Teaching and Learning
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Constructing Understanding in Mathematics
The students in Levia’s math group have been working for the past couple months on developing an understanding of the associative property of mathematics by…
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Wondering About Protection
At the beginning of the year the children in Opal 1 had many experiences wondering about seeds. They brought in seeds from home, counted seeds,…
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The idea of “support”: Tinkering with our hands and with our minds
For the past several Wednesdays, the children in Opal 3 have come down from Morning Gathering with great expectations. The first thing they do as…
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Our story unfolds…
What does it mean for a community to “bloom”? What do the people within it need to thrive? As you may know, in Opal 2…
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Changing Education Paradigms
An Opal 1 parent sent me this short 11 minute video the other day. It was one I'd seen before, it had been posted…
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Literature Circles kicked off in Opal 4!
Opal 4 students met in their new book clubs on Tuesday, November 15. They sat expectantly, eager to get their own copy of the Lewis…
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What does it mean to “Write Under the Influence”?
In her book, Study Driven, Katie Wood Ray talks about immersing children in a genre by having them read well crafted examples of it (mentor…
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Talking Trash: How will children plan to provoke other children to care?
On October 12, 2011, Levia gathered Opal 4 together for a discussion. Levia: Do you remember that we did that trash audit when school started…
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Loving To Learn
What a gift to be able to sit down with families at conferences this week. One of my favorite parts of conferences is when I…
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Crafting an Understanding of Poetry through Feedback
How do children learn the craft of great writing? What are the experiences in the life of a writer that lead them to clearly communicate with…
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