At NCRC, we believe the job of children is to play!
What is Play-Based Emergent Curriculum?
The teacher’s job is not to know all the answers. Rather, it is to investigate, collaborate, and learn alongside children.
At NCRC we believe in children’s capacity to ask questions and engage in deep discovery around meaningful topics. In contrast to teacher-directed classrooms, where the topic is often determined in advance, at NCRC, teachers collaborate with their students in generating the curriculum. Within this emergent curriculum, our teachers are observers – noticing not just what children are playing and doing, but also how they are playing and what they are saying.
Examples of Play-Based Emergent Curriculum in Each Tier
Research-Based Learning Approach
CYCLICAL PROCESS OF EMERGENT CURRICULUM
Source: Susan Stacey, Emergent Curriculum in Early Childhood
PROCESS & SUPPORT
NCRC’s Director of Diversity, Equity, & Community and Pedagogista work with teaching teams to support the process of creating intentional emergent curriculum that includes literature, conversations, and activities that reflect the lens of our community and our world. This may include building on a simple, classroom conversation, or setting up a meaningful invitation to take a closer look at similarities and differences.
RESEARCH BOARDS
Each classroom has a visible research board to record student and teaching team inquiries. Placed at a child's eye level, this designated area is a fluid representation of evolving ideas and questions that inform our curriculum path.