What is a Statement of Intent?

This is a general “umbrellas” under which the teachers position themselves and begin project work from. It can almost be best understood if considering these statements of intent as questions the teachers are posing the children and hoping to answer as the children work through their short term and long term projects, explorations and play during the school year.

For example each class will often work with math concepts found within monetary exchange, particularly as it relates to the buy-sell-credit process.

Following the Saplings statement of intent, this class may propose experiencing monetary exchange from different roles (that of the producer, the agent or the consumer) and what it means to be in each of these roles.

If a similar concept was being introduced in a classroom with a statement of intent such as the one found in the Trees class, focus might be on advertising, rate communication, posting rates, billing and consumer satisfaction. In either class, monetary concepts are still explored, but they are done quite differently.

The statements of intent are determined based on previous year observations, teacher interests and school-wide intents however they are also open-ended enough so that child interests can show through and children have significant ability to affect what, when and how they learn.

For the 2010/2011 school year, the statements of intent will be:

“Seeds” (children born in 2009; Miss Cindy and Miss Maria)

Our baby class traditionally focuses on relationship development, community and home-school connections. Gradual entry is staggered from July – December, and as new children enter the classroom, teachers begin with primary caregiver attachment and move towards developing peer relationships as the year progresses. How do you say hello to peers and adults; where does “my” body end and “yours” begin? How do I communicate my ideas to someone else without physically intruding into their space? How are relationships maintained with parents, peers and teachers in a variety of contexts?

“Saplings” (children born in 2008; Miss Amy and Miss Gina)

Over the past year teachers observed children “try on” roles as they experimented with different identities within the classroom community. This year deeper explorations will be undertaken as we begin to understand, define and express our identity through trying out different roles, scaffolded social-dramatic play and noticing the similarities and differences between different people.  We will also be exploring the different roles we hold – and how we can experience identity pluralism when these roles collide (for example, when we want to be a loving daughter who makes her mother happy and when we want to be an angry child who wants to loudly express herself. How do self-needs and other-needs both get met without compromising our understandings of our selves? How can I be a good friend and help a peer who is sad because they want my toy when I also want to take care of my needs and play with my toy right now.)

“Trees” (children born in 2007; Miss Jannel and Mr Pat)

Communication encompasses a need for social emotional intelligence as children answer how best to communicate an idea and what emotions and situations will affect my message? Communication isn’t limited to verbal peer-to-peer interactions, but includes communication between all individuals: verbal, body language, written-symbolic and visually-symbolic. Last year this class had extended focus on storytelling and roles, particularly as understood through dramatic play and books. This year these interests will be extended to encompass a larger breadth of communication methods.

“Big Kids” (children born in 2006; Miss Zahra)

Continuing last years work in exploring community, inquiries this year will focus on how individuals within and the group as a whole understand and live social responsibility. Why do we need to be socially responsible? Can one individual make a difference? How do we motivate a group to work together to make a difference? What democratic structures help run groups effectively? What is justice? What is equality? What is power? Do children even have real power? As the “Big Kids” in the school, we have a lot of power among peers, and teachers are asking what the class will do with their power, as a group and as individuals? Finally, the last three months of the school year will focus on transitioning into Kindergarten. Kindergarten readiness, responsibility, growth and ageing are explored as the class prepares for their graduation ceremony.