Blue Rock School Research Paper

Blue Rock School was founded in 1987 in South Nyack, New York. The school was created on an old farm. It’s a very small progressive school. Teachers want their students to not only “become good learners but also good people”. They focus on other things than strict education such as relationships between children, but also between teachers and their students. Furthermore, they have more hands on learning and more freedom. They don’t use testing as evaluation because a test does not show capacity of a child. In addition, they don't believe in punishment and would rather do positive reinforcement instead of putting the students in a terrible position. By punishing children, it creates a blockage to learning (Kohn A.). Eighty-seven children are …show more content…
The aim is also to teach them about feelings as dealing with conflict and how to solve it, and about different belief. The last one is to help them with their minds like the thinking of mathematics, the power of reading. Blue Rock School philosophy’s to achieve their mission is to create an environment where children are fully engaged in what they are doing through “active attention: an enlivened state that combines an alert mind, deep interest and a responsive …show more content…
Outside play are really important for children. It encourage a healthy lifestyle. Playing outside improve the learning abilities of the children. It allows them to be more creative and their wellbeing often improve. They can feel more happy and have more self-esteem for themselves. It also give them the opportunity to develop skills and self awareness. Moreover, playing outside helps learning. They are able to use their imagination and create their own games. By inventing their own games, they can express differently outside than inside. In addition, outdoor play make the children appreciate the nature. The best way to learn is exploring our senses: sight, touch, taste, smell and sound. Nature is the place to use all those senses in a different way from inside. Being inside watching TV only require two senses: sight and sound. At Blue Rock, each classes go outside three times a day for at least 20 min every time. They have four playgrounds, all in relation with nature, the first one is the woods where they are allowed to run around, build forts out of branches. The second playground is called the swing set. The third is the “sport” field where soccer game, or other games are organized while recess. The last one is the nature playground where they are exposed to nature. The good thing about recess time in that school is that first to eight grade are combined together. It