Henry Frost at 396 Concord Avenue, Belmont MA

Our Environment

The Henry Frost Children’s Program at Concord Ave is located in the Johnson House. The Johnson House was built in 1885 as part of the Underwood Estate. It was purchased in 1968 from the estate of Miss Rachel Johnson, who had served for many years as the children’s librarian at Belmont’s Underwood Library. The purchase of the home was made possible by a generous bequest from longtime First Church in Belmont member Marion Gardner.

Since the purchase, the Johnson House has been used by First Church and it has been home to a variety of entities, most recently the Powers Music School. The Edward R. Hennessey, Jr. Memorial Playground revitalization is also an important part of this project as The Henry Frost Children’s Program transforms this learning space into an outdoor classroom.

Interior

The Henry Frost Children’s Program at Concord Avenue is designed carefully to meet the needs of our learners. Both floors of our farmhouse are designed carefully to hold three primary learning spaces: The Cherry Blossom Room, The Garden Room, and the Copper Beech Room.

The Cherry Blossom Room

This room holds our gigantic wooden blocks collection, building area, and our dramatic play loft system. Emergent curriculum is expanded through imaginary play and children’s sense of wonder.

The Copper Beech Room

This classroom has comfortable workspaces for both small group and individual lessons. The shelving is filled with our mathematics materials, literacy materials and our sensorial materials. During community meetings the class gathers around the original farmhouse fireplace.

The Garden Room

Looking over our school garden, this room showcases three main areas: our art shelf, food preparation kitchen, and our sensory activity station. This room promotes children’s creativity and exploration through the arts.

The Arrival Room

Entering school is easy when you have a space ready to receive our learners. This carefully designed mud room with a large basin sink supports children to enter with ease. Children can store their personal belongings and switch from their outside shoes into their cozy classroom slippers. In colder winter months, this space allows for children to warm their snow suits and mittens before their adventures outdoors.

Exterior

The Johnson House Porch

The entrance to our Concord Avenue school is a carefully crafted porch that brings families into the side entrance just like you would at home. This decking area also holds perfect spaces for our sensory table.

The Outdoor Classroom

Modeled after research at the Eliot-Pearson Children’s Lab School at Tufts University, our outdoor classroom holds a large cedar climbing structure, a hobbit house made from found wood, our “ocean-front” sandbox, field area, gardening spaces, mud kitchen and our outdoor community blocks. This beautiful collection of blocks, crates, and a wagon allow children to work together to create structures for outdoor play. Pollinator garden beds invite children into this magical space.

The Garden Area

Learning how to plant and tend vegetables, fruits, and flowers is an integral part of our curriculum at Henry Frost. Learning about our natural world through the seasons is part of our fun at school! The Henry Frost Garden serves as a critical space for children to have hands on opportunities with the natural world.

We believe that outdoor learning environments need to be given the same attention as indoor classrooms. For this reason, our staff plans outdoor curriculum daily.