As teacher-researchers, we feel strongly about nurturing children’s connection to nature through playing, making, and sharing. Stories are one way we play and share with one another, seeking understanding and connection, and further developing empathy. How might we, through playful inquiry, consider the stories that nature has to tell? What stories might we uncover within …
The late-season heirloom tomatoes were stunning in their gowns of scarlet red and golden yellow. The last of the summer raspberries rested quietly alongside mounds of squash, sweet potatoes, pumpkins, and apples. Autumnal invitations were all around us: in the sweet sips of apple cider, in the texture of a pumpkin chocolate-chip cookie, in the …
This last month has been a busy one in the Early K classroom. We were in charge of taking care of many things from eggs, to seeds, and even caterpillars! We cared for them and watched as they became chicks, plants, and butterflies! But as all good mommies and daddies experience sooner or …
There are exciting things happening at the Portland Children's Museum and the Opal School this spring. The Museum will begin to break ground on their new exhibit, The Outdoor Adventure! With help from Meyer Memorial Trust Grant, the Portland Children's Museum will transform 1.3 acres of land into an outdoor exhibit where children and families can play and …
Several months ago we started to read Colin Meloy's novel Wildwood in Opal 3. This story, which uses the backdrop of Portland and its famed Forest Park to weave a story of adventure and fantasy, is the tale of a girl and her classmate on a quest into the Impassable Wilderness to find her baby …
Read more “From imaginative play to scientific investigations”
As early childhood educators, we are asked a lot about what literacy looks like in our classroom. To begin, we would like to define literacy. The basic, on the surface definition, as defined by Webster, is “the ability to read and write.” Literacy is more than reading and writing, it has to do with the …
We have been taking care of our "Thunder Egg" since it appeared into our classroom. We built it a nice, cozy and safe nest, but then had to leave for two weeks for Winter Break. When we returned, the Thunder Egg had noticebly changed. Cracks appeared and one day we noticed a big chunk taken out …
In our previous post (Learning to Nurture), we expressed that we are paying attention to the caring and nurturing ways we observe within this new learning community. We are wondering: What does it mean for a child of 4 or 5, who is constantly immersed in being cared for, to have the responsibility of caring …
Halloween came and went, as it always does, and with it so did the lovely pumpkins and jack-o-lanterns that help define and symbolize this exciting and spooky holiday. We kept our pumpkins around for a few days longer, but when we returned from the weekend break both of our jack-o-lanterns were showing extreme signs of …
It has been a busy and full week in Opal 2 as we have been trying to adjust to the time change, recover from all of the Halloween excitement of last week, and get used to this colder weather that has come our way. We were reminded this afternoon of a quote from the founder of …