SETTING THE TONE

Creating a safe, inclusive, and engaging classroom community

Children are more apt to learn when they know that they belong, that they matter, and that they are
safe. If they feel insecure or unwelcome they will constantly scan their surroundings for threats. They
will be one step away from fight or flight, never truly concentrating on the task in front of them. Thus,
to be fully and creatively engaged in a learning activity, children need to know that they are in an
environment that meets their physical, emotional, and social needs; an environment that is predictable
enough to dispel uncertainty; and an environment where they will feel safe, included, valued, and
happy.
One important part of feeling included is a warm relationship with the adults in the room. Ms. am and
I build connections with children by making sure that we have time to engage with each of them
individually, to listen to them talk about their day, and to make sure that they have positive encounters
with us on a daily basis. !y knowing that they matter to us, they will feel secure and will be able to
focus their cognitive energy on learning.
They also need to know that others will not put them down or hurt their feelings. This means that adults
must consistently and fairly address conflicts and social problems. If children do not feel safe, they will
dedicate fewer mental resources towards their learning because they"re wondering when the ne#t
unpleasant incident is going to happen. Thus, adults must be warm as well as consistent so that all
children know that, if there is a problem, it will be resolved fairly.
It is important to make the classroom e#pectations clear, and to make sure that they are followed. !ut
the most effective method for creating a safe and welcoming environment is to create an inclusive
classroom community. One e#plicit goal, therefore, is to help children develop friendships that last
throughout their time at Cottingham and, ideally, beyond. $sing activities from the T%I!&' program,
children will have the opportunity to get to know one another beyond a play partner, engaging with
them on a personal and emotional level. Children will e#plore one another"s strengths, preferences,
ideas, and all of the other things that make us uni(ue.
The T%I!&' program also provides the four main agreements for the class
i) Mutual %espect *ie. treat other kids the way you want to be treated)
ii) +o ,ut -owns
iii) The %ight to ,ass
iv) .ttentive istening
$sing this framework and various small group sharing activities, we hope to create an environment
where each child feels safe, welcome, included, and deeply connected to others in the community.
PERSONA AN! SOCIA !E"EOP#ENT
'chool success is not simply a matter of intelligence. More and more, educators are reali/ing that
success 0 however it may be defined 0 is a matter of personal characteristics, such as emotional
regulation, memory, problem solving, reflection, curiosity, responsibility, perseverance, perspective0
taking, and organi/ation.
ike intelligence, these are only partially a matter of genes. To a significant e#tent, they are also a
matter of our e#periences throughout our childhood. .s ,aul Tough articulated so clearly in his best0
selling How Children Succeed, these are traits that children can learn, and whether we teach them or
not has a ma1or impact on student success. .s a (uick e#ample2 Carol -weck, a psychologist at
'tanford, took two groups of elementary students. 'he told the first that their intelligence was
genetically fi#ed, while she told the other that 3your brain is like a muscle, the harder you work the
stronger it becomes and the smarter you are3. +ot surprisingly, the latter tried harder and persevered
through difficulty and did better at school.
4e"ll review a few of these topics below.
E$ecutive %unction
It is often hard work to pay attention to someone else or to transition from one activity to another. 5et
all of these are essential for learning. Thus, young children need to 3learn how to learn3. They need to
get better at storing information, recalling it when needed, paying attention long enough to use it, and
regulating their impulses and emotions so that they are not overwhelmed by them.
'everal of these traits are known as executive function: the ability to control one"s thinking. These
include concentration *the ability to ignore distraction and immerse oneself in a task), fle#ibility *the
ability to handle ambiguity, and to transition between activities), emotional0regulation *the ability to
think clearly under stress), impulse control *the ability to consciously inhibit certain refle#ive
behaviours, especially aggression), and memory *the ability to deliberately recall information relevant
to the problem at hand). These are the skills that allow us to consciously control our thoughts, and to a
real e#tent they are the foundation of learning.
Much of the development of e#ecutive function happens within the first few years of life, and are
largely dependent on non0school factors. +evertheless, there are several ways to support the
development of e#ecutive function at school.
.s mentioned above, creating a safe, inclusive, and predictable space is one such way, as this lets
childen dedicate their mental energy towards a single task.
The second and most crucial is imaginative play, which will be discussed in greater detail below.
Imaginative, dramatic play demands that children attend to one another"s actions, words, and ideas in
real0time, and they are implicitly motivated to practice these skills.
To further support e#ecutive function, children will spend some time each week playing games like
'imon *remembering se(uences of coloured lights), Memory *aka Concentration, flipping cards and
making pairs), 'nap *revealing matching cards), 'pot It, %ed ight67reen ight, 'imon 'ays, and
8ree/e -ance among others. %egular practice can greatly increase working memory capacity and
impulse control.
.nother important component of e#ecutive function is to discuss it e#plicitly with children, so that they
develop the ideas and vocabulary to discuss their own mental states and become more aware of their
feelings and actions. This is a precursor to metacognition - 3thinking about thinking3 0 that becomes
such an important part of higher0order thinking in later years.
To conclude2 the more information that we can hold in our mind, the more carefully we can consider it,
and the longer we can consider it for, the more we can use it effectively. .s children progress in their
school careers, this ability to think deliberately will become more and more important.
Social Pro&lem Solving
4e want children to solve their problems both fairly and independently. This means giving children the
skills and words to de0escalate conflict, calm their bodies, and settle things in a way that is fair to as
many people as possible, and in a way that allows relationships to continue without hard feelings. 8or
this reason, part of carpet time will be dedicated to developing social skills, such as conflict resolution,
emotional literacy, perspective taking, making friends, or 1oining games. 4e will be drawing primarily
on the 'econd 'tep program, which uses puppets, adult modelling, role play, stories, and discussion to
help children develop social problem solving skills. Make0believe play also develops the capacity to
self0regulate and solve social problems in a fair and supportive way.
%airness
Children have an intuitive sense of reciprocity, which becomes the basis of their understanding of
fairness. In kindergarten, they are still learning to feel what others feel and know what others know.
This understanding of perspective develops throughout childhood, especially as children play and hear
stories. Over time, they increasingly understand that they should treat people the way that they want to
be treated themselves. 4e attempt to e#press this sense of responsibility in terms that young children
can understand, especially when it comes to conflict resolution, social skills development, and stories.
The children"s emerging understanding of diversity is also tied into this sense of fairness, and is
e#plored throughout the program. Ideally, this will help children to become more thoughtful and civil.
Organi'ation and Inde(endence
Throughout our program, children are encouraged to be organi/ed and to do as much as possible
independently. Initially, this has to do with activities like cleaning up properly and putting away our
snack. &ventually, it will manifest itself in how the children play2 the scale drawings they make before
they build with blocks, the planning that goes into a play scenario, or making sure that they have all the
materials before starting an art activity. .s the great psychologist ev 9ygotsky noted, very young
children say what they drew after they"ve drawn it, but older children will declare ahead of time what
they"re going to draw and will stick to their plan. !ut this transition is not simply a matter of maturity
or disposition; instruction and practice help children to develop their organi/ational skills.
Curiosity and Engagement
Children learn most when they are able to deeply connect their own e#periences with their learning
activity. They won"t learn as much or as well if the material is too foreign, difficult, or easy. 8or young
children, this means following their own interests to the greatest e#tent possible. .s the Ontario
:indergarten Curriculum states, this means playing. .s such, we seek to set up play e#periences that
are deeply engaging. ikewise, we attempt to make sure that the more structured portions of instruction
are based on the child"s interests. 4e make sure that the materials and activities are 1ust challenging
enough, neither repetitive nor overwhelming. This optimi/es engagement, attention, and motivation,
which in turn drive curiosity and perseverance.
In order to engage children as fully as possible, many of our lessons and pro1ects will use emergent
programming. This is loosely based on the methods of primary schools in the town of %eggio &milia,
Italy. &mergence is student0led, in(uiry0based learning that encourages sustained investigation,
e#ploration, deep understanding, reflection, and creativity. It is often arts0based, although it often
integrates a variety of curricular strands into a single learning program, including science, social
studies, literacy, math, and movement.
.lthough there is no set 3method3, Carol 4ien identifies five key components of emergent learning2
Teachers are always in dialogue with children, really listening to what they say and what the
pro1ect means to them. This knowledge allows the teacher to set up and e#tend the learning so
that children can figure out, create, and e#plore themselves, instead of staff e#plaining or
directing or modelling the lesson to them. Thus do ideas emerge from the children.
Student)led (rogramming allows children to have a large say in which activities they choose,
what themes they e#plore, and what direction they take their learning. Teachers and students
work out plans and decisions together.
,articipation and colla&oration within a learning group, in which children can e#pect each
other to meet their mutual obligations. Instead of teacher discipline, children are e#pected to
regulate their own behaviour because of the sense of reciprocity within the group.
Children e#press creativity and are given time, s(ace, and small amounts of direction to help
them develop their ideas.
The classroom culture becomes one of motivation, engagement, thoughtful conversation, and
mutual respect, all with a sense of e$citement and (ositive energy.
Social *nderstanding
'ome would argue that children learn the most during make0believe. It is during imaginary play that
children practice their ama/ing ability to collectively create a world that isn"t really there, in which they
each play a role that all other members can understand and respond to. Instead of simply accepting the
reality they"re given, they create one for themselves. They enter into fun, e#citing, comple#, and
imaginary relationships with one another.
Think of The Lego Movie: &mmet was very cooperative but only had one original thought in his entire
life. The ego Masters, on the other hand, were brilliantly creative but the couldn"t work together at all.
Make believe play gives children will take the best from both worlds2 cooperative like &mmet and
creative like the ego Masters. Ideally, these talents will allow children to become thoughtful and able
to tolerate ambiguity, unlike the arch0villain ,resident !usiness who wants everyone to follow The
Instructions.;
Make0believe play is one of the few times were children are not given instructions. They have to think
for themselves, yet with others. They must perform the very difficult work of hypothetical, abstract
thinking, creating an abstract world were only props e#ist, and coordinate this with others. This is an
incredible ability that we take completely for granted, despite the fact that social construction is
something we do at almost every moment of the day.
Thus, children need long, unbroken stretches of time for imaginative play. Their play can be enriched
by adults who read books and stories relating to play themes, who use carpet time to model possible
roles, who provide props that help children get into their role without defining it for them, and who
enter into the play to deepen it when it slows. If you were to visit our classroom, you might see Ms.
am and myself observing children"s play, wondering how we could take it a little further so that
children are given more ideas to consider, problems to solve, and scenarios to act out.
&ven building blocks, the sand table, or playdough become opportunities for interactive play. Turning
a stack of blocks into an evil wi/ard"s tower is a rich and highly engaging learning e#perience2 children
have to 1ointly create and agree to a certain goal, they have to coordinate their own actions by watching
what someone else is doing, they have to meet the e#pectations of those around them. This is
cooperation via learning, and it is something we do every single day without noticing.
; .s an aside, I thought I"d hate The Lego Movie, but I ended up really en1oying it. 5ou may want to
preview it before watching it with your child.
ITERAC+
Crac,ing t-e Code
%eading has two components2 decoding and comprehension. -ecoding is the act of turning letters into
words and words into sentences. Comprehension is understanding what these sentences mean.
.s adults who have been reading for decades, we take the hard work of decoding for granted. 4e do
not sound out words phonetically, like a seven0year old. 4e don"t even see the letters. Instead, we
automatically recogni/e familiar words that we have read thousands of times, pausing only for
unfamiliar words like polydimethylsilo#ane, or stopping when we detect a mistkae.
!ut becoming proficient reader was no easy task, something we 1ust picked up. It likely took several
years of intense instruction and practice. I still remember Mr. Muggs readers from my own 7rade <
e#perience, and I remember arguing with my older sister that the sign to =igh ,ark actually read 3=igg0
huh3 ,ark.
4e didn"t recogni/e words effortlessly as we do now. 4e had to figure them out, often letter by letter,
and it was hard work. One thing that makes it difficult is that we have >? letters, both upper an lower
case, which usually makes its own sound. That"s @> letters, many of which make more than one sound.
=ow do we know that a says ah in mad but a in made!
Thus, a child needs to remember what a given letter looks like, and that the letter usually makes the
sound of its name *b says buh, a says a) . One obvious problem, however, is that there is nothing to
suggest to suggest that the symbol d makes the duh sound. +ot only does it take practice and
concentration for young children to remember which letters they are looking at *is that a b or a dA), they
then have to remember the sounds that go with the symbols. This becomes especially difficult when
we"re trying to spell out whole words, one after another, in a sentence.
.nother obvious problem is that letters rarely say what we think they will. There are <<BB letter
patterns that represent CC individual sounds, many of which are totally counterintuitive or arbitrary
*'panish, by comparison, has DE sounds and EB letter patterns). 4hy does tion say shen as in attention,
instead of rhyming with lion! &ven "honics isn"t spelled phonetically.
Consider the word dog, for instance. Children have to remember that the symbol d makes the duh
sound. They would then have to keep this in mind while they tried to figure out if o says aw like
octo"us or o like o"en or ow like owl, which they can only really know once they get to the ne#t letter,
so now they are trying to store all of this information while trying to remember if g says #uh like gm or
guh like ga". .nd at the end of it all, they have to remember what this story is about.
In order to make phonics instruction more simple and intuitive, we will be using the &asy%ead 7uided
,honics approach, originally developed by -avid Morgan as a solution to dysle#ia. 8irst, children learn
some fairly intuitive picture symbols *eg. the ion with a Tie on, the .nts in ,ink ,ants). These
symbols are then placed above the te#t that is to be read. !ecause the pictures clearly indicate the
sound to be made *the symbol of the lion says luh, the ape says a *not ah), the sheep says sh$, it
becomes much easier to make a connection between the sound and the letter, making the decoding
process easier. .nd since much of this is done online through a series of engaging games, it is (uite fun
and takes very little time. Thus, children become more proficient at word attack while also building a
bank of high fre(uency words *eg. to, with, but$, making reading even more fluent. .nd as the support
becomes less necessary, it will be gradually withdrawn.
!eside phonics instruction, we also teach decoding through guided reading. 'tarting in 'enior
:indergarten, the teacher sits with a child and listens to him or her read a te#t that is 1ust slightly too
hard to be read independently. Most of the words are familiar or are patterned, but every so often the
child will be forced to stop and figure out unfamiliar words. The adult will remind the child of their
word0solving strategies, giving 1ust enough guidance to allow the child to practice the strategies so that
he or she will eventually become competent decoders. Thus, guided reading has less to do with 3getting
the words right3 as it does with deploying word solving strategies effectively.
One of the important things about guided reading is that it does not limit itself to phonetic approaches.
4hen a child makes an error on a hard word, we ask2
-oes it look rightA *ie. did you say it as it is spelled on the pageA)
-oes it sound rightA *ie. does it make grammatical sense with the rest of the sentenceA)
-oes it make senseA *ie. does the word fit the meaning of the storyA)
7uided reading focuses on the meaning of the te#t, and attempts to use this as a key method to solving
words. It is much easier to know that dog says dog if you know the story is about a lost puppy, not a
boy named -oug. .nd after reading this word numerous times, we don"t have to figure it out again, so
we become more fluent and more capable of reading slightly harder books, practicing our strategies to
the point where they are automatic refle#es.
Thus, we use both phonics and guided reading as the primary methods to teach decoding2 while the
former focuses on letters, the latter focuses on words. .fter centuries of argument, it seems that
children learn best with both methods.
Com(re-ension
Over the course of several years 0 usually ': to 7rade D 0 most children make small, incremental gains
in their decoding skills. 4ith thousands of hours of practice as well as thousands of dollars worth of
instruction, the vast ma1ority of children become able to translate visual symbols such as these into
words and sentences.
!ut what"s the pointA 4hy go to all of this trouble, especially when television is so much less effortA
The answer is that reading allows us access to the ama/ing breadth of the human e#perience, from
engineering te#tbooks to maga/ines to academic 1ournals to novels to romantic poetry. .lthough there
is much to be valued in oral traditions, literacy allows us to know what other people know and to
e#perience the world as they e#perienced it. .nd because literacy is almost universal, almost everyone
can become an author and share their uni(ue e#periences. It is no coincidence that the human rights
revolution of the last two centuries has correlated with the rise in literacy2 if we can take others"
perspective, we might be less hostile towards their desires for e(uality or freedom.
More importantly, however, reading is fun. .s one of my grade ? students said when she was reading
The Hunger %ames, 3it"s like I"ve got a movie in my head.3 . good book allows us vicarious
e#periences that are interesting, e#citing, or moving. 4e see the protagonist struggle with a dilemma or
problem and we must imagine how we might solve it ourselves. 4e watch them react to the situation
and wonder at our own responses. 'tories allow us to become more thoughtful, both about ourselves
and about others.
If decoding is one part of reading, comprehension is the second. It involves recalling the story,
understanding why the characters felt and acted the way they did, connecting the information to
ourselves, inferring information that isn"t directly stated, linking cause with effect, and imagining
alternatives. 'tories also enhance our oral language abilities and build up our vocabularies and our
sense of grammar. In short, hearing stories is one very important component of learning to read.
&ven though young children dedicate a lot of effort towards solving words, they also want to
understand what they"re reading. They want to en1oy the e#perience of a story at the end of all of this
work. Thus, as we read story books with children, we need to gently encourage them to2
recall the story, from beginning to middle to end.
make connections between the te#t and their own e#periences. That reminds of the time when...
see the big picture and understand the main idea of the story. The moral of the stor is...
understand cause and effect. &h did the first Little 'ig(s house fall down! )ecause he made it
from straw.
infer information that isn"t stated directly. &h did 'uss in )oots tr to tric* the *ing into
thin*ing that the miller(s son was a "rince! )ecause he wanted the bo to marr the *ing(s
daughter.
em(at-i'e, to some degree, with the feelings of characters. How would ou feel if ou had
ris*ed our life to tric* a dragon to rescue our fianc+ and then he tells ou that a real "rincess
doesn(t wear a "a"er bag!
(redict what might happen ne#tA &ill the troll eat the )ig )ill %oat %ruff!
think deeply enough about the te#t to make a .udgement or form an opinion. &as
,um"lestilts*in being unfair to the miller(s daughter, or was she not *ee"ing her "romise!
imagine alternatives. &hat would have ha""ened to -ertle if everone ignored him!
!ut the reading books that we send home are not ideal comprehension practice. Children need real
story book stories that the find interesting and e#citing. They also need the opportunity to discuss
what they read with an adult, who can ask them leading (uestions that help them think about the te#t.
4e can ask children why Chicken ittle thought the sky was falling, or what they would have done if
they were being bossed around by 5ertle the TurtleA
Often, your child will not have the answers to these (uestions. +evertheless, it is important that you ask
these (uestions and discuss the possible answers out loud, with the children"s help. 4e need to 3think
out loud3 and engage them in rich conversation about the story. !y modeling this kind of 3higher order
thinking3 and helping them them stretch their thoughts, children learn to think in more comple# ways.
It is these conversations that make children e#cited about reading, and make them want to remain
readers. It is also a very en1oyable way to spend time.
&#ploring a book is not a (ui/, but an entertaining discussion. .gain, children often won"t have answers
for our comple# (uestions, but we can model the answers for them, to demonstrate how we go about
thinking of people and their actions. This modeling is more important than asking them (uestions.
=ere are some (uick pointers to remember when you"re reading with your child2
En.oy the te#t, first and foremost.
#odel how to think about the te#t.
As, occasional leading (uestions to stimulate discussion.
Promote literacy by letting your children see you reading.
/riting
The comments from writing follow those from reading. 8irst, the goal is to get kids able to 0rite for
meaning1 This means that we want children to understand that writing has a purpose2 so other people
can read what they wrote. 4e want them to be implicitly motivated to write2 because their birthday
cards or make0believe shopping list or silly story will be read by someone who appreciates it.
The second thing is that we want them to be creative with their writing. Creativity is not a talent2 it
involves practice, discussion, and listening to stories. The goal of emergent story0telling is to help
children develop their ideas over several days so that their stories become longer and more comple#,
and so their characters become richer and more compelling. 8or these longer writing units, we will be
scribing for the children *ie. typing what they dictate).
The third point is that we want children to write 0ords. 4e want them to have a bank of memori/ed
high0fre(uency words *what, es), and we want them to be able to spell words phonetically. .s they
develop their phonics skills through the &asy%ead program, they will be able to match the sounds they
hear to the letters they need to write. They may hear the el sound when they try to spell leaf, and using
our sound0symbol chart they will independently find l. .gain, this is something that will be nurtured in
kindergarten but will only really emerge in the primary grades, as literacy learning becomes the focus.
4riting is integrated into many play centres, as long as it does not detract from the richness of
imaginary play. +evertheless, much of our writing will be done in a large group setting after morning
circle, and then developed in small groups throughout the morning. 4e will be drawing heavily on the
ucy Caulkins curriculum for primary writing. This is an e#cellent, rigorous, developmentally sound,
and meaning0focused program that puts children"s own ideas at the centre of the writing process.
#ATHE#ATICS
Math teaching has evolved since we were kids. The emphasis has moved strongly to understanding the
process matters more than the product, where the right answer doesn"t matter as much as the
e#planation. 'tudents are encouraged to work i) through real0world problems, ii) with physical ob1ects,
iii) showing their work *in pictures). Instead of memori/ing methods by rote, well0developed mental
models of (uantity let us understand, use, remember, and build math. This way, we can get rigour
through understanding as opposed to rigour through drill, we can inspire competence and confidence
instead of the confusion and drudgery that I remember.
In kindergarten, much of the math learning will be accomplished with games, pu//les, structured
activities, problems, and teacher0guided play. =ere are some of the ma1or goals that we hope to achieve
*several others are listed in the Ontario Curriculum, but were omitted for brevity"s sake). .gain, these
are concepts that children will develop over the course of several years, and some of these may not
develop until well into primary grades.
T-e %oundation of 2uantity
%ote counting2 Children can say the names of numbers in order without skipping *one, two, three...).
+umeral recognition2 Children can recogni/e the written symbol with its name *. says seven$.
One0to0one correspondence2 Children can count ob1ects one0at0a0time, understanding that one
number goes with one ob1ect. 5oung children often count several ob1ects for one number.
More6ess6'ame2 Children understand that one set has more or less ob1ects than another, or the
same amount.
+umber conversion2 Children understand that the number of ob1ects in a set does not change if
the ob1ects are reordered or rearranged.
Counting on2 If a child counts F pennies and another is added, they count up from F instead of
starting at one, as a younger child might.
Relations-i(s from 3 to 34
-ot ,lates2 Children can (uickly recogni/e small (uantities.
,lus6Minus One and Two2 Children instantly know that > bigger than @ is C and one less than E is D.
,art0,art04hole2 Children can break small numbers into smaller parts *C is E and D).
8ive6Ten anchors2 Children can get part0part0whole relationships (uickly by using @ and <B *G is
@ and E, and <B more than C is <C).
Children will also be introduced to addition, subtraction, multiplication, and fair shares.
Patterns
Children will build and e#tend simple patterns *D red blocks, > blue, D red, > blue..., < clap, < stomp, >
claps, > stomps, D claps, D stomps...).
Geometry
Children will know their shapes, and be able to use small tile shapes to cover different surfaces.
#easurement
Through play and investigation, children will e#plore length, mass, capacity, temperature, and time.
They will attempt to compare and (uantify them using their own units *popsicle sticks, hand spans).
!ata #anagement
Children will classify and group ob1ects *red s(uares in one pile, blue triangles in another).
Children will be able to tell if an event is impossible, unlikely, likely, and definite.
CONC*SION5 GOAS
4hat about science and social studies and art and musicA These are all deeply embedded into the
program, and I"d be happy to discuss them more. 4e are passionate about all of these, but this
document is long enough as it is.
It is also important to notice that, after a multi0billion dollar overhaul of primary education, Ontario
decided to keep kindergarten instead of starting grade one at age four. This is because (lay is t-e 0or,
of young c-ildren, and in t-e long run it contri&utes far more to t-eir intellectual develo(ment
and -a((iness t-an a focus on early academics1 .s educators, we are passionate about literacy,
numeracy, science, and the other areas of learning, but young children need play H especially make0
believe play H to be academically and socially successful.
et us conclude with a final (uestion2 why do we send children to kindergartenA There are lots of
answers, and here is one possible suggestion2
'o that today they will be happy, engaged, and learning.
'o that tomorrow they will be academically successful, supportive and thoughtful, curious, and
motivated, and engaged in school.
'o that in future they will be successful in whatever field they choose, as well as smart, curious,
resilient, thoughtful, strong, literate, 1ust, and kind.
RE%ERENCES
.s this is not intended for publication, I did not bother to footnote this properly according to .,.
formatting. The ma1ority of the information was drawn from the following sources2 !odrova and
eong"s Tools of the Mind *especially for the relationship of play to e#ecutive function and later
learning), 'inger and 'inger"s Ma*e-)elieve 'la, -avid Morgan"s &h Connor Can(t ,ead *pre0
publication draft), and ,aul Tough"s How Children Succeed *which is highly accessible), Carol .nne
4ien"s /mergent Curriculum in the 'rimar Classroom, Ieanne 7ibbs Tribes: 0 new wa of learning
and being together, and 9an de 4alle"s /lementar and Middle School Mathematics: Teaching
develo"mentall. Many other books were referenced, but these are most of the essential te#ts. .s noted,
the methods and goals of this document are consistent with those of the Ontario :indergarten
Curriculum.