Wellspring Community School

Wellspring Closing Its Doors

2011-06-24T10:01:00.000-04:00

In a mix of celebration and sadness, the administrators and parents closed Wellspring Communtiy School's doors on June 16, 2011. After five years of offering holistic education for children in Nursery through 4th grade, the economic realities of a sane education at an affordable price have become insurmountable.

The founders, families and staff of Wellspring rejoice in the school's true community and positive impact on the past, present, and future of all involved. Each of us takes with us the experience of becoming conscious about our educational choices and linking ourselves to like-minded others to create something new. Wellspring lives in each of us, and will continue to be a beacon for what is possible in the world of education and beyond.

Natural Art at Wellspring Community School

2011-05-07T09:45:00.003-04:00

This week the E 2's (second through fourth grade) went to the meadow to make art using only materials and tools that they find in nature. Their art was inspired by the work of Andy Goldsworthy who is a british artist. The children had access to a book of images of Goldsworthy's work to review before setting out on their own.

It was a beautiful warm day and everyone quickly became engaged in individual or team projects. Rocks, petals, leaves, sticks and a stream were all components of their artwork. The children chose this location since it was a "secret spot" they had visited over the years.

Due to the fragility and impermanence of these creations, the children took the above photos of their work. Enjoy!

Busy at Wellspring

2011-03-04T15:53:00.000-05:00

Hello readers!

We have been busy busy busy at Wellspring, with so many exciting events coming up!

Our conference, Cultivating Children's Creativity, is coming up in just a few weeks - if you haven't registered yet, you should!

The deadline has passed for submitting advertisements for the winter edition our popular Community Resource Guide, but if are interested in making a donation we can list your business on our Community Supporters page and include your ad in the spring edition of the CRG.

We are also gearing up for our Goods and Services Auction, which is being hosted online with Bidding for Good and will go live on Friday, March 25. We welcome donations of all sorts and sizes, so please contact us if you would like to help us out! Along with your donation, you get a business card sized ad in our CRG and your business and website is listed on our Community Supporters page.

Standards-Based vs. Performance-Based Curriculum

2011-02-20T17:15:00.000-05:00

A very cool article from a student newspaper at an upstate New York high school:

A lot of the administration, teachers, and students don’t like the standard based curriculum, but have no power to change it. The standard based curriculum imposes content specifications without taking into account the different needs, opportunities to learn, and skills that may be appropriate for specific districts, regions, or students. But then, why have it at all? It’s difficult, unnecessary and somewhat medieval. School curriculum shouldn’t be one-size-fits-all. Wouldn’t we all like to do what we’re good at to the best of our abilities and therefore shine? Why should different people with different talents, interests, and abilities be forced into homogenization?

Read the entire article here.

Fairy Houses

2011-02-17T11:05:00.001-05:00

If you're local to Wellspring Community School, please visit Chester Public Library before the end of February to see our Fairy House display in the Children's Room. Our students worked very hard on these beautiful masterpieces!

Bohm on Creativity

2011-02-16T08:44:00.001-05:00

An exploration of the philosopher David Bohm's thoughts on creativity can be found here.

Deep.

What do you think?

Does Creativity = Happiness?

2011-02-15T11:55:00.000-05:00

Maybe, according to this article on Physorg.com:

Imagine someone sitting on the floor with his or her head buried in their arms and leaning on the couch. Is this person crying, sleeping, sick, dizzy or playing hide and seek? The ability to interpret this image in as many ways as possible reveals one's psychological creativity and consequently their ability to deal with negativity according to a new study by Geneviève Beaulieu-Pelletier, a PhD student at the University of Montreal Faculty of Psychology.

Read the entire article here.

Raising Happy, Imperfect Children

2011-02-11T10:15:00.000-05:00

Yet another response to the firestorm that has been generated from Amy Chua's Tiger Mother, this one from Motherlode at The New York Times:

Chua is prescribing life motivated by perfectionism—fear of failure, fear of disappointment. Not only is this a vicious form of unhappiness, but research by Carol Dweck and many others shows that kids who are not allowed to make mistakes don’t develop the resilience or grit they need later in life to overcome challenges or pick themselves up when they do fail. Perfectionists are far more likely to be depressed, anxious, and in college, they are more likely to commit suicide.

Read the whole article here, and take heed.

Don't Bring Your Son or Daughter to Work

2011-02-09T14:33:00.000-05:00

on Bring Your Son or Daughter to Work day? Egad! Read the article from Bakersfield.com that starts:

School districts are urging parents to leave kids in school today during "Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day," according to the Associated Press.

They say the annual event disrupts learning at an increasingly critical time of year when standardized tests are taking place.

Kids in the community? Seeing what this "real world" for which school is supposed to be preparing them? NOOOOOOOOO......!

For the "I Hate Math" Crowd

2011-02-08T11:25:00.000-05:00

On NPR - after this, you won't!

Read more, check the links, watch the video, all here.

Why We Need Humane Education in Our Schools

2011-02-07T10:05:00.001-05:00

An interview with Zoe Weil, co-founder and president of the Institute for Humane Education, on Treehugger.com:

All our courses [in humane education] invite people to use what we call the 3 Is: inquiry, introspection, and integrity. First we must inquire in order to learn about the important issues of our time; then we must self reflect and determine where the confluence of our knowledge and values lies; finally, we put our knowledge and values into practice which is living with integrity. This process is important for everyone - teachers, students, and anyone who wants to live their life intentionally and meaningfully.

Read the rest of the interview here.

Success Requires More than the ABCs

2011-02-06T10:00:00.000-05:00

An article in The Huffington Post describes research about skills beyond basic academic competencies that are required for success:

This emerging research has shown several fascinating, yet entirely commonsensical, factors that predict academic and work success. The top predictor was conscientiousness, which included dependability, perseverance, and hard work. Other contributors that were found included the ability to work with others and emotional maturity. Finally, extroversion (typically associated with social awareness and communication skills) and receptivity to new experiences were also predictors of success (one thing I love about psychology research is that it often tells us what we already know to be true).

Read the entire article here.

Critical Thinking: POSSIBLE in Schools!

2011-02-05T17:05:00.000-05:00

I just came across an old-ish article in The Huffington Post about teaching critical thinking in schools:

Dr.Christianna Alger states that asking the right questions may build a critical thinking classroom. (Many of the times you see baffled looks from students is due to the question not being clearly stated or it is not the correct question for the answer that you believe is right.)

CLARITY. Can you state that in a different way? Can you elaborate on what you said? Can you give an example? Is there another word or phrase that communicates the problem?

ACCURACY. How do we check to see if that statement is valid? How do we know it is correct? Where did you get the information? How can we verify or test it? (This is less of a problem when the sources are known and controlled by the teacher or district, but does it allow for challenges?)

DEPTH. What factors make this a difficult problem? What are some of the complexities inherent in this problem? (We tend to go towards simple answers.)

RELEVANCE. How does that relate to the problem? How does that help us with the issue?

FAIRNESS. Do you have a vested interest in this issue? Are you sympathetically representing the relevant viewpoint of others? (This gets to the heart of my objection in calling it critical thinking. Is the student able to present a radically different viewpoint without it conflicting with what the teacher wants, believes is correct, or will accept?)

Read the entire article here.

Sharing the Power

2011-02-04T17:35:00.000-05:00

Camp Creek Blog posted an article about child-centered learning:

My biggest concern with child-led learning is if it does foster a certain self-absorption in children. I have homeschooling friends who are critcial of this kind of learning because they think it teaches the child that the world revolves around them and caters to them. They think rote learning and 6 hours of desk learning teaches children virtues.

And part of [the author's] response:

I believe children embrace learning and become enthusiastic, passion-driven learners only when they see how it connects to themselves .. how it helps them connect with their interests and their purpose. What is education for, if not this? And the rote learning, six hours at a desk a day .. what is that kind of education for? Not, I think, connecting you with your deepest passions and your purpose.

Read the whole post here. Really, read it. It's great.

Schools Built for Learning

2011-02-01T14:36:00.000-05:00

Another great post at Cooperative Catalyst:

One of the things I came away with was that we don’t still, after all these years, have good models for talking about what a highly effective school looks like and feels like, from a learner’s point of view. (And I mean all learners–not just kids.) So while I propose, as a given, a short list: the child/student is at the center of the enterprise, and the student is most important person in the school’s dynamic–here are additions to the list–a few other attributes of a highly effective “learning” school. These have been developed after years of culture-watching in breakthrough districts, in writing about innovative school models, and in working with leadership teams now engaged in real innovation.

Read seven characteristics of highly effective schools here. And really, you should just make it a point to read this blog every day!

The Future of Big Box Schooling

2011-01-25T06:06:00.000-05:00

On Cooperative Catalyst, there is a repost of an article about a movie that they had previously reviewed called Schooling the World about expanding "Western" education into developing countries....pop on over using this link and check it out.

The structure of schools as we know them today developed during the rise of the industrial period, and as the quote above from Ellwood P. Cubberly indicates, the resemblance between big-box schools and factories is quite intentional. People in the 19th and early 20th centuries did not have our sense of political correctness, and they built into the public school system their very conscious intention of testing, labeling and sorting the population into a modern class system – with a small intellectual elite, a somewhat larger managerial class, and a large laboring class, whose main “education” would be in obedience, punctuality, willingness to respond when a bell rings, and conditioning to the dutiful performance of repetitive and uninspiring tasks. As John D. Rockefeller’s General Education Board articulated in 1906, “In our dreams, people yield themselves with perfect docility to our molding hands.”

Children Making a Difference

2011-01-24T13:27:00.000-05:00

I always love stories like this one, of children who take on the big problems and help to solve them:

Hi, my name is Dylan and I am 12 years old. I first fell in love with Coral Reefs when I was given the opportunity to dive on the Kehikili Reef in Maui, Hawaii. I got to witness first-hand the incredible biodiversity that Coral Reefs contain. Occupying less than 1% of the world’s oceans, Coral Reefs host 25% of all marine life. Over the years, returning to that reef I noticed negative changes on the reef due to environmental stresses. I was dismayed to learn that coral reefs are dying all over the world. If that were to happen it would be an ecological catastrophe as reefs’ ecosystems are deeply linked to the rest of the ocean.

I decided to do something about it! I founded ReefQuest to tell the story of Kahekili Reef, and model for kids everywhere actions they can each take to help marine habitats near them.

Check out the ReefQuest website here.

If you care about children, education, and the future of our planet

2011-01-21T14:28:00.000-05:00

you need to watch this, and share it with all your friends, family members, co-workers, and community members!

What Motivates Us?

2011-01-17T18:30:00.004-05:00

I love the line at the end: If we stop treating people as if they are smaller, slower, slightly-better smelling horses we might make the world a little bit better!

The Importance of Play

2011-01-14T12:38:00.000-05:00

An article in The New York Times talks about the need for play in the lives of children:

For several years, studies and statistics have been mounting that suggest the culture of play in the United States is vanishing. Children spend far too much time in front of a screen, educators and parents lament — 7 hours 38 minutes a day on average, according to a survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation last year. And only one in five children live within walking distance (a half-mile) of a park or playground, according to a 2010 report by the federal Centers for Disease Control, making them even less inclined to frolic outdoors.

Read the whole article here.

Snow Day!

2011-01-12T14:01:00.000-05:00

A fun snow day activity for those second generation Little House on the Prairie fans among us - making molasses snow candy!

After we read the Christmas chapter of Little House on the Prairie my eldest said to me, “Gee Mom, I hope our Christmas is as good as Laura and Mary’s!!” I think Laura and Mary got a candy cane, a cake, and maybe a pair of mittens in their stockings…and that’s it. They marveled at a heart-shaped cake they found in their stockings and squealed with delight because it was dusted with white sugar! While I enjoy the comforts of modern living, I certainly relate to my child’s desire to be fully enraptured by the magic of Christmas-time.

Get the recipe here.

Wouldn't It Be Nice If....?

2011-01-11T12:14:00.002-05:00

I Scientist film from Storymakers TV on Vimeo.

What Does the Research Show?

2011-01-10T07:38:00.000-05:00

A recent article in the Washington Post compares recent education research with the heavily funded and wide-sweeping reforms being put into practice - and finds that they are not always headed in the same direction:

"Race to the Top" and Waiting for Superman made 2010 a banner year for the market-based education reforms that dominate our national discourse. By contrast, a look at the “year in research” presents a rather different picture for the three pillars of this paradigm: merit pay, charter schools, and using value-added estimates in high-stakes decisions.

Read the entire article here.

Passion. It's What Makes All the Difference.

2011-01-06T10:58:00.000-05:00

The Ecology of Education blog discusses the elements of a transformative learning experience:

Herein lies the piece of the teaching puzzle than cannot be standardized, scripted, or tested. It’s the magic voodoo that the best teachers possess and the worst lack. It’s the catalyst that turns a humdrum subject into something powerful and life changing. And it’s the red thread that ties together all those gushy “The Teacher That Changed My Life” stories.

Passion.

Ironically, it’s also an ingredient that is altogether missing from our national edu-speak about quality education, and for the most wonkish of reasons at that: It’s utterly unquantifiable. Passion can’t be graphed, charted, or objectively assessed. It defies convention and refuses to be contained.

Read the entire article here.

What Does it Mean to be "Well Educated"?

2011-01-05T07:37:00.014-05:00

A fabulous post at the Cooperative Catalyst:

To me, a good education is about developing:

Habits of mind like curiosity, analysis, criticism, problem-solving and creativity

The ability to make things, to satisfy a need or just for fun

The capacity to love yourself, other people, and the environment; and to find an appropriate balance between your own needs and the needs of the group and/or the natural world.

That’s way more than can be accomplished in the school day, which is one reason why I reject the idea that teachers and schools are the only ones responsible for educating children. Everyone– parents, teachers, community members and institutions– has a role to play, and one of our main goals should be to work together to ensure that this happens.

You simply must swing over and read the entire thing here.

Making learning relevant really matters!

2011-01-04T16:33:00.000-05:00

Duh!

Good news for good teachers: It turns out, the old drill-and-kill method is not only boring, but -- neurologically speaking -- pretty useless. Relevant, meaningful activities that both engage students emotionally and connect with what they already know are what help build neural connections and long-term memory storage (not to mention compelling classrooms).

Read the entire article here.

November Photos Are Up!

2010-12-06T19:10:00.000-05:00

Check out our photos on Facebook of November goings- on at Wellspring Community School.

And while you're there, don't forget to "Like" our page to receive regular updates from us.

Embracing Emergent Curriculum in Higher Education

2010-12-03T09:30:00.000-05:00

College professors are making use of social media to allow students to direct their own learning:

If we build curricula around formats, we are likely to find ourselves unable to respond quickly to changing conditions, when new formats replace old or when the scope of the problem expands. And if we tie the teaching of form to decontextualized exercises, we risk being only about abstract principles that are later challenged by shifting media contexts and by the growing need for things that are social as well as visual.

According to Davis' provocative vision, flexible curricula suggest:

* Important content may not require its own course

* Faculty may not work with all of the students all of the time

* Different students may achieve the same curricular outcomes through different curricular paths

Read the whole article here.

When Teachers Highlight Gender

2010-12-02T09:18:00.001-05:00

An interesting article describing findings that when teachers highlight gender, by having girls and boys line up separately or even by saying "boys and girls", children are more likely to pick up stereotyped attitudes and behaviors.

When preschool teachers call attention to gender in any way, kids pick up on it.

A new study found that in classrooms where boys and girls line up separately — and even in settings where teachers say things like, "Good morning boys and girls" — children express more stereotypes about gender and even discriminate when deciding who to play with.

Read the whole thing here.

Performance vs. Mastery

2010-12-01T12:59:00.007-05:00

This is just a beautiful blog post from Marla McLean, atelierista at School Within School at the Peabody School in Washington, D.C. The photography is beautiful, and I love how the children's process is documented and given more attention that the product.

The idea of working collaboratively to achieve mastery, as opposed to each child performing independently, is so important.

[The] process of modeling and working with children is based on the idea of learning called ZPD, or Zone of Proximal Development developed by Vygotsky.

To cite directly from Vygotsky, this most widely known concept of his theory represented “the distance between the actual level of development as determined by independent problem solving [without guided instruction] and the level of potential development as determined by problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers”.

The thesis behind this “zone” is that at a certain stage in development, children can solve a certain range of problems only when they are interacting with people and in cooperation with peers.

As arts are being slashed from school budgets in an effort to save money and focus more on "important" things like reading and math, it is vital that we examine the real impact of these decisions. If we focus on product - a finished art piece - that comes home at the end of a day, it may not seem that important, just another thing among our children's items that we collect, display, store or maybe pitch in the trash. But when we look at the process, we can see how rich and meaningful those sculptures really are.

Teaching for Whose America?

2010-11-30T12:03:00.001-05:00

Tom Friedman's recent op-ed column in The New York Times, "Teaching for America", is garnering a lot of attention among education bloggers and commentators. For a couple of responses, check here and here.

As for me - well, I'm not a huge Tom Friedman fan in general, and I think this piece is particularly riddled with inconsistencies and misstatements. For example, on the one hand he says (or quotes Tony Wagner as saying) that we need to focus on the most important skills for the knowledge economy: critical thinking, communication skills, and collaboration. I buy that, though I would say that this list is hardly exhaustive. However, Friedman goes on to say that we should use student achievement data (read: standardized test scores) to calculate teacher compensation. Even if we accept the premise that standardized test scores accurately measure student achievement in certain academic areas, which I do not, they clearly do not measure how effectively a teacher has developed critical thinking, communication skills, or collaboration in her students. One has to be in the classroom watching the dance between teacher and student in order to properly evaluate how well a teacher is inculcating his students with these abilities.

We need more good teachers in our schools, that is for sure. But this is another area where Friedman totally misses the boat. He says that since countries that are successfully educating their youth - specifically Finland and Denmark - require that all their teachers come from the top 1/3 of their college graduating classes, that we would be wise to follow suit. Statistics 101, people - correlation does NOT imply causation. Better students do not necessarily make better teachers - I would argue that the opposite might just as well be true in a system where school "success" requires regurgitating facts and filling in little black dots with #2 pencils better than your peers. Teaching is an avocation, a gift - and a skill, one that can be honed and refined, but not one that can be predicted from a person's GPA.

And here's the kicker:

Wagner thinks we should create a West Point for teachers: “We need a new National Education Academy, modeled after our military academies, to raise the status of the profession and to support the R.& D. that is essential for reinventing teaching, learning and assessment in the 21st century.”

Setting aside the mixed metaphors - are our schools like the military, or like a Fortune 100 company? - the idea that we need to create a high-profile academy in order to raise the status of teachers is, once again, totally missing the mark. As long as we view schools as simply training grounds for raising the next generation of money-makers, the teachers will continue to be seen as the privates in the trenches, making possible the work of the high-ranked generals who are really running the show. The only way we are going to raise the status of teachers is to start valuing the work they do for what it is, and not what it will one day become.

If we want our children to not only develop the skills they need to participate in tomorrow's workforce (whatever that will mean), but to develop the qualities they need to be happy, responsible and productive human beings, then we need to rethink the whole system. This is one place where Friedman got it right - we parents need to do our parts. We need to demand, and to build, places where students can learn how to learn, where they can develop their unique gifts and talents, where they can nurture the sparks of curiosity and creativity that lies within each of them - places, of course, like Wellspring!

'Ready to Learn' Equals Easier to Educate

2010-11-23T14:49:00.000-05:00

Generally, when Alfie Kohn talks (or writes, as the case may be), I listen:

The phrase "ready to learn," frequently applied to young children, is rather odd when you stop to think about it, because the implication is that some kids aren't. Have you ever met a child who wasn't ready to learn -- or, for that matter, already learning like crazy? The term must mean something much more specific -- namely, that some children aren't yet able (or willing) to learncertain things or learn them in a certain way.

You really should read the entire article from The Huffington Post here.

Tips for Raising Thankful Children

2010-11-22T20:58:00.000-05:00

We could all use some more gratitude in our lives:

As Thanksgiving approaches, the chaos of the winter holidays can overshadow its essence. The spirit of thankfulness is a complex one for young kids to grasp, but by by modeling generosity all year long and talking about the subject, your child will begin to absorb and emulate this emotion. It’s a great start to discuss thankfulness during this time of year, but its more powerful to incorporate it into the everyday all year long.

Read the whole article on Child Perspective here.

Why Standardized Tests Diminish the Joy of Learning

2010-11-19T20:28:00.000-05:00

This article describes one mother's approach to keeping her son's love of learning alive despite his experiences in the classroom:

Appreciation, however, is not covered on standardized tests. Although standardized tests allow administrators to gain valuable measures of general success across various school districts, they do not leave room for the notion that appreciation and love of learning can lead to better overall understanding.

Read the whole thing here.

Helping Children Make Beautiful Music With Their Lives

2010-11-17T05:11:00.000-05:00

I love this post from my friend and mentor at the Institute for Humane Education, Mary Pat Champeau. I highly recommend Suzuki's book - it is focused on teaching violin, but his philosophy could easily be applied to parenting or teaching:

I learned so much about parenting from a little book written by the violin teacher Shinichi Suzuki called Nurtured by Love. It is part personal history and part love letter to the violin, and part instruction on how to nurture a beautiful heart through music lessons. I learned that correcting what is wrong is nowhere near as powerful as praising what is right. His idea was to shine the light always on what worked, and let the rest wither in the dark. He believed that children could learn to play music and love it just as they learned to speak -- starting when they were young and having music all around them.

Read the entire post here.

Teaching the Art of Sharing

2010-11-16T10:11:00.000-05:00

I especially like the idea of giving children a script to follow in difficult social situations.

[Power is] a motivating source that allows them to learn and become more proficient and independent. If sharing is presented to them as a loss of power (“You must give something up“) rather than as an opportunity to be powerful (“You can choose what or when to share”/”You can help someone be very happy“), they will naturally resist. Help children recognize the power in sharing.

Read the entire post from Simple Kids here.

Kids Haven't Changed - Kindergarten Has

2010-11-15T08:16:00.002-05:00

The Harvard Education Letter reports that children are being pushed to perform tasks in kindergarten before they are developmentally ready. Just because a child can recite 3+2=5 does not mean that the child understands the concepts involved:

What’s tricky, says Guddemi, is that children can be trained to perform tasks (called “splinter skills”), such as writing names or counting. But just because “April” can pen her name doesn’t mean she can perceive letters with oblique angles. “You can train them, but the knowledge and understanding—the true learning—has not happened,” she says. “Our country has this hang up that if the child can perform, that they know.”

Read the entire article here - please!!!

An Ode to the One Room Schoolhouse

2010-11-09T05:35:00.001-05:00

An oldie but a goodie from Mothering magazine:

As I observed successful multiage classrooms in Canada and Washington State before the creation of the multiage class my own kids would eventually take part in, I noticed that every child was on his or her own individual path of learning in a continuum that mutually supported the greater social structure (in this case, the other classmates) around them. I realized I was witnessing a touch of that "village." Many different ages and skill levels interacted, competitiveness naturally melted away, and the higher forms of human interaction--such as the desire to help others--came forward. When there is no obvious unit of measurement to be compared to, competitiveness has less fuel to grow on.

Read the whole article here.

7 Keys of Great Teaching

2010-11-08T05:27:00.001-05:00

Based on the premises of Leadership Education (or Thomas Jefferson education), I think these keys could be of interest to anyone:

1. Classics, not textbooks
2. Mentors, not professors
3. Inspire, not require
4. Structure time, not content
5. Quality, not conformity
6. Simplicity, not complexity
7. You, not them

Read more here.

Encouraging Our Children to Live Passionately

2010-11-05T05:16:00.000-04:00

Some great tips from Zen Family Habits on how to make this happen:

One of my hopes for my children is that they’ll live a passionate life, not settling for less just because they’re told they should or because the alternative seems too hard. But living passionately isn’t easy because it involves taking risks, putting yourself out there and being confident, even when you fail. I don’t think it’s something that can be taught or learned. Our best hope is to model and encourage it.

Read the whole thing here.

Why Are Teenagers Growing Up So Slowly?

2010-11-04T05:02:00.000-04:00

The short answer: because we are sapping their lives of meaning! Another must-read article by Po Bronson from Newsweek.

As Allen writes, “We place kids in schools together with hundreds, sometimes thousands, of other kids typically from similar economic and cultural backgrounds. We group them all within a year or so of one another in age. We equip them with similar gadgets, expose them to the same TV shows, lessons, and sports. We ask them all to take almost the exact same courses and do the exact same work and be graded relative to one another. We give them only a handful of ways in which they can meaningfully demonstrate their competencies. And then we’re surprised they have some difficulty establishing a sense of their own individuality.”

Read the whole article here.

Taking School'Work' A Little Too Far?

2010-11-03T05:46:00.000-04:00

An education activist reports that some children are required to spend their days working in cubicles. All I can say is: Yikes!

In a world with such looming catastrophes and such extraordinary opportunities the last thing our children should be doing is sitting at cubicle-like desks filling out worksheets day after day. Their world desperately needs them to be educated, able to think critically, creatively and cooperatively to build a healthy future relying upon the great and amazing strides their forebears have already achieved and solving the problems those same forebears, often unwittingly, caused. They will never learn this doing worksheets behind cardboard screens.

Read the whole article here.

You Change Them

2010-11-02T11:11:00.002-04:00

I had the pleasure of hearing Marla McLean speak at the Educating the Creative Mind conference last spring, and then had the privilege of visiting her at her studio at School Within School at the Peabody School in Washington DC. She maintains a blog as a way of documenting her students' work and it is well worth a visit. The photography is beautiful, her creativity is impassioned, and her insight into the process of education is inspiring.

"I think you will be inspired! What does inspired mean?”

“You can’t believe your eyes”

“Cool!”

“You want to look at it for a long time”

“Really really really really pretty”

“I know what inspired means, it means, you change them (the paintings) but it can still be them”

This type of deep work, can be revisited in life endlessly:

Making marks to create memory.

Observing deeply.

Internalizing inspiration.

What Mani said, is a succinct definition of inspiration.

“You change them, but it can still be them.”

It is also a beautiful metaphor for teaching.

October Photos

2010-11-01T09:41:00.000-04:00

Photos of Wellspring in October are up on Facebook! Halloween, Welcome to Wellspring Night, Dads and Special Guys Day, it's all there. Head over the check them out, and don't forget to Like our page in order to receive links to interesting articles and updates on what is going on.

Words That Ignite Learning - Or Don't

2010-10-27T12:28:00.000-04:00

A great article on the Ecology of Education blog about the ways in which language influences our beliefs about ourselves and our ability to learn:

Words reinforce beliefs, and beliefs, especially those about intelligence, influence learning. Students can hold or lean toward either believing intelligence is something you’re born with (or without), or intelligence is something you gain through effort. A student who believes you’re born smart—or not—is less likely to put forth effort to learn. This student seeks to convince those around him that he is one of the chosen who were given the gift of smart at birth. Either that, or the student may believe he is not among the chosen so effort is futile. The same belief interpreted differently yields the same result: a student who is unlikely to work to learn when learning does not come instantly or easily.

Read the whole thing here.

A Brief History of Standardized Tests

2010-10-26T06:09:00.000-04:00

From the Mothering website:

One might hope that the education bureaucrats of our day would listen to the words of Carl Brigham, the creator of the SAT. Near his death, Brigham wrote a five-page letter to the president of Harvard, stating, "If the unhappy day ever comes when teachers point their students towards these newer examinations, then we may look for the inevitable distortion of education in terms of tests."

Read the entire article (very short) here.

A Window Into Wellspring

2010-10-25T12:50:00.003-04:00

Check out some photos from Wellspring Community School on our Facebook page. While you're there, don't forget to click "Like" so you can receive updates from us regarding upcoming events and interesting articles!

Sir Ken Robinson on Divergent Learning

2010-10-22T12:52:00.000-04:00

Introduce Thinking in Schools

2010-10-21T16:54:00.000-04:00

An interesting article discussing the idea of introducing a course on Thinking Big in schools (and in life):

The facilitator of the thinking module does not need to know anything about "divided middles" or "syllogistic reasoning" or "remote associates." Rather, she needs to be comfortable with -- or, to begin with, at least able to fake being comfortable with -- providing students with genuine permission to think. This involves helping them propose big questions worth answering, helping them embrace complexity and helping them honor not knowing. She should expect to feel a little nervous facilitating this module, as there is no curriculum to teach or information to impart. After a little while she will come to understand her job and be thrilled by the results.

Read the whole thing here.

And don't miss the comments - they're pretty interesting in and of themselves!

Scientifically Tested Tests

2010-10-20T10:29:00.000-04:00

Another great op-ed piece by Susan Engel about the shortcomings of standardized tests:

...we should come up with assessments that truly measure the qualities of well-educated children: the ability to understand what they read; an interest in using books to gain knowledge; the capacity to know when a problem calls for mathematics and quantification; the agility to move from concrete examples to abstract principles and back again; the ability to think about a situation in several different ways; and a dynamic working knowledge of the society in which they live.

Read the whole thing here.

Are We Learning for Earning or for Living?

2010-10-19T09:49:00.001-04:00

A recent article in Education Week asks this important question about the purpose of education.

The late historian Paul Gagnon, viewing schools through the lens of democracy, suggested three aims: preparing young people for (1) work, (2) citizenship, and (3) private culture. Within this framework, schools empower citizens to participate in the economy, to serve the community and have an informed voice in public decisions, and to enjoy a rich personal life nourished by the freedom to choose from all that the human experience has to offer. Gagnon also emphasized that, in a democracy, government-supported schools, at least, have the obligation to offer a first-class program of studies to every student. There are no second-class citizens, so there can be no second-class schooling-no mere training for worker-bees; no Delta indoctrinations from the Brave New World.

Read the entire article here.

The Value of Picture Books

2010-10-09T09:53:00.000-04:00

A recent New York Times article links the decline in picture book sales to parents' push to read chapter books are increasingly early ages:

The economic downturn is certainly a major factor, but many in the industry see an additional reason for the slump. Parents have begun pressing their kindergartners and first graders to leave the picture book behind and move on to more text-heavy chapter books. Publishers cite pressures from parents who are mindful of increasingly rigorous standardized testing in schools.

“Parents are saying, ‘My kid doesn’t need books with pictures anymore,’ ” said Justin Chanda, the publisher of Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. “There’s a real push with parents and schools to have kids start reading big-kid books earlier. We’ve accelerated the graduation rate out of picture books.”

I wonder how much of this really is related to the economic downturn. I have a huge picture book collection, but almost all of it was purchased before I actually had children - either for me and my sister when we were kids, or because I saw them in a bookstore and loved the art or the story. Now that I actually have children, and the resultant budget crunch, I almost never buy new picture books - or books of any kind, for that matter. Almost everything we read is borrowed from the library, purchased used from an online book dealer, garage sale or used book store, mooched on BookMooch, or handed-down from someone else. I don't think that extrapolating from a decrease in picture book sales to a decrease in picture book reading is necessarily accurate.

That said, what if it's true? What if children are being asked to read chapter books at an increasingly early age as yet another way to urge them towards higher academic achievement? I think that would be very, very sad. First of all, most of the chapter books for early readers that I've seen are painfully written and full of dialogue as a way to move the story. I do not find them to be rich in narrative, or particularly compelling, at all. My daughter can't stand them, and neither can I. But even the good ones are missing something that picture books offer.

Just yesterday, I substituted for the Elementary One teacher who needed to take an afternoon off, and she left some reading for us to do together. Frankly, I did expect the books to be text-heavy, but they weren't. What they did do is engage the children, keep their attention, and encourage them the depart the text, make predictions, ask questions, learn vocabulary, and appreciate the artistry of the illustrations. One book in particular, Some Things Are Scary by Florence Parry Heide, Illustrated by Jules Feiffer, led to an amazingly rich and powerful discussion. The book starts out with what you would expect - swinging too high is scary, holding someone's hand and then realizing it's not your mom is scary - but then it turned to more complicated social situations. Seeing people laugh and thinking they're laughing at you is scary. Finding out your best friend who has a best friend that isn't you is scary. Thinking you might not be picked for either team is scary.

The mood in the room turned contemplative and serious as the children shared stories of times they had felt left out, awkward, unwanted, not good enough. They felt free to share their thoughts and feelings, and their friends held the safe space for them and listened to their stories. I listened to what they had to say, but I didn't have to try to resolve the problems or offer solutions, because simply being able to get these things off their chests and knowing that they weren't alone, that everyone feels this way sometimes, was therapy enough for them.

This was a discussion that never could have happened any other way. The funny illustrations and situations in the book (drinking something and then finding out it wasn't what you thought it was is scary - "That's not scary, it's gross!") kept the mood light enough to facilitate such a serious discussion without getting bogged down in it, in a way that no conversation or chapter book could have. It was amazing how easy it became to work through real and tough issues of kindness, friendship, and safety with this book as a tool.

Maybe, when we're talking about things like plot, character development, and independent reading, there is a need for the chapter books. But when we're talking about the intangibles of literacy, not to mention the intangibles of humanity, nothing beats a good picture book.

Applied Learning in NYC Schools

2010-10-04T13:58:00.000-04:00

An interesting article from the website of the New York City Board of Education singing the praises of "Applied Learning":

What is important about an applied learning project is that it involves students in working to create a solution to a problem that addresses a genuine need, for which there is no preconceived plan and solution but for which there is an expectation of a genuine outcome.

Working on applied learning projects is a way of helping students make connections between what they learn in school and how that knowledge is used for real purposes both in school and out of school. One of the things that teachers notice about their students when they do projects like these is the level of interest and commitment the students demonstrate.

Read the whole thing here.

How to Raise Boys Who Read

2010-09-28T11:40:00.002-04:00

An interesting article called "How to Raise Boys That Read (As Much As Girls Do)" about the literacy gap between boys and girls from the Wall Street Journal:

Education was once understood as training for freedom. Not merely the transmission of information, education entailed the formation of manners and taste. Aristotle thought we should be raised "so as both to delight in and to be pained by the things that we ought; this is the right education."

"Plato before him," writes C. S. Lewis, "had said the same. The little human animal will not at first have the right responses. It must be trained to feel pleasure, liking, disgust, and hatred at those things which really are pleasant, likeable, disgusting, and hateful."

This kind of training goes against the grain, and who has time for that? How much easier to meet children where they are.

One obvious problem with the SweetFarts philosophy of education is that it is more suited to producing a generation of barbarians and morons than to raising the sort of men who make good husbands, fathers and professionals. If you keep meeting a boy where he is, he doesn't go very far.

Read the whole thing here, and share your thoughts in the comment section below.

Keep Learning Alive!

2010-09-20T14:04:00.000-04:00

In the September 20 issue of The Huffington Post, author and activist Ellen Galinsky writes:

Children are born are insatiable learners -- they want to see, to taste, to touch, to explore, and to learn about everything. We as parents, as teachers, and as a culture are taking this away from them.

If we are going to get the oomph back as a country, we have to get the oomph back in education. The research on children and learning makes it clear that we can and MUST teach in ways that keep learning alive. We can promote values, life skills, and content in ways that engage children in learning. I have seen this happen in hundreds of families and schools and it is reinforced by hundreds of studies.

YES! YES! YES!

Read the whole article here, and please post a comment supporting her view of educational reform at the end!

Wellspring Featured in Education Revolution Magazine

2010-07-23T17:30:00.000-04:00

Check out the article (starting on page 9) by Wellspring parent Kelly Coyle DiNorcia, and photography (including the front cover!) by Parvathi Kumar!

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Open publication - Free publishing - More dana bennis

Every Teacher a Peace Teacher

2010-07-09T19:19:00.000-04:00

There is a fantastic article in Yes! Magazine about the teaching of peace in schools:

We are neglecting to teach our students the most fundamental and urgent lesson: how to make peace in the world around them. And by forgetting to do so, we are promoting violence. As my friend and fellow peace educator Colman McCarthy once said, “If we don’t teach our children peace, someone else will teach them violence.’’

Read the whole thing here.

Art for Small People

2010-06-17T09:26:00.001-04:00

I have become fascinated over the past year by the process of creating art in general, but particularly my interest lies in the art of young children. How do they learn to express themselves through different media? What is the difference between "abstract" and representational art, and how do they develop the skills to actually picture something in their minds and then bring it to life? How can we cultivate a child's artistic abilities from the time she is young?

Two of my favorite blogs recently posted very good articles on this topic:

The Artful Parent :: Top 10 Art Materials for Preschoolers

Paint Cut Paste :: Making Art At Home: My Favorite Art Supplies for Toddlers

What's for Lunch Wednesday - Getting Your Kids to Eat Their Veggies

2010-06-09T14:19:00.000-04:00

This is a great post from Delicious Ambiguity about how to get your kids to eat their vegetables. My favorite idea: vegetable BINGO! How creative! Blog author Jenn suggests using Bingo Card Creator to make a template; this is definitely one we are going to try over here!

Weekend Web Favorites

2010-06-07T19:48:00.000-04:00

I'm behind on my link love, but I'm trying to catch up. Here are a few of my favorites:

Childhood 101 has several really great posts lately :: 10 Tips for Creating Great Play Spaces, Playing Creatively, and Developing Brains: Laying the Pathways to Learning are all worth a read

Ecology of Education :: Creating the Optimal Learning Environment, What Makes a Master Teacher?

Education Revolution :: Democratic Education With Young Children (a talk given by Elizabeth Baker of the Patchwork School at the Voyagers' Conference, very good!)

words, the podcast of wellspring community school

2010-06-03T13:06:00.000-04:00

After an outrageously frustrating month of technical difficulties that has challenged my patience to its very core....I think we are finally back on track over here at Rhythms. We are working on instituting some privacy protocols with respect to photos, but I am planning on at least getting the content up and running again.

So it is with great, great pleasure that I give to you our first episode of words, the podcast of wellspring community school - actually up and functioning! Please check out my interview with Stephanie Field, Director and Heather Laszlo, co-founder of Wellspring Community School. If you have any ideas for future podcasts, please post them in the comments either here or at words. Thanks for listening!

Simplicity Parenting

2010-06-02T13:05:00.000-04:00

Donna Ashton over at The Waldorf Connection is hosting an online Waldorf Homeschooling Expo. Some of the workshops are really geared specifically toward Waldorf in general and homeschooling in particular, but some of them are great general parenting workshops. I just listened to Kim John Payne talk about Simplicity Parenting, and his talk was phenomenal - I highly recommend that you pop over and give it a listen! His talk is about an hour long and then his wife Katharine talks for a half hour from her unique perspective as a Waldorf-educated individual and teacher who is now a homeschooling mom. He describes his four layers of Simplicity Parenting: simplifying clutter, creating rhythm and predictability, scheduling and screening out the adult world. The talk is free for forty-eight hours, but after that you will have to purchase the entire Expo download package to listen.

Luckily, you can also read Payne's book S implicity Parenting - I haven't yet, but I've heard great things about it. If you've read it, please post a review in the comments!

May at Wellspring

2010-06-01T14:15:00.000-04:00

We welcome spring! Our garden is the source of many lessons this month including: math lessons categorizing by size and charting by taste and science lessons exploring roots, characteristics of emerging plants, and why the radishes with big leaves are smaller than the ones with the small leaves. We have enjoyed our lettuce and radishes for snack.

Our World Cultures Program took us to Japan and Israel this month. We celebrated Children’s Day, a Japanese tradition with Ann Rosen in the beginning of the month. The children enjoyed making carp kites, learning about traditional dress, and the Japanese alphabet. The children also learned how to sing If You’re Happy and You Know It in Japanese. Dōmo arigatō, Ann!

Caryn and Josh Rosenberg came in to explain and celebrate Shavuot, the spring harvest festival in Israel. They shared traditional foods and a ram’s horn instrument (bukkehorn) for all to try. Caryn introduced the alphabet to us and wrote everyone’s name in Hebrew. Finally, Grandma visited to read a story called Chicken Man about living in a kibbutz. Toda, Rosenbergs!

The blue bird project has been exciting this month. On Thursday, we checked the boxes to find both eggs and baby chicks! FINALLY! Each child was able to peer into the box and count the eggs. The baby birds were huddled together and difficult to distinguish. We took a picture and counted four babies when were returned to school. Before the end of school the tree swallow eggs and blue bird eggs will hatch, offering a nice opportunity to compare species. The children should be able to monitor the birds until they are fledglings.

The children are also monitoring the life cycle of the caterpillars. They have documented the caterpillar and chrysalis stages and awaiting the emergence of our painted ladies. We have observed these butterflies in the meadow this spring.

Lastly, several children took the opportunity to sponge paint “their meadow” at the request of the town. Our artwork should be hanging in the Rock-a-Bye meadow display box shortly. Please try to stop by to take a look. If you also choose to peek in the bird boxes, please gently tap on the outside and step away from the opening before you lift the side. Just a bit of bird etiquette on this last day of May,

April at Wellspring

2010-05-10T16:12:00.000-04:00

Our world was expanded this month as we visited Egypt. Many children have prior knowledge of Ancient Egypt through TV and books; yet, the photos of Scott and Mary’s trip and the Egyptian items really connected the children to the country in an authentic way. The rug was the center of our circle for two weeks and children sat in the Egyptian chair listening to Goodnight Cairo just as a young Egyptian child would. Children studied the photos of Scott climbing a pyramid as they made their own structures with sugar cubes. No one worried that the sides weren’t smooth, since the sugar cubes looked like the stone in the step pyramids photographed. The children began to understand the height and weight of the stone blocks leading many to wonder how they could be built without cranes and trucks. We experimented with blocks and pencils trying to replicate how the stone was moved. Pictures of a mummy prompted an exploration into the process of mummification. The children wondered about the water extracted with salt. This led us to a scientific experiment about extracting water from cucumbers and eggplant.

April showers are bringing food to our paddock space. The lettuce, peas, and radishes have sprouted. We’re thinning the radishes while observing what happens underground in the formation of these vegetables. Many children are fascinated that the roots are the edible part! We have also observed plants emerge from the soil that we did not plant. The children have studied the differences in leaves and have a few ideas about their origin. Time will answer this mystery.

Thanks to all who contributed materials for our recycled art projects this month. Bottles, cans, balls, aluminum pans, and boxes were transformed into some amazing pieces of art. These projects are a testament to the creative talents of children as they are tangible evidence of what a child can see in common trash. The children also wrote recipes for potions and poisons this month. After mixing these concoctions, the children observed how the materials changed over a few days or even a week. The recipes involving shaving cream produced the most dramatic change. After working in the Art and Writing Nook one morning when this work was quite frenetic, the parent helper expressed her surprise that the mixtures weren’t all brown.

Grandparent’s Day was a special time at Wellspring this month. It was delightful to see grandparents from near and far spend the morning with us at school. The children enjoyed making butterflies and turtle rings in the Art and Writing Nook. They had fun making fish and then racing them in the paddock. Several children took the opportunity to paint signs of spring while others played dodge ball in the paddock. It was a very busy and memorable morning for all!

Lastly, I would like to thank all the parents that take time out of their busy schedules to help in the classroom. This often isn’t terribly “sexy” work but it is special for your child to have you present and for you to see them at “work”. Your support makes a significant difference in the lives of the children. Thank you again for enriching our space.

~Anne

Our First Podcast!

2010-05-03T06:11:00.001-04:00

We are so pleased and excited to present the very first episode of our new podcast, Words - The Blog of Wellspring Community School. Please do check it out, post a comment, and share with your friends, families, neighbors, and anyone else you think might be interested!

Interview With Stephanie Field, Director & Heather Laszlo, Co-Founder of Wellspring Community School

Posted using ShareThis

Silent Sunday...Sort Of

2010-05-02T08:30:00.002-04:00

What's for Lunch Wednesday - Food Attitude

2010-04-21T12:56:00.000-04:00

Photo by wheat_in_your_hair

There is lots of information on the Internet about food and health. Organic, free-range, biodynamic, local, ultra-local, urban gardening, food miles, Weston A. Price, vegetarian, vegan, GAPS, GFCF - food is something that everyone seems to have an opinion about. What is the healthiest way to feed our families? Who knows? To be sure, there is a lot of passion and judgement surrounding this question for a lot of people.

But here is an interesting article from the latest New York Times Magazine on how our diet and eating habits affects our children's body image - boys too, but especially girls:

Food is never just food. Food is love. Food is solace. It is politics. It is religion. And if that’s not enough to heap on your dinner plate each night, food is also, especially for mothers, the instant-read measure of our parenting. We are not only what we eat, we are what we feed our children.

A quick and worthwhile read - check it out.

Ron Miller's Talk

2010-04-20T08:45:00.002-04:00

Success! I finally figured out how to get the keynote talk from our March 20 conference up on You Tube. The catch is that it's broken up into ten-minute segments, but hey, it's better than nothing...

Book Review: The Big Turnoff

2010-04-19T12:18:00.001-04:00

In honor of Earth Week and the Great TV Rebellion 2010, I thought it would be a good time to offer a review of one of my favorite parenting books, The Big Turnoff: Confessions of a TV-Addicted Mom Trying to Raise a TV-Free Kid by Ellen Currey-Wilson.

In this startlingly honest memoir, Currey-Wilson invites readers to share her most intimate thoughts in a way that few of us would, even with our dearest friends. From the dysfunctional family where she grew up, to the jealousy she feels when two members of her playgroup start spending time together without her, to the time she offered a friend’s psychologist husband sexual favors (in front of her friend!) if he would give her “the answers” to the battery of psychological tests her son Casey was about to undergo, the author is willing to bare her most embarrassing secrets in a way that makes the reader fall in love with her quirky neuroticism.

Though the story is set around the author’s efforts to protect her son from exposure to television despite her lifelong addiction to the medium, TV can be seen as a metaphor for many of the alternative lifestyle choices that many of us make. Currey-Wilson struggles with both the philosophy and the practice of keeping her son TV-free: How will she find a babysitter who does not just plop Casey in front of the tube? How much should she reveal to her friends and family about her decision to eschew Sesame Street and Arthur? Can she reveal her son’s media-free status at all without sounding like a judgmental zealot? Will other parents consider it a burden to host TV-free playdates so that her son can attend? Will he be an outcast at school because he does not know who Pokemon is and does not own a Wii? Who among us has not asked ourselves these same questions about some of our own unconventional parenting choices?

Currey-Wilson’s example stands as an inspiration to those of us who sometimes tire of the pressure to “fit in” that we endure as we make choices for our families that are outside the mainstream. Her story also gives readers the courage to parent consciously, to face our own pasts, to ask the hard questions of ourselves that will make us better parents and better people.

Silent Sunday

2010-04-18T12:50:00.003-04:00

Friday Favorites

2010-04-16T13:38:00.001-04:00

Why do Finland's Schools Get the Best Results? ::: BBC World News America

The ABCs of Child Care: L is for....Literacy ::: Childhood 101

Maryland Launches Genuine Progress Indicator ::: Yes! Magazine

The Link Between Enthusiasm and Learning ::: Steady Mom

Are Parents Killing Their Kids' Careers? ::: Forbes.com

Tired Working Mother Sleep Saga ::: Half Full

Chicken Wing Partners, the Peacefulness of a Baby Falling Asleep on You....and 1,000 Other Things ::: The Happiness Project

Kids Learn Math Easily When They Control Their Own Learning ::: Freedom to Learn

Book Review: Henry David's House

2010-04-15T12:13:00.002-04:00

http://www.thewellspringschool.org[Children] should not play life, or study it merely, while the community supports them at this expensive game, but earnestly live it from beginning to end. ~Henry David Thoreau

http://thewellspringschool.orgYears ago I had the pleasure of spending a day at Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts. I went by myself, hiked around the pond, and sat on its banks to read Walden. It was an idyllic pre-children day.

This past summer, when we again found ourselves in the Boston suburbs, I took the kids to visit the pond.

It was a warm day, and we spent the morning dipping our toes in the cold (frigid, really, even in late August) water before taking the hike out to see the site of Thoreau's legendary cabin.

The foundation is still there, and visitors can go visit a replica of the legendary cabin. The hike was much longer than I recalled, especially with a toddler who did not want to be carried yet was not really able to walk very well.

But we did enjoy playing by the pile of rocks that many visitors have left by the cabin site to commemorate their visit and the influential work of Thoreau.

Given our love of this place, I was very excited to find the book Henry David's House, edited by Steven Schnur and illustrated by Peter Fiore.

Schnur distills Thoreau's great philosophical work on nature and simplicity into a diary format, including details of life by the pond that children can relate to. Included are passages describing the selection of the building site, the construction of the cabin, the labor involved in building it, the wildlife surrounding it, the visitors Thoreau entertained there, and the changing of the seasons during the year he spent living there. The inclusion of small details, such as the "two or three small maples turned scarlet across the pond" on the first of September and "the whooping of the ice in the pond" as it froze in winter really bring life at Walden alive for the reader, as well as encouraging children to become attuned to the sights, sounds, and smells around them. The oil paintings are a beautiful, simple complement to the text. I especially love the picture of Thoreau playing his flute in a rowboat surrounded by lily pads - very Monet-esque. I can't wait to bring this book along on our next trip to Concord!

What is Community?

2010-04-12T10:10:00.000-04:00

You may have noticed that I've been a little light on posting this past week. I was feeling quite a bit under the weather and wasn't spending much time at the computer.

During my convalescence, I was reading The Hundred Languages of Children: The Reggio Emilia Approach - Advanced Reflections (second edition) edited by Carolyn Edwards, Lella Gandini and George Forman. A little light reading, you know? Anyway, there was a quote from the second chapter that really jumped out at me:

Communities are groups of people who can do together what they could not accomplish alone and who have a stake in each others' well-being.

On that note, I'd like to take this chance to publicly thank all the wonderful members of our Wellspring community who have taken the time to drop me an email or call, or otherwise check in on me, or even send meals for our family. It has meant the world to me - I am so grateful to be a part of this wonderful group of people!

Silent Sunday

2010-04-11T07:19:00.000-04:00

Friday Favorites

2010-04-09T10:55:00.000-04:00

British Teachers: Standardized Tests "Deny Children A Well-Rounded Education" ::: Eco Child's Play

What Should be Cut From School Budgets When Times Get Tough? with Noam Chomsky and Alfie Kohn ::: Ecology of Education

Tips for Raising Resilient Children, Parts 1 and 2 ::: Let the Children Play

Welcome Spring Stick ::: The Forest Room

Thoughtful Thursday ::: Montessori Mama

And an ongoing web favorite...

The Metropolitan Museum of Art posts a Featured Work of Art on their homepage every day, which I like to check and give myself a bit of culture. Our family is thinking of taking a trip into the City soon to visit their super-cool collection of Egyptian art since the kids have been working on Egypt in school this week.

March at Wellspring

2010-04-06T17:50:00.000-04:00

The one hundredth day of school has come and gone this month. We celebrated by bringing in collections of 100 things and decorating the classroom with 100 streamers and 100 balloons (counting by 10s). The children compared collections and observed the difference in size and shape of 100 things. One hundred sparkling Popsicle sticks look very different than 100 pieces of rice, yet the children agreed that 100 is 100 no matter the size. The children began the month counting to 100 by ones and progressed to counting by 2’s as they hung pairs of mittens, socks, hats, and pants on the laundry line. The children counted by 5s in a circle using both their finger and toes. Lastly, they used the floor grids to count by 10s, 5s, and 2s well past 100.
We celebrated the birthday of Dr. Seuss with a month long focus on his books. We rhymed, sang, wrote books, and spelled all in honor of Dr. Seuss. We even made Oobleck and studied states of matter after reading after reading Bartholomew and the Oobleck. Special thanks to the moms who helped clean our space after this experiment!

The train trip to the Far Hills Post Office provided a wonderful connection to our community. With letters in tow, the children walked to the train station, boarded the train for the 8 minute journey to Far Hills, walked a few blocks to the Post Office, conducted their business, toured the facility, and then returned to school via the same route. When we explained to Postmaster Patty that we were tracking how long it would take for the letters to be delivered, she shared that the Post Office does the same thing. You’ll see our map on the purple felt tracking the letters. This trip and activity helped reinforce that Wellspring Community School is part of a greater community and maps can be used to find local towns as well as far away countries.

In the World Cultures program, we travelled to Gabon, Africa. Heather worked with the Peace Corps in Gabon and shared photos, music, and stories from her time there. Heather even cooked plantains for the children’s snack and many took the opportunity to compare them to bananas.

The children delighted in watching the eggs hatch and taking care of the baby chicks. Most children eagerly waited for a turn to hold one and refill the food/water. Thank you to Parvathi for photographing this special time in our space! We continue our weekly monitoring of the bluebird boxes in the meadow with hopes of observing nesting. Perhaps we will see some changes upon our return from Spring Break.

Did your child offer to make you pancakes during the school break? We read If You Give a Pig a Pancake, and most children learned how to mix and flip pancakes during nook time. If your child offers to make pancakes or help with the flipping, take them up on it. The pancakes were delicious!

~Anne

Silent Sunday

2010-04-04T05:06:00.000-04:00

Couldn't resist one more chick pic...

Friday Favorites

2010-04-02T08:07:00.002-04:00

Progressive Schools: The Real Revolution in Education - Even though Jenny of Let the Children Play is writing on the other side of the world from Wellspring, she could just as easily be talking about the United States.

Fostering Social Connections - Half Full argues that Happiness is....being socially connected.

The Boys Have Fallen Behind - Nicholas Kristoff (LOVE him!) suggests in the New York Times that books that gross-out parents and may even include an explosion or two might be just the ticket to correct boys' lagging literacy scores

Increasing Number of Parents Opting to Have Children School-Homed - From The Onion, this is just plain funny

How to Show Your Kids You're Still Learning - Simple Homeschool offers three tips for modeling lifelong learning for your children

I Like to Brush My Hair

2010-03-30T12:31:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago, I was spending the day at school helping out. I came out of the kitchen and saw my daughter intently writing something while Darcy provided guidance. "Next comes another E..."

I peeked over her shoulder to see what she was working on, my heart swelling with pride at my child's emerging skills. Imagine my horror when I saw this:

In case you're having trouble reading it, I'll tell you what it says. It says: "I'm a Barbie girl." In pink on pink, no less.

I'd like to blame my babysitter, as wonderful as she is, for my daughter's obsession with this particular song, but really the blame lies with my four year old's skill navigating You Tube on my iPhone. It doesn't hurt that she knows it pushes my buttons every time she sings it. Anyway, Darcy must have noticed my horror, because she offered a plaintive condolence. "At least she's writing words."

Right.

In our home, we make every effort to reject gender stereotypes. (As an aside, I recently found this interesting article in Newsweek on the subject of raising gender-neutral children.) On Sunday, our vacuum broke, and my mother and I fixed it - and then my husband cleaned the house with it. Yet, my daughter is into swirly pinkness and sparkles, and my son is obsessed with sports and things with motors.

I happened to have my parent-facilitator conversation with Anne scheduled that afternoon, and she teased me a bit about the incident, but then offered sound advice. Let it go, she said. You may hate Barbie and I don't blame you, but to Bess it's just a doll and just a song.

I tried that, but my feminist sensibilities soon got the better of me. "What does it mean to be a Barbie girl?" I asked Bess one day.

"It means I like to brush my hair."

ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? Whose kid is this???

"Does it mean anything else? What does a Barbie girl do?"

Photo by weelakeo

"She can do anything. Maybe she can be a scientist who studies dinosaurs, a paleontologist. Or she can play hockey or other sports, or maybe coach. Or she can be a doctor, or a pilot, or a mailman. Maybe I'll be all those things when I grow up."

I learned a valuable lesson from this. It is so easy to look at a child's world through adult eyes. Taking their perspective is a difficult task and can yield inconclusive results, as we never really can get inside their heads. Yet we still need to ask the questions. The meaning we as adults, as parents, assign to things in the world often bears no resemblance to the meaning given to these things by our children. Our perceptions, experiences, ideas and biases are not theirs, and we need to own them. When we assume that our children see things the same way we do, we are doing them and ourselves, not to mention our relationship with them, a great disservice.

That said, I still hate Barbie.

~KCD

Introduction to Introduction to Holistic Education

2010-03-29T15:17:00.000-04:00

Here is the first five minutes of the talk Ron Miller gave at our first annual conference, Introduction to Holistic Education: Conversations With Ron Miller on Saturday, March 20. I am working on finding a way to get the whole talk up for you to watch (or re-watch if you were lucky enough to be there!) but for now I just have this. Something to whet your appetite, I guess:

Silent Sunday

2010-03-28T05:54:00.000-04:00

Friday Favorites

2010-03-26T12:47:00.008-04:00

When Less Is More: The Case for Teaching Less Math in Schools - On his Psychology Today blog, Peter Gray points out some of the logical shortcomings of todays educational system: "If two hundred hours of instruction on subject X does no good, well, let's try four hundred hours." Huh?

Memo to Lawmakers: You Don't Know What You're Doing on School Reform - The Florida Thinks blog offers this letter to state legislators suggesting some common-sense observations on education.

On Toys That Bark, Jump and Flip - Parenting Report gives some ideas for open ended playthings that encourage imagination instead of passivity.

Building a Better Teacher - The New York Times Magazine asks, and offers some answers, to the question of what makes a good teacher.

The Playpod Project - Let the Children Play reports on a project in the UK where scrap materials are being collected and brought into schools for creative play and art making.

Does Chaos Reign in Your House Around the Evening Hours? - Zen Family Habits offers five suggestions for getting through The Witching Hour(s).

Let's Drop the Good Guys vs. Bad Guys Argument: We Need to Grow Up as a Species - Alternet argues that we need to create the social conditions that bring out the best in everyone.

For Many, 'Mean Girl' Behavior Starts Early - Boston.com looks at bullying in the primary grades, especially among girls.

What's for Lunch Wednesday - I've Got Nothing

2010-03-24T19:44:00.001-04:00

Readers, I have been nursing two sick children for the past three days, including one who spent several hours in the hospital being rehydrated intravenously after twelve straight hours of - well, I'll leave it to your imagination. Needless to say, food is the last thing on our collective minds at my house, so I'm hoping you will help me out here. Please post your favorite healthy lunch idea or recipe in the comments to share! And wish me luck...

Pockets of Hope

2010-03-23T10:51:00.002-04:00

Phew! What a weekend we had here at Wellspring. I feel like I'm still recovering and processing all that went on. We had our first conference, Introduction to Holistic Education: Conversations with Ron Miller, with about fifty or so people in attendance. After Ron's amazing keynote address we broke up into smaller discussion groups, and then had a cocktail reception afterwards to give people a chance to mingle and socialize. I am working on getting the video of Ron's talk up on the Internet so you can still watch it even if you weren't able to attend - or re-watch it if you were.

In our small discussion group, the topic was brought up of how to get people to embrace progressive educational settings. The observation was made that when people come to Wellspring (and I'm sure other schools find this as well) they love it and feel what a special place it is, but once they leave their minds start to take over and they find a million reasons not to step outside their comfort zone and into our community. We talked about how people are often driven by fear, how they think that if they stay with what everyone else does, then at worst they won't be any worse off than most. It is scary to take a leap of faith and embrace something different from what other people are doing and have always done.

When Stephanie, our fearless director, welcomed everyone to our event, she told the story of the beginning of Wellspring. A bunch of families had been engaged in discussions for weeks about the viability of starting a school, and they had begun to research how much it would cost. The number they came up with seemed to be insurmountable, and there was a air of disappointment in the air as everyone sat silently for a moment. And then someone said, "So, what should we call it?" and the rest, as they say, was history.

So I've been spending a lot of time thinking about this story and how we are so often motivated by fear and avoiding what we don't want instead of by embracing what we do want. I think that a very large part of what makes the Wellspring community so special is that it is a group of people who have rejected the fear and decided to take proactive steps towards creating an educational experience for children that represents what we believe to be the best thing for them. That's not to say that we aren't afraid - everyone is. But the difference is, the founding families saw the obstacles (financial and otherwise) and decided to go for it anyway. They had faith that by moving towards their vision, that everything would come together and their vision would become reality. It is hard and tiring and messy, but it is worth it. The families who have decided to enroll their children in the school also have a vision of what we want for our children, and even though we don't have the hard data to support our choices, we know in our hearts that we are doing what is right for our children and that is enough.

Ron's partner Jackie was in our breakout group, and she called places like Wellspring "pockets of hope". I think that's a beautiful way to think about it. So many people complain about high-stakes testing, and corruption, and inefficiencies, and budget cuts, and all kinds of problems in the mainstream public education system, but at Wellspring we are not complaining. We are simply choosing a different way. We are rejecting that paradigm and building something new. I know that as we keep doing our thing, more and more people will begin to see the success of Wellspring and other places like it - places where children are encouraged to develop academically, yes, but also emotionally, socially, artistically, spiritually, and in every other way imaginable - and will come to join us in our little pockets of hope.

Silent Sunday

2010-03-21T10:34:00.001-04:00

Friday Web Favorites

2010-03-19T07:56:00.000-04:00

Exploring the Forest: Wild Places in Childhood - This is an absolutely fantastic piece on the NAEYC website, in which the author Anna Golden describes a project she does with her students in a "forest" near their school, but interweaves the story of the self-exploration she did in the process.

What Ifs of Education - Ecology of Education asks, what if we eliminated public schools as we know them and replaced them with smaller, more personalized community schooling options a-la the one room schoolhouse. Wellspring, anyone?

Acts of Kindness Spread Surprisingly Easily: Just a Few People Can Make a Difference - A recent study shows that when people are treated kindly they tend to pay it forward.

Why Our Kids Don't Go to Kindergarten - This article on Salon.com explores what children need to do in order to learn, and the fact that they don't get it in most schools.

Teaching Elise to Hug: A Lesson in Educating Our Children - Zoe Weil, guest posting at Eco Child's Play, reminds us that it is more efficient and kind to meet our children where they are and try to shape their behavior into what we'd like to see instead of compelling their behavior, thereby crushing their curiosity and love of learning.

The Littlest Wellspringers

2010-03-18T08:07:00.000-04:00

As promised, here are some photos of our chicks. As I'm sure you can imagine, they have been getting more than their fill of attention and love since they hatched. They will be sorely missed when they go back to the farm!

What's for Lunch Wednesday - St. Patrick Smoothie

2010-03-17T07:53:00.002-04:00

Here at Wellspring, we had some visitors who snuck in before anyone came in this morning and left gold coins in each student's cubby

And a mess on the floor for us to clean up!

Green smoothies seem to be all the rage these days, so here's one in honor of St. Patrick's Day and the wearing of the green (as in a green smoothie moustache) from the Celebrate Green blog:

Maria's Coconut Ginger Delight

1 young coconut
2 cups frozen strawberries
1 cup frozen mangoes
1 inch piece of ginger, unpeeled
6 oz. fresh spinach
2 dates
4 scoops stevia
water

Open coconut and drain milk into blender, scrape coconut meat out of the shell, place in blender. Add the rest of the ingredients and fill blender with water. Blend well. Enjoy and be energized!

Our Chicks Are Here!

2010-03-16T16:29:00.003-04:00

The chicks of Wellspring finally hatched today! You can't really see them in the video, but it's just as fun to watch the kids watching them hatch. Tomorrow I'll try to post photos so you can get a load of the fluffy yellow cuteness.

View the video on YouTube

Book Review: Stella

2010-03-15T09:05:00.001-04:00

I recently discovered the Stella books by Marie Louise Gay, and I am in love with them! The red-haired heroine explores her world in titles such as Stella, Princess of the Sky, Stella, Fairy of the Forest, and Stella, Queen of the Snow. Her energy and inquisitiveness just jumps off the page as Gay captures the true spirit of childhood. Sure, some adults might take issue with some of the inaccuracies these books contain (such as when Stella tells her little brother Sam that the sun is red because "it's wearing red pajamas") but her answers show the author's grasp of the magical and creative thinking of children.

Especially well-written in this regard is When Stella Was Very, Very Small, which Gay wrote in response to her readers' questions about Stella. Putting herself in the shoes of a small child, the author describes the experience with humor and delightful wonder: "And once when Stella was very, very small, it snowed so much the whole world disappeared..." - something our children here in the northeastern US can certainly relate to these days! But as Stella gets bigger, she can do all sorts of exciting things like feed the goldfish, carry the dog and read to her brother, Sam. These books are a wonderful addition to any child's collection.

Speaking of book collections - if you live in northwestern New Jersey and are looking to declutter your child's bookshelves, there is a great opportunity to do so. The Washington Township Public Library is collecting new and gently-used children's books to assist a local resident with a literacy fair she is organizing in Newark, NJ. Please either drop off your donations at the library, or if you bring them to Wellspring I will gladly deliver them for you.

~KCD

Silent Sunday

2010-03-14T18:01:00.001-04:00

Weekend Web Roundup

2010-03-13T07:57:00.000-05:00

Family Traditions: The Glue That Holds Families Together - Celebrate Green offers reasons why family traditions are important, as well as some ways to build new ones

5 Tips for Creating Family Routines and Establishing Rhythms in Your Home - Simple Kids is always good for concrete ways to make your life more simple

Turning Youth Into Leaders - The Greater Good Blog outlines the Cycle of Transformational Living: Action/Service -> Learning -> Reflection -> Leadership

Ways to Incorporate Mud Play Into the Preschool Classroom - Thanks to Let the Children Play for some ideas on what to do with all our mud!

Whisper to Capture Your Child's Attention - Child Perspective points out that whispering is often more effective than yelling

My Grandpa

2010-03-12T10:15:00.005-05:00

In honor of Share a Story ~ Shape a Future 2010...

When I think back to my childhood, one of the memories that stands out the most for me is reading with my Grandpa.

From a generation where men were seen as breadwinners and largely absent from the caretaking role in the home, my Grandpa was an incredibly kind, patient, loving and affectionate man who relished time with his grandchildren after having spent most of his sons' childhoods working long hours in a steel mill. I remember his black-rimmed glasses and his big black leather lounge chair, cracked from years of "resting my eyes" and carefully taped back together; my grandparents would much rather spend their money on day trips and vacations spent with family than on new furniture. My Grandpa and I would sit in that chair and read and read, mostly Dr. Seuss. My Grandpa is gone now, but his volumes of To Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, McElligott's Pool and The Grinch Who Stole Christmas are still on the bookshelf at my Gram's house next to other prize volumes including his Navy yearbook and two-volume leather (okay, imitation leather)-bound Brittanica dictionary.

Of course, I reached a point where I was off reading Charlotte's Web, Judy Blume and Little House on the Prarie on my own (most of which were given to me as gifts from my grandparents), and my Grandpa started using his chair time to read his own books. A regular at the local library, the librarians would call the house when something came in that they thought would interest him. He liked to read about American history and music especially, but he read a lot of fiction as well. He also liked to keep up on current events and walked two miles to the town deli each day to pick up a newspaper until he was eighty-four years old and unable to make the trip anymore. When I think of him now, I see him in that chair with a book.

I know that he would have loved being a great-grandfather as much as he loved being a grandfather, and I am sorry that my kids never got the chance to know this special man. But, I hope that I give my children the kinds of memories and the love of books and learning that he has given me.

~KCD

100 Languages

2010-03-11T10:08:00.003-05:00

I've been a naughty blogger these past couple of days. I have been doing a bit of reflection and introspection after spending three days at the Educating the Creative Mind conference at Kean University and have neglected to write about it, or anything else for that matter. This is largely because there was so much to see and do and learn that I feel like it is going to take me months to absorb it all as I continue to go through it all in my mind and weave it into the things I see and read.

There were so many interesting, creative and wonderful people and ideas at the conference that I don't know how to begin to share it with you. From the researcher who has given children the task of creating a musical composition based on their favorite color, to the math teacher who uses music, sound and movement to connect with his students, to the demonstrations of working with children using visual arts and movement, to (of course!) Dr. Howard Gardner's work on multiple intelligences and the way his ideas are being used to construct progressive schools...it was the best three days I've spent in quite awhile. I wish I had taken some pictures to show, but I was so busy taking notes that I forgot to take out my camera, even once! Very unlike me.

There were a number of presentations on the Reggio Emilia philosophy, and I attended most (if not all) of them. I continue to be very impressed and moved by this way of being with children - as one of the presenters said, Reggio is not a technique but a way of life. I think that is how it differs from many other educational philosophies. There is no way to train people to do it right, because it requires a great deal of introspection from the teacher and a great deal of trust and communication (even affection) between teacher and student. A different "curriculum" emerges in each setting and classroom that is born out of the relationship between the two and influenced by the larger community.

Much of what this conference was about was ways of bringing different tools, or "languages" to use the Reggio terminology, to the classroom. So I started to think about the idea of The Hundred Languages of Children - in other words, the different ways that children can communicate and express themselves. I realize it's a metaphor, but I wondered, how many could I actually name?

verbal expression
movement
dance
instrumental music
song
facial expressions
watercolor
acrylic paint
tempera paint
crayon
pencil
felt-tipped marker
charcoal
pastels
paper
found objects
light
sound
collage
photography
clay
woodworking
sculpture
beading
needlework
fiber
water play
sand play
imaginary play
role play
storytelling
touch
smell
taste
cooking
natural objects
reading

So how many is that? Less than forty? I realize that, as a novice to this way of thinking my list is probably very rudimentary and lacks sophistication, so I hope that those with more experience will add to it!

~KCD

Hatching a New Project at Wellspring

2010-03-08T06:05:00.001-05:00

Too corny?

We have some new arrivals at Wellspring Community School!

Last week, twelve fertilized chicken eggs arrived along with their incubator and

food and water dishes to spend a couple of weeks with us.

They will be hatching soon and will stick around our classroom

for a little while before they have to go back to Quiver Farm.

Rooster Ronald and Hen Susan came to visit us and teach us about chickens.

We learned that roosters' are responsible for waking everyone in the morning

and taking care of the other chickens. The hens take care of their eggs

by keeping them warm (99.5 degrees F, to be exact), moist, and turning them

several times a day. Farmer Sarah explained to the children that,

since these eggs don't have their mom, we are responsible for

taking care of them until they hatch and then ensuring that they have food and water

once each one has used his egg tooth to get out of their eggs.

Susan and Ronald

Farmer Sarah shows us Ronald's comb and wattle

Farmer Sarah explains how hens like Susan use their beaks and feet

to turn their eggs

Silent Sunday

2010-03-07T12:48:00.003-05:00

Our parking lot

Friday Web Roundup

2010-03-05T07:37:00.001-05:00

The Craze for Endless Praise - Mothering reminds us why there is such a thing as too much praise

Let's Talk About Art - Paint Cut Paste offers ideas for responding constructively to a child's artistic creations

Goodness of Fit: Why Nurturing Our Child's Nature Matters - A Nourishing Home explores the ways in which we can be sure to match our expectations to our children's innate self

Fostering Self Esteem in Young Children - Rhythm of the Home (an ezine that is definitely worth checking out!) offers some great suggestions written by Eileen Straiton of Little Acorn Learning

End the Morning Struggle, Part 2 - More great tips from Child Perspective

Don't They Just Play? Role Play Reading - Childhood 101 lists the literacy skills that children are working on when they "pretend" to read

Compassionate Connection: Nonviolent Communication With Children - Another great Mothering post offers the basics of NVC

100 Days of School

2010-03-04T06:15:00.001-05:00

(Sung to the tune of 100 Bottles of Beer on the Wall)

100 days of school in all,

100 days of school,

We managed to count a large amount,

100 days of school in all!

How did we get to 100 days?

100 days of school?

We started the fun with number 1,

Counting the days of school in all!

1 day of school at first,

Then 2, then 3, then 4.

We got up to 10 but didn't stop then,

100 days of school in all!

What's for Lunch Wednesday - What's YOUR Food IQ?

2010-03-03T07:07:00.009-05:00

A recent video on The Huffington Post shows celebrity chef Jamie Oliver testing first graders on how many fruits and vegetables they can identify. You may (or may not) be surprised to see how many of them do not recognize things like tomatoes, potatoes, mushrooms or cauliflower.

You may think that tomatoes and potatoes are pretty easy, but how do you think your child (or you) would do with some of the more uncommon ones?

Jerusalem Artichoke Photo credit GirlInterruptedEating

Pluots Photo credit snickclunk

Celeriac Photo credit cosygreeneyes

Gooseberries Photo credit foxypar4

Daikon Photo credit rumpleteaser

Kohlrabi Photo credit SummerTomato

Papaya Photo credit cayobo

So, how did you do???

Teaching Literacy

2010-03-02T09:41:00.001-05:00

Dr. Peter Gray of Boston College posted an article on his Psychology Today blog called Children Teach Themselves to Read. In it he describes his research studying a number of unschooled children as well as students in Sudbury schools to see how they learned to read without being explicitly taught to do so.

What he found is that children learn to read in diverse ways and at diverse ages. He explains that our society's obsession with having children read independently in first grade really has nothing to do with child development or a child's natural learning rhythms. It has more to do with the fact that, in traditional schools, the entire curriculum (not to mention classroom management strategies) are built on a child's ability to read. First they learn to read, then they read to learn.

When children are surrounded by reading, they naturally become motivated to learn. The understand that reading is a necessary part of life, and they want to be able to do things that require this skill. Some children will pick it up quickly, some slowly, some through painstakingly trying to decode phonics, some through a whole language approach where they seem to just absorb it. But they will all learn.

Reading is a social skill that is best learned by being part of a community of readers. Not only adults, but older children who read can often present younger children with the best motivation to learn.

Some children learn to read through an interest in communicating through the written word. As they write letters, stories, plays, and books, they learn to read as well.