Susan will lead us through a conversation that will spark us to consider how we set up our learning environments in a way that fosters children’s sense of curiosity and inquiry. She will offer stories and examples that will help us to consider how our values influence how we see children, families and each other. Our values ultimately affect our beliefs about what curriculum  is and how it influences our learning environments. Participants will come away from this session feeling inspired to look at their environments through many different lenses.

In the afternoon MCRC’s Artists and Children Together (ACT) Initiative will ignite your senses by facilitating a hands on experience of interactive arts exploration. The ACT team will provide a variety of materials, together we will explore different mediums and discover how to inspire young children’s minds! The ACT initiative will share their journey of collaboration with children, educators, artists and families on how art can support children in sharing their ideas, feelings, questions and theories in multiple ways.

Saturday, April 6 – Documenting Children’s Learning

Susan will build on the previous morning’s conversation, discussing how our values and approaches impact how we document children’s learning. We will examine why we document, what we can document and how it can be  used to plan for children’s learning. Together we will explore how sketchbooks can be used to capture children’s thinking, emerging curiosities and how we can respond as educators. At the end of this session participants will have had an opportunity to write a learning story.

In the afternoon we will join the MCRC ACT team again to dig into the art materials and document what we are seeing and experiencing as adults. It is only through playing and exploring ourselves that we are able to better connect to the experiences children are having with these materials. The ACT team will share their story of how they engage families and the education team to capture children’s thinking and learning in pedagogical documentation. Come prepared to be provoked!

View full brochure below for all event details.