At Long-View, learners are encouraged to extend their learning beyond the boundaries of the school day—to see their learning as a constant process and embrace it as their own responsibility. This month, all of us in the Long-View community have a special opportunity to do just that, and it’s right down the street: the Texas Book Festival….
Read MoreI have many fond memories of my childhood, but the ones that are most prevalent, and arguably times when I learned about problem solving and navigating sometimes contentious social situations, are the ones when I engaged in unstructured free play with other kids from the neighborhood. I’m talking hours upon hours of time playing tag, climbing trees (and falling out of them), building forts out of found sticks, and catching frog spawn from the creek with these neighborhood children (not all of which I got along with) until the street lights came on signaling it was time to go home…
Read MoreAt Long-View, our days begin not with the ringing of a school bell, but with the resonant hum of a singing bowl. Teachers, learners, and visitors gather around an (unignited) campfire log, and as the sound of the singing bowl fades slowly to silence, we settle ourselves in for a rich day of learning.
This ritual, which we call “Campfire,” is not just circle time or show-and-tell, but an intellectually rigorous start to every day. We begin by greeting each member of the community with the Zulu word Sawubona, which means “I see you.” Each person responds, “Sikhona,” meaning “I am here.” But don’t be mistaken--this is not just a silly way of taking attendance. When our learners say they are here, they mean it in every sense of the phrase. Not only are they physically and intellectually present, but they are here for each other as a community of thinkers and problem-solvers….
Read MoreProblem solving is an integral part of the learning experience at Long-View, and Indigo Band learners are working on the unique, not to mention complex, endeavor of constructing a prosthetic hand that can handle (pun intended) the task of grasping and lifting a cup of sand with a weight of at least 200 grams. “One of the biggest challenges is that we have to design it using materials either from the Maker Space or from home,” says Esme. “Marin’s prototype is really impressive,” she adds. “She’s even thinking about connecting a motor to it!”
Read MoreAt Long-View, learners are daily entangled in words, obsessed with writing, and bewitched by books. During literacy block, learners across age and experience grow to feel and understand that writing and reading are essential to who we are as individuals and as a learning community. We are not just people who do the acts of reading and writing; we are readers and writers. Literacy block is serious work, but it is seriously fun.
What do we mean by the reading life and the writing life?
We fundamentally believe that reading and writing are inextricably linked to who we are…
Read MoreIt’s the start of a new school year at Long-View and things feel familiar, but at the same time, everything looks a bit different. Summertime was busy with a remodel of new space we recently acquired. We pulled out walls, re-thought the flow between rooms, and added our signature décor that looks more akin to a creative work space than an elementary and middle school, all in preparation for a larger student community and faculty team.
Getting new spaces ready for our expanded community meant another opportunity to continue to deepen our thinking about how space affects learning and how design of space can positively influence our community….
Read MoreBuilding community is at the heart of our work at Long-View. We believe learning is accelerated through meaningful interactions with others. Furthermore, we believe families should be involved in creating a culture of learning that blurs the lines of “school learning” and outside learning. We cannot achieve that end if we do not involve families in developing meaningful relationships with us (the school and staff) and with each other. Thus, to begin and reconnect those relationships, we kick off each school year with an event we call the Parent Tailgate….
Read MorePhosphorax, The Puffin, The Cat’s Meow, Titanic 2.0, The Pajama Defenders and USS Lexington: these were just a few of the “seaworthy” crafts that launched one bright, sunny morning in May for the second annual Long-View Cardboard Boat Regatta. A crowd gathered at the Loop 360 Boat Ramp and cheered on as 14 boats, well 13 boats, successfully completed the course, paddling out into Lake Austin and back to shore….
Read MoreAt Long-View, we often consider the messages that children hear in the world, and one of our least favorite is this question:
“What do you want to be when you grow up?”
While it sounds like an easy conversation-starter, the impact of this question is to teach kids that they aren’t capable of doing anything meaningful until they grow up. Instead, we like to ask our learners:
"What do you want to be or do now? How can you take responsibility for your world today?"
In the interest of empowering our learners to develop their sense of agency, we held our first Impact Week just before Spring Break....
Read More“Give me liberty or give me death,” read a large poster hanging on the door of our literacy classroom early this January. We were kicking off an intense study of information texts through an in depth study of the American Revolution. With this rich history content as our kindling, learners dove into reading, writing, and becoming historians like never before....
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