School-Age Programs Facilitator for Sunbeam Nature School

Be a part of our beautiful and growing educational project to steward the land, grow food, care for animals, and give children the magic of play and earth-based explorations at our two acre farm in Petaluma, California.

Sunbeam Nature School is a nonprofit working farm whose mission is to support families in allowing children to play outside and participate in earth's life cycles, rain or shine. We host a bilingual Spanish immersion preschool co-op, and we run after-school and summer camp programs for children grades TK - 6 (ideally Spanish bilingual).

Our current after school teacher is going on maternity leave mid-April, so we need to find a wonderful replacement for these last couple months of school. Ideally, we hope to find someone who is open to the expanding their role within our organization beyond this spring, such as staying on as summer camps counselor and running the after school programs next fall.

The position requires the educator to plan and implement a three-hour afternoon program that serves to connect peers to each other and to the farm environment. Children should be given long blocks of time to play while also being offered some planned teacher-guided activities such as tinkering projects or nature-based process art, gardening or cooking, story read-aloud, and of course breaks for snack, water, and bathroom, and an opening and closing circle.

The after school teacher will be supervised by Sunbeam's directors, Shawna Thompson and Ida Marte. Our organization is in year two of start-up phase; if you are curious, self-motivated, are a problem solver, and take initiative and work independently, you will fit in well at Sunbeam. 

We prefer that you speak Spanish to continue the bilingual immersion model of our programming. We'd love that you have a background in an applied environmental field and/or have experience in a creative discipline. MUST have some experience working with young children, can pass a background check, and can lift heavy items (or persons) weighing around 45 pounds. Bonus for having ECE units and knowing how to plan curriculum.

Contact shawna@sunbeamnatureschool.org