Emergent
Curriculum is a new concept for me in my preschool teaching experiences. I had heard about it being used in place of a
theme based curriculum and planning. One
mantra that I live by as a preschool teacher is “I know this stuff but the kids
are here to learn it.” This helps me
remember that my planning, if it is my opinion, does not benefit the kids.
I
am in the beginning stages of implementing an emergent curriculum in my
classroom and the first thing I did the first week of school was ask the kids
what they are interested in playing with, learning, and studying. My anecdotal notes will inform my planning
through the students’ interests in the upcoming weeks. Have you ever implemented the emergent
curriculum? What fears do you have
moving away from theme based? How do you
feel this could benefit students of all grades?
(I wish I could have done this when I taught 2nd grade.)
I
have attached some great resources about emergent curriculum. The author of “Theme to Emergent”, Diane
Kashin, has a Pinterest board that I started following all on emergent
curriculum. The abandoning themes section
in the article is a great resource to read over about changing opinions from
themes to more of an emergent curriculum.
