Opal School Blog
Start a New Story
“Every story starts with the assumption there is some acceptable, canonical state of the world. What starts the story going is that the expectable, the…
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Math Congress: Space for everyone to get on and off the subway
Math Congress is a structure that we use often at Opal School in which children are invited to communicate their thinking, their strategies, their solutions,…
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Feeling Big
“The child is not a citizen of the future; he is a citizen from the very first moment of life and also the most important…
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You are Worthy of Love and Belonging
I listened to This American Life’s episode, Three Miles, earlier this week – and I can’t get it out of my head. Here’s the synopsis…
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A new vision and mission for Portland Children’s Museum
As you may be aware, Opal School is part of a larger institution: Portland Children’s Museum. Portland Children’s Museum is an unusual project: A small…
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Who teaches us how to live in democracy?
In his column this week, David Brooks writes, “this year, we’ve been so besieged by Donald Trump’s shriveled nature that we sometimes forget what full…
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Exploring the “We That I Am” Through Character
“A child’s most sought after goal is to recognize himself in others, and to find in others parts of himself.” -Loris Malaguzzi At the beginning…
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When I feel sad sometimes I get angry
After cracking open the word friendship, we started investigating emotions through literature, materials and dialogue. After reading When Sophie Gets Angry — Really, Really Angry by…
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Going to Materials
One day recently, 4-year old Eliza was busy with an array of materials. Her teacher paused to observe her just in time to catch her…
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You get new ideas everywhere
At last week’s community gathering, the Willow Classroom of fourth- and fifth-graders shared the story of The Very Cranky Bear. After reading the book, they asked,…
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