Making Plans: Going a Step Beyond

We ask the children to draw a plan before they begin their day because it reduces impulsive thinking, helps children focus, and supports them in centering themselves. An added bonus is that drawing their plans hones their fine motor skills, while telling a teacher the plan and watching her write it down strengthens communication and literacy skills.

A child talking with a teacher about her plan 

This January, after winter break, we decided to expand on our idea of having each child make a plan. On our work day before the children returned from their two week holiday, my co-teacher Sarah Anne and I sat down together and talked about each child. We have observed the children, listened to them and worked with them for several months now. How well do we know them? What are each child's strengths, her passions, her enthusiasms? And once we discussed those things about each child, we talked about what our hopes are for that child: such things as connecting further with others, engaging more deeply in activities, strengthening certain skills, or feeling more secure in the classroom.

Our aim was to see what would happen if we teachers suggested a possible path for each child. So instead of asking children to draw a plan of where they would like to begin their day, we guided their thinking with suggestions based on what we saw as their deepest passions. After we had our suggestions ready for the children, we could hardly wait until they came back to school the next day.

We were not disappointed by the children's reactions to our preparations. We saw an explosion of activity, many eager faces, and a lot of dedicated work. It seems we were correct in our identification of the children's interests. These positive teacher-child connections nourish both the children and us. It is gratifying when we find a way to offer meaningful work for the children. We get excited too!

This child created his deeply cherished  lovey, "Tag," out of paper

One child has shown us repeatedly that he is quite adept at creating paper hearts, so we asked him if he would like to make a plan to teach others how to do this. He agreed with a smile, and a small group spent a long time creating and decorating hearts. What a sweet way for this child to take on a leadership role, share a skill, and connect with peers.

Demonstrating how to make a paper heart

The final heart, decorated

Another child planned to make a tea cup so she could have tea with her daddy, affirming Sabot's belief that children will engage deeply when the subject is meaningful to them.

Writing a note to our studio teacher to help the child complete her plan

The tea cup, finally finished

This child's face lit up when she drew her beloved gymnastics class; another way to connect life at home and life at school. Actually, we noticed that several children wanted to draw family members, those most important people in the lives of young children.

"I'm going to draw the roads. Gymnastics: it's really hard to get there."

Completing her plan: roads and three people. Is she thinking about how she and her friend ride to class with  a parent?

We are in the beginning stages of this expanded way of thinking about having children make plans. So far we have noticed deeper engagement from everyone as they follow through with their intentions, and this deep engagement spills over to the rest of the day. There is more buzz of conversation in the classroom, more interest in other children's work, and more sustained collaborative play. These relationships--among the children themselves, and between children and teachers-- are a foundation for social and democratic learning.

Another child begins to draw her family

Her family on the road, going to Little Einstein's

At the end of every day now, we think about the children again. What did they do with our guided suggestions? Were our ideas appropriate and have we correctly understood at least one of their passions? Do we need to revisit and rethink our ideas for anyone? How can we expand on what they have done so far?

This child's plan was to make a cake for her mother.

We have just begun to share their work with the whole group at circle time. Will the children's ideas and creativity impact their peers? Will we discover other areas of interest? Is there a small group with similar interests who might work together on a project? We don't yet know where this way of thinking will take us. But we wait enthusiastically to find out.

A group making a plane, with grass underneath; then cutting the grass