News

  • Statement from the Play Mountain Place Board of Trustees on Israel and Palestine

    At Play Mountain Place, we believe all children have the right to live in peace and safety. We mourn the abuse and murder of children, whoever and wherever they are. We stand against racism, Islamophobia, antisemitism, and all other forms of bigotry that place greater value on some lives than on others. We call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire and an end to the violence. In addition, we call for steps to be taken now to prevent the humanitarian…

  • Sharing My Korean Cultural Heritage at Play Mountain Place through the Korean Cultural Studies Unit

    I came to this country from South Korea to attend graduate school in Rhode Island School of Design in the summer of 2003. I was on my own, and it was the first time I came to the United States. At this progressive art school, I was exposed to the freedom of self expression for the first time.

  • We Paid Off The Mortgage!

    In 2008, we asked our community to support us in buying the school property in a campaign called “Preserve A Legacy.” Thanks to our community’s generosity at that time, then throughout the years that followed, we are very pleased to announce that we completed payment on Play Mountain Place’s mortgage in October of 2022. 

  • Farewell, Keiko!

    Keiko Matsumoto, beloved community member and teacher at Play Mountain Place, moved back home to Japan.

  • Happy Retirement, Joey!

    Teachers and staff were pleased to gather with Joey Artero on the last day of Summer Camp to celebrate this long time, beloved teacher’s retirement. There was cake, homemade streamers, purple roses, great jokes, and also some tears.

  • Letter from Judy

    Dear Friends, As I leave the position of Director, and complete my years at Play Mountain Place, I’m left with the wonder and amazement of a lifetime of doing work that I have loved with people who have become so dear to me. Right now, I’m not thinking of all the challenges, crises, tears and fears of these years. They are all behind me now.

  • From Judy To Joe

    From Judy Accardi CO-DIRECTOR After 20 years as Director of Play Mountain Place and almost 20 more years in other staff roles here, I am ready to begin to focus my time and energy on other areas of my life that are important to me − taking more time for myself, for my family, time to travel, to write, to focus more on my private practice and to explore other interests I’ve long been curious to try.

  • Black Lives Matter Statement from the Board of Trustees

    We want you to know that we stand firmly in support of the Black community. Black Lives Matter.

  • Updates Regarding COVID-19

    This is an incredibly trying time for everyone in the world. The separation we have from one another—coupled with the broader anxieties of this moment—are testing all of us. As we adjust and adapt to all of these new things, we wanted to be in touch with you, our wider community, about how it’s going at Play Mountain Place.

  • Calligraphy Class

    My relationship to handwriting has drastically shifted and evolved over the course of my life. I may be one of the last generations of public school students who were taught the “necessity” of cursive handwriting.

  • Caleb Jaffe Goes to Sundance!

    Exciting news! Play Mountain Place Alum Caleb Jaffe made it into the 2019 Sundance Film Festival in the Indie Episodic category amid record high submissions with his show pilot, “It’s Not About Jimmy Keene.”

  • Magic with Microbes

    This year in Mountain Yard, we experimented with fermentation in our Magic with Microbes class. In one of our projects, we cut up cabbage, radishes, carrots, garlic, and ginger and added salt and spices to make sauerkraut and kimchi.

  • Neighborhood Walks

    “It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood, a beautiful day for a neighbor! Would you be mine? Could you be mine?” – Mister Rogers Our intrepid wanderers in House Group this year adventured up and down our neighborhood streets, greeting people, hearing their stories, learning about our local businesses, and growing empathy through the knowing of others.

  • LIVE with Kelly and Ryan

    Play Mountain Place got a nice mention on LIVE with Kelly and Ryan on Tuesday, June 26. Kelly Ripa was discussing the rise of Forest Preschools and it reminded her of her friends Liza and Jamie Persky who attended Play Mountain Place in the 1970s.

  • Going Green with the Green Team

    We invited Anna Cummins and Marcus Eriksen of the 5 Gyres Institute (parents of Avani who attended Play Mountain Place), to give a very educational presentation about plastic pollution in the ocean. The children were so inspired from this presentation that at the next park day, they made a plan and picked up trash.

  • Making Moves: How Play Mountain Place Fosters Self-Empowerment and Expression Through Creative Dance

    Play Mountain Place supports its students to explore themselves and the world around them while encouraging them to communicate authentically and seek their own solutions to challenges they face. Paula Perlman embodies the school’s principle values by facilitating collaborative creativity, problem solving and nonverbal communication through her movement classes, which she has lead for nearly 20 years.

  • Turbulent Montgomery, Alabama in the 1960’s: Alonzo Cephus’ Personal Account

    On February 25, 2015 in honor of Black History/African American Heritage Month, Alonzo Cephus, former Play Mountain Place parent and current Board Member, came to Mountain Yard to speak about his experience as a young person living in Montgomery, Alabama, during the Montgomery Bus Boycott and his family’s personal connection to Rosa Parks and the Civil Rights Movement.

  • Conflict Resolution – Recording

    Listen to the Hand in Hand Teleseminar entitled “Conflict Resolution: In School and at Home” with Play Mountain Place Director Judy Accardi and Hand in Hand’s Patty Wipfler.

  • “Robo 1″ and “Robo 2″ Urge Students to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle

    One day, we had extra boxes donated to Mountain Yard. Willow and Zoe found them and their imaginations soared. Soon, the idea of creating robots emerged. They created “Robo 1″ (Willow) and “Robo 2” (Zoey) to take their message of “Reduce, Reuse and Recycle” to fellow students.

  • Large Bequest Funds Scholarships

    Play Mountain Place is pleased and honored to announce the largest donation in its history designated exclusively to fund scholarships for Play Mountain Place students.  Director Judy Accardi accepted a check for $100,000 from Margaret Rosenau (known as Heidi Rosenau when a student from 1973-1979), a bequest from her late father, Jim Rosenau.

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