Melissa Laurie

Walk onto our 35 acres on any given morning and you might find a group of kindergartners crouched over a log, a pair of sixth graders debating about how to measure a creek, or a nine-year-old sitting perfectly still at her Sit Spot, waiting for a chickadee to come back. It can look like a lot of different things happening at once. Underneath it all are six values that guide nearly everything we do at Green Adventure Project School. Our values are creativity, nature connection, curiosity,...

There's something magical about watching children proudly share something they've worked hard to create. This past weekend, we welcomed families into our outdoor classrooms for our first Community Event of the year. There were projects to explore, challenges to try, discoveries to share, and a lot of very proud kids. It was wonderful. Our first quarter's Big Idea was It Takes a Village, and we spent the first quarter exploring what it means to be part of a community. We built relationships,...

Recently, we shared a little about the intentionality behind professional development at GAP. Before learners ever arrived, our educators spent time together thinking, playing, problem-solving, asking questions, wrestling with ideas, and building relationships. We don’t expect a group of adults to walk into a room and instantly become a strong team simply because they all work at the same school. Turns out, we don’t expect that of kids either. It can be tempting, especially at the beginning...