River Canyon School

OUR STORY

River Canyon is a play-based outdoor school, welcoming children ages 2.5 to 6,  located in Grand Junction, Colorado. Since 2009, River Canyon has been serving Grand Junction & the Grand Valley offering preschool, pre-kindergarten, and kindergarten. In 2024, we expanded our program to accommodate more families for our growing school. Our classes are composed of mixed- age children which creates a more realistic family feeling.

Here at River Canyon, our early childhood educators nurture each child's becoming, providing gentle, yet sensory rich environments and play-based activities that encourage our blossoming learners to investigate the natural world, explore social relationships, and expand imaginative capacities.

We believe that partnership between parents and teachers in reinforcing common goals is an unbeatable combination in nurturing young children. River Canyon works in collaboration with parents to enhance each child's growth and development, and provide a safe learning environment. When a child feels secure, they can learn to take risks and open their minds to the world around them.

River Canyon strives to create a harmonious and orderly environment in which children can develop confidence in themselves and a natural respect for others and the world in which they live. The teacher accomplishes this through the calm and peaceful tone which is set through carefully planned, rhythmical program that balances periods requiring more and then less concentration, group and then individual participation, and indoor then outdoor activity. Our program is based on the studies of Rudolf Steiner, The Waldorf School creator.

We are a developing member of the Waldorf Early Childhood Association of North America.

WE NEED YOU

In 2023, it became clear that we would need to move our thriving & growing school to a new property. Namely, the reasons for this move include capacity building, creation and development of our own space, and ease for families.

While our current location has been home since our beginnings, we are in a position to grow - and we aim to do so in a new space. By moving to our newly purchased property, we will be able to expand our classrooms and offer more programming to our community. 

Moreover, because our current space is rented, we have minimal input into how space is used, and what we can do to make it fit our students' and families' needs. With ownership, we have the new and radically freeing opportunity to make River Canyon exactly what it ought to be: a place for joyous learning, outdoor exploration, and creative interconnection. 

To make the move, our Board of Directors approved the purchasing of a residential building in 2024. Now, however, we must develop the property to fit the needs of our school. These include various major projects such as landscaping and paving, developing the indoor space to meet state and local child-care code, and creating the best outdoor adventure area imaginable.