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construction paper cut outs (i.e., turkeys at Thanksgiving, pumpkins at Halloween, and
shamrocks for St. Patrick’s Day) and worksheets to “teach” the children. With the habits
of practice entrenched, this legacy of a school model for child care has become the norm.
To an emergent curriculum.
During the time that this research was conducted, Mary, Felicia, Layla, and Rose
had all abandoned the use of themes. The focus of curriculum planning for each
participant had become project work and all were attempting to implement an emergent
curriculum with varying results. The implementation of projects and emergent curriculum
are not always codependent factors. Projects can become predetermined by the teachers
once an interest has been established. While projects are labeled emergent curriculum,
once there is an expressed interest in the topic by the children, the teachers take over. The
topic is chosen; the teacher collects related resources and provides connecting activities.
The direction of the project is pre-determined and teacher controlled.
Felicia engaged with the children during a daily meeting where they would make
group decisions made about the direction of the project. Felicia even gave the children
the opportunity to decide how they were to make decisions; “would it be consensus or
majority rules?” The school age children in Rose’s program would be presented with
topics representing the emerging interests of the group and a decision would be made as
to the project that would unfold. However, it appeared that the direction the project took
had limited involvement from the children and more to do with the teacher. Despite this,
careful consideration was given to the waning of interest and the emergence of other
topics. In Layla’s case the children’s expressed and transcribed ideas and theories about