Teachers like lesson plans. And a lot of preschool teachers like themed lesson plans. It helps the teachers feel like they've "covered all the bases" academically speaking, and to some extent, there is value in this. Themes allow teachers to bring ideas into the classroom that the children might be experiencing (e.g. going to kindergarten soon, worrying about thunderstorms), want to learn more about (e.g. specific community helpers or animals), or help them to notice something that they otherwise wouldn't (e.g. how shadows change relative to light sources). Making plans relating to these themes allow teachers to tick off academic skills or material that they want to teach.
But it is also just as important, or even more so, to acknowledge the value in the free play that happens during the children's Work Time. This work that the children pursue of their own agendas can be just as academic, noteworthy, and developmentally productive as what the teacher has planned for Small Group and Circle Time lessons. For this reason, this post is dedicated completely to the Work Time plans of the children.
Yes, the theme that we've been talking about lately has related to grassland animals from Africa (in case the school friends have any zoo trips this summer with their families!), and so the toys provided relate to that... but how they are used is totally up to the school friends. And, in Work Time, the teacher can discover more interests that the children have. Working those "academics" into the plans of the children and using the children's ideas for future lesson plans can be the best way to help the children embrace new material in the future.
