Matt Karlsen
What do visitors focus on at Opal School?
Last month, a group of teachers and administrators from the Fishback Center for Early Childhood Education at South Dakota State University spent two days engaged…
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Making Sense of Transitions in US History
Transitioning from reenacting King Philip’s War to understanding the colonial period in US History or How does a deep dive into a time, place and…
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Researching Play in the Arboretum
by Hannah Chandler Part of our work in designing the playground has been rooted in understanding the work of design. What does design mean? How…
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Visitation Days Recap
Last week a large group of teachers and administrators – from across the West Coast, Los Angeles to British Columbia, and east to Alberta –…
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Looking closely
In addition to questions related to documentation, the SDSU group came to Opal interested in learning more about how to help children create detailed observational drawings. It was spectacular happenstance, then, that some of the visitors and I came across Mary Gage working with a small group of students in Opal 1. We walked out of Opal 1 thrilled: We had witnessed a master class on just the issue we were hoping to come across.
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Creating new memories of what is possible
It's the last day before winter break, and I spend a chunk of the morning dropping into classrooms. Exciting worlds are being created amongst children,…
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Today’s Citizens: Children’s Role in Creating Children’s Museum Exhibits
We know that children are full of capabilities and ideas the world needs. They are today’s citizens – not tomorrow’s. How can children’s museums be…
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On Documentation
Documentation greets visitors the moment they arrive to Reggio Emilia On the eve of Thanksgiving, one of the many things I’m thankful for is my…
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Increasing Visibility
I write this post from Reggio Emilia, where four of us from the Portland Children’s Museum (Beginning School Lead Teacher and one of Opal School’s…
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