March 15th

Depart to use in life the joy and truth here found

That is inscribed on the the gate at Mills College, very near the Children's School. Today Carl and I brought in our signed contract, along with our tuition deposit, to guarantee Erik will be attending Kindergarten at the Mills College Children's School. After we turned it in and chatted briefly with the director, we walked for awhile around the campus. As we passed this inscription, we decided to make it our prayer for Erik as he soon will begin this new phase in his life.



This is the front of the school, where we will drop off Erik every day (though I suppose we will walk him to his classroom for a few years, yet!) The Mills College Children's School is a laboratory school. There are 3 classrooms--K/1, 2/3, and 4/5. Each classroom is taught by a Master's Level teacher, and in any given semester there are 2-4 student teachers in each classroom. Each class will have up to 20 children.

The school follows the constructivist theory of education. There is a good description of the theory on this page, of which I find this especially useful in understanding:

Constructivism is the theory that people construct their own understanding and knowledge of the world, through experiencing things and reflecting on those experiences. When learners encounter something new, they reconcile it with previous knowledge and experience. They may change what they believe, or they may discard the new information as irrelevant. To be active creators of their knowledge however, they must be able to ask questions, explore and assess what they know. In the classroom, the constructivist view of learning means encouraging students to use active techniques such as experiments and real-world problem solving using authentic data if possible, and to create knowledge and reflect on their understanding.

Constructivism modifies the role of the teacher so that teachers help students to construct knowledge rather than reproduce a series of facts. The constructivist teacher provides tools such as problem-solving and inquiry-based learning activities so that students can formulate and test their ideas, draw conclusions and inferences, and convey their knowledge in a collaborative learning environment. The teacher must understand the students' preexisting conceptions and guide the activities to address this knowledge and then build on it. Constructivist teachers encourage students to assess how the activity is helping them gain understanding. By questioning themselves and their strategies, students become expert learners as they learn how to learn. The students then have the tools necessary to become life-long learners.

All of that means to us that Erik will be nurtured and allowed to flourish as he enters his formal educational career. He will be able to seek out knowledge in his areas, he will be able to learn even while much of his "knowledge" is several grade levels ahead of his age. Going deeper is encouraged. The low ratio of child to teacher is also wonderful for him.



Behind the trees is his future classroom. The K1 class has lunch on the patio, and to the left is the play yard. There is a great grassy area for running, playing with balls, and so on, along with a nice play structure and a small basketball court.



They also get to frequently explore in this creek. Once a week they walk, as a school, through the campus and eat their lunch at the top of a wooded trail. There is a weekly music class, following the Orff Method. Another major excitement for us is that they also have a weekly theater class, and each class puts on a major production each year. Erik has a great love for performing and being in front of a crowd, so we are eagerly anticipating the nurturing of his natural bent. They also walk to the soccer field once a week for physical education.

Did I mention we'll be walking to school every day?? Our home and church border the Mills Campus, and we'll be able to walk every day to school. Idyllic.