“A child’s most sought after goal is to recognize himself in others, and to find in others parts of himself.” -Loris Malaguzzi, founder of the pre-primary schools of Reggio Emilia Dear Primary Community families, At Opal School, we see all children as competent, creative, curious, and courageous. We believe they come to school full of experience …
Many schools spend the first six weeks of school building community in order to establish a foundation that will support learning through the rest of the year. I can relate to the hope ofl developing caring relationships and problem-solving strategies that will keep us away from conflict. As a person who would inherently prefer to …
With January’s fickle weather, it felt like we were never going to settle back into our regular school and home routines. After the winter break, in the spattered days we attended school, I could see the children trying to reconnect to established friendships, trying to rekindle the bridges they had been growing in their new relationships – …
When I think about the Opal 3 community, I find and feel evidence of tremendous growth as a community: we are more cohesive and connected than we were early in the fall; we have absorbed many rhythms and routines that help make our days run more smoothly; we know each other better so we …
Matt and I have been puzzling over this photo this week. Is this moment of questions posed and children deep into their research and writing representative of playful inquiry? Delight isn’t a quality that immediately jumps to mind. But joy? Perhaps. Play is not the opposite of work. There is joy in work. Especially as …
The beginning of the school year marks a time of wonder: What will this class of children be like? Where will our studies, interests, and projects take us? What surprises will we encounter along the way? This year, as I worked to set up a classroom environment to welcome our 3rd graders, I had many …
As you know from our recent blog post that included our letter of intention to families, the Primary Community is focusing on research into the “self” this year. As an artist and educator who works with materials, I know that thinking about oneself involves paying attention to ourselves, asking questions, and even deconstructing ourselves in …
In preschool we try to offer as many experiences as possible for our whole group to come together to share and listen to each other’s ideas. After a trip to the farmer’s market we had one of our first reflection meetings in order to have this exchange of thoughts, memories and connections with one another’s …
Materials, they can draw you in to look more closely. They can draw you in to touch them, interact with them, …play and dance with them! Children’s attraction to a material can invite them to approach and explore within the arts, to begin a dialog with materials, to begin to think and communicate through using them. Materials offer …
Read more “The Power of Materials: A Group’s First Exploration into Foil”
On February 21, 2012, Daily Page prompt that greeted the students was, “What do you know about the word colonize? You may write and/or draw your response.” Later that morning, the children were invited to share what they had written and drawn. UJ: I drew a picture. The two English flags stand for the two …
Read more “Creating Shared Meaning around the Idea of Colonization”