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Continue reading →: The Inclined Plane of LearningIt was a tough lesson. We have been building the idea of volume for two weeks. First we constructed shapes with interlocking cubes. We talked about layers. We learned about rectangular prisms. We explored the difference between area and volume. We acted things out. Through a series of tasks we…
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Continue reading →: Woods WiseTeach the children. We don’t matter so much, but the children do. Show them daisies and the pale hepatica. Teach them the taste of sassafras and wintergreen. The lives of the blue sailors, mallow, sunbursts, the moccasin flowers. And the frisky ones — inkberry, lamb’s quarters, blueberries. And the aromatic…
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Continue reading →: A Year for Wonderful IdeasLast night I returned to an article about teaching that was written 50 years ago and that I reread every few years. Its author, Eleanor Duckworth, worked with Jean Piaget who created a framework for child development that is at the heart of progressive education. Duckworth asserts that intellectual development…
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Continue reading →: Our CrewI am so lucky. I wake up every morning excited for the day ahead and I end every evening, looking forward to tomorrow. I get to spend my days with young people who make me laugh and wonder. But, perhaps more importantly, I’ve gotten to spend my career with an…
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Continue reading →: Frogger – What Does it Mean to Take Responsible Risks?“4/5 Rules” When kids get into the upper grades at Prairie Creek, we play by different rules, literally. When we’re at recess, students understand that they follow the whole school rules — 10 feet from the creek, only going down the slide, one foot on the ground, no snowballs etc.…
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Continue reading →: Wolf Ridge StoriesIt happened more than once. Our naturalist at Wolf Ridge would lean over to me in the middle of a class and say, “They’re just so…interested.” The naturalists were used to having to get a class interested. They were used to being the ones who modeled curiosity, at least at…
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Continue reading →: Who Says?Today the Herons had a mini-lesson on how to cite sources for their projects. Before we go over the modified MLA format that we use to record all of the resources we use, it’s important for students to understand why we want to keep track of our sources. We emphasize…
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Continue reading →: I Say Hey…What’s Going On?It was time. Several children had mentioned things about protests and ICE over the past few days. One had expressed worry about immigration enforcement in Northfield. Governor Walz had declared today a day of unity and had asked Minnesotans to do service and reflect on the ways in which we…
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Continue reading →: Learning isn’t LinearTheme. It’s something so woven into the essence of Prairie Creek and the Herons that I often forget that it’s not part of every classroom everywhere. Theme is our engine. It propels us. It teaches us how to ask questions and make conjectures. We learn to collect evidence and seek…
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Continue reading →: Slip Sliding AwayThe Herons went for their first ski of the season today. On Monday, we got everything ready – venturing down to the basement for all of the boots, building the shelves to hold the boots, cleaning out the ski shed and organizing all of the poles. Today we learned about…
Hello,
I’m Michelle
I teach fourth and fifth graders at Prairie Creek Community School. We’re a public progressive school in rural Minnesota. I use this blog to share moments in our classroom and to reflect upon my practice.
