Watershed: A Day in the Life
Place-based learning is dynamic. With learners at the center, the curriculum grows along with each child, rather than children trying to conform with a textbook.
Nature-based education attunes us to natural cycles and rhythms. Equity-based education awakens us to the many realities, histories, and perspectives that inform our world as it is, and the world as we are helping to shape it.
The lifelong paths these open are walked (and jumped, and climbed, and swam) one day at a time. Below is a sample day in the life at Watershed Schoolhouse.
Morning Circle
After an engaging game or welcoming activity, we sit together for morning circle. This includes gratitude, a check-in, and song, music, or movement. Depending on our current project, the students may also engage in related activities (sit spot, watering, weather journals, etc. This is not only a routine to start our day, it is core curriculum about community-building and social-emotional development.
Group Project
If Watershed were an organized sport, the group project would be the game itself. It is a chance to integrate our learning from the day into a long-term, hands-on, outdoor project. When studying food, we might be building and tending a garden. When studying shelter, we’re building, etc.
A Day in the Life
Independent Projects
Part of student-centered learning means supporting learners to be at the center of their own learning journey. Even at a young age, it is crucial to have opportunities for students to select (with guidance) where they want to place their time and energy, and support them with the means to deepen where they wish.
Closing Circle
After an engaging activity, we sit together for morning circle. This includes gratitude, a check-in, and song, music, or movement. Depending on our current project, the students may also engage in related activities (sit spot, watering, weather journals, etc.
Morning Block
Morning block perhaps looks the most like a typical classroom. Students work together to build foundational skills and concepts—related to the yearly theme—through math, reading, and writing. Workshop models and hands-on learning are at the core of the approach to academics.
Lunch & Free Play
After the deep focus of the morning, we head down to the creek for lunchtime and free play. This unstructured time after lunch is critical for rest, incorporation, social learning, and curiosity building. Students integrate their learning into their play in an informal way. We wrap up this time by coming together for a shared story/read aloud.
Music/Art/Jobs
As part of our closing for the day we turn toward creative expression—through art and music. These bring us back to the schoolhouse where we come full circle from our day. It also sets the stage for clean up and jobs, which the students lead, to give us a fresh start the next day.
Beyond the basics…
The above “Day in the Life” is typical for Monday-Wednesday. Thursday's we begin the day working with fire and dive deep into stories and meaning making with a book club. On Fridays, we are off-site at the park or on a field trip.
On top of all that, at least once a semester, we drop everything for a minicourse. With these, we have a chance to deeply and immersively explore some topic through shorter-term projects. A sample mini course was focused on art and included making our own paints out of natural materials to paint shirts, candle-making, making leather pouches, and using natural plant-based dyes.