The Big Mess (#2 in a series on School Environment)

Here we are at the end of June in the midst of "The Big Move" and we are wondering, "What were we thinking?"  The hallways are stacked high with boxes, old furniture, whole libraries, 10 years of science equipment and supplies, and somehow it all needs to land in the right place - as soon as we finish putting down two new floors in the music room and the math/mini Fab Lab room.

Our founding school, City Neighbors Charter School, is located in the educational building of Epiphany Lutheran Church in Northeast Baltimore.  At City Neighbors we believe the environment is The Third Teacher - a concept from Reggio Emilia in Italy. The idea that every part of the space matters - and space contributes to the teaching and learning - has led us to continually improve our school environment. Our classrooms are carefully designed by our teachers to support the practice of project-based learning, the workshop model, using the arts to teach, and most importantly - relationships.

You will see this in the use of meeting spaces, small group breakout spaces, raw materials accessible to students, and some homelike furniture to bring comfort and connection.  Learn a bit more about our work on school environment on the CNF website.

But of course, if you stopped by today you would just see "The Big Move" in progress (aka "The Big Mess").

We are well underway in "The Big Move" and we aren't done yet.  So, I thought I would share a few photos (Thank you to our facilities guru Gary Bryant, his colleague Daniel, our high school students and Youth Workers for lending a hand!)