Clubhouse Project: children's enthusiasm for the topic

Even during the first conversations, Ali and Savannah said, "... and if we have a secret house, we could even have secret birdhouses and we could see birds in the winter." The teacher provided direction and information that the birds would be needing shelter and unable to find seed in the winter. And so the plan developed to begin construction on the clubhouse immediately and to postpone the construction of the birdhouses until winter when they would be needed most by the birds.

The teacher had learned that the best ideas for long term projects come from class discussions --from listening to the children-- though she did not expect this to happen so quickly in the year. She understood that the Three Little Pigs' Houses was her plan-- not the children's. The teacher had developed a list of ideas and she had anticipated directions that this study might lead. All of those plans were discarded after she 'listened' to the children and formulated a new plan based on their interests.

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Last revised: February 18, 1997