Our nimble Lower School often follows students’ interests and natural curiosity to engage in deep learning.

Recently, we saw a perfect example of emergent curriculum in action after our first and second graders found a praying mantis in our field. Mr. Horosky and Mrs. Elwell embraced the hundreds of questions coming from the students and built a unit that honored their voices and engaged their curiosity.

Individual creativity came through in diverse representations of what students observed. Students refined their fine motor skills while creating their mantis models.

Students learned how to write open-ended inquiry questions.

The classes read insect poetry by Douglas Florian, including memorizing “The Praying Mantis” for recitation at Morning Circle.

The students researched the answers to their own questions, and many came away with even more thoughts to explore. We can’t wait to see what comes next!