Week of September 28 – October 2, 2009

Our second week of classes has come and gone and the children are fully engaged and eager to continue their learning.

Our Food class continued their conversation about the benefit of purchasing naturally harvested, locally grown foods. They learned that produce begins to loose its nutritional value as soon as it is harvested. They began to consider the distance food travels to get to our table and how economics drives the import and export of food. Why is a lime more likely to come from Mexico then from Florida? Did you know that approximately 78% of our cucumbers come from Mexico as well?

Students in the fossil class visited Big Brook in Marlboro to collect specimens that have been gathered over the millennia. At this site they were able to see the different strata of soil revealed along the side of the stream and to unearth a wide variety of fossils. Once back at school they relied on guidebooks and primary source websites to identify their artifacts and consider them along a historical timeline.

The Pets class took a trip to the Manasquan Reservoir’s Environmental Center to talk to a Naturalist about turtles and trout. This is our first opportunity to raise trout so we had a lot of questions. We learned that the water available in our lake is very good for the trout because it is filled with bacteria they need to survive. We also learned a great deal about our turtles and what would help them live more comfortably. Upon returning to school the children quickly shared their new knowledge with their schoolmates and everyone rushed to the lake with galloon jugs. Together they were able to fill our trout tank and gather plants for our turtles.

Providing opportunities for students to dialogue, debate, problem-solve and work together is an important aspect of our curriculum. When children join together in work, including play, several conditions become evident. First, each child learns more about herself as she connects with prior knowledge and experience. Second, this awareness triggers deeper meaning. This also extends her sense of self and connects her with the immediate and larger community she encounter each day.

Children’s ponderings are reflective of imagination and wondering and demonstrate their prior understanding of the world. Additional questions surface during these moments. This often leads to a quest to know more. When we provide authentic and primary sources such as guidebooks, websites and experts students rethink and bolster their knowledge. They begin to think about their own thinking. This extends the brain’s capacity to flex and grow.

Our students understand that they are valued and that their opinions are important to us. They feel empowered and become eager to learn and participate with a sense of purpose. If they are also having fun while they are working it’s a win-win situation for everyone. Preparing the weekly lunch menu, playing with our turtles, hiking through the woods to the lake or sifting for fossils in ankle deep muddy water expands our classroom and provides an awful lot of fun.

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 3rd, 2009 at 9:21 am and is filed under news. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.