Sharing Strawberries

In the spring, because our third graders had become so engaged with statistics of our global population, we decided to share some of the Material World photography collection with them. This powerful project documents the disparity in material possessions around the world. Here is a sampling: COPYRIGHT:© 1994 Peter Menzel www.menzelphoto.com Material World Photograph © 2004 …

The Social and Emotional

Re-reading this article tonight, after a particularly creative third grade Literacy Studio today, I was thrown against the cold reality of the mindset of those who really would have us believe that control, certainty, and the dehumanization of the students in our care is the way to a more robust economy and stable society. In Creativity …

Authentic Inquiry and real life challenges

“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 …