Community Agreements: From the Creek to the Classroom
Our youngest nursery students describe how we can take care of ourselves.
We take care of ourselves, each other, and our environment. Those are our community agreements. In times of joy, as well as in times of challenge or uncertainty, we lean on our community agreements to guide our work together from the creek to the classroom.
Each group dedicates time in the fall to reviewing the shared agreements and creating a list of specific ways that their class community can uphold these agreements. When finished, each group signs and often illustrates their work. Soon after, they are posted prominently in their space for all to be mindful of throughout the year.
The examples from each classroom highlight how the agreements are embraced at developmental levels ranging from nursery to sixth grade. You can see the range from the three-year-old in Meadow Nursery who said taking care of ourselves means “pulling up your pants” to the 6th grader who said it means “giving yourself permission for silence”.
Kindergarten and 1st graders illustrate how we can take care of our environment.These agreements are known from the four-year-old in Woodland Nursery who said taking care of each other means “making art for each other” to the 4th grader who said it means “respecting one another, and accepting and appreciating our differences”. They are seen in the kindergartener who said taking care of the environment means “picking up trash” to the 6th grader who deeply knows about the effects of climate change after a year-long study in 5th grade. While the specific examples may change, we are all united in our pledge of caring for ourselves, each other, and our environment.
This agreement extends to the adults in our community, as well. Head of School, Geetha Holdsworth, wrote to our families just last week:
“At Miquon, ‘We take care of ourselves, each other, and the environment.’ This is what we need more than ever today and in the days to come. Our community is a place where we take care of each other and reassure each other and ourselves in our shared humanity. What better way for us to give our children a sense of calm, confidence, and hope.”
The 3rd/4th graders took care of the whole community with these messages of hope in early November.By the time children graduate Miquon, they will have spent many years putting in the hard work of defining and practicing this agreement. It is certainly our hope that our graduates will one day enact this practice in the wider world to make it a more peaceful and inclusive place.
