A garden that grew a school.
Sunnyfield started as a co-op of six families on Larchmont Road who wanted their kids to grow up outside more. Sixteen years later, that garden is still here — and so are two of the original kids, now teaching in it.
We're licensed for 48 children across three rooms. That number will not grow. We've been offered the lot next door twice; we've said no both times.
Sixteen years, in short.
Six families, one garden.
Started as a weekend co-op in Marta's backyard. Twelve kids, three grown-ups, one goat named Mildred who did not last the year.
Officially a kindergarten.
Rented the house on Larchmont, got our state license, hired Ms. Kai — still with us. First graduating cohort of six.
Bought the building.
Community fundraiser + a very patient bank. Renovated the mud room ourselves over one summer.
Three rooms open.
Added the Sprouts room, hired two more teachers. Waitlist tripled. We stopped advertising.
Original kids come back.
Marta's daughter Rina joins as lead teacher in Sprouts. Two more from the first cohort volunteer weekly. This part still surprises us.
Still 48 kids.
Same building, same garden, same ratios. Just quieter, warmer, and a little more sure of the answer.
The grown-ups.
Hover or tap a teacher to find out something oddly specific. Everyone here has been with us at least three years.
Marta Kai
Marta Kai
Was a botanical illustrator before she opened the school. Still paints the seasonal signs in the mud room by hand.
Rina Moreno
Rina Moreno
Was a Sunnyfield Sprout herself in 2009. Now teaches the room she once napped in. Full-circle energy.
Elena Ojeda
Elena Ojeda
Plays four instruments. Only teaches on three. Wrote the "goodbye friday" song every alumnus can still hum.
Jordan Tran
Jordan Tran
Runs the "big feelings club" on Fridays. Also our unofficial camera-repair person; can revive a Fujifilm from the dead.
Sam Park
Sam Park
Cooked in three restaurants before deciding kids were a better audience. Never repeats a lunch in a single month.
Nia Adeyemi
Nia Adeyemi
RN with a decade in pediatrics. Keeps a jar of small dinosaur toys in her office for post-scrape currency.
Four small stubbornnesses.
Play is the work.
Not a break from learning, not a reward for finishing something. The way a three-year-old builds with blocks is the way an adult writes a proof. We protect long, uninterrupted play blocks — even against ourselves.
Outside, always.
Rain, wind, low sun. We have the raincoats. Two hours minimum outside per day, every day, all four seasons. Weather is a curriculum.
Boredom is okay.
The most creative moments in our week arrive when a child has done every station and hasn't been rescued from doing nothing yet. We don't rescue.
No screens, no tests.
No tablets in the classroom, no printouts sent home, no assessments before six. What we send home is a portfolio you'll want to keep — real drawings, real photos, real quotes.