We are an certified, home-based preschool serving children 2 — 5 years, located in the Creston-Kenilworth neighborhood of Southeast Portland.

At Lavender Farm Preschool we value compassion and fostering joy above all else. Our school is built around anti-bias pedagogy, celebrating every child and honoring the diversity and culture we all bring to our inclusive community. We draw inspiration from the early education schools of Reggio Emilia, Italy. Here, children and teachers are co-collaborators, experiencing and discovering the world together. We nurture social and emotional relationships though inquiry-based learning and play, with an emphasis on social and climate justice. Together we grow and discover the wonder of our world through curious exploration.

Our Practice

Every child has the right to feel happy, safe, and loved. Every child has the right to feel valued, respected, and honored. Every child has the right to live in a world where the earth is cared for…

Our Teachers

At Lavender Farm we are lucky to have a team of compassionate, experienced, and playful teachers.

Please meet us!

Come Visit Us

We value compassion and fostering joy above all else. Together we grow and discover the wonder of our world through curious exploration and discovery.

Come visit us!

Visit our Instagram page for a variety of anti-bias book readings and various other activities.
Click any thumbnail below. We hope you enjoy!

Frog Mystery Part 2: Later in the day, Milo noticed "something white floating" in the aquarium and called me over. We found what looked to be the translucent whitish membrane of a frog (Mary and Todd suggested it looked like a ghost frog).

Frog Mystery Part 1: So last week I noticed two of our three African Dwarf frogs were mating durning the early evening hours. I took a few photos and read up on their mating practices for a later discussion.

This weekend, when I was feeding the fro

Repost from @pridenorthwest 🌈

Restorative Justice preschool style: Caden joined us outside today, much to the excitement of many friends. They ended up “putting him in jail” for various reasons. This was very joyful play and Caden played along beautifully. This was a

Our Town project continues with the design of a theater

After our conversation last week about building a town, friends decided a theater should be our first focus. Today we invited friends to draw and create a theater. We took a look at a few loca

Meet Blueberry: Our new resident arthropod “rollypolly” pill bug (found by a school friend on the sidewalk in front of the school). We discovered so much about these fun creatures with their protective exoskeletons and ability to process

Paleontologists digging for fossils: Continuing our dinosaur exploration, we dug for dinosaur bones after talking about fossils and the history of dinosaurs and paleontology during snack time. It was a collaborative digging project that got so deep w

Do y’all know our school has hot lava running under the rugs?!? Luckily we have kids who are creative problem solvers who saved the school. We also have a gaggle of engineers, artists, and critical thinkers who are kind and caring. In a nutshel

So apparently we have some very powerful kids ;)

Caden joined us in time to play outside and played a speedy game of “monster.” The things is, the monster was thwarted over and over and over by these powerful kids who would freeze the mo

The Lonely Stegosaurus (A Love Story): Written and illustrated by Gus. 🦖 💚

It turns out we have quite a few author/illustrators here at school. Somewhat inspired by The Library Mouse, by Daniel Kirk, many friends have been creating their own books. Some friends are even working on writing their own letters, others are dicta

One might say Todd is well-loved at school. :)

Happiness is getting the band back together and taking it outside for a drum circle. ;)

We’re headed back into the classroom tomorrow and ready to begin our identity exploration. We also are so excited to introduce our outdoor living room and play space. Thank you again, Lori (@cruxconstruction) for making this happen! See y&rsquo

Ladybugs pay us a visit with our neighbor, Merri!

Our neighbor across the street, Merri, offered for us to be a part of her ladybug release today. Merri has been watching ladybugs in her terrarium go through the metamorphosis process of egg, to larv

Hello, salam, merhaba, ohayou gozaimasu, dia dhuit, bonjour, hola!

Today during snack we decided to think about all the various languages in which we know how to say “hello.” Friends remembered “salam” in Farsi. Then we thoug

Hello, salam, merhaba, gozaimasu, dia dhuit!
May 13, 2021
What fun to find what languages are spoken in our community! Today’s additions: Japanese, “ohayou gozaimasu” (おはようございます) and Irish Gaelic, “dia dhuit” (pronounced

Our list of languages spoken in our community is growing!

We were busy today! Friends constructed a river with Mary complete with animal bridges. We enjoyed bringing cups of water to and fro from the hose as well as playing with our animals in the pools of water.

Isabel joined us today for a bit. A couple

A love note to Teacher Mary during Teacher Appreciation week: We are so incredibly lucky to have Mary as our co-teacher. Her beautiful heart and vibrant energy fills our school with joy and light. Thank you, thank you for waiting this long year and c

A wonderful film speaking to the importance of anti-bias education called Reflecting on Anti-Bias Education in Action: The Early Years

To view Film by Debbie LeeKeenan • John Nimmo • Filiz Efe McKinney click link: https://www.antibiasleadersece.com/the-film-reflecting-on-anti-bias-education-in-action/

Reflecting on Anti-Bias Education in Action: The Early Years

“Finding Lavender Farm was a huge gift to our lives. As a single mother, having a village of support in caring for my child is extremely important, and not only do I know my daughter is well cared for at Lavender Farm but I'm continuously amazed at what she learns there and the level of beautiful nurturing she receives. Plus we've made great friends as part of the Lavender Farm community. In every way, the thoughtfulness that goes into this school shows brightly.” — Kimberly

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