Lisa Goochee, Communications & Outreach

A project focused on well-being came from Toni's class early in the 2020 COVID pandemic.

Teaching academic content in a progressive way can be challenging during distance learning, but an essential opportunity is right in front of us for social-emotional learning around resilience, confidence, self-compassion, flexibility, and creativity. These are key lessons for this time of physical separation.

The ‘Quaran-Things’ art project asked students to reflect on the elements of their lives right now that are feeding their hearts and souls. After they gathered items, students created an image that included themselves at the center before submitting it to the classroom-wide gallery which also included teacher photos.

"Like all of our students at Peninsula, our class has really been missing each other," Toni says. "We spent so much of the year building a strong class community and they are feeling the loss of that in-person support, love, and collaboration with their peers.” This project helped us stay close in the early days of shelter-in-place.

Thank you, Toni, as well as Associate Teacher, Masa, and Assistant Teacher, Seph, for supporting students to explore and share their inner world in such a tangible and inspirational way. This project reflects our program based in social-emotional health and value of community. It remains true to Peninsula School’s mission, fulfilling our promise of progressive, whole-child education.