primary school chronicles

It has come to my attention that stellar primary schools here are quite the norm. 

I'm very much a "show me" person, so the opportunities that I have had here to sit in, participate, and just breathe the same air in these schools have sparked ideas that I cannot wait to bring back to my own littles.

For one of my graduate school classes, I was asked to write my personal philosophy of education. "Easy," I thought, "I did that as part of my entrance requirements. I dug it out of Dropbox, read through it, and realized how much it had changed. Part of the beauty of teaching is that you are constantly being refined through reflections and meaningful interactions with others and experiences. 

And each time I visit a school here, I feel like I need to add a little bit more to my philosophy.

I would be nowhere if it weren't for the outpouring of things shared from other teachers, so I hope that my blogs during my time here about a few exceptional schools can be shared to encourage you.

Here are a few little peeks from my time at Lance Holt Primary School serving 120 littles pre-primer to year seven.

Our morning started early with a kindy through year two morning meeting. A kid led the meeting first opening it by "declaring this meeting in session", asking about any "business" anyone might have to share, and "declaring this meeting adjourned." All with a lisp. Precious. How neat that multiple grade levels (or just a whole grade level) meet together a few times a week? What a sense of family that promotes, not only in the classroom, but throughout the school.

I floated through some kindy-year two classrooms for the day, just soaking up how the teachers interacted with their littles. Voices were calm and learning was stimulated. 

The kindy kids had an hour of "free play" that they could choose centers, travel inside and outside freely, and meet with the teacher. Children had dinosaur tails strapped to their bodies, a sweet boy put on a pink princess dress and began reading, Alessandra grabbed a book and began making words on the light box, and the teacher sat criss-cross meeting students where they were at. 

Then I ventured into the year one and two combined class, which was one basically one large area with two teachers and an aid. 

Did I mention that in their studies of sizes they are building a life-size giraffe our of newspaper and PVC? Yeah, that was happening too. 

Love their math work. Love that classroom library.

(What is 1,000? bulletin board)

(Easy access to manipulatives)

Such a wonderful day in a wonderful school.