Calendar of events
Upcoming Samara events, workshops, & speaking engagements
Interested in scheduling Dr. Rachel A. Larimore for an event? Learn more here.
The Grove Drop-in Office Hour with Rachel
Drop-in Office Hour with Dr. Rachel Larimore is a one-hour sessions where Rachel is available on Zoom for Grove members to drop-in for a conversation. This is a great chance to get answers to your questions about nature-based early childhood education. This is also a place to receive tailored feedback from Rachel specific to your situation. We offer these informal and relaxed sessions for Grove members so they can more easily join at time that suits them—and without the feeling of “oh, the call already started so I can’t join.” Rather, Rachel is present for 1 hour and she’d love to see you!
This event is for Grove members only. Click here to learn more about The Grove—a community of nature-based educators learning and growing together.
The Grove Focused Call: Adults with ADHD and Neurodiverse Characteristics: How Do I Support My Staff… and Myself?
We know how to serve the children. How about the adults? After this call, you will be ready to clearly recognize and assist staff who have ADHD and neurodiverse characteristics. See how to approach ADHD and neurodiversity not as a problem but an invitation. Walk away with specific tools to enhance the learning environment for everyone! Join us as we gain valuable insights from “The ADHD Whisperer” Rachel B. Selig, M.Ed. Rachel is passionate about removing barriers and supporting inclusivity for adults with ADHD, and neurodiverse characteristics.
Ohio’s Annual AEYC Conference (2024)
Samara’s Chief Visionary, Dr. Rachel A. Larimore, will be presenting two concurrent sessions at this year’s conference!
Join thousands of educators from Ohio, across the nation, and around the globe for an extraordinary experience at the foremost event tailored for early childhood educators, directors, and advocates!
Preschool Naturally: An outdoor & nature-based learning campference
We are excited to co-host this event for preschool educators! This conference, in a camp-like setting, will be a chance to dig deep into practice through theory and hands-on workshops. Workshops will be led Dr. Rachel Larimore (Samara’s founder), Ferncliff Nature Preschool staff, and A-State Childhood Services staff.
Natural Start Alliance's Nature-based Early Learning Conference
Join hundreds of professionals around the globe for the Nature-Based Early Learning Conference, hosted by the Natural Start Alliance. Explore the role of nature and education in promoting healing, addressing injustice, and helping children, families, communities, and the planet thrive.
Nature-Based Learning: Inspiring & Supporting Staff to Help Children Learn with Nature
This webinar, designed to support program leaders and administrators, will briefly share the core principles of a nature-based approach and a Trail Map for Leading Change toward that approach. With that common language established, Rachel will focus on the steps to support your team to make the shift to a nature-based approach—and keep them happy and inspired along the way.
Evaluating Natureness: How to use the Nature-Based Education Rating Scale to improve nature-based early childhood teaching (Session 3)
Part 3 of 3 in a webinar series on using the Nature-Based Education Rating Scale (NABERS). NABERS is a tool crafted specifically for early education practitioners, researchers, and policymakers to help them effortlessly gather standardized information, assessing education settings in crucial areas such as: program goals, curriculum practices, staffing, environment, community partnerships, and family engagement.
*The recordings for all 3 installments in this webinar series are available to Grove Members. Click here to join today!
Evaluating Natureness: How to use the Nature-Based Education Rating Scale to improve nature-based early childhood teaching (Session 2)
Part 2 of 3 in a webinar series on using the Nature-Based Education Rating Scales system (NABERS). NABERS is a tool crafted specifically for early education practitioners, researchers, and policymakers to help them effortlessly gather standardized information, assessing education settings in crucial areas such as: program goals, curriculum practices, staffing, environment, community partnerships, and family engagement.
*The recordings for all 3 installments in this webinar series are available to Grove Members. Click here to join today!
Non-Profit or For-Profit? Finding the Best Path for Your Program (A Natural Start Alliance webinar)
Join nature-based education consultants David Catlin and Samara’s founder Dr. Rachel Larimore to get answers to this and other questions about the pros and cons of each of these different pathways. Rachel and David have developed a new resource to help programs consider their options, and they'll provide an overview, and take your questions during this webinar.
The Grove Drop-in Office Hour with Rachel
Drop-in Office Hour with Dr. Rachel Larimore is a one-hour sessions where Rachel is available on Zoom for Grove members to drop-in for a conversation. This is a great chance to get answers to your questions about nature-based early childhood education. This is also a place to receive tailored feedback from Rachel specific to your situation. We offer these informal and relaxed sessions for Grove members so they can more easily join at time that suits them—and without the feeling of “oh, the call already started so I can’t join.” Rather, Rachel is present for 1 hour and she’d love to see you!
Please note this event is only for members of The Grove. Not a member? You can join The Grove here to access this event & more.
Evaluating Natureness: How to use the Nature-Based Education Rating Scale to improve nature-based early childhood teaching (Session 1)
Part 2 of 3 in a webinar series on using the Nature-Based Education Rating Scales system (NABERS). NABERS is a tool crafted specifically for early education practitioners, researchers, and policymakers to help them effortlessly gather standardized information, assessing education settings in crucial areas such as: program goals, curriculum practices, staffing, environment, community partnerships, and family engagement.
*The recordings for all 3 installments in this webinar series are available to Grove Members. Click here to join today!
Why do we do THAT?!: Making Intentional Decisions in the Nature-based Early Childhood Classroom
*The recording of this webinar is available to Grove Members. Click here to join today!
The Grove Drop-in Office Hour with Rachel
Drop-in Office Hour with Dr. Rachel Larimore is a one-hour sessions where Rachel is available on Zoom for Grove members to drop-in for a conversation. This is a great chance to get answers to your questions about nature-based early childhood education. This is also a place to receive tailored feedback from Rachel specific to your situation. We offer these informal and relaxed sessions for Grove members so they can more easily join at time that suits them—and without the feeling of “oh, the call already started so I can’t join.” Rather, Rachel is present for 1 hour and she’d love to see you!
This event is for Grove members only. Click here to learn more about The Grove—a community of nature-based educators learning and growing together.
The Grove Drop-in Office Hour with Rachel
Drop-in Office Hour with Dr. Rachel Larimore is a one-hour sessions where Rachel is available on Zoom for Grove members to drop-in for a conversation. This is a great chance to get answers to your questions about nature-based early childhood education. This is also a place to receive tailored feedback from Rachel specific to your situation. We offer these informal and relaxed sessions for Grove members so they can more easily join at time that suits them—and without the feeling of “oh, the call already started so I can’t join.” Rather, Rachel is present for 1 hour and she’d love to see you!
This event is for Grove members only. Click here to learn more about The Grove—a community of nature-based educators learning and growing together.
The Grove Focus Call: InstaGrowth: Using Instagram to boost enrollment in nature-based schools
Each month inside The Grove is a focused live video conference call on a particular topic. The format includes a brief presentation followed by open discussion among attendees.
From your profile to your posts, Instagram can help grow your audience and deepen a sense of community with your families. Learn how to easily engage and grow your enrollment with Lauren Litt, a social media coach and fractional Chief Marketing Officer. Join us as Lauren shares valuable tips and insights on how to leverage Instagram to attract perfect-fit families.
This event is for Grove members only. Click here to join The Grove, a community of nature-based educators learning and growing together, and attend this call. (Please note, members have access to recordings of all previous presentations.)
The Grove Drop-in Office Hour with Rachel
Drop-in Office Hour with Dr. Rachel Larimore is a one-hour sessions where Rachel is available on Zoom for Grove members to drop-in for a conversation. This is a great chance to get answers to your questions about nature-based early childhood education. This is also a place to receive tailored feedback from Rachel specific to your situation. We offer these informal and relaxed sessions for Grove members so they can more easily join at time that suits them—and without the feeling of “oh, the call already started so I can’t join.” Rather, Rachel is present for 1 hour and she’d love to see you!
This event is for Grove members only. Click here to learn more about The Grove—a community of nature-based educators learning and growing together.
The Grove Focus Call: Mind Full or Mindful— Exploring benefits, practices and possibilities for children and teachers
Teaching young children is a joyful, and challenging endeavor. The most effective teachers are somehow able to maintain a mental calmness and stability (equanimity) as they go about the complex task of helping a diverse group of young children learn to navigate the intricate world that is an early childhood classroom. How is this possible?
The Grove Focus Call: Nature Inspired Storytelling: Top Tips and Tools for Telling Terrific Tales
Join Tania Moloney from Nurture in Nature Australia as she shares the power of using books as springboards to enrich and engage nature play and outdoor learning opportunities. We’ll look at “who” is on your bookshelf and why that’s important, and Tania will dig into her 5 Top Storytelling Tools to help you grow your skills and confidence as a natural storyteller.
The Grove Drop-in Office Hour with Rachel
Drop-in Office Hour with Dr. Rachel Larimore is a one-hour sessions where Rachel is available on Zoom for Grove members to drop-in for a conversation. This is a great chance to get answers to your questions about nature-based early childhood education. This is also a place to receive tailored feedback from Rachel specific to your situation. We offer these informal and relaxed sessions for Grove members so they can more easily join at time that suits them—and without the feeling of “oh, the call already started so I can’t join.” Rather, Rachel is present for 1 hour and she’d love to see you!
This event is for Grove members only. Click here to learn more about The Grove—a community of nature-based educators learning and growing together.
The Grove Focus Call: The NbECE Change Trail Map
Each month inside The Grove is a focused live video conference call on a particular topic. The format includes a brief presentation followed by open discussion among attendees.
Leading change among a program is difficult under any circumstance, but nature-based education can bring its own set of challenges. This focused call will provide a trail map for shifting progress toward nature-based education. It will discuss the questions we need to ask and answer before we can lead teams to the next steps.
This event is for Grove members only. Click here to join The Grove, a community of nature-based educators learning and growing together, and attend this call. (Please note, members have access to recordings of all previous presentations.)
The Grove Drop-in Office Hour with Rachel
Drop-in Office Hour with Dr. Rachel Larimore is a one-hour sessions where Rachel is available on Zoom for Grove members to drop-in for a conversation. This is a great chance to get answers to your questions about nature-based early childhood education. This is also a place to receive tailored feedback from Rachel specific to your situation. We offer these informal and relaxed sessions for Grove members so they can more easily join at time that suits them—and without the feeling of “oh, the call already started so I can’t join.” Rather, Rachel is present for 1 hour and she’d love to see you!
This event is for Grove members only. Click here to learn more about The Grove—a community of nature-based educators learning and growing together.
The Grove Drop-in Office Hour with Rachel
Drop-in Office Hour with Dr. Rachel Larimore is a one-hour sessions where Rachel is available on Zoom for Grove members to drop-in for a conversation. This is a great chance to get answers to your questions about nature-based early childhood education. This is also a place to receive tailored feedback from Rachel specific to your situation. We offer these informal and relaxed sessions for Grove members so they can more easily join at time that suits them—and without the feeling of “oh, the call already started so I can’t join.” Rather, Rachel is present for 1 hour and she’d love to see you!
This event is for Grove members only. Click here to learn more about The Grove—a community of nature-based educators learning and growing together.
The Grove Drop-in Office Hour with Rachel
Drop-in Office Hour with Dr. Rachel Larimore is a one-hour sessions where Rachel is available on Zoom for Grove members to drop-in for a conversation. This is a great chance to get answers to your questions about nature-based early childhood education. This is also a place to receive tailored feedback from Rachel specific to your situation. We offer these informal and relaxed sessions for Grove members so they can more easily join at time that suits them—and without the feeling of “oh, the call already started so I can’t join.” Rather, Rachel is present for 1 hour and she’d love to see you!
This event is for Grove members only. Click here to learn more about The Grove—a community of nature-based educators learning and growing together.
The Grove Focused Q&A: hiring, training, & all things staff-related
Each month inside The Grove is a focused live video conference call on a particular topic. The format includes a brief presentation followed by open discussion among attendees.
This is an open Q&A time for anything related to personnel--hiring, onboarding, training, etc. If you haven't already, be sure to check out the Hiring Process focus call recording, Welcoming Staff, and Individual PD plans.
This event is for Grove members only. Click here to join The Grove, a community of nature-based educators learning and growing together, and attend this call. (Please note, members have access to recordings of all previous presentations.)
The Grove Drop-in Office Hour with Rachel
Drop-in Office Hour with Dr. Rachel Larimore is a one-hour sessions where Rachel is available on Zoom for Grove members to drop-in for a conversation. This is a great chance to get answers to your questions about nature-based early childhood education. This is also a place to receive tailored feedback from Rachel specific to your situation. We offer these informal and relaxed sessions for Grove members so they can more easily join at time that suits them—and without the feeling of “oh, the call already started so I can’t join.” Rather, Rachel is present for 1 hour and she’d love to see you!
This event is for Grove members only. Click here to learn more about The Grove—a community of nature-based educators learning and growing together.
The Grove Drop-in Office Hours with Rachel
Drop-in Office Hours with Dr. Rachel Larimore are two-hour sessions where Rachel is available on Zoom for Grove members to drop-in for a conversation. This is a great chance to get answers to your questions about nature-based early childhood education. This is also a place to receive tailored feedback from Rachel specific to your situation. We offer these informal and relaxed sessions for Grove members so they can more easily join at time that suits them—and without the feeling of “oh, the call already started so I can’t join.” Rather, Rachel is present for 2 hours and she’d love to see you!
This event is for Grove members only. Click here to learn more about The Grove—a community of nature-based educators learning and growing together.
The Grove Drop-in Office Hours with Rachel
Drop-in Office Hours with Dr. Rachel Larimore are two-hour sessions where Rachel is available on Zoom for Grove members to drop-in for a conversation. This is a great chance to get answers to your questions about nature-based early childhood education. This is also a place to receive tailored feedback from Rachel specific to your situation. We offer these informal and relaxed sessions for Grove members so they can more easily join at time that suits them—and without the feeling of “oh, the call already started so I can’t join.” Rather, Rachel is present for 2 hours and she’d love to see you!
This event is for Grove members only. Click here to learn more about The Grove—a community of nature-based educators learning and growing together.
Measuring the Quality of Nature-based Classrooms Using the NABERS Tool
This FREE edWebinar will explore the Nature-Based Education Rating Scale (NABERS) tool. NABERS was developed to help identify the quality and level of “natureness” for those PreK and K-3 programs adding nature to their curricula. This edWebinar will first identify the core principles of Nature-based Early Childhood Education (NbECE) and then discuss tangible measures of quality. Attendees will leave the session able to identify nature-based practices in the program structure, staffing, physical environment, community partnerships, and family engagement.
The Grove Focused Call: Measuring Program Natureness
Each month inside The Grove is a focused live video conference call on a particular topic. The format includes a brief presentation followed by open discussion among attendees.
With the release of Rachel's new book "Evaluating Natureness" (written with Patti Bailie & Arianna Pikus) it seems a good time to talk about key features of high-quality nature-based programs. This call will explore the tools, but primarily the key characteristics of nature-based programs.
This event is for Grove members only. Click here to join The Grove, a community of nature-based educators learning and growing together, and attend this call. (Please note, members have access to recordings of all previous presentations.)
The Grove Drop-in Office Hours with Rachel
Drop-in Office Hours with Dr. Rachel Larimore are two-hour sessions where Rachel is available on Zoom for Grove members to drop-in for a conversation. This is a great chance to get answers to your questions about nature-based early childhood education. This is also a place to receive tailored feedback from Rachel specific to your situation. We offer these informal and relaxed sessions for Grove members so they can more easily join at time that suits them—and without the feeling of “oh, the call already started so I can’t join.” Rather, Rachel is present for 2 hours and she’d love to see you!
This event is for Grove members only. Click here to learn more about The Grove—a community of nature-based educators learning and growing together.
The Grove Focused Call: Designing Large & Small Group Activities
Each month inside The Grove is a focused live video conference call on a particular topic. The format includes a brief presentation followed by open discussion among attendees.
This month’s call is focused on Designing Large & Small Group Activities. This focused call will take a deeper look at the teacher-led activities during large and small groups. We'll explore...How do we plan for these activities? What are critical during the activities? What steps can we take after an activity occurs?
This event is for Grove members only. Click here to join The Grove, a community of nature-based educators learning and growing together, and attend this call. (Please note, members have access to recordings of all previous presentations.)
Essential Elements of Leading a Nature-based Early Childhood Program
Rachel Larimore, Samara Early Learning’s Chief Visionary, will be presenting a free webinar hosted by Early Childhood Investigations Webinars and sponsored by Samara Early Learning (that’s us!).
Here is the webinar description:
It’s finally happening: Early education program leaders around the world are becoming more enthusiastic and enlightened about the benefits of nature-based programs. Many programs are beginning to jump in wholeheartedly but find shifting the culture of their organizations as well as the practice of individual teachers is incredibly challenging. After all, we’re leading humans! Some of the challenges that result are very individual responses to be outdoors—not enjoying the cold, preferring not to be dirty, etc. Additionally, there can be administrative challenges related to policies, procedures, funding, and licensing. There are also pedagogical leadership challenges in supporting teachers to intentionally integrate nature into the daily structure, physical environment, and teacher-led activities. Join experienced early childhood nature-based program leader and author, Rachel Larimore to learn to address these various challenges.
This webinar, designed to support program leaders and administrators, will share the core principles and benefits of a nature-based approach. With that common language as a starting point, Rachel will address the foundational administrative and pedagogical practices to successfully shift your team to a nature-based approach. Most importantly, Rachel will address an often-overlooked element of leading change—the human element, including how to best support staff and families in your evolving infusion of nature.
Though the webinar is free, registration is required. Register today!
The Grove Drop-in Office Hours with Rachel
Drop-in Office Hours with Dr. Rachel Larimore are two-hour sessions where Rachel is available on Zoom for Grove members to drop-in for a conversation. This is a great chance to get answers to your questions about nature-based early childhood education. This is also a place to receive tailored feedback from Rachel specific to your situation. We offer these informal and relaxed sessions for Grove members so they can more easily join at time that suits them—and without the feeling of “oh, the call already started so I can’t join.” Rather, Rachel is present for 2 hours and she’d love to see you!
This event is for Grove members only. Click here to learn more about The Grove—a community of nature-based educators learning and growing together.
The Grove Focused Call: Storytelling in the Nature-based Early Childhood Classroom with Harriet Hart
Each month inside The Grove is a focused live video conference call on a particular topic. The format includes a brief presentation followed by open discussion among attendees.
This month’s call is focused on Storytelling in the NbECE Classroom with Harriet Hart. Storytelling can be a powerful tool in the classroom! Join us for the conversation with Harriet Hart who is a master at the craft of storytelling.
This event is for Grove members only. Click here to join The Grove, a community of nature-based educators learning and growing together, and attend this call. (Please note, members have access to recordings of all previous presentations.)
The Grove Focused Call: Examining the Parts of the Day
Each month inside The Grove is a focused live video conference call on a particular topic. The format includes a brief presentation followed by open discussion among attendees.
This month’s call is focused on Examining the Parts of the Day. Every day we have predictable events that occur in the schedule such as free choice, large groups, small groups, and meals. Are we using those times for their intended purpose? This focused call will dig into answering that question.
This event is for Grove members only. Click here to join The Grove, a community of nature-based educators learning and growing together, and attend this call. (Please note, members have access to recordings of all previous presentations.)