How might cardboard foster connections?

In the start of the school year, it is my practice to offer experiences that might build relationships between children and materials in order to build relationship between children. Knowing that, I need to both be open to the inevitable surprises and the unexpected, while being intentional about what materials I offer. This year, I thought about materials that might demonstrate …

What does it mean to take a stance?

The children in the Magnolia Room are exploring and playing with the idea of being an author and the purpose and intentions that go along with that prestigious title.  Authors have many intentions as they share their voices, imaginations, lives and experiences.  In their experience as both readers and writers, the children discovered that all authors work …

A response to the “Governing Cancer of Our Time”

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 …

A liberal education

Upon visiting the pre-primary programs in Reggio Emilia, Jerome Bruner famously reflected that the quality of conversation was as rich as any he had encountered in graduate school seminars.  Over the years, it’s a response to observations I’ve frequently encountered from visitors to Opal School. Because my daughter (an Opal School alumna) is off for her …

Tough Guy

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 …

Articulating our intentions

Opal School has two primary classrooms, Maple and Magnolia, which include kindergartners, first graders, and second graders.  The teachers from the two classrooms function as a team.  As a first collaborative effort, the Primary Team composed and sent this letter to parents before the first day of the 2016-2017 school year.  We’d love to hear the reflections of Opal …