The Child is the Curriculum

Bev Bos coined this phrase: The child is the curriculum.

That really defines child-centered teaching & learning.

We learn so much about our children when we interact with them and let them choose what they want to do in the classroom.

I like to define "curriculum" as 'everything that happens in the classroom'.

"You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation"
- Plato from http://www.playcounts.com/

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Journals & Writing

We like to write about what interests us. It's the same for children. Journal writing time is an invitation for the children to draw something of interest to them. They tell me something about their pictures and I write it on the page. They see how writing happens by starting with an idea then seeing it get written down.

Paper Tray / Spatial Exploration

The paper trays were moved from the top of the shelf to the table so that some of the children could make a trap using the yarn. One of the children experimented with the paper trays. He pushed them back to discover that they can be formed into steps or they can be stacked on top of one another. Spatial exploration.

Yarn Trap

The yarn was used to make a trap. It was tied to a picture frame and a basket. Each was positioned on shelves across from one another. The children had to go "under" the trap to get to the carpet for whole class time. There was a lot of sharing of ideas, problem solving, and use of the positional language "over" and "under" and "around".

NZ Teacher

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