Opal School Blog
Write of Way
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…
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Maintaining a Strong Image of the Child
One of Opal School’s values is A powerful image of the young child as intelligent, creative, and capable with gifts and abilities that the world needs. Loris Malaguzzi…
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Matters of Opportunity: Does opportunity matter?
We love hearing from colleagues beyond Opal School’s walls regarding how Opal School is provoking fresh thinking. Today’s post comes from Sarah-Luella Baker, who presented…
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Playing With Mathematical Theories Together
The first graders have been exploring these questions: How big is a number? How do numbers work together to make new numbers? These big, overarching…
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The Teacher You Want to Be
Tomorrow, Heinemann publishes a new book. The Teacher You Want to Be: Essays about Children, Learning, and Teaching, is filled with essays by thinkers whose…
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Children and Teachers as Researchers
Researchers pay attention to their questions, theories and ideas by listening for what provokes, inspires, challenges and engages them. At Opal School, the teachers see…
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Building Nests
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]There were nests, everywhere. Giant nests made of branches; smaller ones built of tinsel and string; tiny ones of clay and sticks. It started when…
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Guest Post: Becoming a Teacher-Researcher
Today’s guest post comes from Sandra Patton, a teacher at Maple Ridge School in Alberta and member of last year’s Opal School Mentorship Program. A year…
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Children and Teachers: Co-Researchers of Literacy
At Opal School we are discovering that literacy development is strongest when a learner has rich and varied experiences. Literacy is how we interpret our…
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What does holding a strong image of the child mean in a complicated world?
At the end of September, Matt Karlsen and I spoke to several groups in the Vancouver area about conditions that support playful inquiry. Over the…
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