As my colleagues and I continued to think together about our big idea of transformation and some of our research questions, we wondered what materials might lend themselves to playing with this big idea. Wire came to mind as a material to explore together: it is easily transformed, offering these young children a concrete experience …
Read more “The Secrets of Wire: Play, Reflection and Relationships with Risk”
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 …
In my last blog post, I reflected on Opal’s 3’s experience of getting their writer’s notebooks, a process which I hoped would help them see themselves as writers. Pivotal to this experience was our work with two quotations from writers Julia Alvarez and Philip C. Stead. A writing life is a life with all the windows …
Read more “Children will tell you what they want. If you listen, they might show you what they need”
This year, in the Primary Group, we are thinking deeper into the idea of “self.” As stated in our Letter of Intention to parents at the beginning of the year, we are particularly curious about the children’s growing understanding of themselves. We believe understanding of self is foundational to all relationships – relationship to one another, to the environment, …
Our focus for this year’s Summer Symposium is Play, the Arts, and Education for Democracy. Setting that theme guides our attention throughout the year. How might play and the arts support education for democracy? What might that look like when working with young people in Portland in 2016? When we turn our attention away from …
Read more “A response to the “Governing Cancer of Our Time””
When I first began as an assistant teacher long ago, I attended a parent meeting at the school on the topic of young children and writing. I remember someone sharing that their 4 year old child didn’t write but scribbled. The teacher shared that scribbling (and other mark-making) IS writing — a necessary stepping stone …
Recently, as the children have been getting more familiar with the routines and setting of school, they are becoming more comfortable with one another, too. As a result, they are revealing deeper expressions of who they are while testing the strengths and limits of their newfound friendships. This is a natural and important next phase for building trust …
Read more “Partner Explore: Connecting with Materials, Ideas and Each Other”
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 …
In the days before the children arrived at school, my colleagues and I considered how to prepare the classroom environments and we developed our intentions for the year. We wondered together about the role that risk plays in the big idea of transformation, our intention for this school year. We wondered… What is the relationship between …
Every word and action can send a message. It tells children — or students or athletes — how to think about themselves. It can be a fixed mindset message that says: You have permanent traits and I’m judging them. Or it can be a growth mindset message that says: You are a developing person and …