A Day in the Life of a Spruce Student
Jordan is a Spruce first grader. She is the last of her three siblings to attend the community school. Her family heard about Spruce from their next-door neighbor. They watched as their neighbor each and every day scampered to the bus with a beaming smile. Before enrolling her child, Jordan’s mother attended one of the school’s Exhibitions, where community members and stakeholders gathered on campus to listen to students present their learnings and showcase their products. At this particular exhibition, Kindergarten and fifth-grade students partnered with a local nonprofit, Food to Power, to create a community garden. Students with poise and passion explained their project’s aims to study the growth and importance of plants, the concept of food security, and the value of teamwork in creating and maintaining a healthy garden. They told Jordan's mother about the importance of sharing meals and how food tells a story of where we come from and who we are. Jordan’s mom participated in a 'Harvest Festival' and a 'Garden-to-Table Dinner'. Students facilitated conversations with adult community members and celebrated their hard work by passing dishes made with produce from the garden around a large student-constructed wood table.
Jordan’s mother had never experienced a school activity like this. She reflected on her time in elementary school and remembers her shins, self, and ideas contained to a small desk. The products and processes of her learning were confined to answer choices A, B, C, and D. Jordan’s mother was certain that for her children she would choose answer choice E, “Other”, and send them to Spruce Community School.
Jordan arrives at school at 8:00 am in her forest green Spruce School uniform where smiling and loving adults greet her at the entrance with a high-five, handshake, or hug. All around, children delightedly shuffle through the school doors. The school doors open and the air is sticky with the moisture of playing children. The school is a living museum of all the authentic work she and her peers have completed since the school’s opening in 2026. On her way to Ms. Jenny’s First Grade class, she sees her older brother's fifth-grade project, an interactive digital map of the school’s campus embedded with student-produced photos and drone footage, highlighting areas of environmental significance and improvement projects. Her brother is now a Student Ambassador, he leads tours of the school for prospective families and participates on the hiring committee for new teachers. She hopes to one day proudly represent her school in the same way.
It is 8:15 am and, without the warning of a bell, children begin to cavort into their respective classrooms, walking to one of the couches or bean bags in the circular “meeting room.” There are 28 or so children in first and second grade. All of the children, regardless of age, happily discuss their upcoming fieldwork at Concrete Coyote and eagerly wait for their beloved teachers, Ms. Jenny and Mr. Erik, to begin. The room is uncannily organized despite the absence of desks. Toys peek out of boxes, excited by the promise of play. Bright colors splash over the walls and dynamic diagrams beg for attention. Jordan sits casually, talks openly, and learns curiously. Her morning meeting time is filled with community shares, team-building activities, and lessons on their “Play Powers”, this week they focus on inclusivity. Her teacher explains that practicing inclusivity is one way students could earn a kindness core value award for a dress-down Friday.
After the morning meeting, Jordan chants the alphabet and phonemes with her class and then moves into her leveled literacy stations where Mr. Erik supports her with more individualized practice. Next, Jordan and half of her class go to their first special of the day, art, while the other half has small group math time. She works with her group to draw and model her proposed play structure “The Slithering Snake Slide”. Just as Jordan’s belly begins to rumble, she heads outside for a nutritious snack and a chance to play with her friends in a safe yet spontaneous manner. Jordan and her friends enjoy the monkey bars and tree house in which their second and third-grade peers designed and built the previous year. This year she hopes her idea will be chosen for the community nature playground.
After snacking, Jordan ventures inside for her small group math lesson. It begins on the carpet with “Number Corner” where she starts to see all the ways numbers make an appearance in her life through the calendar and clock. Numbers dance through her mind as she excitedly explains her thinking to her peers. In pairs, Jordan uses unifix cubes to measure her partner's legs, arms, hands, neck, and feet. She knows that by the end of the year, she will have to include measurements for her “Slippery Snake Slide” model.
The rest of Jordan’s class returns and her favorite part of the day has arrived, Problem Solvers. Ms. Jenny and Mr. Erik’s class are exploring the power of play and the "Play Powers" that support them such as courage, teamwork, inclusivity, kindness, and empathy. Today, they are taking a trip to a local playground. In this project, Jordan will make sketches and models of her ideas, receive critique from the community, graph the presence of her Play Power, write a persuasive letter to convince her school of her structure, and build a playground piece with her class. She is excited for the "Ribbon Cutting Ceremony" where her class will reveal the new play structure and present their learnings.
After lunch, Jordan heads inside for read-aloud and another Special that rotates between Spanish, Science, and Music/Dance. Today she has Music/Dance! Jordan ends her day with a unique class to SCS, which is every child’s favorite, Choice. During this time Jordan can choose what technology-free activity she would like to participate in. Yesterday, she made a block city, today she weaves friendship bracelets.
It is 4:00 pm and the children are reminded it is time to leave. Jordan reluctantly grabs her backpack, which seems light with the promise of another full day of learning. On the car ride home, Jordan fills the entire commute with detailed explanations and demonstrations to her mom’s question “What did you do at school today?”
