The Rookery

I've been in to school a few times in the past week and finally sat down to do one of the most necessary chores of the new year:  label changing. I peel off each fifth grader's name in disbelief.  Surely they'll walk through the door in September.  How could they…

Welcome!  I hope you take some time to visit other entries to get a feel for the Herons' classroom.  Typically, I use the blog to share stories from the class and help explain the philosophy behind the work we are doing.  I love writing it and it's become an important…

Things have been busy in Way Down South and Anville.  Many houses are now out on the land and the shingling classes will be filling up quickly in the coming week.  Often, as students focus intensely on their houses, their is a lull in governmental action (and intrigue).  I sense…

Hello all.  For the last month of school, all of the 4/5 teachers blog on the village blog:  http://prairiecreek.typepad.com — you can follow the adventure there.

Prairie Creek May Day is a special event on our calendar.  Our whole community — Castle Rock, students, staff, parents, grandparents, and alumni come together to laugh, parade, shiver, dance, eat and celebrate the special connections we have. I was honored to be able to guide today's event (Caroline was…

After the fifth graders present to their select audience, they share their work with the rest of the school community.  This is a chance for the younger kids to see where they're going to be able to do some day and I always hear kids talking about what they're going…

The week before projects always surprises me (one would think I would learn from experience).  We begin the week with 4th graders who seem to have an insane amount to do and then, by the end of the week, everyone has a finished paper, everyone has a poster, and everyone…

Nancy Gregerson, a counselor here in Northfield who visited us earlier in the year to talk about self esteem, returned last Wednesday to talk to us about pro-active curriculum we could enact that would help kids have a foundation of understanding about themselves that we could use when conflict or…

Thank you for supporting the Herons in coming to their Electricity Museum.  What a success it was!  They received numerous compliments throughout the day on how well they knew their information and on their presentations.  Enjoy the video below of their day.   

Thanks to our school's wonderful Catalyst Grant*, five other teachers and I spent the last part of spring break on a retreat up North.  While there, we took a class on spoon carving at North House Folk School. "Spoon carving?" you may well be asking, "Why?!"  Well, none of us…