Let Them Be. Let Them Learn.

All my years of teaching I have had moments like these...where I put aside the approved curriculum for a minute and just let the kids learn for themselves. Last Friday we went to the school library and each child could pick any non fiction book they wanted on any topic of interest. Imagine these little 5 and 6 year olds walking through the hallway with stacks of books. I then told them that for the next week, whenever they are finished with their classwork, they can work on an independent project. The project can be anything but it just had to teach us something. The project would be presented at the end of this week instead of doing Show and Tell (show and tell irks me...mindless...time to get rid of that). I love this because the learning never stopped. There was no "Mrs. Prather I'm finished. What do I do now?" The room everyday was buzzing with precious little kindergarteners who were focused reading through books, getting markers, paper, in small groups talking about their projects. They didn't want to take rest time but wanted to work through it (guess nap time is officially over)! You create the environment, the opportunity, the aura, and learning will happen (think potty training, how to walk, how to talk etc.). Kids are natural learners. No need to force it...but facilitate it.