Once in a while I try to clean up my computer—call it “spring cleaning,” I guess—and this time around I’ve stumbled upon loads of interesting things that I’d mostly forgotten about. As I clean up, I’ll be rolling out the interesting bits to you. Hopefully there will be a few bits and pieces that you can use for inspiration.
A while back, our school decided to put the entire How We Express Ourselves theme into the hands of the Arts teachers. In a lot of ways, this was a fantastic idea. (And in just as many ways, it requires quite a bit of support from other parts of staff in order to be effective.) As the subject leader at that time, this huge and exciting task was dropped into my hands. Schools vary wildly around the world, and the units we created may not be for you, but hopefully they can inspire those of you who may be looking to replace or revamp your current Programme of Inquiry.
We had a mixed-age PreKindergarten program for ages 3-5, so we made a two-year rotation of units in no particular order.
Year A: If You’re Happy and You Know It
Subject Focus: PSE (Self-concept, Interaction with others), The Arts
Central Idea: People experience many different feelings and emotions.
An inquiry into:
- Different emotions and how we express them
- How our behavior can affect the emotions of others
- How to deal with emotions constructively and communicate effectively
Year B: Celebrate!
Subject Focus: PSE (Self-concept), Social Studies (Society), The Arts
Central Idea: Families recognize important personal and cultural events through celebrations and traditions.
An inquiry into:
- What and why we celebrate
- What celebrations look, sound, smell, taste and feel like
- The similarities and differences between celebrations
I’m happy to detail these units another day if anyone is interested. In the meantime, I would love to hear what your focus is in the PreK/Nursery level.