OUR CURRICULUM
At Coronado Prep we use the Emergent Curriculum. Emergent curriculum is a way of planning curriculum based on the student’s interest and passions as well as the teacher’s. To plan an emergent curriculum requires observation, documentation, creative brainstorming, flexibility and patience.
Rather than starting with a lesson plan which requires a “hook” to get the children interested, emergent curriculum starts with the children’s interests. This is not to say that the teacher has no input, in fact teachers may well have a general topic they think is important for children to study and they may purposely include certain materials or experiences related to it.
Children between the ages of one year old to five years old do not learn because they are taught. They learn as a result of their own doing, through actions, relationships, inquiries, opportunities and repetition. Our teachers become research partners with children, seeking answers to questions and supporting investigation. Our school is their laboratory, offering the materials and tools to inspire each child.
Children learn when they run, jump, dress up, speak, socialize, read, listen, sing, paint, catch, kick, hit, throw, climb, observe, swing, question, scream, pull, push, rhyme, create and much more.
Therefore, our first and most important goal with the emergent curriculum is to inspire delight, curiosity and inquiry in the classroom. Doing this has become proven to build intrinsic motivation and a long-term love of learning. This is the greatest gift our teachers can give a child in preparation for their primary school experience.
Our emergent curriculum require our teachers, in knowing HOW and WHAT children can learn at these milestones to support and guide learning as it emerges naturally inside the school, in the natural world and in our community as a whole.
