A devoted mother dove sits in the nest she built on a small shelf above the hose in our back yard. She’s been there for nearly two weeks. There were two eggs originally, and now there is one hatchling, whose eyes are still closed. I don’t know what happened to the other one. This mother . . . Read More
When I returned from my trip to Nebraska, I checked out a group of mysterious cabbage-like plants in our garden. Looking closer, I discovered underneath the lush green leaves a whole collection of tiny Brussels sprouts. How could this be? I do remember planting seeds months ago, but thought our rabbit visitors had wiped . . . Read More
Over the past several weeks I’ve been writing about the playground. I’ve described its activities, life lessons available, and all the reasons we place so much emphasis on our extraordinary playground. When I saw these three toddlers gazing out onto the big playground with a student intern the other day, with their similar bikes parked . . . Read More
Our first and second graders are currently developing the practice of using a writer’s notebook. Each week I present them with a different way to use their notebooks. This week I gave them a random photo of a scene from our playground. I invited them to look at their photo and see what it reminds . . . Read More
When visitors come to the Seed and we open the door to our playground, the response is nearly universal: Wow. One parent even asked if our school was adjacent to a city park. Many express their awe by saying, “I wish I’d gone to a school like this when I was a kid.” I’ve visited . . . Read More
Exactly a year ago today, I left for India. It was an adventure that changed my life and is still with me. The orange-pink sunrise, the smell of rose oil, and the flapping of prayer flags in my back yard all carry me back to India. Lately I’ve been reflecting on the year that has . . . Read More
A few days ago I read a plea for help posted on Facebook by one of our Seed alums. She’s living in Australia. Her post included a stunning photo of a huge plume of smoke and an article describing the fire as big as Manhattan. I thought about her post all weekend and decided we . . . Read More
The rain was a blessing for our dry desert. It also transformed our playground into a mud bog that inspired all sorts of imaginative play. It was a heyday for small persons in brightly colored rain boots. On Wednesday I noticed a group of young sand chefs, madly stirring and pouring muddy water into a . . . Read More
We want you to know about our exceptional K-4 program. Although we’re just entering our fourth month of the school year, it will soon be time for making decisions about the future. In order to help families make the most informed decision about elementary school placement, we are offering a K-4 information session on Wednesday, . . . Read More
Since late August, I’ve worked with the 3rd/4th graders on their writing once a week. At the suggestion of their teacher, we jumped into a form of writing that was new to me with this age group, development of a fictional character and creating a story around that character. In the past, I generally stuck . . . Read More
Healthy food has always been a priority at the Seed. Over the years it’s taken on different expressions as we’ve responded to trends in nutrition. Our current practices have been highly influenced by this article. Another influence related to food is our dedication to planetary stewardship. During the first few weeks of school, I . . . Read More
As this fourth week of summer camp comes to a close, the word “congruent” surfaces in my mind. Congruent means to be in agreement or in harmony. It comes from the Latin verb Congruere “to come together, correspond with.” All week long I’ve seen evidence of congruency in action. When we developed our plan for . . . Read More
I pay attention to patterns of three. This week, as graduation photos and announcements started rolling in, a set of three caught my attention: future engineers. For decades I’ve held the belief that activities children engage in when they are young often surface in adulthood. When I heard that three of our former Seeds were . . . Read More
Harvesting seeds is no easy task, especially for three-year-old fingers. In case you’re unfamiliar with kale, broccoli, cauliflower, and cilantro seeds, they’re about the size of a small pin head. They mostly grow in long thin pods that only crack open easily when they are dry. There’s a purpose behind the tediousness of harvesting tiny . . . Read More
Last week I described potential plans and activities happening on and around Earth Day at the Seed. One project in particular took on a life of its own. The Preschool 4s’ campaign to help the African Wildlife Foundation has become a school-wide effort, thanks to the generosity of parents, as well as their baking talents. . . . Read More
We’re doing Earth Day differently this year. Usually we pick one issue—such as plastic bags, throwaway straws, or endangered species—and make it a whole school theme. We decide how to address the issue within each classroom, then report back to the whole group on Earth Day. This year, since such varied authentic learning is happening . . . Read More
Since returning from India, I’ve thought about air quality. A lot. It was one part of the trip for which I was unprepared. I managed to escape the common digestive tract illness most people contract while traveling, but ended up coming home with a nasty case of bronchitis. As a result, I’ve appreciated the clean . . . Read More
I had a flashback on Tuesday morning. Seeing the K-1 class with teachers and parents waiting at the bus stop on 40th Street, brought me back to the earliest years of the Seed when we had only a handful of young children. It was the late 70s, and the father of one of our students . . . Read More
During Monday’s all-school meeting, several classes reported news of emerging studies. It’s that time of year when deeper studies come forth, usually inspired by interests of children. I decided to investigate the roots of these studies, and it was no surprise how varied, yet similar, those roots are. Generally, studies have formulated based on . . . Read More
We have a small box we open only at this time of year. It contains gaffers tape, a map, and a six foot segment of ribbon with a tiny piece of yellow chalk tied to the end. It might seem like an odd, insignificant little collection of things, but in reality, it’s quite foundational to . . . Read More
In honor of our all-school nutrition study, this week’s blog will be a tour of our seedfood website. The site came into being several years ago when the lead teachers gathered for a discussion about developmentally appropriate food practices. Starting with an article on this topic, we talked about how much children should be expected . . . Read More
When I teach young writers, one of the first things we work on is topic selection. We discuss how the challenge isn’t usually having something to write about, it’s deciding which of many topics to choose. That’s how I feel about this summer. In the six weeks since I wrote my last blog, I’ve walked . . . Read More
I can’t help myself. When I see ants, I think of PreK. During these summer months, there is no shortage of opportunities for such sitings. For example, I recently spotted a colony aggressively partaking of a discarded roadside piece of pepperoni pizza. There were easily 200 ants on the 4-bite size of pizza. . . . Read More
I was a child who inhabited trees. The property around our neighborhood was full of mature trees that provided multiple sites for treehouses. Some were built by professionals who knew what they were doing. Others were kid-built and, thinking back, I’m surprised my parents allowed us to hang out so high off the ground in . . . Read More