CBI Forest School

09/03/2026

Shout out to our fearless leader for 20 great years! Here's to many more!

08/27/2026

We are beyond honored and grateful to be named Best Preschool in the 2026 Best of C-VILLE awards!

Thank you to our incredible families, dedicated staff, and the Charlottesville community for believing in what we do. Every day spent exploring in the wilderness reminds us why we love this work so much.

We are so proud to create a place where childhood is celebrated and children have the freedom to grow, explore, and discover the world around them.

Thank you for being part of our Forest School family!  We couldn’t do it without you!

C-VILLE Weekly

08/26/2026

Giving Childhood the Time It Deserves

Childhood is meant to be lived fully.

Here, we make room for the important work of childhood: exploring, wondering, moving, creating, taking risks, solving problems, making friends, getting dirty, trying again...and sometimes simply lying in the grass and looking at the sky.

We give children time to follow an idea, become absorbed in discovery, pursue a question, and see where their curiosity takes them.

Exploration is how children come to know their world and themselves.

08/21/2026

At the end of our first week, we gather.

Children and teachers come together from across the Forest School to welcome Shabbat, singing familiar songs, sharing blessings, and experiencing the joy of being part of something larger than ourselves.

This week, children have been finding their places: in their classrooms, with their teachers, with new and old friends, and in the forest. On Shabbat, we come together and remember that each of those smaller circles belongs to a larger one.

This is kehillah or community. The experience of knowing I belong here, and I am part of a whole.

For a Well-Rooted Child, belonging begins with being known and grows into knowing that we are connected to one another.

08/19/2026

Welcome to the forest. Bruchim Ha'bayim.

A new school year begins with belonging...learning one another, finding our places, and growing into a community.

At CBI Forest School, we believe children need time to belong before they are asked to become. Time to know their teachers, their friends, their places, and themselves.

This is where our year begins.

08/17/2026

Last week marked the beginning of the 2026–27 CBI Forest School year as our teachers gathered for a meaningful week of connection, reflection, learning, and preparation for the year ahead. We began our year with the sound of the shofar, a call to awaken, to listen, and to begin again. On our first day together we lit the Havdalah candle, marking the transition into a new school year and the sacred work ahead. This year, we are thinking deeply about what it means to raise and teach a Well-Rooted Child: a child rooted in relationship, in wonder, in the natural world, and in Jewish life. Like a tree, we want our children to have deep roots from which they can grow, becoming resilient, curious, compassionate, creative, and filled with wonder. And before we can nurture well-rooted children, we begin by tending to the roots of the adults who teach them.

06/03/2026

What a year it was at CBI Forest School! Please enjoy this End-of-Year montage as we highlight some of the fun that our kids had!

05/28/2026

05/19/2026

Happy "Red Day" from the Hawks class!

05/08/2026

Steady the boat of the other
Paddle upriver
Say hello to the painted turtles & large river birds
Many ways to explore & learn
By kayak is a special way indeed.