• Education is not the filling a bucket but the lighting of a fire.     ~William Butler Yeats

We had a great turn out for our first Curriculum meeting!  Since there were a few families who wanted to attend, but could not make the scheduled time, I thought I would take a few minutes and blog about our discussions last night.  Email me if you would like me to schedule another evening for those who missed.  If we have enough interest, I will be happy to set a date. 

I started the meeting last night by raising the question, “What are you looking for in your child’s Early Childhood Education?”  The WF families responded with:

• individualized pacing for my child
• happy, content, stimulated children
• teachers with expertise on my child’s development
• creativity integrated into curriculum
• teachers who understand my child’s temperament
• love of learning
• knowing that my child is loved
• my child is given respect
• my child is given compassion

 The next brainstorming question was, “What are your future goals for your child?” The WF families responded that they wanted their child as a young adult  to be:

• passionate and confident
• generous 
• comfortable in their own skin
• self disciplined
• resourceful
• resistant to peer influence
• people that we want to be around
• accepting and non-judgemental

After our brainstorming,  I talked about the WF curriculum history, our current curriculum and how we will keep growing in the future.  Here are some highlights of that discussion:

I started WF coming right from St. Mary’s College with my Elementary Education Degree.  Back in 1996, “Developmentally Appropriate” was a newer concept and not one taught to Elementary teachers.  So, I began with a very rigid traditional curriculum that included worksheets, whole group transitions, and LOTS of craft projects.   Even then, I was enthusiastic about making WF awesome and invested all my energy into making our traditional program top notch.  However, I lasted about 2 years before I couldn’t ignore how poorly this curriculum fit with many of my preschool children.  And when traditional preschool doesn’t work for a child, it REALLY doesn’t work.  Unhappy with the way things were going, I chose to go back to school for my Master’s Degree in Education. 

Following the rigid traditional years, I completely reversed my philosophy and moved into the other extreme and landed solidly into a play based curriculum.  I was afraid of the harmful effects of the rigid program I had done and totally overcorrected!  But, over the years we have evolved into a program that has balance of the two extremes, is based on research, and been tweaked repeatedly into something that is phenomenal for both teachers and children. 

I have been lamenting for months that the WF Curriculum doesn’t fit in a neat little box of Waldorf, Montessori or Reggio.   Other local programs boldy proclaim that are “Montessori” or “Project Approach” and have tried to fit their curriculum into a little box.  However, it would be disingenuous to name our program anything already established.  Our unique Wee Friends curriculum is something that has evolved throughout the years of trying multiple methods of teaching and keeping the best parts and disposing of the parts that don’t work.  I recently have been joking with everyone that we are Wal-essor-io because our program has many aspects of each of these wonderful curriculum models.  But, we are not only Waldorf, Montessori, or Reggio Emilia.  We are more than that.

Thanks to conversations with my colleague, Susan Cress (Indiana University at South Bend Associate Professor in Early Childhood Education and Interim Associate Dean) I can put a name to the extraordinary way we teach children at Wee Friends:  Constructivism.   

Constructivism at Wee Friends looks like:

• Qualified teachers that are passionate about children
• Curriculum created from teachers observations
• A mix of child initiated vs direct teaching
• Love of learning primary goal
• Experiential, real
• Filled with choices
• Individually paced
• Focused on the natural gifts of children 
• Socially and emotionally focused
• Multi-aged groups
• Balanced
• Learning is integrated across curriculum
• Researched based

The teachers at WF know that our curriculum is doing what it is supposed to do and the children who have passed through our program have done extremely well in their elementary years.  We know the Indiana Academic Standards and incorporate them naturally into our day.  But, I know through talking with families that there is a panic that sets in right before their child graduates from WF.  They fear gaps because our program follows the lead of the children rather than directly teaching skills in a systematic way. 

My mission became to find a solution that did not change what I know works, but rather give families the peace of mind that there is a curriculum framework that will ensure that their child has been introduced to all skills they may need for entering Kindergarten or First Grade.   Starting in Fall 2012, we will incorporate into our program the WF Framework for Academic Balance (FAB).  The FAB is a teacher organizing tool that will ensure that our older preschoolers and kindergartners have been offered activities that encompass the Indiana Academic Standards for Kindergarten, but will not compromise or change our Constructivist Learning Environment.  I think that it will be a great solution for everyone.

We ended the meeting with discussion/suggestions from parents that included:

• more pictures on the blog (so we don’t miss kids and upset grandparents!)
• more field trips for older preK and K children
• finding “rites of passage” for older children to aspire to (special duties, special field trips or activiites that only the 5 year olds participate in)
• developing an assessment tool for older preK and K children that gives real information to parents but doesn’t overwhelm teachers with paperwork.

Thank you again to all the families that joined us for this meeting. I really had a great time!  (Ya’ll have some great senses of humor!)

Tami