A date, a salutation, at least five sentences, a picture they’d like, a closing, and your name. It’s good to ask at least one question so they have something to respond to. These were the parameters of a buddy letter, as a few complaining middle schoolers explained to me. What were they complaining about? Not…
Our class has been doing an author study on Andrew Clements, and we’re entering the final phase. We started with a read-aloud book: the first day of school, I opened up Clements’ book Extra Credit and started reading it aloud to the class. It’s a slightly higher reading level than many in the class would be…
Today in the face of off-and-on rain, I gave the Rockets, our middle school class, a choice of indoor recess or chancing an outdoor recess where rain might fall. They chose indoor recess, and we left behind the normal class-level set of recess sports equipment and trooped up to the gym, where a set of…
Twenty-first-century education can not be about simply filling kids’ heads with knowledge, but rather it is about teaching them the skills and attitudes that they need to become learners. Today, through our digital connections, more information and knowledge than ever is at our fingertips. Just to read through everything on Wikipedia would take a lifetime. …
Often, when I am leading Community Meeting I ask about relationships among the different Quaker Values. For example, I might ask, “What is the relationship between Equality and Community.” When we had Meeting for Community to kick off today’s service day, we sat outside in a nearby park, surrounded by the community we had planned…
There is magic in sharing personal stories that go beyond books or storytelling. Perhaps it’s the special way children feel when they know that others are listening to a story about something that was their own unique experience. In the Polka Dots classroom, we make time to share quotnewsquot every morning during morning circle. Kids…