A Place For Wonder
Children who spend the day at A Place For Wonder will lead their learning by playing indoors and out. There is not a set or brand curriculum used to structure time and lead students for each minute of every day. Unstructured time, for open ended play both indoors and out for at least 60-minute stretches of time, will be offered daily. There will be opportunities for cooking, art (not crafts - process art), music/movement, building, gardening, problem solving and more. Children will get messy or dirty from having access to art supplies and soil/dirt. The changes in nature around us will also lead our learning. For example, certain flowers will bloom at specific times of the year, specific birds will migrate, butterflies and moths lay eggs and caterpillars emerge, rains bring puddles, changing weather allows varieties of vegetables to be grown and these organically lead to learning.
Curriculum
Academia flows naturally during nature walks and open exploration. For example, when we go on our nature walk, each day, we will observe and discuss colors of natural objects. We will count objects when we find more than one. When discovering new things together, we will learn and use new vocabulary such as stem, petal, down feather, and bark. New descriptive words (adjectives) will also be included when discussing and describing natural objects.
When interest takes hold in open exploration, garden and nature walks, activities, art, and readings, guided lessons will center around them. These can be topics such as, insects, birds, worms, mud, caterpillars, flowers, seeds, gardening, trees, clouds, rain, spiders, planes, and helicopters. All topics will explore concepts in science, math, engineering, literacy, writing, history, art, and music. Nature is the ultimate teaching tool.
Research shows that literacy skills come about naturally and increase with play-based learning. As play is defined as the "voluntary engagement in enjoyable activities," children who are playing will be connecting with each other. Social interactions with peers and adults help build language and new concepts due to each person bringing their own lived experiences and vocabulary to the group. Children discuss new rules and even make up new words to define their actions. They give symbolic roles and objects meaning with language. This helps them take ownership of their early literacy skills. Allowing children to play with letters of all font types and words is essential to setting the stage for a positive interaction with reading and writing. Using a variety of tools for completing fine motor skill tasks gets children ready for writing (clay work, playdough, push pins, tongs, stringing, sponge play and kitchen tools such as a garlic press and citrus reamer).
Multiple books will be read daily as well as music and movement. There are opportunities for dramatic play indoors and out which increase literacy. Nature walks are filled with new sights and sounds which lead to new vocabulary. We will play games searching for words, letters, sounds that are most associated with each child, such as letters in their name or a topic of interest or something we see in nature. Literacy occurs developmentally so each child will be able to learn as an individual.
