I am always interested to see where an idea at school will go. The wonderful thing about an Emergent Curriculum is being open to what the children are interested in and building our lessons around that.
When we opened the Doctors Office back in January, a common idea was presented to both age groups we work with at school, and that was the bodies' skeletal structure.
The children enjoyed playing in the doctors office and prescribing hot cocoa as a remedy. They were interested in the x-ray films, but they enjoyed remedies the most.
We have some really cute doctor stories which are featured on our school Facebook page, you can click here to see them: Doctor Stories
And while the doctors office still remains a place where a lot of play and conversation take route, when our conversations about the human body took place in the art studio, these little ones did not share the same interest as their older fiends. After observing the children, we realized what held their interest, and that was Dinosaurs!
The learning emerged from the interest of the children. We approached our study of dinosaurs through stories, discussions, play, art making, and experiments.
In the art studio the children picked a dinosaur that they wanted to study and try to draw.
After the children drew their dinosaurs, they went over their lines with black glue.
For such young artists, they really did a wonderful job capturing their dinosaurs.
After the glue dried they painted over their dinosaurs with liquid watercolors and some added a little salt for effects.
Their final dinosaur art was framed and as I write this post are hanging in a local gallery in their area youth art show.
The children even acted as Paleontologist as they dug and excavated baby dinosaurs from dinosaur eggs.
By hammering, chiseling, brushing away debris, and spraying vinegar on their baking soda eggs, our young Paleontologist did in fact discover baby dinosaurs in their eggs.
And while the doctors office still remains a place where a lot of play and conversation take route, when our conversations about the human body took place in the art studio, these little ones did not share the same interest as their older fiends. After observing the children, we realized what held their interest, and that was Dinosaurs!
The learning emerged from the interest of the children. We approached our study of dinosaurs through stories, discussions, play, art making, and experiments.
In the art studio the children picked a dinosaur that they wanted to study and try to draw.
After the children drew their dinosaurs, they went over their lines with black glue.
For such young artists, they really did a wonderful job capturing their dinosaurs.
After the glue dried they painted over their dinosaurs with liquid watercolors and some added a little salt for effects.
Their final dinosaur art was framed and as I write this post are hanging in a local gallery in their area youth art show.
Dinosaurs continued to capture their imaginations. In project time they made dinosaur foot prints.
The children even acted as Paleontologist as they dug and excavated baby dinosaurs from dinosaur eggs.
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