News

Spring Bazaar 2025
Thank you for joining us!
Annual State of the School
Thank you for joining us at the Annual State of the School on Wednesday, January 15, and approving — as a community — our Board members for the coming year. We look forward to continuing to share our work with you toward our 75th anniversary, a just and equitable world, and providing for the financial stability of our school.
Statement from the Board of Trustees on Israel and Palestine
At Play Mountain Place, we believe all children have the right to live in peace and safety.
Sharing My Korean Cultural Heritage at Play Mountain Place through the Korean Cultural Studies Unit
We Paid Off The Mortgage!
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 gathered with Joey Artero to celebrate this long time, beloved teacher’s retirement.
Letter from Judy
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.
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.
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.