Preschool & childcare · Alameda County
The Lightning Tree
Struck, and still growing.
Ask about a placeIn formation · not yet enrolling
Struck, and still growing.
Lightning does not only break things. A strike drives nitrogen out of the air and down into the soil, and the ground around it comes back greener than it was before. That is what this centre is named for — the child who arrives at full speed, and a room built to turn that into growth rather than to manage it away.
Director — to be appointed
This centre is still choosing the person who will lead it. We would rather say that plainly than put a name here for the sake of it. If you have run a room, held a licence, or spent years doing this well and quietly, we would like to hear from you.
Talk to us about leading itNothing here is running yet. This is the day the centre is being built to have, written down so you can hold us to it.
The storm came at the worst hour, the way storms do, and the meadow hid.
There was a crack like the whole sky breaking, and a white line came down out of the clouds and struck the ground right beside the old oak, and everything smelled like rain and metal.
In the morning there was a black scar in the grass where the bolt had gone in.
“Well, that is ruined,” said the rabbits. “Nothing will grow there now.”
The old oak said nothing, because old trees have seen a great deal of weather.
And all that spring, something strange happened. The ferns came up around the black mark first. Then the clover. Then flowers the meadow had not seen in years, crowding in, greener and thicker and taller right there than anywhere else in the whole field.
Because that is the thing nobody tells you about lightning. It does not only break. On its way down it grabs something out of the air that the soil has been hungry for, and it puts it in the ground.
All that noise, all that force, all that frightening business in the dark — and what it left behind was food.
The rabbits came back to look. “Struck,” said the oldest one, “and still growing.”
There is no opening date, and we would rather say that than invent one. The chip at the top of this page says “in formation” for exactly that reason. If you want to be told when there is real news, email us and we will tell you.
No, and this page does not suggest otherwise. Nothing here is an offer of care. If and when there is one, its number will be printed on this page — and not a day before.
It is being planned for infants through pre-kindergarten.
Not yet — there is no building to look round. When there is, you will be able to stand in it before you decide anything, which is the only way to judge one of these.
Email info@theopportunitytree.com. A person reads it.