Our ELC educators are busy preparing engaging sessions for our ELI participants. Read on to see what they are working on for this summer’s conference!
Hannah Louderback & Travis Burnett | Kindergarten
Outside In: How Outdoor Discoveries Influence Kindergarten Curriculum
Taking time to observe what children do outdoors is crucial to our curriculum. Journey with us as we share how abundant outdoor time in kindergarten gave the children opportunities to make important discoveries. In turn, the seemingly “unstructured” outdoor time became the basis of our science curriculum.
Tracy Lee | Preschool Demonstration Teacher | Maple Room
Mountain Hill: Adventures to a Land Not So Far Away
What started as a quest to find cicadas around their school, led a group of preschoolers and their teacher to discover a small oasis within an otherwise urban setting. After enduring physical challenges and natural discoveries the children named this land Mountain Hill. Travel along and learn more about this yearlong journey that helped create not only a love and respect for the natural world, but an appreciation and understanding for the people within this small group community.
Katie Denton-Walls & Emily Harlow | Preschool Teachers | East Classroom
“Why don’t our plants grow like theirs?”
The emergence of a project with preschoolers
This is the story of how the presentation of a problem to a small group of children invigorated their sense of ownership and control over their garden. Throughout this work the children engaged in collaboration and problem solving as they implemented components of the scientific process; hypothesis, experimentation, and analysis.
Kathyrn Humber & Dilyn Hauck | Preschool Teachers | West Classroom
Experiencing the Outdoors: A Journey with Preschoolers
This session will focus on the many languages that children use to represent their knowledge and how a teaching team’s practice has evolved to better notice the natural ways that their children learn. The teachers will share details from actual work in the classroom and how focusing on stepping back to observe more and teach less has resulted in authentic discoveries.
Dave Roberts | Preschool Assistant Teacher | Maple Room
From Cicadas to Authors: An Exploration of Representation and Storytelling
A look at how an investigation of cicadas lead us into a yearlong book-making project. Children began to think of themselves as authors as they shared
their stories.