Posts by Carol LaMotte

Green Teacher magazine’s Fall 2010 edition includes an article on “Sustainable Design for a Bountiful Future” by Ben Wheeler, Explorer West’s Global Studies and History Teacher. In this article, he provides a collection of lessons for teachers interested in sustainability and sustainable design. Readers of this publication can use Ben’s strategies and teaching exercises to…

Hammers are banging and brightly colored earplugs are visible in the 6th graders’ ears. It’s snowshoe building season at Explorer West. The first part of the process models assembly line strategies: measuring webbing, counting out D-rings and punching holes in bindings. It’s a team effort, including very generous donations of supplies from local outdoor manufacturer,…

Last week, 12 Explorer West Middle School students and two of their teachers, Steve White and Kristin Moore, joined forces with Aviva Furman from Community Harvest of Southwest Seattle work together at the St. James Community Garden in White Center. With cold weather on the horizon, bringing in some of the bounty was an important…

Explorer West’s art program emphasizes “process over product’ where the joy of the creative process is the focus instead of creating a “perfect picture”. The idea is to stimulate imagination and recognize each student’s genuine efforts, so they will continue to take pleasure in the arts; continuing their art education outside of school, visiting museums,…

Our gym was transformed into a global restaurant for an evening of socializing and fund raising amongst our Explorer West parents. Guests were dazzled by masks hanging along the wall. Musical instruments from all around the world were displayed between tables topped with food from Mexico, Norway, India Czechoslovakia, Finland, Great Britain and Japan to…