At Any Given Moment in the Nest

Last week we had visitors from another school district who came to observe Nest. Often we have folks from other schools come to see what we do here in the Nest because they are interested in starting a program in their own school. They were impressed with the kids and surprised to see how varied the Nesters projects are. Each student is working on a project they are passionate about therefore the diversity of the Nester's work can be quite remarkable.

Right now if you were to visit you would see students...

Building a human form out of recycled materials
Making slide shows about pets, Venice, The 39 Steps book series, and Free Energy
Sculpting models of pandas, and the Leaning Tower of Pisa
Studying Benjamin Franklin, and Egyptian pyramids
Making a game of measuring and comparing the weights of common classroom items
Starting a fundraiser for animal protection organizations.
Making posters about big cats, and Shaquille Oneal

Illustrating the Edgar Allen Poe story "The Fall of the House of Usher"

Learning American Sign Language and making a video of themselves using ASL

Hard at Work

Here is Paul building model of a Hindu temple.

Presentations

We spent some time this week talking about presentations skills. We all know it can be difficult to get up in front of your peers and share your work and ideas. In FN the kids are all working on projects that they are passionate about and it is important that they learn how to effectively communicate their knowledge and enthusiasm. Often a dynamic student presentation inspires other Nesters to want to learn more about the subject at hand. Some of the presentation techniques we discussed were maintaining eye contact with the audience, using voice modulation, the importance of visual clues and how to effectively use interactive questions to engage your audience. After going over the many aspects of a successful presentation one brave student stepped up and showed his work. He did a great job of sharing and explaining his topic with passion and enthusiasm. We are fortunate enough here at HES to have terrific technology so this presentation was particularly impressive using one of our SMART boards. This was the first of many presentations we will be having in the Nest in the months to come. It is wonderful to witness the culmination of all that hard work. And once again, at the end of the day I left impressed with this group of kids. They were without exception a thoughtful and enthusiastic audience. The students provided positive feedback as well as tips on how to enhance the presentation. They are a truly supportive community of learners who appreciate each others idiosyncratic interests. If only our world were filled with adults who behaved as compassionately and intelligently as the Nesters.

A good leader is...

I asked the Nesters how to define a good leader. This is what they said...
Respectful
Responsible
Trustworthy
Helpful
Can change things for the better
Nice
Knowledgeable
Strong
Confident
Courteous
Competent
Friendly
Determined
Independent
Instills a little amount of fear
Has there own ideas
Charismatic
Courageous
Positive
Mrs. Chapin

Group Activities

Wednesdays in the Nest are spent working on group activities. Last week Jen Chapin was a guest speaker as we showed the kids the "Fish" video. The FISH! Philosophy video tells the inspiring story of the Seattle's Pike Place Fish Market and the workplace environment they have created. The positive message in the FISH! video is that it is up to you to choose your attitude and make the most of your day. Jen uses this video and philosophy here at HES to inspire the entire staff to make this school a terrific place to work and learn. So we decided to share the FISH! Philosophy video with the fifth and sixth grade FN students. The kids loved it! We talked about how to translate things they learned about in the video into each of our lives. Already some of the kids are interested in doing a community service project so that they can make a positive difference in the lives of others. I will be sure to update you on the good works that come from these terrific kids. Check out www.charthouse.com for more information on the FISH! Philosophy. And feel free to ask Jen about how the philosophy is implemented here at HES.