The Beginning of a Project

By Melanie Rodenbeck

As a preschool teacher who works at a non traditional, Reggio-Emilia inspired forest school, I am frequently asked about our unique approach to academics. I enthusiastically describe our project work process as a response to these inquiries about Raintree’s philosophy. Oftentimes, people are left wondering, “How do you pick a project topic for such young children?” The answer is simple:

 I don't necessarily choose anything, the children lead the way. 

My responsibility as a teacher is to act as a guide for my students. This means I spend the first month of school observing the children. I ask myself questions like, what are their play themes? What do they talk about with their friends at lunch? What do they wonder about the world around them? 

Simultaneously, I’m also setting out invitations to ignite their curiosities. In her Provocations Start Up Guide, Sally Haughey of Wunderled Teaching explains that invitations are open- ended activities based on teacher wonderings and ponderings. They are meant to spark children's interests, give an idea, or provide a child with new information (Sally Haughey, Wunderled Teaching). 

A few weeks ago, my colleagues and I set out various sized boxes and markers, curious to see how the students would interact with the materials. I wanted to see how my class would choose to engage with the boxes - would they go inside and pretend they were driving a car? Would the boxes become building blocks for a large structure? How would they use the markers and open ended materials I provided? Through this invitation, I was able to gain insight into their specific thoughts and interests, which can lead to different types of projects later in the school year. 

After closely observing my class and noticing how they respond to numerous types of invitations, I am able to grasp a better understanding of what intrigues them. 

That’s when I know it’s time to fire up kids' imaginations with provocations. Provocations differ in one way from Invitations, they are still open-ended activities, but this time based on the children's wanderings and ponderings, rather than the teacher’s. Provocations are meant to expand on children's ideas and theories, provide them with new experiences, all while nourishing their creative thinking. (Haughey, Wunderled Teaching). Observing students engaged with provocations informs me of the children's prior knowledge with a certain topic, and where there are opportunities to expand their learning.  

For example, my class enthusiastically observed caterpillars on milkweed outside for multiple days, showing me that they are interested in these furry friends and possibly open to learning more. In response, I sat out a provocation, an activity based on the children’s interests. I placed a bin containing figures of all of the stages of a butterflies lifecycle along with what the real insects would interact with in nature. With the addition of matching cards and a magnifying glass, the provocation was ready for tiny hands. As the children engaged with the activity, it was my turn to observe, watching how they interact with the materials of the provocation. How many children choose to play with this activity? What prior knowledge are they showing me? Do they seem excited to play with it? The different reactions kids had to the activity helped inform me if this topic could be a contender for a future project. 

Once my class has shown enthusiastic interest in 2 - 3 different topics, it’s time to vote! Once again, the children are in the driver's seat for their education and show me the way forward in shaping our project. They have the final say in what we deep dive into for our semester project through our voting process. To help guide our vote,  I put a picture of each special interest on a big sheet of paper and had each child in the classroom put a sticker in the column of the project they liked the most. Afterwards, we tallied up the votes as a class family to see which project most classmates wanted to explore. 

The process of picking projects has always been fascinating to me. Each year, the children’s interests and curiosities change and blossom as they grow. As I walk down the halls of Raintree School, I get so inspired by the work and creativity our youngest citizens demonstrate on a daily basis. Our students are able to learn leadership, cooperation, teamwork, and empathy through these projects. As a teacher, I feel incredibly proud to walk alongside my class as they navigate their educational experience as a team.