All Day Preschool operates twelve months a year and serves children 3-5 years of age.
This ECFE class is non-separating for parents and children birth to age 2.
Half Day Preschool offers options for 3 year olds to attend two mornings or afternoons per week or for 4 & 5 year olds to attend three mornings or afternoons per week.
Village Kids is a school-age childcare program that provides care before and after school and on non-school days for children in grades K-5 attending Wilshire Park Elementary School or who reside in St. Anthony-New Brighton School District.
Our early childhood camps and enrichment classes are specifically for children ages 2-6. However, some of our camps and classes are geared for ages 2-9 so siblings can attend together.
For the Anishinaabe, the Month of April is the 3rd month of the 13 Moon System, The Leaf Budding Moon. This is when trees begin to unfurl their new green, life reawakens, and the land pushes gently into growth. In this transitional time, the land senses the shift from dormancy to emergence. In this class, participants will prepare bison and wild rice meatballs, drawing on ingredients that bridge past and future. Bison brings grounding strength and continuity with the land; wild rice as known as Manoomin is a sacred grain central to the Anishinaabe, a reminder of resilience, reciprocity, and sustenance even as new growth begins. We’ll accompany the meal with cedar tea, a protective medicine and mint tea, whose refreshing, cool energy mirrors the first fresh breeze of spring. Together, these teas help support digestion, clarity, and renewal. Throughout the evening, April will share stories and teachings about the Leaf Budding Moon, how it invites life to awaken gently, to trust in the slow return of abundance, and to ground ourselves in gratitude as life unfurls again. Participants will not only gain new recipes, but a deeper connection to how food, land, and spirit are woven through every turning of the seasons.
April Smith is an enrolled member of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe. She is also an Indigenous Educator and Facilitator, an Herbalist from Cornell University, a Curriculum Designer, and her work is rooted in Ojibwe cultural education and nutrition, Indigenous Food Sovereignty, and community wellness. With over 16 years of experience designing and facilitating learning experiences for communities and organizations, April brings a unique approach that blends Anishinaabe foodways with modern wellness practices. Her work is grounded in reciprocity, sustainability, and respect for ancestral knowledge. She teaches that food is medicine and that every ingredient has a story, one that connects us all through shared humility and care for Mother Earth. April’s Indigenous Cooking Class Series runs from January 2026 through May 2026, featuring five seasonal classes that celebrate traditional Anishinaabe foods and share how the Anishinaabe people lived by the 13 Moon System. Cooking by the 13 Moons: Indigenous Seasons of Food Series invites participants to rediscover the relationship between food, culture, and the land, an experience that nourishes both body and spirit.
www.bearclandesignsllc.com
April Smith
