The ceremony at Childrens' Memorial Park

The Adopt-a-Park ceremony at Childrens’ Memorial park was pretty  inspiring today. There was a representative from Pima County’s Parks and Recreation Department, as well the head of  the Adopt-a-Park program and Ann Day, our County Supervisor. They all gave speeches, as did Anna and then they all signed something [...]

The new swing set was being installed on Friday, so lots of kids said “play on the swings”  when they listed their goals  Monday morning.

Even big kids and teachers get turns

Mary Jane said, “I went out to monitor with the primary students after we finished language arts and saw there were all kinds of [...]

Secret Science Alliance

Eleanor Davis (yes, my daughter!) has just come out with her second children’s graphic novel – this time a long, 160-page, adventure. It’s been getting blushingly great reviews:

“One of the most eye-popping, ambitious, intelligent graphic novels for kids I’ve seen in a long time.”

“Both my boys read it [...]

The green house was bustling

There were these wonderfully springy boards

Putting in the peach tree, donated by the Huertas and Mary Jane

Vanessa's and Anna's home rooms made planters out of old tires for their potato crop

Even the boom box was green – powered by Ethan's wind generator

Today everyone spent the morning gardening.

We started the day singing a growing song: Inch by Inch, with Lisa and Jack playing their guitars.  We then switched on a boom box powered by the wind generator on the roof. We planted a peach tree, started a worm farm, and planted strawberries, garlic, chives, flowers, potatoes, artichokes, [...]

Singing Birds and the Bees, written by Rio

Singing Going to Acupulco

This cool video has been on You Tube for a while but Harrison just showed me how to embed videos in the blog, so I thought I’d put it over here in case anyone hasn’t  had the chance to enjoy it yet.

If you pick up a copy of the latest edition of the Tucson Green Times, you’ll see this front page article about Ethan’s wind generator!

Alternative Schools, Kino Included, have been working with kids for the past 30 years in the USA and much longer in other countries.  Although the specific techniques vary depending on the educational philosophy, there are a few guiding principles that seem to have withstood the test of time.  Kino has been in existence since the [...]

Ernest is close to the end of his feat: hacksawing through a piece of railroad track

Kino alum Ernest Espinoza (he graduated from Kino in 2002) was at school this morning demonstrating the otiosity of power tools.

Starting at 11:11, Ernest began hacksawing through a length of railroad track, surrounded by a crowd of students. Interest [...]