The Rookery

Today I went through the box of "future gifts" I have in a closet.  I'm guessing most of you have a similar collection.  Most of the items are things that I've picked up because they're cool and I'm sure they'll make a great gift sometime soon.  What I realized was…

    On Friday, the Herons benefited from the expertise of Jana Hirsch (K.S.'s mom) who is a dance and theater teacher.  We have got the rough blocking of the play finished and were ready to work out some details (like how to carry a body off stage.)  Jana taught…

After watching Race to the Top last week, my colleagues and I had an impromptu discussion about homework at Prairie Creek.  I realized that while I have talked to the students about the expectation they read 30 minutes a night I had not talked a lot about the many forms…

The Herons asked me to upload their play so that they could study lines at home if they forgot their scripts at school.  Here it is:   Download Tall Tale Romeo.

                  After school today, two Prairie Creek alumni (Devyn Gardner and Maggie Miland) came back to work with some fifth graders on their honors projects.  As they talked with the students, guiding them through a process they'd gone through seven years ago,…

The afternoon took a funny turn today when I began what I thought would be a brief reminder to keep games in perspective.  A post-lunch game had ended in argument two days in a row, an indication that students were struggling to keep competition in check.  This is something that…

  Several students have been working hard to convince me that having a turtle tank in the room is a great idea.  A few weeks ago, I agreed to the plan and a small committee went to work fundraising and doing research.  Now that we are almost ready for the…

I was really proud of our older students this Valentines Day.  When I talked to the Herons about the teachers' decision to re-focus Valentines Day on friendship instead of candy I was nervous.  However, they listened respectfully and even agreed.  On Tuesday, instead of lamenting the loss of Conversation Hearts…

One of my favorite memories of teaching math at Prairie Creek came during a lesson on area that conincided with Village.  A student came up to me and said, "Thanks Michelle!  I really needed that."  It's the highest praise a progressive teacher can receive.  We are constantly trying to make students'…

Two Wednesdays ago, we ended our study of the Industrial Revolution by sharing a little of what we'd learned with the rest of the school.  In this theme, in particular, it's fair to say that the culminating event was really the tip of the iceberg in terms of our learning.…