Out and About

It's been great to watch students exploring our larger community more and more. In the last two weeks, children have organized trips to Capitol Lake, where they played for hours in snow and ice; to the Children's Museum for lots of pretend play, and to our local park where there is lots of room to run, hide in the trees, and play active games of all kinds. Many of the younger students are outside in all weather, enjoying everything from mud to frost. The photos above are from a museum visit where two students built a farm, complete with chicken coop, and everybody collaborated on creating a dinosaur world in the sand exhibit.

We wish everyone a wonderful winter holiday! We'll be back in this space when school resumes in January. See you then!

The World of the Game

In the last few weeks, many students have been immersed in playing and winning Plants vs. Zombies, a computer game designed by George Fan. It's been a highly collaborative process,with students playing together, separately, or with staff to master the complex and humorous world of peashooters, pole-vaulters, and other magical plants and zombies. Sam is playing here while students gather around, learning and questioning as they watch him skillfully navigate the world of this game.

Although video games are not yet widely recognized as the valid and worthwhile learning environments that they are, Rising Tide School students are free to participate in the fascinating activity of entering a magical and strange world and using their skills and wits to figure it out and master it. I recently enjoyed reading an interview with scientist David Deutsch about the place that video games play in children's lives today. Consider this insight from Deutsch:

"Apart from conversation, all the complex interactive things require a huge initial investment, except video games, and I think video games are a breakthrough in human culture for that reason. They are not some transient, fringe aspect of culture; they are destined to be an important means of human learning for the rest of history, because of this interactive element. Why is being interactive so important? Because interacting with a complex entity is what life and thinking and creativity and art and science are all about."

The full article is here and is a great read for anyone who wants to understand how video games fit into a Sudbury education. Games are an essential way that children learn when they direct their own time, and video games, along with the all the other complex, creative games invented by the students themselves, create the rich world of play and learning that is Rising Tide School.

Learning with Ease and Joy.

I enjoyed seeing this activity repeated over two days, with different students getting inspired to count up their pocket money. The immense power and interest inherent in one's own money set off a great sequence of Sudbury learning. In one animated 10 minute episode, a more experienced student helped a younger one differentiate between the different coins and sort them in order. A pack of students descended on the coin owner, making wild guesses about the value of the money in the lineup and the number of Bionicles that could be purchased. Some left quickly, drawn by other interests, while some stayed to absorb this particular experience. The owner of the coins asked for help from a staff to count them. When they were totalled, the coin owner did some thinking about the item that he was saving for and how long it would take him to save enough for it. Then staff and students began looking at the coins, noticing the pictures on them, finding some foreign coins, some brand new coins, and some coins that were older than anyone in the group! The episode ended with a comment that sparkles with the kind of fresh, free, thinking that comes so easily to these students. "Hey! Wouldn't it be cool if we found a quarter from the FUTURE?!!"

With grins and laughter, the students scooped the money back into the jar and took off for the next big thing.

Easily and naturally figuring out the world around them, from the basics of counting to the big questions of time and space, what a joyful experience of young humans learning as they love to do!

Hula Hoops and Captain Underpants

Captain Underpants books have been very popular for a while now. Someone will ask to read one, and all of a sudden there will be a pile of kids on the couch, all wanting to have the best seat.

This Saturday we will have a table at the St. John's Christmas Fair. We'll be selling these lovely handmade Hula Hoops, and giving tours of our school.

Open House & New Posters!

Our December Open House is happening on Sunday the 6th at 1:30pm. We also have our new posters going up around town, stay tuned for more!

Hello!

Welcome to Rising Tide's Blog! We are a Sudbury-model school in Olympia, WA. Check here to read regular updates on the school from a variety of people: students, staff, and crew.