The process through which teachers develop a diagram based on a particular topic or theme, highlighting key ideas and concepts.
What is webbing.
100
Emerges from children’s own interests, teacher
observations of children’s needs and interests, and parents’ suggestions.
What is a project.
100
Expressing choices, engaging in complex play.
What is initiative.
100
All children are strong and capable and have the potential and preparation to construct their learning.
What is child as protagonist.
100
A daily rhythm of play, work, circletime, and outdoor play, ending with a nature or folk tale creates a consistent pattern for each session.
What is strong rhythmic elements based on the cycles of life and nature.
200
The ideas can be transferred to a piece of paper, placing the topic or theme in the center and drawing lines radiating out to the headings.
What is drawing.
200
Children express and communicate their ideas.
What is representation.
200
Making, building, pretending.
What is creative representation.
200
Every corner of the environment has an identity and purpose and encourages encounters, communication, and relationships.
What is environment as third teacher.
200
The walls of the classrooms are usually painted with soft watercolors, curtains may be made from plant-dyed fabrics, and tables and chairs are made of solid wood.
What are environments that nourish the senses.
300
Teachers can share their ideas with one another, rearranging the headings and subheadings as they share skills, resources, and information with one another.
What is sharing.
300
Investigations take place outside the classroom, through events, objects, places, and people so that children build on their own knowledge through direct experiences.
What is fieldwork.
300
Relating to children and adults, making friends.
What are social relations.
300
Teachers work in pairs and collaborate with other members of the staff, engaging in continuous discussion and interpretation of their work and the work of the children.
What is teacher as researcher.
300
Wood, cotton, and wool are used throughout the classroom.
What are natural materials.
400
The slips of paper are organized into groups of similar ideas, and, on a colored piece of paper, a heading is given to each group.
What is grouping.
400
Using a variety of resources, children explore and research the topic. This includes fieldwork as well as closely analyzing, sketching, and discussing what they find.
What is investigation.
400
Exhibiting body coordination, following a musical beat.
What is music and movement.
400
Teachers make transcripts of children’s dialogue, take series of photographs of their projects, and arrange them in panels that hang throughout the school or in books.
What is documentation as communication.
400
The curriculum fosters skills that imitate the work of adults.
What is play as an imitation of life.
500
Using small slips of paper, teachers write down theme or topic ideas that the children suggest.
What is brainstorming.
500
Exhibits of children’s work on the project serve as a source of information and provide an opportunity to share their work and ideas with others.
What is display.
500
Sorting, counting objects, describing time sequences.
What is logic and mathematics.
500
Parent participation is considered essential, and parents discuss their ideas and skills with the teachers.
What is parents as partner.
500
Children’s natural sense of awe and wonder is fostered and deepened, primarily through activities, stories and festivals that celebrate the cycles of the seasons.
What is enhancement of a sense of reverence and wonder.