What we look back on the last day of school...

In our final assembly today we had the pleasure of watching a slide show of all the "fun" things we have done this year. The pictures included dancing, painting murals in the hallways, Olympic and fitness activities as well as dramatic performances from throughout the year. There were no pictures of kids writing and responding to texts or answering questions independently in their notebooks. What we enjoy looking back on are those times when we are active in our learning, participating and having fun. I worry that so many people consider these out of classroom experiences as a waste of time, not realizing the learning potential these experiences contain. If these are the school memories kids will latch on to, can we not gear our teaching more towards this kind of education? Do we have the space and time for it? I think so ...... do you?