If we take seriously the notion that school buildings present students with powerful messages about what society values, then school architecture needs to be radically re-thought. For a century and a half, we have built schools that lack adequate light, good furniture, inviting entryways, and green spaces. This is the time to do it: we are in the midst of a major surge in school construction. For the next several years, construction will begin on two new schools every day in the United States alone, and that doesn't even take into account school renovations. But many schools are aesthetically and environmentally deficient, and these schools sap the life right out of students and teachers and everyone else who goes there. Indeed, when adults are invited to think about their lifelong passions, learning that they willingly pursue, most identify something associated with the arts, the body, or the natural world. And yet, very few adults will say that they learned about the thing they love most (cooking, kayaking, playing the guitar, weaving) at school. How is it that our lifelong learning has so little to do with schooling? This book makes the argument that school architecture, even more than curriculum, delineates what students will learn at school.

Raising a School: Foundations for School Architecture

Arts & Photography

Upitis, Rena

Architecture

Wintergreen Studios Press

This guide for secondary school and college educators leads them through the history, forms, and beauty of Japanese poetry. Most of the work is on haiku, but there are also chapters on haibun, tanka, and haiga. Traditional and contemporary examples of all four forms appear throughout, along with ideas for classroom instruction and a wealth of print and web-based resources.

Lighting the Global Lantern: A Teacher's Guide to Writing Haiku and Related Literary Forms

Education & Teaching

Carter, Terry Ann

Schools & Teaching

This engaging autobiographical account traces the remarkable life and career of John Meisel, Canadian political scientist, professor, and public intellectual. The memoir is witty and insightful, filled with stories and personalities that will both inspire and challenge readers the world over. Peter C. Newman, former editor of Maclean’s and the Toronto Star, has this to say about the book:,“John Meisel is a national treasure – with a Moravian accent. His life and times have bridged fabulous careers in academia and public affairs, anointing each with the grace of his thoughts and the cadence of his words. This is a book for the ages.” Learn more about the book through Wintergreen Studios Press (www.wintergreenstudiospress.com).

A Life of Learning and Other Pleasures: John Meisel's Tale

Biographies & Memoirs

Meisel, John

Leaders & Notable People

Join Zeke O’Connor as he takes you through the many journeys he has travelled over the past six decades, first as a remarkably successful athelete (yes, it’s the Zeke O’Connor who scored the winning touchdown with the Toronto Argonauts in 1952),  then as a friend and companion to Sir Edmund Hillary as the two towering men scaled Mount Everest, and finally to the most amazing journeys of all. As the founding President of The Sir Edmund Hillary Foundation, there is no one better equipped than Zeke O’Connor to tell of how this foundation enabled the Nepalese Sherpas to build their own 13 medical clinics and 17 schools over the past few decades, to establish literacy programs for women, and to spearhead a reforestation project that saw the planting of over 2 million seedlings over a 30-year span. Each journey described in this unique memoir is told with grace and humility. It is a celebration of the human spirit and lives well lived.

Journey with the Sherpas: The Story of Zeke O'Connor and the Sir Edmund Hillary Foundation

Shulgan, Christopher

O'Connor, William (Zeke)

Travelers & Explorers

This is a book of prayers for women who want to pray but can't. Many women feel the urge to pray–when a child is sick, when a loved one is dying, when relationships sour, in the presence of beauty. Our impulse is to say "Oh God, help!" or "Oh God, thank you." But as soon as we think or say the word God, many of us freeze, because we do not believe in a god who intervenes in our lives. We may well believe that there is a spiritual dimension or that life is imbued with the sacred. We may believe in a timeless, mysterious grace that envelops us all. Yet the very word God and the concept of prayer may have lost meaning for us. However, even when our image of divinity is not of a god who helps us, who wants to be thanked and praised, or who judges or forgives us, it is still possible to pray and to think about what prayer means. And so we pray. In this book we offer the kinds of prayers we can still pray. There are one-line prayers, easy to memorize, and to think or say at all times of the day and night, such as when we go to bed, enter our workplace, or wait for the hand dryer to dry our hands. There are also longer prayers to read when we have the time to be still. We hope that you can pray these prayers, and that this prayerful language is meaningful for you, and that you might begin to shape your days with your own authentic and sustaining words of prayer.

Prayers for Women Who Can't Pray

Religion & Spirituality

Smithrim, Katharine

Craig-Hansford, Melanie

New Age & Spirituality

Journey with the Sherpas: The Story of Zeke O'Connor and the Sir Edmund Hillary Foundation by O'Connor, William (Zeke) (2012) Paperback

William (Zeke) O'Connor

Told with the excitement of a novel, SINGING MEADOW is the much-requested sequel to THE VIEW FROM FOLEY MOUNTAIN. Here is the inspirational story of a couple searching for and creating a small, simple home in a beautiful, natural setting. For thirty years, writer Peri McQuay and her conservation educator husband, Barry, were fortunate to live within Foley Mountain, an 800 acre Eastern Ontario conservation area. Experiencing nature intimately, Peri established a successful writing career while Barry was passionately committed to teaching nature appreciation to thousands of school children. But now, with retirement looming and the need to pass their present rented park home to a new Area Supervisor, it was time to begin the daunting search for a new and different refuge. First came a year-long search for a ready-made house and land, filled with adventures and encounters which helped the McQuays hone their concept of what they truly wanted and needed from their new dwelling and their new surroundings. But would it be too late to wrench up their roots and transfer their commitment to a whole new landscape? As the years at Foley Mountain taught them, living close to nature is the most important part of home. Unfortunately, an affordable place where the McQuays could be surrounded by nature appeared impossible to find. But then, just as they were ready to give up, they fell in love with a beautiful piece of land. Although the pair never planned to take on the challenges of a custom-built house, this location, close to their beloved conservation area and a welcoming community, was too sweet to leave behind. As the author and her husband learn the art of creating a pleasing small home, inevitably tensions surface. But at the same time, there is great joy in discovering their new surroundings. Always present in McQuay's lyrical writing is the couple's shining love of the land. This timely book celebrates the possibilities and rewards of simple living and the healing power of nature. Yes, SINGING MEADOW says. Yes, you can have a house in the country and here's the story of one couple's adventure of discovery. "As it turned out, the feeling of finding home was more profound than excitement. It was a heartfelt knowing. What I want to suggest is that sometimes, with much sacrifice and patience and some luck, dreams can come true."

Singing Meadow: The Adventure of Creating a Country Home

Crafts, Hobbies & Home

McQuay, Peri Phillips

Home Improvement & Design

The Weight of Two Oranges

Literature & Fiction

Wilde, Lynda

Poetry

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Books by Wintergreen Studios Press