Observing, listening, asking questions, and documenting student growth and learning is all a part of what we do as teachers every day at Opal School. As we document the growth and learning of the children in our classroom, of course we pay attention to the academic skills that they are acquiring, but we look for …
A few months ago, it was hard to open a newspaper or turn on the radio without running into Paul Tough and his book, How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character (see, for example, this episode of This American Life.) As the title suggests, the book highlights the fundamental relationship between …
In a beautiful place such as “Colorland” teachers have noticed, for many years now, that children’s imaginations take an especially lofty flight. At Opal School, such observations always lead us to wonder how we can support and sustain this kind of energy, engagement and joy in the service of the other kinds of learning we …
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 …
At Opal School, we have spent years asking ourselves– What is the relationship between play and language? In Reggio Emilia a decade ago I heard Jerome Bruner state that we learn the syntax of our language to tell stories. I’m sure we are born driven to do this: to connect, express, relate, inquire, research, discover, …
“What kind of blocks does each classroom need?” “What is the space like where they will store their blocks?” “How are the pre-schoolers using the blocks?” These were questions asked by the group of students charged with researching the four Opal classrooms which had asked us to build them hollow blocks. While the majority of …
Unanswerable questions should be a source of comfort. They ensure that you will always have something to think about! But why do puzzlements provide satisfaction? Because they invite the most precious of human abilities to take wing. I speak of imagination, the neglected stepchild of American education. -Eliot Eisner My Colorland has trees, birds, …