Emergent Curriculum

Mixed Ages

What We Saw: One of the items served at snack was raw purple cabbage. The children really liked it! The teacher and children discussed how the cabbage turns their teeth purple. Then the children noticed that the paper plate that held the cabbage was turning purple. This fascinated the children. Later in the day the teacher let the children experiment with the cabbage during choice time. The children put shredded cabbage between two pieces of paper and used rolling pins, plastic hammers and their hands to press the cabbage onto the paper. The teacher asked the children, "What do you think will happen when we do this?" One child responded that "it would make designs". The teacher suggested to the children that they have their parents guess how they made these pictures.

What It Means: Science is more than just an area of the classroom (the "science corner"). The children marveled that their teeth turned purple, and so did the paper plates! The teacher expanded upon this natural curiosity by letting the children investigate further through a creative art project. This bright teacher was using Emergent Curriculum: something that fascinates the children emerges from their ongoing activities, often in an unplanned way like in this example, and then the teacher uses that fascination to teach. In this case, the basic scientific concept of plant-based pigments was introduced to the children.

Preschool

What We Saw: During group time one child became upset because his Band-Aid had fallen off his hand. The teacher stopped to get the child a new Band-Aid, and the rest of the children quickly lost interest in the group activity planned by the teacher. The teacher changed her plan and had a discussion with the children about everyone's cuts and scrapes. All of the children wanted to talk about and show their "owies" and how they had got them.

What It Means: Great teaching requires that you be flexible enough to change planned activities to adjust to the interests of the children. Even though this teacher had gone to the effort to plan some terrific group time activities, she decided to follow the children's interests, changing to a topic that was important to them at that time. When you start with what the children know and show enthusiasm for, you can build learning from there. This utilizes the concept of "emergent curricula," where taking cues from children and expanding upon their interests is a very exciting way to learn!

Preschool

What We Saw: The teacher interrupts the story she is reading to the children when a mother enters with an infant. "Uh-oh, we're gonna take a break from the story. Make a circle." She prepares the children, telling them "babies like quiet, so we need to use quiet voices", and that they can touch, but not hold her. She holds the infant facing out so the children can see her, and asks, "What kind of food do you think she eats?" The teacher leads a discussion of baby foods, what babies can and can't do, how they sleep, etc. The children sit attentively, until the teacher chats briefly with the mother and they leave. Now the teacher attempts to resume reading the book, but the children are still buzzing with excitement from the baby. She shifts gears and calls for the children to stand up for a round of Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes before they finish the story.

What It Means: The teacher is flexible in her plans with the children, quickly changing and adapting the group time to the visit from the mother and infant. She uses the opportunity to foster an understanding of infant development. "Teachable moments" like this are unplanned but rich opportunities for children's learning. The teacher realizes that the children have been sitting too long and can no longer be attentive, so she engages them in a brief music and movement activity to release some energy. This enables them to focus again on the story. The teacher's sensitivity to the needs and limits of the children allows her to adapt her plans to meet their abilities.

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