Beautiful Math
It’s not uncommon to hear a few students say, “I don’t want to do math. I’m not good at it. I don’t like numbers.” At least, this is what I have heard and experienced in my classroom...
Cathedral of Learning- part one
Below is the first in series of four blog posts about how an inspiration of the Intermediate class Art teacher, Heather Utter, manifested in the classroom. Or, in the case of the below story, out of the classroom. “Cathedral to Learning,” is the theme to this year’s Intermediate Art class, based on the school-wide theme of Community. As the initial discussion regarding cathedrals began, the class realized that more than half of the students had never actually been to a cathedral! This prompted a special class field trip to the Presbyterian Church in downtown Portland. During their visit, the class was awed by the huge vaulted ceilings, beautiful Douglas fir…
Weathering Life’s Storms
The curriculum at Living Wisdom School consciously develops the four Tools of Maturity: body, feeling, will, and intellect. We all have one area that is our favorite, the most used. If we only focus on that one tool and don’t take time to strengthen the others...
Learning New Skills in Preschool
Every day in preschool - as in life - there are times when things don’t go our way. Every day we practice facing these disappointments and upsets using the skills we have been taught or seen modeled around us. In our class we see these conflicts and upsets as opportunities to learn new skills...
~Happy New Year~
It is amazing how time can get away from you! As we embark on the adventures of Living Wisdom School in 2017...
Reader’s Theater
In the primary class, there is a theme for every week based on a Vimala letter. Courage, Love, Peace, Stillness, Teamwork, or Oneness are some examples of primary class weekly themes. On Friday mornings...
Joy Juice
At Living Wisdom, we use Conscious Discipline, the work of Dr. Becky Bailey, as a complementary tool in working with children. Two of our staff members attended a "Building Resilience in Classrooms" training with Dr. Becky Bailey this past October. Michelle Mall, our school secretary, was so inspired by the training that she's been sending out weekly emails to share...
Season of JOY
We began the holidays with preparations for our annual Stone Soup. Each class makes a different dish for the event, and all the classes come together...
Appreciation leads to greater connection
Teacher Shawn is our Intermediate class teacher, with students ages 9 to 11 years old. Shawn was noticing that there was a need for more cohesion and empowerment among her female students. A class emerged for these students...
I Believe in You
In a recent staff meeting we shared inspirational moments of our first week of the school. Our newest teacher talked about teaching her students the “I believe in you face.” She explained to her students that when classmates are trying something challenging like standing up in front of the class, we can radiate the intention of kindness and support...
