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Made to Move!
When was the last time you got down on the floor and rolled around? Jumped like a frog? Danced like the wind? Climbed, spun or crawledaround? Probably not in a long time! For most adults we’ve forgotten howimportant movement is as a way of learning, exploring and understanding theworld and ourselves – this is especially true for young children. As anyone who has ever known a 3 to 5 year old they are made to MOVE!Education for Life defines the ages of 0-6 as the “physical years,” whenchildren are exploring and relating to the world primarily through theirbody and their senses. Preschoolers at Living Wisdom School get the chanceto move…
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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...
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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...
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Everybody Gets to Play
Any game or activity initiated by students or teachers must include all who wish to participate. “Everyone Gets To Play” is a simple idea, but can be challenging for students to practice, and teachers often have to help find creative solutions. With help, most students are willing to include others when they see...
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The Polite Game
Our kindergarten teacher, Helen, teaches the students a game called the "Tea Party Polite Game" at the beginning of the year. The students sit down to tea and they brainstorm ways to be polite...
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Ahimsa and Chickens
There was much talk swirling around after the Family Retreat this past summer at Laurelwood. Nitai Deranja, who started the first Living Wisdom School, did most of the teaching and inspired the many families who were there. I wasn't there, but heard about how he taught Ahimsa, and I knew I needed to try that with my class of 1st and 2nd graders. Ahimsa is the term for the practice of non-harming or non-violence...
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Calm and Focused Energy in the Classroom
One of the greatest puzzles facing teachers and parents today is how to teach students who can't seem to keep still, either with their bodies or their voices...
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Winter Dancing
As winter has returned to Oregon, we are taking fewer field trips and spending more time inside. Dance is one of the indoor activities that we've started doing more of around here. The Primary (1st/2nd grade) students learned an Indian (Garba) dance...
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I Am Master of My Body, I Am Master of Myself
A few days ago, I was talking with a mom of one of my students. She told me the story of how her son was in tennis lessons and he had recently moved up to the next level of difficulty. The day before, when it was time for him to go to tennis lessons, he broke down and started crying, refusing to go. The mom listened to all his fears about playing against older and better players and all his frustrations about not being as good as them. But even after talking about all his feelings, he continued to cry and was quite worked up about it. Now, anyone who…
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Calming Energy with Music
Usha tells a story in Calm and Compassionate Children about a time that she chose to use music in the classroom to change energy, rather than talking and ordering students about. The students had come in from recess, many arguing and up in arms about something that had happened on the playground. This is a very familiar scene to most teachers, as often simple playground disagreements start to expand to more and more students until most of the students are involved in the dispute. Rather than go straight to talking, Usha suggested that they drink some water, and sit silently for 5 minutes while they drank and relaxed. She put…
