The Rookery

The rain and snow held off for a wonderful day at St. Olaf, today.  Thank you to Joe Gransee-Bowman for coming along with us to share his green building expertise.  A huge thank you to Cassie Paulsen and Emma Fitz Chapman, the co-coordinators of St. Olaf Science Alliance.  They organized…

A major theme in our four/five math instruction this year is flexibility.  We know that students who are comfortable with math concepts are able to use them flexibly and creatively.  They are able to play with numbers and use math to understand complex situations. We've learned not to assume that…

In a progressive classroom, we always strive to make learning meaningful – to give students a reason to know something beyond scoring well on a test.  When it works, students feel a deep need for information.  One of the most powerful tools I've found to create this need is role play.…

Bacon-Stix – real bacon fake nails were a big hit in the Herons. Chindogu is the Japanese art of "useless" inventions.  I put "useless" in quotations because the rules of the art form is that the invention be of use to someone because it solves a problem (even if it's…

Every day we begin writing with a mini-lesson.  Mini-lessons are very short and are not necessarily meant to be applied that day by the students.  For some, it is a first introduction to a concept which they will begin to recognize in their reading.  For others, it serves to refine…

Three kids were staring at their computer screen on Tuesday when they gasped so loudly everyone came running.  Their screen was filled with multicolored stars.  "HOW'D YOU DO THAT?!" everyone wanted to know.  Soon the class scurried back to their computers to try out the new idea. For our geometry…

The 4/5 classess have begun our regular math routine. We spend 15 minutes in foundation math, reviewing and learning the basic skills necessary to solve problems in math. The rest of our time, about 55 minutes, is spent in exploration math. In our first exploration math unit, we are studying…

Today, the Herons left school singing.  They were trying to figure out all the words to an epicly long song we sang at our campout.  One child would remember one part, another would fill in the next.  They bopped along, working together, laughing and content as they left the building.…

Today we had our first math talk.  It's a technique that I learned more about while taking an on-line course from Jo Boaler this summer.  The focus of her research is shifting math students from a fixed mindset about their math ability to a growth model which enables them to…

As you may have heard by now, the Herons put on a play for the whole school on Friday about the Life Cycle of the Cicada.  That's right.  A culminating event…on Day 4. They planned and wrote the play in the morning, breaking into committees to get costumes together and…