The Rookery

       First math word for this workshop: Pentominoes.  The figures above are all made using five 1” blocks, and they are connected by at least one side of another block.  The first challenge for the big birds was to find all the combinations for pentominoes.  Some went to work…

These links are very interactive and have excellent information.  All were made by the British Museum.  Exploring these sites will really bring Ancient Greece to life for you. Daily Life – click on a topic to see pot decorations that have taught us about daily life.  A good explanation of…

This year, one of our goals as a staff is to examine play at Prairie Creek. In particular, we are interested in woods play. How should teachers support woods play? How and when should we intervene? How much do we let students work things out for themselves? What should be…

 When I first was learning to be a teacher, I raised a skeptical eyebrow about certain aspects of constructivism.  Constructivism is the learning theory that says that learning is most powerful when students construct their own understanding of a topic through experiences instead of just being told what they need…

Today in the Herons we marked the passing of Benoit Madelbrot, "the father of fractals."  Fractals are beautiful both artistically and mathematically and can be appreciated by even the most novice of mathematicians.  Most simply, a fractal is created when an action is repeated on a smaller and smaller scale.…

Today we began new math workshops.  Cathy and Naomi, Cathy's student teacher, will be investigating pentominoes and tessellations (and I'll post their blog entry about their work soon).  Amy and I are launching into algebra. "Algebra?" you may be asking, possibly with a shudder.  Traditionally, algebra was a subject tackled in…

On our schedule today, I simply wrote "discussion" in one of the time slots.  I knew what our starting point was going to be, but I did not want to dictate the subject.  But we needed to talk and talk we did. Our Heron potluck on Friday was a wonderful…

Word work began today.  Students meet with me in groups of 1-4 to do the sort.  Initially, they work together without any guidance from me, trying to find patterns among the words.  Gradually, I point out features and patterns in the words and we use that information to refine their…

Sorry about the title, it was bound to happen eventually. Our second attempt at medieval labyrinths went much better than the first.  The students felt very comfortable and many rocketed ahead of my instructions, excited by their own ability.  This was familiar territory and it felt good.   Repetition of…

On Friday we opened the woods for free play — one of the most anticipated days of the year.  We spend the previous four weeks discussing how to include younger students in our play, how to solve conflicts, and, generally, how to be the kind of "big kids" that the…