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curriculum choice. Felicia felt it was an opportunity to more fully understand her
discomfort with themes and hoped it would lead to greater satisfaction with her practice.
Introduction to emergent curriculum.
Felicia began the foray into emergent curriculum with self-initiated research. An
early attempt is fondly remembered by Felicia as the “missing cookies project.” Felicia
had read a story to the children about a thief from another country and how he paid for
his crime. The children were fascinated so Felicia found out “what they know, what they
wanted to know and what they needed to buy.”
I went out and bought handcuffs, we made a jail, a 911 phone, a home to
burglarize, a police car and wrote to the local police department. The
children wanted to find out how a judge knows whether a criminal is
lying. We composed a letter to a father in our class who happens to be a
criminal defence lawyer. So the criminal defence lawyer contacted another
parent who was a judge. Together they agreed to have a mock trial.
In collaboration with these parents, a plan was concocted. Accordingly to the
plan, Felicia and the children baked cookies. The children were told that a judge and a
lawyer would be visiting the class. “We put the cookies in the oven. We brought the
cookies to the classroom to cool and we left the cookies on the table while we got ready
to go outside. I told the children that I was going back into the classroom to get my coat.”
While inside the classroom, Felicia took the cookies and smudged them “all over
my face.” When she rejoined the children they asked “what is on your face.” Felicia
evaded a truthful response. Once they returned to the classroom the cookies were gone.
One of the children said, “Well it is a good thing that the judge and the lawyer are
coming because now we have a real mystery.” The lawyer and the judge entered the
classroom. The judge had brought a sash and she told the children “when I am wearing
this sash I am the judge, when I take it off, I am the crown.”