KB's Interest in Living Things & Nature

There is nothing more enriching for programming than carefully listening to children's interests outdoors and supporting them in the classroom.  Each of our mornings at the park informs the decisions we make in the classroom around next activities, providing information to students or allowing them to research, and giving us a common experience to work from.

Below was a challenge for students to use various materials to create and observe their own rivers.   They learned the importance of banks to keep the water in, communicated their findings with classmates, and collaborated in groups together.  This learning also lead us to understand the concept of absorption could be visited in the future.

I've been thrilled to see that children are bringing things into the classroom.  That's exactly what we would hope for if we have students who are engaged and see themselves as co-constructors in our room.  This is called emergent curriculum where the interests and fascinations of children are woven into the curriculum.  Below we explore snails and tadpoles, research about their habitats and what they eat, and construct sculptures of their life cycle.

We have started to do some nature hunts on our park walks.  When we bring the nature items back into the classroom, we measure, count, sort, discuss, and wonder.  I provoked some art thinking by discussing the idea of a mandala (essentially intricate art in a circle) and showed some examples.  Many students created their own mandalas and outside the next day, a big group worked together on a large mandala.

We have been carefully observing the children in the forest to try to find out what the interest is to them and we have many theories which will lead us into further activities.  Stay tuned!!