It’s been a year since our loft was installed. During that time it has been many things and taken us on many adventures… we have snuggled into a house and had sleep-overs, visited a hospital, nested in a birdhouse, decorated a castle, worked and shopped in a...
This beautifully uplifting and inspiring book was published near the end of 2021, just when educators really needed to hear that the work they do matters, really matters. Because of a Teacher is a collection of personal stories, brought together to “offer hope...
This is the second part in a series from Green Schools National Network (GSNN) that features GSNN partners describing best practices and lessons learned, on topics tied to each of the impact systems in the GreenPrint, starting with Leadership. The GSNN GreenPrint™...
The Natural Pod play stand with arches have been the perfect compliment to my Grade 1 classroom. Over the past few years I have been changing my classroom to reflect a more natural, calming environment. I replaced all existing plastics with wood, wicker baskets, and...
This brief essay isn’t intended to reiterate the long history of design thinking as best expressed by the brilliant David Kelley, founder of IDEO and the Stanford d.school, as there are numerous resources readily available for educators. Instead, it’s meant to...
Bringing the Outdoors in with Biophilic Design – Mounting research suggests that spending time in the outdoors provides a wide range of benefits. For children in particular, access to nature is associated with improvements to mental health and cognition, longer...
The Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child Model (WSCC) – Whole Child to WSCC Back in 2007 ASCD – the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development – a leading U.S. and global education association, convened a group of leading education, health,...
The Natural Pod team has recently been gathering together online with the intention of reflecting on this past year. (We are an almost fully remote team so that’s our normal regardless of the current state of the world). We’ve also been looking ahead to...
There is a common belief that today’s schools are moving away from the idea of creativity in the classroom due to new education standards. Yet it is possible for innovative thinking to be part of your students’ daily experience no matter the curriculum. The best...
Today’s students are pretty tech savvy. From iPhones to tablets, most children attending school today have grown up with technology as part of their everyday lives. These “digital natives” know how to use these devices to communicate too – from texting to blogging to...
Sprig, the last classroom table you’ll ever need
