The Rookery

Voting went very smoothly today with over 98% of registered voters turning out to vote.  Students manned the polls all day long and then a team of election judges counted the votes…(audio file of drum roll): 59.5% of votes went to Crecentia Alata of the Poligourds and 41.5% of the…

It's been a very, very busy week in the Herons (and the school for that matter).  We've had an uprecedented flood of campaign media.  We've had a debate.  We've had lunchtime/recess/anytime conversations.  Many gourds have changed their minds then changed them again.  For us as teachers, it's been very exciting…

This week in our exploration math workshops, we're working on solidifying algorithms.  We throw around the word "algorithm" a lot.  Simply put, an algorithm is a step by step method for doing something.  In math, it's a way to keep track of computations that are too complex to do in…

Elections can be tricky.  They provide wonderful teachable moments — but discussions about them can also devolve quickly into personal attacks.  It is hard for children to debate the actual candidates without getting very personal because many of their political views mirror parent views and therefor a criticism of their…

Today we did a brief highlight share after our adaptation zoo.  The students were happy but tired and I was proud of how professional they had been — it's not easy to be "on stage" for over an hour as they were today.  I drew a quick sketch of an…

Not sure of what half of the students will be interested in, I try to begin the school year with a theme that can go in a lot of different directions.  This year, I chose "adaptation" and was prepared to explore biology, human technology, or social curriculum (how do we adapt…

The Video Helpers that we've been creating for the problems of the week are being used by an increasing number of families.  Thank you for letting us know how you're using them at your house and for letting us know what's most useful.  We're learning a lot about making them…

The first weeks of school look a little different for the 4/5s than they do for the rest of the school.  After the first week, our older students choose an area in which to specialize and lead the rest of the school.  Each group participates in three training sessions. Those…

  You may have noticed that my explanation of our project doesn't match the image above. One actually alternates positive and negative fields, always increasing the number of "other" pixels by one. One of the Habits of Mind is to "Respond with Wonder and Awe."  As I plan my math…

At about nine o'clock on Friday night, I looked around at the Heron faces lit up by our campfire.  We'd spent the whole day together learning and laughing and slogging.  In just those few hours away from the routine of our classroom, I'd seen kids make new connections to each…