Literacy

Literacy
After much thought and research, I am trying this year with very few pre-determined and timed themes. Building our school family will be the "theme" for the year, with literature driving our curriculum and inquiry surfacing from the children's interests. A very rough year led me to humbly and thoroughly think through what I was doing and what I was providing for my children. I feel like I missed so many teaching opportunities trying to "stay on theme"-opportunities for connecting and for meaningful and higher order learning. I seized as many "teachable moments" as I could, but always managed to steer us back to what I had decided we should study. I've talked with many teachers about using this kind of approach (some call it Project or Inquiry or Research) and met with mixed reviews. I hope to hear from others who have tried this, successfully or not, and to share our school family's learning adventures... Some themes or units are just too valuable to pass-Nursery Rhymes, Classic Tales, Families, All About Me-but with those units will come opportunities for the children to direct and expand our learning. Here goes...