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Appreciation, Calm, Education for Life, Experiential learning, Focused Attention, Meditation, Teaching Spiritual Principles
Circle Time
Every morning, in every Living Wisdom School classroom from preschool to middle school, the school day begins the same way. Circle Time is a special part of the day for the class to come together in unity, set the intention for the day, share and support one another, and send collective well-wishes to friends, family, and all of humanity. A short meditation is part of each classroom’s Circle Time. For our Preschool and Kindergarten classes, a highlight of Circle Time is being a “Shining Star.” Each day a new student is a Shining Star, taking turns in this role to lead the blessing, “light” the candle, and be a…
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Learning about Frogs
Our First and Second grade teacher Melissa Heart, just finished up the Life Cycle of Frogs with her class. Enjoy her ideas and love of learning! The Primary class began Spring term with a Frog Life Cycle unit. Each student drew an entire life cycle that contributed to our wall mural. The mural served as a focal point and inspiration for our study. Below are some of the highlights from our unit. We learned that a frog can jump 30x’s its height, so we wondered if we were to jump like a frog how far would we go? In small groups, the students measured what that would like for them.…
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“I like how things are right now!”
Our Middle School teacher, Matthew Fredrickson, shares a moment from his classroom. On what seemed like an ordinary Monday morning in our Middle School classroom, one of the sixth grade girls smiled cheerfully as she looked at me and said, “I like how things are right now!” For a moment, I didn’t comprehend her meaning. What, the stories? I wondered to myself. The children were crafting stories using their new vocabulary word list-nothing unusual for a Monday morning. The intent serenity of the room was occasionally, and thoughtfully, interrupted with questions about content, phrasing, grammar, or spelling. Smatterings of friendly chatter would follow for a minute or two until gradually,…
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Education for Life, Energy, Evenmindedness, Experiential learning, Focused Attention, Teaching Spiritual Principles
Raising Consciousness with Affirmations
One of our older students came to me expressing frustration about a difficult situation. Knowing this student and her learning process well, I suggested a positive affirmation. “How about, I am healthy, happy and whole?” “What’s whole?” she asked with a puzzled look. “It sounds like I’m a piece of pie or something”, she added. I laughed and said, “How about, I am healthy and happy?”. She replied, “That works,” and proceeded to say these words to herself and move through resolving the potential negativity of an everyday situation. A kindergarten mama shared a story of her child’s experience while receiving immunizations. She explained how her daughter was calm and…
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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…
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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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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...
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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...
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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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Out of the Box Learning
Yesterday the Upper Elementary class went to OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry). I had the great blessing to accompany them. As tired as I was at the end of the day I was also inspired, invigorated and even more passionate about out of the box learning. One child...
