says Ilya Eydelman.
by Richard Louv
Say goodbye to hairnets and icecream scoops. Food at Raintree is not only worthy of eating. It's delicious, chock full of nutrients, and worth every bite.
By Robert Arbib
An autobiography of place including an account of the exhilaration of discovering the rural, natural world from age nine through adolescence.
by Joseph Chilton Pearce
A comprehensive and provocative developmental model that advocates for the necessity of “bonding with the earth” in middle childhood.
RESEARCH AND ARTICLES
National Wildlife Federation
by David Sobel
by Louise Chawla
by Ruth A. Wilson
FILM
produced by Raintree School
8 little girls encounter the wild woodlands on a journey of plucky adventure, scientific inquiry and personal reflection before the wildlands and their childhoods fade.
produced by Sheil Kinkade
“A compelling and original wake-up call. Cafeteria Man shows us that improving school food isn't about nutrients and recipes — but vision.”
- Jane Black, Food Writer
Where Do the Children Play?
produced by Jennifer White
A one-hour documentary that examines how sprawl, congestion, and suburban development across America are impacting children’s mental and physical health and development.
Play Again
produced by Meg Merrill
A documentary fim that follows six teenagers who spend five to fifteen hours a day behind screens, then “unplugs” them to take them on their first wilderness adventure.
Mother Nature's Child
produced by Camilla Rockwell
This film proclaims that it “marks a moment in time when a living generation can still recall childhoods of free play outdoors; this will not be true for most children growing up today.” It’s inspiring.
produced by Rona Richter
"A powerful and beautifully crafted documentary that illuminates who children are, what's important to them, and what should be important to us as educators."
- Salvatore Vascellaro, Graduate Faculty, Bank Street College of Education