Faith was in a safe place where she could play, pretend and imagine herself as anything her heart desired just by looking in the mirror. The dress-up area is Faith's favorite part of the Los Gatos­Saratoga Observation Nursery School, and even though she visits the site only once a week, she wishes she could go every day.

"I don't know how she's going to walk, she has so many layers on," said her mother, Shelley Molenda, with a laugh.

From the school, Faith is learning to communicate her needs, express herself in new ways and gain social skills, while her mother watches and tracks her progress.

"It is just a very rich environment," Shelley said. "Faith gets to experience so many things at her developmental level, with such wonderful teachers."

A little, red schoolhouse is home to the Los Gatos­Saratoga Observation Nursery School, built in 1917. The Los Gatos property, belonging to Lakeside School District, has also been coined "The Mountain School" for its remote location up windy Black Road. The school, formerly known as Easterbrook Farm School, was founded in 1956 by Saratoga resident Betty Peck and is currently attended by about 80 children between ages 2 and 5.

"Our school gives children the tools of exploration and discovery, which will help them learn their entire lives," according to Marie Imai, the school's director since 1990. Her own children attended the school.

She said the school is provided through the Los Gatos­Saratoga Adult Education Program, which also sponsors the Los Gatos and Saratoga parent nursery schools. Imai and assistant head teacher Amy Miljevich said the school's curriculum and academic focus is nature-based. The children climb among the beds of local creeks, learn to care for a garden, play in the sand, and commit to memory the names of insects, plants, trees and wildlife.

"The academics or learning are so embedded in play, you won't see it unless you are looking for it," said parent Angie Davidson, chair of the school's executive board.

Miljevich said children learn principles of science and math and the alphabet, keep journals and tell stories without worksheets or dittos that a regular preschool might use.

"The children have a strong sense of being rooted in the natural world," Imai said. "It is important for one's soul to be connected to the earth from the time you are young."

A change of scenery

During winter months, the children play indoors at The Mountain School. Play includes manipulatives, art and science projects, puzzles, a dress-up area, measuring and weighing devices, cooking healthy snacks, singing songs, story time in a circle, playing with natural wooden toys and musical instruments, to name a few. The children also collect eggs from four chickens that live at the school.

When the weather warms up in the fall and spring, children meet outdoors in a classroom without walls. They explore trails through the woods and experiment with carpentry and Play Dough, under the supervision of their parents and teachers. There's a hand water pump and opportunities for children to slide down the roots of tree trunks and get dirty. So children bring an extra change of clothing to school, as well as rubber boots for recreation in the creeks.

"Children have to have water," Peck said. "It is so important for them to realize that no raindrop is ever lost."

Imai said the children spend about 12­14 weeks of the school year playing outdoors at Saratoga Springs and Savannah-Chanelle Vineyards, both in Saratoga. Imai said children generally don't spend enough time outdoors, watching too much television and playing computer games because parents worry about their safety.

"Children are happiest when there's water, mud and sand," Imai said. "Children deserve a childhood of play."

Imai said the children take frequent field trips to places such as a beaver dam at Lexington Reservoir County Park, a state fire station, hikes to Fall Creek State Park in Felton, a trek along the Russian Ridge preserve off Skyline Boulevard, and excursions to Sanborn County Park and Picchetti Ranch open-space preserve.

One difference between this school and other preschools and day-care centers are parent observations. Parents—both moms and dads—are required to complete 10 written observations per semester. These include notes on topics such as how their child interacts with teachers, other children, their own personality developments, gross and fine motor skills, muscle and body coordination, and how they handle conflict and sharing. Parents receive responses to the observations from their children's teachers. Parents also attend occasional evening workshops with featured speakers.

"Betty Peck set up our school to be an observation school because she felt it was a great teaching model or method for parents," Imai said.

Unlike some other preschools, Imai said parents are allowed and encouraged to play with their children, although teachers handle problems first when they arise. Parents at the school also often gain lifelong friendships with the parents of other children. The school is one of those hidden secrets in the community that parents learn about from other parents. The school is facilitated by a parent board of directors that maintains memberships, maintenance and fundraising activities.

At the end of the school year, parents produce a culmination project—a game, picture, story, letter to their child, scrapbook of memories—or summary of their child's year.

A history of play

As the oldest of six children, Peck grew up having no choice but to become a teacher and role model for her brothers and sisters. Since her childhood, teaching has become second nature.

She was hired by Raymond J. Fisher for her first job as a third-grade teacher at the old University Avenue grammar school in Los Gatos, which is now Old Town.

Peck and her husband, Willys, were married in 1952. In 1956, when her daughter, Anna, and son, Bill, were just toddlers, Peck decided she wanted to create the perfect nursery school for her children.

She had already started a summer kindergarten demonstration school, but wanted a yearlong nursery school, which evolved as the Easterbrook Farm School, or the present-day Los Gatos­Saratoga Observation Nursery School.

"It had to be a school for parents most importantly," Peck said. "I told my friends it must be on a farm. It has to have animals. It has to have wonderful gardens. I dreamed of all this."

The first home of the school was named after its caretakers, the late Harold and Louise Easterbrook, who owned property including a farm with hillsides of sheep, pigs, chickens, rabbits, horses and orchards between Austin Way and Bainter Avenue, behind the Quito Fire Station on Los Gatos­Saratoga Road.

"There had to be lots of climbing, so Willys built this wonderful treehouse that you climbed up with a ladder into a cherry tree," Peck said, describing a cargo net that also hung from the tree. "It is so important for children to climb. It was absolutely a magic time. The children would paint, but they would paint with mud. Everything was natural."

Since Peck was in charge of the school at the time, she hired qualified teachers to run the classes for children ages 2 to 4. With a chuckle, Peck said she didn't want her own children to know she was running a school.

Peck went on to teach kindergarten in Saratoga schools for 30 years and third grade in Los Gatos schools for another nine years. But she and her colleagues didn't let the observation nursery school die.

As the world changed and progressed from the school's founding in 1956, so did the school's location. The school was moved to an old farmhouse in 1959 on the property of Saratoga High School. The school was again relocated to a private house near the Los Gatos United Methodist Church, and later to an old house at Saratoga Springs, which burned in 1960. The school was moved to various other temporary locations until 1973, when it was placed at the Lakeside site—still used today. Peck said the school's unique foundation, focus and mission has remained constant over time.

"They climb and they walk and adventure," Peck said. "The play is all about trying on the culture. You are what you are from your time of play when you were a young child. People don't seem to understand that play is so important because you rule the world."

Parent perspective

As a class of 2-year-olds and their parents spread out for lunchtime in a shaded picnic grove at Saratoga Springs, parent Ellen Mapes described how her 2-year-old son and 4-year-old daughter have the chance to experience nature to its fullest potential.

"They are allowed more freedom here," Mapes said. "In other preschool programs there is a little more structure."

As a parent, Mapes said she's like a fly on the wall. She has the opportunity to observe her children while participating in their education. She doesn't just volunteer to run a classroom station once a week, it is a continual commitment.

While the older children carpool to the school and don't require daily parental supervision, the 2-year-olds often need to be close to their parents. Either moms or dads are responsible for attending at least one class a week with their child.

"The teachers encourage the children to try things on their own," Mapes said.

During a hike at Sanborn County Park through the redwoods, Mapes said the children learned that skin protects their body as bark protects a tree. They gained an appreciation for nature as their teachers pointed out water striders and banana slugs. She added that her children are gaining confidence to do things on their own and face new challenges.

"It gives them the opportunity to be a kid," Mapes said. "They are going to be in a classroom all their life."

Brad and Erica Giannini own Saratoga Springs, a family-run operation since the 1890s, which includes everything from a campground, swimming pool and horseshoes to a ropes course, groves for corporate picnics, streams, trails for hiking and playgrounds.

"I cherish the fact that it is such a heritage," said Brad, the general manager for the past five years.

Brad inherited the business from his father, who took over Saratoga Springs in 1972. The site has been used by the observation nursery school since 1958. The Gianninis' daughter, Caitlyn, 2, attends the school, which means she sees both of her parents on a frequent basis. The Gianninis' said their 3-month-old daughter, Hannah, will be attending the school when she gets older.

Brad, now 35, attended the school when he was a youngster growing up in Saratoga. He had Peck as his kindergarten teacher at Oak Street School, now Saratoga Elementary School. Brad said the "bunny hill" at Saratoga Springs is still a popular attraction he remembers as a child. It consists of a hillside where erosion has unearthed oak tree roots, and children can slide down the roots on their bottoms.

Kimberly Damore, the mother of two sets of twins who attend the school, said she enjoys watching their physical motor skills and hand-eye coordination develop as they climb tree roots and paint with watercolors.

"They are not scared to get dirty or wet," Damore said. "They don't mind getting glue or paint on their hands."

Parent Jeanne Dominguez, who is the school board's information chair, said her daughter, Mara, can identify poison oak, edible plants, build a fairy house or tell a story using a pinecone and a stick.

"The children have an awareness of themselves and the world around them," Dominguez said. "It comes down to building community and watching our children create a place where they can build relationships."

For more information about the Los Gatos­Saratoga Observation Nursery School, visit http://www.lgsons.com or call the Los Gatos­Saratoga Department of Community Education and Recreation at 408.354.8700.