2010+Coop+Objectives

Some of our background discussion is captured on this page...

The objectives of this coop are (feel free to add to this list if you have your own objective):


 * To be involved in a weekly learning environment with our 4 to 6 yo children (& younger siblings)
 * For our children to become more comfortable learning with peers and letting others have turns speaking and sharing ideas.
 * I want both some structured time where they get used to the flow of the day and also some free play time.
 * I love the different approaches that other parents bring to a group that are different than mine.
 * To provide social opportunities for my kids. To fulfill this goal, the group needs to have regularly scheduled activities that members make some commitment to attend.
 * My goals are to expose to kids to a bigger world (geography, art, science) through fun activities with other kids and with the added benefit of hearing from other parents.
 * The books for FIAR become the "spine" of the class -- the framework for covering different topics (it could be different books if someone wants to bring in a favorite -- but I know these are very well chosen selections). I feel like the books provide a richer base than the traditional K/1st grade classroom themes and kids are often surprisingly interested in the bigger world and how they fit if they're exposed to things they haven't really thought about before.

Why I'm doing it (Linda):
 * By doing it WITH other families, I'm more likely to actually cover the material with Jeremy.
 * By doing it FOR other families, I'll put in the effort so he'll get more prepared, well-thought-out activities.
 * And by having other parents involved in organizing and teaching (& other kids involved in discussions), he'll learn things that it never occurred to me to even bring up!
 * So social is part of it but for the FIAR part, the "fun academics at their level" is a key part. (I love the creativity, leadership, and communication focus others bring as those are all important life skills but I definitely do not have the skills to provide singing, drama and art to kids -- let me provide science and geography any day! That's why it really takes a village!)

The activities would focus on 4 to 6 yo's so we can do some things like geography and talk about different artists, etc. The younger kids could be involved where they want to be as long as it wasn't too much of a disruption – we’d have to see if we needed to provide specific activities for them or play areas or if they’ll just go along with what’s happening.

NOTE: For those doing FIAR at home, the coop would be the introduction to the specific books. Each child would take a copy of the book home with him or her for the week in a special tote bag and each family could do more activities with that book at home later that week.

My initial thoughts on how it would be structured would be the following (I'm open to changing it but it's a starting point):

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 * 2 parents to lead/plan each book -- and we schedule the books and the timing at the beginning of the fall and maybe the beginning of the spring so people can start planning, get the book, etc. whenever it's convenient for them. Also, families could do more with the book at home if they wanted to.
 * I think it's easiest to get people to commit for the fall and then regroup after Thanksgiving to see if anyone wanted out or if we need to adjust anything (helps if everyone know that ahead of time).
 * We would start with a parent reading the book to the kids (great to have additional books for each child so they can flip through it as we read -- if we give the book list to the library ahead of time, they will have as many as we need at the library to pick up for the group). This would hopefully be **the first exposure most children have to the book** so no one gives away the story line before the others are finished discussing it.
 * Find where the story took place on a laminated map that each child would have in their tote bag and use velcro circles to attach a story disk to the map where the story took place.
 * Alternatively, if the "where" is less important than the "when," we could have a timeline to figure out when the story took place.
 * Do some activities based on the book pulled from FIAR or elsewhere -- the choice of activities would be up to the 2 parents in charge of that book.
 * If possible, incorporate Show and Tell (Jeremy somehow knows about Show and Tell and really wants to do that!) -- we could do a "bring anything" the first week of the book and then a "bring something related to the book" the 2nd week of the book
 * Some free open play time during the time we were together
 * Meeting at a park shelter when possible -- it would be a distraction at the beginning but maybe after a week or two it wouldn't be? I’ve found that having a coop at your own house is sometimes really stressful for the child who lives there because he/she has to share all of their own things with people he/she doesn’t know well.