Phase 1 - Starting the Project - Doing the Work:
- Read on the Project
Approach site: Section on Theory: Teaching - EKWQ, Section on Structure:
Phase 1.
- Read Section 1 of The Project Approach.
Bk. 2. Scholastic.
- Read Katz & Chard, Engaging Children's
Minds: The Project Approach, Chapter on Preliminary Planning.
- Introduce the topic of study in the classroom.
In many cases this is best done by telling a personal story of your
own experience, to model the sharing of experience you wish the children
to engage in. Your personal participation in the sharing of experience
will help to raise the level of interest in the topic.
- Encourage the children to talk with each
other and with their parents about their experiences with the topic.
- Invite the children to represent their
experiences in a variety of ways at centers set up to facilitate their
work. These centers should include opportunities for drawing, painting,
writing, making clay models, making constructions with blocks or recycled
materials, and dramatic play.
- Suggest a few investigative activities
for some children, e.g. conducting a survey of the experiences of children
in the class, interviewing children who have particular expertise, making
comparisons of individual experiences (in pairs or groups) and representing
these in Venn diagrams (two or three circles) or charts (4 or more examples).
- It is a good idea to plan a group time
at the beginning and end of Project time. This will enable you to set
appropriate standards of work for the children. You can make especially
productive use of modeling using samples of children's work and having
each child explain his or her work to the group.
- Help the children formulate questions
around what they wonder about. Add the questions to a chart paper list
day by day.
- Have each child prepare a folder to keep
their finished project work in. This will be the source of material
to add to the portfolio of each child after the project is concluded.
It will also be a collection of work the children can take home at the
end of the project. It is recommended that all completed project work
remains in school until the end of the project. This is partly because
it can be a resource to other children during the continuing life of
the project and also to accumulate a collection of work for each child
to share with their families at the end of the project.
- Use the bulletin boards in the classroom
to display children's work at their level with the expectation that
they will learn from each other's experience and knowledge.
- Send a letter home informing parents of
the topic of study. Look at some of the examples, e.g. the Kindergarten
Pet project by Simone Shirvell.
- Establish a common baseline of understanding
for the class before embarking on the next phase of the work. This can
be done by making a topic web of ideas with the children or by making
a list of things they already know about the topic.
- Write messages to the WebBoard telling
about your experiences of starting a project with children. Comment
on the experiences of others. Discuss surprises.
- Read the Project
Approach Examples: the project on Ants (Pre-K/K) and on Shoes (Gr.
2)
Resources:
- The
Project Approach Site. Section on Theory: Pages on Teaching and
EKWQ; Section on Structure: Pages on Phase 1.
- Chard, S.C. (1998) The Project Approach:
Managing Successful Projects. Section One.
Recommended Readings:
- Read the article,
'From Themes to Projects'
Chard, 1999
- Katz, L.G. & Chard, S.C. (1989)
Engaging Children's Minds: The Project Approach. Chapter on Phase
One: Getting Started.
- Laubenthal, G. (1998) The Pueblo Project.
Texas Child Care. Fall Issue, pp 24-34
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