This week I hosted a room full of visitors to Opal School as part of our year-long professional development series. Our focus this time was on supporting the social and emotional intelligences of children. We talked together about strategies for creating learning communities, about the interconnectedness of the social/emotional and cognitive processes in our brain, about creating learning environments where boys can thrive, and about the importance of being in nature.
Playing in nature...
Bringing nature to school...
Nature smoothes those connections between emotion and cognition. Time in nature and with nature invites a sense of wonder into a partnership with learning that grows a tree with fruit so sweet, the appetite for knowing and understanding becomes insatiable.
What if school was a place where we banked on the pleasurable emotions of learning? Where we intentionally supported curiosity and meaning making because we knew that once we human beings get a taste of deep understanding, we want more? Where we weren't surprised to hear 6 year olds say things like, "When things get harder, they're more fun!" as an Opal School student explained to his teacher earlier this week?
But if school isn't that kind of place for your child these days, and you haven't yet convinced the school board that it should be-- it's a lucky thing for all of us that nurturing a relationship to nature in our own children is such and easy thing to do!
I found out yesterday that this month is "Children and Nature Awareness Month"-- sponsored by the Children and Nature Network. I found this out because of a post written at Rhythm of the Home.There is lots of inspiration there for getting outside with your child-- and, in honor of Awareness Month (and of the children themselves, of course) a challenge to do so has been proposed!
Reading this post with my mama hat on, my heart sank a little. I looked at the cold rain outside and thought about the tiny windows of time I have this month to be with my own children because I'm out and about trying to advocate for everybody's children...
And then on our way to the car, Stella slowed us all down just long enough to hug the tulips, reminding me that we have all the time we need.
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