Curriculum

• Play
  
• Living Curriculum
• Personal Curriculum

The Learn Tree curriculum is made up of three parts, to ensure that every learner is meet as a person, that essential skills and knowledge is available to learners, that the space is maintained for 'healthy development'.

(1) Interests
In order to meet each child with their individual interests and what sparks the learner.
Self Skills / Active Learner / Spark

(2) Knowledge & Skills
What we would like the children to take away in terms of knowledge, skills and experience - these are our learning objectives for a successful life.
Learning Objectives / Required by Law / Hidden Curriculum /

(3) Healthy Development
Providing for optimum development to take place.
In Their Nature / Developmental Stages

We can incorperate all three, when we focus on the Content and Conditions in the learning environment.  The content we call the Individual and Shared Content Model and the conditions are in how we deliver and carry out model.

"The curriculum is, what we bring to the environment."

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Individual and Shared Content Model
The Individual and Shared Content Model is inspired by Democratic Schools and Reggio Emilio’s Emergent Curriculum.  The curriculum is tailored to every child’s interests, pace and stage in development - while at the same time working for a group of all ages, abilities and interests. This model provides a platform for self-directed learning, growth mindset development and social development; the sharing of ideas, interests, and working independently and alongside others.

• Each person brings to the Learn Tree something they would like to do that day. They bring in the content that interests them, that they are inspired and motivated by.
• Adults may bring in their own content in the form of their own projects or content that may interest the children (example, art class or science experiment).
• Each person has the right to choose if they would like to work by themselves or share their content with others who show an interest in joining them.
• Each person will have to assess how their chosen content will work in a shared group working space, that works for everyone.
• Each family can use the space for the time that they need, free to come and go or leave before the end of the day.
• Each person’s contribution is valid and needs to be safely received.

What is known to happen when using this model, is that one person's interests can inspire another, leading to teamwork, group projects and creative think-tanks. It also offers the opportunity to work independently while working alongside others.

Morning Meeting
The key component for this model to work is a meeting at the beginning of the session. The meeting covers 4 points; plans, problems, proposals and sharing

• Plans - everyone shares what his or her plans (content) are for the day - some may ask if they can join others in their plan.
• Problems - if anyone has a problem or challenge, they benefit from group problem-solving.
• Proposal - a new idea for the group to consider.
• Sharing - space to ‘show and tell’ what has been achieved, discovered or gained.

Skills around listening, speaking, one person at a time and respectful communication are observed at these meeting. The meeting provides a space where everyone can feel safe, listened to and respected.

Inappropriate Content
Occasionally content brought to the group may be inappropriate for the learning space and for some people using the space. For example, a ball game or pornographic material.

Because children are learning about the world and skills to navigate in it, our rational, empathic and wise feedback is extremely useful to them - especially around placing content in the right context. When we group-problem-solve we can educate and find ways to meet everyone’s needs. For example, a group can plan to go play ball at the park, pornography can stay in the bag. All the rational reasons why delivered in a safe-space are where the learning is - where seeing from another person’s point of view develops empathy, social awareness and skills to navigate in a diverse world with greater ease.

Respecting Each Other’s Workspace
A learning space needs to be a safe space for everyone. One of the key conditions for learning is that the learner must feel safe, or the learning brain shuts down.
This means we all must be aware of and consider environmental factors that can and may contribute to not feeling safe. Some examples of this could be -

• Extremely loud noise - shouting and banging.
• Extreme physical movement - running and activity
• that may be better for outdoor spaces.
• Flying objects - balls and other objects that may land
• in our personal space.
• Anti-social behaviour - swearing, flashing, threats.

Learning to work with and alongside others is a life skill, learners may require some assistance in establishing their personal space respectfully and how to work with others.