Standards: Curriculum Materials: Teaching Methods:

Standard - CC.1.3.1.C
Describe characters, settings, and major events
in a story, using key details.
Standard - CC.1.3.1.H
Compare and contrast the adventures and
experiences of characters in stories.
Standard - CC.1.4.1.A
Write informative/ explanatory texts to examine
a topic and convey ideas and information.
Standard - CC.1.5.1.F
Add drawings or other visual displays when sharing
aloud to clarify ideas, thoughts, and feelings.
Standard - 3.1.1.B1
Grow plants from seed and describe how
they grow and change. Compare to adult plants.
- MegaBloks or Unifix cubes to create with
- Picture of school playground
- Potion-making ingredients
(baking soda, vinegar, food coloring, etc.)
- Picture books featuring young, POC creators
- Playing cards or UNO cards to supplement
Envisions math curriculum
- Painting supplies
- Various plants
What? Creators How?
Every project the students engage in should be
accompanied by a read aloud of a picture book.
Group discussions of these picture books will
be crucial to putting our learning into context
and providing inspiration for their future
endeavors. Debriefs of the time we spend
“creating” will also be key, and will involve
partner shares. Students will spend the rest of
their time either working independently as
researchers, or following direct instructions (in
the case of the science lab). My goals are to
provide the materials and structures for learning,
but not be tied to a particular outcome.

Knowledge of students:
The classroom is made up primarily of six-
year olds, but has students up to age 8.
Most of the students are Black, and the
rest White. There are slightly more boys
than girls in the classroom. Many of them
are from the surrounding neighborhood, but
others are not. A few students’ families are
struggling with issues of housing instability,
and may have increased stress as a result.
Students have expressed interest in card and
board games, and many play building games
such as Roblox or Minecraft on devices
at home.
Why?
Theories of Teaching & Learning:
Educational Philosophy & Beliefs:
I am inspired by many sources, including:
My educational philosophy holds that
- Geneva Gay, and her definition of warm demanders.
hands-on and active learning is more
- Gloria Ladson-Billings, and her foundational theory
meaningful and memorable than rote
of culturally relevant pedagogy.
instruction. By engaging in open-ended
- Ann Pelo’s focus on home environments.
explorations, children are able to ask and
- Constructivism, and social constructivism, as
answer questions that they then are driven
developed by Piaget and Vygotsky.
to answer. I am committed to providing
- Lucy Sprague Mitchell’s credo, particularly, “Lively
these opportunities for every child,
intellectual curiosities that turn the world into an
especially black and brown children who are
exciting laboratory and keep one ever a learner.”
often denied them. I value the learning that
-Loris Malaguzzi’s “Hundred languages of children”
happens naturally through play, and I
poem and parallel Reggio Emilia approach.
recognize that there are many different
avenues for children to succeed in.