Educational Practices
At Friends Western School we incorporate our belief in the intelligence and spiritual nature of each child in our daily work and practice:
The Multiple Intelligences Learning Lab (MILL)
The MILL contains materials for children to develop each area of intelligence-materials for building, art materials, writing tools, math objects and activities, space for reflection and collaboration, and space for music to happen.To use the MILL, teachers meet with the children on Monday to develop written weekly compacts covering topics and interests. Children plan independent or collaborative projects. The teachers assist them in assembling materials, planning, and executing their projects. In the context of curiosity and exploration, the teachers conduct lessons so children develop the skills needed to pursue and communicate their ideas-reading with comprehension, writing with clarity, using mathematical algorithms and concepts to explore relationships and solve problems. The teachers assist each child to identify their areas of strength and interest and to use that strength and interest to relate to other new ideas. In common engagement, children learn to appreciate each other's strengths and differences, building understanding and compassion.
Gardening Growing plants is part of the curriculum at FWS Garden Gallery
Working in a garden includes all the elements of good education, much like the way beans include all the essential ingredients for nutrition. In a school where the theory of multiple intelligences undergirds our curriculum, a garden is a natural activity. It exercises natural intelligence, of course, as well as spatial, kinesthetic, logical, verbal, and interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligences. In fact, if you sing songs about plants and gardens or make chants to pull weeds by, it engages them all. In addition it meets the California State Standards for life and earth science, and investigation and experimentation in several areas for several grades. It also requires the use of higher order thinking skills such as listing attributes, analysis, research, questioning and evaluation.A master gardener is volunteering to work with the children and oversee the project.
The activities for gardening include:
Computer Lab and Technology Education
We use the computer lab in the MILL for instruction and research.
In the world today, people often ask the youngest person in the room to trouble-shoot technology problems. And they succeed. It seems as if young people were born with the computer know-how gene that missed us older folks. However, they are most adept at internet searches and games. To help them become skilled in using the computer as a tool, we offer a well-rounded instructional program that includes managing information, producing different kinds of texts, sorting data, and working with images and sounds. Even the youngest children can learn to: