The Rookery

Potential… A few weekends ago, Hidden Brain had a show about play and the importance of independence in real children's play. The guest, Peter Gray, posits that children need to have the opportunity to test things out for themselves and problem solve without adult intervention. He believes that play with the…

Personal project presentations take a long time.  We devote three full mornings and an afternoon to watching student work.  That could seem like a lot of instructional time – until you realize how much learning is going on in the audience.  In the past week, the Herons have gotten a…

A leyden jar stores static charges (at least it's supposed to) They are never the moments you want on your highlights reel – the lessons that go off the rails, the epic classroom fails. This past week as we began our electricity unit, I unearthed a leyden jar in the…

  Margit and Pandora at our library ribbon cutting ceremony on Friday. On Friday, the Herons got a tour of the "brand new" 4/5 library. Volunteers Pandora, Margit and Kendra have spent many, many hours organizing and culling our "big kid" library. They organized all of the fiction which had…

The Herons rehearsing "Our Wonderful King/Our Horrible King" in preparation for our culminating event. The pandemic affected our teaching in myriad ways – but I think the one I most lamented was the loss of culminating events. There's a T.S. Eliot line "not with a bang but a whimper" and…

The re-enactment of the Boston trial. One of the most exciting things about teaching fourth and fifth graders is their new found ability to understand perspectives other than their own. Young children cannot understand that another person may have an experience different from their own. But for fourth and fifth…

John visiting with the Herons back in 2017 In the fall of 2016, the Herons started sharing their nature observations on KAXE radio.  That summer, I had gone to a workshop hosted by John Latimer, the KAXE phenologist. When I walked through the door, I had no idea what phenology…

The Herons standing on the data points they put on our junco graph. In my elevator pitch for progressive education, I often explain that, ideally, students should feel a need for what they are learning.  That need can come from a variety of places.  Sometimes it springs from curiosity and…

On Wednesday, the Herons created sundials. We began with a lesson on how to use the scroll saw.  Ryan, Amy and I are trying to introduce more tool use into the curriculum before the students use the tools in Village.  Needless to say, the opportunity to use a power tool…

The Herons Being Herons The first six weeks at Prairie Creek are special.  We develop routines and establish classroom norms.  We learn how to navigate our schedule and we work to become leaders in the school.  But I think the most essential work is getting to know and trust each…