OS with third graders

[ashley cooper]

Hello,

Thank you for all of the suggestions and ideas for the Open Space with 42
third graders in 1 hour and 10 minutes. It was a huge success and I am
looking forward to integrating regular OS's into next year's schedule. (I've
started with the children and hopefully we'll get to move up to the staff
and the parents too!)

The theme was *What can we do to make our school a better place? What can we
do to make our world a better place?*

Of course, the children took to it so easily. We had 2, 20 minute sessions
in which they generated 18 topics such as *New Rules for the Playground, How
we should be nice and kind to each other, Learning from history's mistakes,
Children's Voting Rights, Try to help the environment! Not polluting any
more!, and Not excluding people from anything*.

We ended with a once around reflection circle in which everyone had a chance
to share. Here are some of their comments.

·        What I liked in my group was that there were no debates. We were
all united. There were differences about how it is, but we were all united.

·        We decided to start a fund to save the rainforest.

·        Our group went well. Kids voting rights. It was a good opportunity
for discussion.

·        In history's biggest mistakes, it started as being silly with just
girls there. Then the boys came in and made it better. In the second session
I bonded with someone I didn't know that well.

·        Everyone agreed with saving the rainforest. It wasn't silly. We
were serious.

·        I think we talked about an important issue: not excluding.

One little touch that I think helped a lot with this age group was to
provide a basket of objects that hosts could choose to use for a talking
stick. I saw a few kids struggling with everyone talking at once and then
one of them running to grab a talking stick. I also provided a generic form
for them to use for note taking.

Aside from the opportunity for their voices to be heard, to connect with one
another around things that matter to them, and to experience themselves
self-organizing, I greatly appreciated that students who have a tendency to
wander and not participate in assigned topics (students that can often be
labeled as challenges) that at the OS they actually had names and roles for
their ways of being, butterflies and bumble bees. I loved that they were
doing what they were 'supposed to be doing' by wandering around and trying
to figure out where they belong and where they want to participate.

Thanks again for all of the support.

Warmly,
Ashley

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