WISDOM TREE CORNER

Rebecca Tree, M. Ed., is adjunct faculty member in the ECE department at Southern Oregon University. Rebecca has served in the early childhood field for over 35 years, beginning in Colorado prior to moving to Oregon in 1990. She recently served as the Director of the Community Preschool at SOU for 4 years, devoting time to aligning the program with the same holistic principles being taught in university courses. Prior to that time Rebecca was the founder and Director of Roots & Wings Child Development, a position she held for over 20 years and prior to its closing in 2025. 

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Rebecca Tree is a strong advocate for play as a necessity for children’s mental, physical, and spiritual health. She encourages that we hold special reverence for the short time called childhood. Rebecca considers herself a research junkie when it comes to young children and best practices. Her belief is that it will take more than a village to remedy the many mandates and trends that impose inappropriate expectations on young children, their families and teachers, including an unbalanced view of learning and pedagogy in the early years. Rebecca Tree invites anyone interested in the wellbeing of children, for themselves to become educated, well-read and articulate regarding what young children truly need in their early years. She poses the questions, “What is it to be fully human?”, “What do children need?”, “What are schools for?” and “What does it mean to be well-educated?”.