Emergent Curriculum

At MVS our teachers plan for children's learning by creating an emergent curriculum. An emergent curriculum is responsive to children's current interests and developmental stage while being grounded in knowing how all children develop language, literacy, art, math, science, and social skills. The planning process is cyclical; it involves observing the children's interests and activities, reflecting on those observations to find meaning and themes, offering experiences and environmental elements that will extend learning in the children's specific areas of interest, and then observing again how the children respond to what you have offered. The teacher takes on the role of researcher: How are the children choosing to spend their time? What draws their focus, attention, and effort? What are the missing skills at the root of conflict or challenges? Which skills have they mastered and how can we challenge them to take the next step?

To illustrate this concept, our Pre-K teacher Jen wrote about an encounter she observed on the back playground:

"Whoa!" A exclaimed as he tried to move a tire early Wednesday morning. A large toad had hopped out from the tire. "You guys, there's a frog! Come see, it's a frog. For real life!"

The children followed this toad across the playground, noting several things: "It's a toad, not a frog."
"It is very hard to see!" "Because it is camouflaged." "It lives in the tire." "But now it's not in the tire."

Here's what I'm thinking: There is some understanding that there are both frogs and toads, and they are not the same thing. Some children enjoy reading Frog and Toad and "have that book at home." None of us are quite sure what makes a good toad home, except darkness and water seem important. And everyone is very interested in this little guy.

So where can we go from here? We could further explore what differentiates frogs and toads–through books, drawing, charts, or close observation. We could do research on where toads like to live, look for appropriate habitats on our playground or in the community, or construct our own toad homes using natural materials. We could even connect that "for real life" comment to a larger theme that's been running through our class: super heroes and real-life heroes; characters like Incredible Hulk, Elsa, Spider-Man, and Frog and Toad versus Maddie's Dad and his colleagues at the Fire & Rescue Station; what's real and what's imaginary, and where we can make connections between the two realms. It's a lot to unpack–good thing there's a whole school year ahead of us!

Thanks for reading,
Megan

News and Reminders
We will be closed for Labor Day on Monday, September 3.

The PCC met on Thursday, August 16–look out for meeting notes coming soon to your inbox.

Kitchen Update
We enjoyed some delicious baked goods this week: blueberry apple muffins as well as corn muffins. Lunch highlights included wild rice with curry sauce, cauliflower and peas; quinoa and lentils with tahini sauce; and the ever-popular Pizza Friday on whole wheat English muffins. Fruits and veggies included honeydew melon, crunchy yellow peppers, beets and green beans. The infant classrooms also snacked on Havarti cheese a couple times; at this point most of the children seem to like it, and the few who don't are always willing to try a bite.

Classroom Updates
Infant I by Stef and Dana
This week the children have been very interested in music and movement. We have been tapping spoons and different objects on the drum and formula containers. Outside we've been keeping cool with water play. The watering can in the tree is always a popular activity. We are also very proud to announce that two of our younger children, O and Z, have started putting themselves into the sitting position! We can't wait to keep watching our little children grow. This week we are also saying "see you later" to the twins who will be moving to the Infant II room. We are very excited to watch them on their new adventures with Megan, Sadie, and Carly, and we'll see you guys on the playground!

Infant II by Megan
Our main goal this week has been to slow down and focus on daily routines, as our class has become younger as a whole and we'll have more younger children joining us next week. Slower routines give children a predictable and comfortable rhythm within which they can build independence and self-help skills, and they are also great opportunities for teachers and children to build relationships. At the same time, while at play we have been very busy! The children painted with enthusiasm on several occasions throughout the week and also used crayons and markers to create new artwork for our walls. Outside we continued to master "Ring Around the Rosie" and "Where is Thumbkin," cooperatively pushed each other around on scooters, sought out many opportunities to climb and jump, and calmly observed a snake who visited the front playground (it has since been identified as a Common Ribbon Snake or Thamnophis sauritus; teachers are always learning new things, too!). Finally it was A's and L's last week with us; we will miss them both very much.

Post-nap Pillow Party on Friday

Toddlers by Amanda and Hannah
Everyone has adjusted nicely to the new classroom, though we are still working to find a consistent daily routine that works for everyone. We did lots of art work for our walls this week, including dot painting with glitter, pom poms with glue, and coloring with markers and colored pencils. We also did a few different daily activities with the pom poms. The class favorite was pom pom basketball! Now that the children are older, we are looking forward to being able to do more elaborate and interactive activities.

Preschool I by Shannon T.
Parents: Try to remember the last time you had a complicated thought or feeling that you struggled to put into words. Now, imagine you're 2.5 years old... Throwing out a hand to hit or push can sometimes feel a lot easier than finding the words, "I'm angry with you." Throwing your entire body onto a loved one may be more satisfying than saying, "I missed you. Can I have a hug?" Reading and discussing Glad Monster/Sad Monster together has really helped our class begin to make sense of those feelings. The use of colored monsters matched with big emotions gave us a silly but tangible place to easily reach the children, helping them to name feelings and communicate about them independently via monster play. These skills directly impact how we regulate emotions and whether we feel accepting enough of scary feelings to walk away, find space to sit with our monsters, or talk about them with others. All feelings are normal and valid, even for monsters, but how we respond to them is up to us.

Preschool II

PreK by Jen
We've really enjoyed the small but important changes that were made in our room over the in-service days. Slight variations can make a big difference and I've noticed that the children were better able to spread themselves around the room enjoying a range of activities. Some favorites this week were making play dough (two beautiful shades of blue) and using shapes to make play dough shape pizzas, exploring our sense of hearing with our musical instruments, and exploring our sense of touch with our "mystery shape bag." We've also gone on some shape hunts and made shape collages. Trips with Maddie this week included the playground, the Woof Trail, and the Rec Path.