Sitting back and watching...

[Inspired by Reggio]

.... We work so hard to plan out activities, entertain them, meet their learning needs...when they simply teach each other so much, if we just give them a chance!

Agreed this is how my program works 99% of the time to be honest ~ and it works AWESOME for me!

I do not think of myself as a 'teacher' who needs to given them flashcards full of facts to memorize back at me to feel that they are learning or an 'entertainer' who has to be on all day long to keep them contained from chaos but rather I am a 'coach/assistant researcher' who sees the skills within them and helps them to set goals to bring them out of themselves and helps them to research and find answers to their own questions.

I do not plan out and prepare lessons / activities per say I more set up the environment with different invitations to promote / support their own learning either here at home or going out and about on an outing or field trip and than sit back and watch what they actually learn from it or where they take those invitations cause they will often use an invitation totally different than I had anticipated and so the learning goes a different way for them ... most of my day is spent sitting back and 'watching' them explore and if/when invited I will follow their lead in play or when I see them needing support with a peer or concept they are trying to master than I step in and coach or help by posing questions or mediating conflict to help them learn to resolve it themselves or figure it out on their own ... as a result my group can play for very long periods of time without needing me too much at all.

I spend the most time 'actively there' when they are wee investing the time than of giving them the social skills and problem solving resources to thrive within the peer environment and then as they become the now older kids they can support the wee ones too cause they are masters by than ... IME children are confident, capable and natural learners about their world ~ they figure out a lot more than we give them credit for and are capable of respecting and exploring with many awesome things and will rise to just about any realistic expectation we give them.

Circle or group time is my favorite part of the day but I do not even plan that in the traditional sense anymore ... I do reflect on what to put in my circle box every month in way of books that support the current interests of the group and seasonal felt board songs or stories and 'games' that might promote a skill I think someone needs and change it up accordingly along with some staples that are always there but each child gets to take a turn choosing something out of the box ... so basically they 'lead' the circle and I am just there as a support to help hold up finger puppets or books and so forth.