Opal School Blog
How do conflicts, oopsies, and the strategies we use to work through them help support a community over time?
“It is important to practice problem solving strategies so we can use them solving our problems. We get better and better the more we practice!…
DETAIL
We are influencing our own play. Yes!
Periodically, Opal School’s community of staff, parents, and children come together. Recently, the community tended to its outdoor space as the sun came out of hibernation. …
DETAIL
I Felt Brave
I am a teacher, and it seems (and I know I am not alone in this ) that my teacher brain does not turn off…
DETAIL
Reading the World 2017: Literacy, Creativity, Sustainability, and the Principles of Engagement
In order to read the world, we must be moved by what we see.In order to create, we must have a strong desire to examine…
DETAIL
Materials as Metaphors
My recent post, Say What You Mean, began as this post — but I got so tangled up in thinking about the relationship between knowledge…
DETAIL
Say What you Mean
We’ve been infected with this kind of pathological impatience that makes us want to have the knowledge but not do the work of claiming it.…
DETAIL
How might cardboard foster connections?
In the start of the school year, it is my practice to offer experiences that might build relationships between children and materials in order to build…
DETAIL
What does it mean to take a stance?
The children in the Magnolia Room are exploring and playing with the idea of being an author and the purpose and intentions that go along with…
DETAIL
Constructing Identity
Because it’s Opal 4, we knew we would deeply explore the complexities of perspective this year. Because it was a presidential election year, we knew…
DETAIL
Dear Future School
It’s that time of year when our oldest students start seriously thinking about the schools they’ll go to next. These transitions are always bittersweet. It’s so…
DETAIL