I spent last week in Nebraska, caring for my parents who, at 97 and almost 94, are definitely winding down. Each afternoon we’d take a drive around the county on roads that followed the Little Blue River and the Union Pacific tracks. We drove past farms abandoned long ago, with barns and houses on the . . . Read More
For the last 23 years our climbing structure, made from recycled plastic “wood,” has served us well. Hundreds of children have played tag, taken wild imaginative journeys, and escaped from pursuing bad guys on it. Over time a few components had to be replaced or removed, and quite honestly, our current structure is ready to . . . Read More
I first started teaching 4th/5th grade in 1999, the year we moved into our present building. Many students that year were kids I had as 2nd graders, so we were already well established. As we settled into our new permanent location, we slowly created functional outdoor features. One of our first projects was a small . . . Read More
It’s the time of year when many classes are engaged in deep studies. Two classes, our Early 3s and Kindergarten, have been immersed in the solar system and outer space. As part of the study, each kindergartener was given the homework assignment of creating a project. I love when they arrive at school with these projects, . . . Read More
This morning I walked into school with one of our first graders. Yesterday we sat together and I helped her decipher what she’d written about her family dog. The words were mostly strung together and it was hard for her to remember what she wrote. Eventually we sorted it out as I had her tell . . . Read More
Life on the playground is a constant dance of balancing creativity, exploration, and imagination with plain old safety measures. We look at it as a fluid process of measuring affordable risks. We let children (except toddlers) play with sticks and bricks. Yes, we encourage them to walk when they have sticks in their hands, and . . . Read More
Earlier this week I was covering a playground shift and noticed a kindergarten student exploring the outer edges of our outdoor space. I wandered over and decided to engage him in conversation about the cool shirt he was wearing. It was brown with a bright green snake on it. I asked him if he liked . . . Read More
I first met Elsie Moore in the late 1980s, around the time of the Challenger Space Shuttle disaster. I remember vividly sitting at a low table with Elsie and her husband, Wade. They were looking for a kindergarten program for their eldest son, Arthur. She was pregnant with her third son, Allen. As always, she was . . . Read More
You might notice the sticker recently adhered to the glass door of our Little Free Library. It came with the books and materials for the READ IN COLOR program sponsored by the Little Free Library Foundation, with books provided through Southwest Human Development. Their mission statement says: “READ IN COLOR aims to promote the distribution . . . Read More
As you might recall, a few weeks ago during my stint of substitute teaching in the 3rd/4th grade class, we embarked on a study of leaders. Students selected someone they wanted to learn more about, researched important facts about his/her life, drew a portrait using oil pastels, wrote a poem, and found a quote from . . . Read More
I generally keep a close eye on the sunflowers in my garden. Several plants are blooming right now, in a wide range of colors and sizes. I love watching the flowers form and move through all the developmental stages. Over the years, the sunflower has been a metaphor for the stages of life. I was . . . Read More
This morning I was looking at the calendar on our office door that holds all the names of absent staff members. In all of my 45 years of being a school leader, I’ve never seen anything like this. Fortunately, this week we’ve had more people back, and the list each day is shorter than the . . . Read More
It’s been a full, challenging, yet productive week. As Covid closes in on our little Seed community, we continue to do all we can to keep everyone safe and well. I spent another week with the 3rd/4th graders, and our time together did not disappoint. Instead of a blog from me this week, I wanted . . . Read More
I’ve had the privilege of subbing in the 3rd/4th grade class this week. It’s familiar territory for me, as I spent quite a few years teaching 4th/5th graders in this same room. I also know the students as a result of being their writing teacher, some of them for 3-4 years. One of my favorite . . . Read More
I knew last night was going to be extraordinary. I just didn’t realize how extraordinary. There was a moment right before it started that revealed a glimpse of how it might be. It was dusk and the sky was the purplish color of twilight. Staff members moved about quickly lighting the 600 luminarias we made, . . . Read More
Excitement is growing for our upcoming Welcoming the Winter Solstice: Darkness to Light celebration next Thursday, December 16. Artwork made by our students is showing up everywhere around the building, including bigger-than-life puffins and an igloo decorated with cotton balls. Personalized six-pointed stars sparkle in the hallway, and holiday desert cacti await final touches. . . . Read More
In two weeks we will experience a new Seed event and, perhaps, tradition. Since the 1980s we’ve celebrated the winter solstice as a universal approach to the holidays, in respect for the variety of families the Seed serves. The original celebration included music, singing, and dancing. Each class was responsible for preparing a dance that . . . Read More
Last Friday the Seed was inundated with collard greens. Cases of greens arrived along with bags of ingredients to prepare the greens for eating. The collard greens were part of a program called The Blue Watermelon Project. Their website describes the project in this way: “Inspired and led by the efforts of Chef Charleen Badman of . . . Read More
This week has felt heavier than recent ones. No matter how much sleep I get, or how much coffee I consume, I’m still tired. I look forward to coming to school every day, and it still feels heavy. Perhaps it’s true that we’re collectively experiencing pandemic fatigue. Although some restrictions have lifted, there’s still more . . . Read More
It’s the time of year when we start talking about the holidays, especially how to approach them in a developmentally appropriate, socially conscious way. Actually, we’ve been in serious conversation about this for more than a year, according to my blog from a year ago. For as long as I can remember, we’ve used The Anti-bias . . . Read More
The hallway is a lively place this week. Parent room reps from each class came in and decorated the doors. A brew of ghosts and gooey stuff, pumpkins, candy corn, ghosts, creepy underwear, bats flying in front of a full moon, a giant spider, and green balloons are some of the decorations. One class made . . . Read More
Last Friday was a big step for our Seed community to begin spending time together again. Our tie-dye and tile painting event was a huge success on several levels. It had been two years since we’d held the event, and it took us awhile with the tie-dye part to pull everything together. The night before . . . Read More
Since March 2020, the Seed has been in protection mode. We had to close down for five months due to Covid-19, until we knew enough about how to re-open safely. When we did open our doors again, there were months of intensive sanitizing, social distancing, and making sure everyone was wearing their mask. As time . . . Read More
There was a bit of a commotion on Thursday in the 1st/2nd grade outdoor area. With the weather cooling, there’s been considerably more activity outdoors. The commotion was the construction of a “swimming pool” for their outdoor classroom. It involved several shovels, numerous project managers, watering cans full of water, and lots of mud. No . . . Read More