Explanation of My Curriculum:

Morning Meeting: Invitations to learn for the day are introduced, affirmations are said, and a reminder of rules is given.

Morning Choice Time: Children are given the choice to engage in several different activities, including educational exercises presented as invitations to learn.

Afternoon Meeting: Conversation about what students spent the morning doing, what they learned, and what they’d like to do during afternoon choice time.

Afternoon Choice Time: Children have the same choices they did in the mornings. They can continue a project they enjoyed or move to a new activity.

Invitations to Learn: Each day, according to the theme for the day, month, and student input, there will be an invitation to learn for the students that is hands-on and teaches age-appropriate learning.

Student Input: Our Invitations to Learn will be directly related to the individual students’ interests. How? If a student is interested in Minecraft, in May, we might get Minecraft Space books from the library for Word Wednesdays! In October, we might get a Halloween Minecraft book or do a Minecraft pumpkin counting activity for Math Mondays.

Teacher/Adult Input: My role as the adult in the co-op is incredibly important in that I will be facilitating the Invitations to Learn as well as managing and making a learning opportunity of any social/emotional disputes that occur. Due to the small number of students, it will be my goal to make sure that the children become very close with each other and me and create a family-like atmosphere of helping each other and caring for each other throughout the year.

Discipline: As explained on the About page, discipline will be handled with gentleness but with boundaries. Hitting, kicking, or any sort of harming self or others is not allowed; yelling or screaming at others is not allowed. It is ok to be angry, but it is not ok to hurt people during your anger. However, I understand that there is a difference between anger and a meltdown. Children will not receive consequences for meltdowns but will be moved to the calming corner to remain safe. Consequences might include losing certain privileges with a toy or item for a few minutes or for the rest of the day or week. But as stated on the About page, discipline is almost always to maintain safety for everyone and is always gentle, thoughtful, and directed at the behavior, not the child.

Curriculum in General: This Co-op uses Emergent Curriculum that is child-led. Curriculum resources will include library books, books I already own, online resources, hands-on resources, outdoor nature play, and children may bring books from home!