The Secrets of Wire: Play, Reflection and Relationships with Risk

As my colleagues and I continued to think together about our big idea of transformation and some of our research questions, we wondered what materials might lend themselves to playing with this big idea. Wire came to mind as a material to explore together: it is easily transformed, offering these young children a concrete experience …

Learning to Walk and Talk (and Write)

When I first began as an assistant teacher long ago, I attended a parent meeting at the school on the topic of young children and writing.  I remember someone sharing that their 4 year old child didn’t write but scribbled.  The teacher shared that scribbling (and other mark-making) IS writing — a necessary stepping stone …

Partnering with Families – Sharing resources for shared meaning-making

What is possible when we invite parents and teachers together to create shared meaning of our goals and expectations for children?  What connections, stories and perspectives will emerge through this shared process? What might happen if we offer parents the assessment tools and resources used by the teachers when paying attention to children?   How …

A Community in the Making

For many young children, preschool is their first experience in being a part of a community outside of their family community.  In bringing a group of people together, it offers opportunities to connect and to encounter a diverse array of ways of being and approaching the world.  It also offers children endless opportunities to deepen and broaden …

The Running Space – a collaborative experience and poem

The Running Space Running up hill and then down, and then up hill, and then down the hill, and then up . . . Picking grass . . . a whole bunch Awesome Running down Falling Down Bald eagle Down hill Action Running Space Fly, fly, fly, I was determined to fly Following, talking Mixing …

Simple Materials Can Hold Complex Ideas

As educators we believe that young children have the right to use a variety of materials that facilitate opportunities for exploration, experimentation, discovery and creation. The first studio invitation of the school year was offering the children two simple materials, blue construction paper and masking tape, with an open-ended invitation to discover what might happen …

Our first days together

The intention of our blog posts is to build connections between Opal School's pedagogy and what this actually looks like and sounds like in the evolving, organic life of the classroom. We will share images, stories and dialogues from the classroom as well as our work as Teacher-Researchers – our observations, questions, and reflections. Our hope …