Féileacán Nature School Cooperative uses nature based and land based pedagogy combined with physical adventure tasks, games and extended trips with seasonal and ecology related themes.  We are an outdoor based preschool and we also collaborate with other elementary and middle schools and "unschools" to support academic learning with regenerative learning ecologies. This means students and families learn about themselves physically, emotionally and socially in relation to the land and water they live and depend on. They also might be stimulated to learn more about Traditional Ecological Knowledge and related fields.
Contact Ryan Pleune program director here for more information

Féileacán is the Irish word for butterfly.  A symbol of transformation.  An icon of "Migration is Beautiful". 

Féileacán (pronounced differently in 3 Irish dialects)  represents synergy from an ancestral language to remind us that fluency and multilingualism in human and non- human "languages" is beautiful and transformative like the metamorphosis from larvae to pupa to butterfly.

We co-facilitate nature based and student led learning for early childhood students, siblings, caregivers and families that galvanizes self-discovery. 

We co-create knowledge that instills individual and collective growth within multigenerational and multilingual communities surrounding our youngest learners. 

​We do this through adventurous learning experiences that embrace elements of authenticity, agency and responsibility, uncertainty, and mastery through challenge. Nature Based and Land Based Pedagogy guides us as well as the 6 Forest School principles expressed in the UK Forest School Association.

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​We are members of the Natural Start Alliance
Learn more here.

PreK-1

During the early childhood years our adventures follow the theme ​“Survival with senses and soil”.​

2-3 

During the mid-elementary years our adventures follow a theme titled “Changes inside and around me”.   

4-5

During late elementary years our adventures follow a theme titled “Bodies, Behaviors and Biodiversity”​

6-8 

​During pre-adolescence our adventures follow a theme titled “Hero’s Journey – Navigation and Nourishment”. 

At Feileacan Nature School Cooperative
​we use nature based pedagogy and land based pedagogy
​with a Forest School Ethos. 

"How do we deal with uncertainty in the face of an out-come based education system still firmly embedded in economic growth and a fixed mindset?"

"How do we work within an 'industrial-based' education to shift our own practice and influence those around us to be more empathic and 'community-based' in order to stimulate our inherent creativity and innovation?" 

"It is with the understanding that these pedagogies both complement other 'progressive' forms of education and sit on the shoulders of 'ways of knowing' in relation to learners and the natural world that go far back into our human evolution." 

John Cree and Marina Robb - The Essential Guide to Forest School and Nature Pedagogy
Eachtraíochta;
Te haerenga;
Hana hoʻopīhoihoi; 
Mea wiwo’ole; 
Malanga Matagofie; 
Mate MaaTonga; 
Aventura;
Adventure
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Words in our heritage languages that mean “adventure” also honor the lessons learned
​through the experience of taking healthy risks. 

​Whai Ake Te Matauranga - Pursue Knowledge

One way we can foster Adventurous Learning is to honor the lessons learned  through co-creating experiences that embrace elements of authenticity, agency and responsibility, uncertainty, and mastery through challenge.  These experiences are designed to engage development of students, siblings, caregivers and families both physically and emotionally by bringing them into their growth edge.  This learning threshold is different for each individual helps develop "grit" and a growth mindset which has been shown to lead to well-being, a healthy life style and long term success through and beyond college education.    This type of program is rarely seen in public schools and is based on current research from Dr. Carol Dweck, Dr. Angela Duckworth and others about the importance of developing non-cognitive skills like “grit”/perseverance and other habits of a learner.