I’m loving these new days of autumn, even though we are still in the upper 80s for midday recess. After such a long, hot summer, it’s wonderful to feel a breeze that’s slightly cooler. The seasonal change has invited more time outside to enjoy our playground and outdoor areas. While supervising a small group . . . Read More
Our food study has been deliciously successful this year. In speaking with various teachers, several themes have been present across grade levels: learning about foods by color and what they do for our bodies inviting parents/grandparents to come in and share favorite or traditional foods of their families/culture making a connection to gardening and our . . . Read More
You’ve probably seen extra vans parked in our lot these past two weeks, and plenty of ladders and equipment strewn in different parts of the school. At last, our new fire surveillance panel has been installed, and the final details are being worked out. It feels great to have this upgrade behind us. We received . . . Read More
Beginning school in early August has its challenges, one being the Arizona heat. We’ve been lucky so far that the temperatures have hovered under 100, allowing us to be outside for midday recess. Our policy is if it’s 100 degrees we will offer an indoor/outdoor option. When it hits 110, we keep everyone inside, except . . . Read More
It’s Earth Day, a day I renew my commitment to serving Planet Earth. I’me realizing more and more that the most significant way I can be of help is to keep working with the upcoming generations who will assume stewardship of our planet. Today’s blog is about one of those young stewards. One of . . . Read More
I don’t know how I missed it, but I managed to sleep through the storm that blasted through the valley on Monday night. My first clue that something was up was when I noticed a large tree fallen across the sidewalk on my morning walk. As I drove down Baseline on my way home from . . . Read More
Earth Day has historically been one of the most important days of the year at Awakening Seed. It’s an embodiment of the Seed’s mission statement: “Awakening Seed is an innovative, compassionate learning community that inspires global citizens by fostering curiosity, celebrating uniqueness, and promoting social justice.” This year, more than any other year, it was . . . Read More
As we enter our second month of days at home instead of the Seed, it’s beginning to sink in that we may be at this longer than we originally anticipated. The novelty has begun to wear off, and the list of things we are missing from our old life grows longer each day. Granted, most . . . Read More
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
On Tuesday morning I was over at the Seed taking photos for our upcoming yearbook project. Evidence of spring was everywhere. Bill has been hard at work keeping weeds at bay, and the freshly mown grass looks incredibly healthy. A few class gardens are bursting with produce, including kale, chard, and spinach. Sunflowers are blooming . . . 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
During playground duty I noticed our peach tree was loaded with fruit. Its branches were heavy with ripening fuzzy peaches. The birds had already discovered several and helped themselves to a sweet meal. I picked a few that were starting to soften and handed them over to one of the teachers for her class to . . . Read More
When I was a child growing up in rural Nebraska, the Little Blue River meandered through our town. It was more brown (from the mud) than blue. The Little Blue is a sleepy river, except during the occasional rainy season when its banks overflow. A few years ago it wiped out one of the main bridges . . . Read More
On Wednesday afternoon I sat in the dark on the floor in the toddler room, holding the last wakeful child. All of her classmates were sound asleep. She was quiet, yet not ready to surrender to nap time. I began rocking her gently, and she soon drifted off to sleep. As I held her, I . . . 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
On my way home the other day, I noticed a yellow sign next to the Circle K at the corner of 40th Street and Baseline. I hadn’t seen it before and realized it was a marker for something that had been near and dear to my heart years ago, the Japanese flower gardens. Long before . . . Read More
Returning after winter break is always a mixed bag of feelings. On one hand, it seems like we just get used to a more open schedule, then it’s time to get back to our school routine. I know I wasn’t the only one feeling this on our first day back. Several parents used the phrase . . . Read More
It was a plane that derailed my plans for this week’s blog. I fully intended to describe the many wonderful food experiences happening around the Seed as part of our school-wide nutrition study. I was going to write about the incredible smells, the scent of pizza, beans, and pesto that permeated the hallway. I aimed . . . 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
This photo may seem familiar to some of you. It’s a closeup of one week’s lunch trash we collected last spring. I thought it was worth revisiting. Each September of a new school year, we devote two weeks to our all-school nutrition study. What started as a teacher conversation about developmentally appropriate food practices with . . . Read More
As we approach the summer solstice, it’s that time of year when temperatures rise. I notice that the number of comments about the heat also rises. A few weeks ago, one of my yoga teachers brought up this very topic. She continued by saying that we live here in the desert by choice, and the . . . Read More
As our complex world continues on its trajectory through time and space, I’m seeing that often the best way to help is to work with what’s right in front of us. Through a conversation with one of our Seed dads, I was introduced to an article that addresses this idea. The author, Kevin McCarty, explores . . . Read More
Anyone who has known me for any length of time knows I’m obsessed with plastic—reducing, reusing, and recycling it. I bring my own reusable bags wherever I shop, spreading the message to one cashier at a time about the wastefulness of plastic bags. More and more, I make purchasing decisions based on the amount of . . . Read More
Last week we received a wonderful surprise. News arrived from the community service branch of Brady, our janitorial supply company, that the Seed had been selected as the recipient of a $2,500 Brady Shines grant to help fund our new walkway, which will enhance handicap access to our playground. It was a reminder of the . . . Read More