February 15, 2023

Dear Families and Friends,

Thank you for your interest in The Community School (TCS). We are deep into our 9th year of Place-based learning on MDI, with so much to celebrate and be grateful for. This year marks a significant milestone in TCS history, as we expanded our campus from 5 to 78 acres, with the purchase of the adjacent undeveloped land in a partnership with our neighbors, Maine Coast Heritage Trust. The Babson Creek Learning Forest, will continue to be an extended classroom for TCS and will be protected in perpetuity by an MCHT conservation easement. We eventually will welcome the public and area schools to this child-centered preserve.

As I walk around campus, Mr. Chris is hard at work constructing the sub-floor for our new library yurt, a class is returning from a tracking lesson with a guest teacher in the field, one is contently listening to a read-aloud beneath on of our mighty White Pine trees, and one is sketching a hypothesis of what they might catch on the game cam that we mounted in the forest.

A Red Fox has been visiting us in the mornings at the edge of the field, and the days are growing longer with afternoon light. The beauty and rhythms of the natural world continue to fuel us all here at TCS. As I write, the tide is rushing into to Babson Creek from Somes Harbor, moving over the morning ice layer. Rocks are glossy with sea ice. The trees are dusted white from yesterdays snowfall and the field glows in the morning winter light. These rhythms, patterns and observations inform and inspire our work each day.

Whether you are an interested family or curious community member, we look forward to connecting with you!

Sincerely,

Jasmine W. Smith, Founding Director