Beginning this month a piece of our philosophy will be discussed in order to make it transparent to our families. This will be accomplished through giving examples of how we achieve or meet these goals through daily routines and experiences.

Statement 1: “We believe that each child is a unique individual and that the children learn best through their natural curiosity…”

One of the fundamental goals of our emergent curriculum approach is to observe children at play and base the curriculum on the children’s interests:

Our educated staff closely watch, communicate and play with the children individually and in small groups to determine both individual and group needs and interests. A central theme or “root” of interest is then determined through staff discussions. Experiences that encourage learning and exploration of these interests are offered through creative art, music, role playing, construction, outdoor play, science discovery, math, literacy and so on. Visual displays, books, artefacts, toys and materials that stimulate or build on these experiences are added to the environment. As interests change so do the experiences and the environment.

For example: In KI-16, one of our school age groups, the children’s interests were focused on construction of environments for them to play in and for their toys to live in. For weeks the children used the cardboard blocks available to them as structures. Their play evolved, the children began using art materials, plants and sea shells to create aesthetically pleasing environments for their home made “pets”. Cueing into the children’s evolving interests, the staff enhanced the environment by adding small wood pieces, tools, glue, cardboard, material and other 3 dimensional objects. As their play continued to evolve, the children decided to remove the “conventional” building materials to make room for larger pieces of cardboard, various fasteners and unconventional building materials. The children’s construction interests continue to evolve and become more complex.