What started out as an afternoon stamp letter project, just kept growing…

and…

GROWING…

until.. it turned into a big tree for our family tree project!

Remember to bring in your child’s leaf to add to our tree!

This morning, as I (Tami) walked through the Wee Wee classroom with the paint rollers that I had dug up from their basement, Emergent Curriculum (and a silly grin) were the only two words I needed to say to explain everything.

From Wikipedia, Emergent curriculum is a way of planning curriculum based on the student’s interest and passions as well as the teacher’s. To plan an emergent curriculum requires observation, documentation, creative brainstorming, flexibility and patience. Rather than starting with a lesson plan which requires a “hook” to get the children interested, emergent curriculum starts with the children’s interests.

This morning, emerging from our Family Study, the teachers facilitated activities that allowed the children to follow their interests in the Old Lady and the Shoe fable by

• singing
• acting it out in costume
• converting their own shoes in to houses in the art room
• by creating a life sized shoe for dramatic play

For lunch today we had whole wheat tortillas with peanut butter, cantaloupe with blueberries and fresh zucchini from our garden. The kids at the round table all enjoyed the Lazy Susan that Miss Laurie brought in to help with passing of the bowls!