![\"\"](\"http:\/\/newsimg.furman.edu.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/first-baptist-furman.jpg\" "\\"first-baptist-furman\\"")
<\/a>\u201cHow do trees drink out of their roots?\u201d \u201cWhere does tree sap come from?\u201d \u201cWhy do squirrels live in trees?\u201d<\/p>\nThey may not even be in first grade yet, but a group of 3- to 6-year-olds in a new Furman summer school program spent four weeks in July and August asking tough questions \u2014 and getting answers.<\/p>\n
The Furman Experience at First Baptist Kindergarten (FBCK) is a partnership started this year between Furman University\u2019s Graduate Studies program and First Baptist Church of Greenville. The four-week summer experience was the final part of the practicum for the Master of Arts program with concentration in Early Childhood Education.<\/p>\n
Furman educators had been looking for a way to offer the Early Childhood Education practicum course (EDEC-960) in a centralized location and were impressed with the Reggio Approach, a non-religious educational philosophy originating in Reggio Emilia, Italy, and used at FBCK during its school year. After approaching First Baptist administrators, Furman and the kindergarten were able to develop a summer program that would offer 24 FBCK children a month of enrichment while providing a new curriculum and learning experience for seven Furman students.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re excited to partner with Furman,\u201d said Kathy Stewart, director of education practice at First Baptist Church Kindergarten. \u201cIt\u2019s a wonderful opportunity to work with students.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Furman Experience\u201d uses a specialized project-based approach to learning, where children are encouraged to examine topics through investigation and research. At the same time, teachers support children in constructing their own knowledge, helping them to discover and share what they\u2019re learning, said Gina Varat, Furman\u2019s adjunct instructor who oversaw the program on-site.<\/p>\n
Instead of just telling students the answers to their questions, teachers respond with additional questions, such as \u201cWhat do you think?\u201d and \u201cLet\u2019s find out,\u201d Varat said.<\/p>\n
This year, the church facilities and grounds served as the inspiration for child-directed projects studying trees, offices and stained glass windows. The final week included a visit with parents to see the results of students\u2019 hard work.<\/p>\n
For 5-year-old Miles, it meant telling about the bird feeders, leaf prints and art projects she created. \u201cI\u2019m very happy to show my mom all the things I made,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The hands-on approach builds children\u2019s confidence as they learn and teach others. \u201cThey\u2019re excited to learn and come to school,\u201d said First Baptist program liaison Meg Holcombe. \u201cChildren are ready to share their ideas and experiences.\u201d<\/p>\n
The approach also fosters advanced oral language skills, student motivation and achievement in young children, said Lorraine DeJong, coordinator for Furman\u2019s Early Childhood Program.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s fantastic,\u201d said Anna Barnett of Greenville, whose son, Gray, attended the program. \u201cIt fits with Gray\u2019s interests.\u201d She said she hopes the program will be offered in future years so that her daughter will also be able to participate.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe hope Furman students will walk away feeling more competent implementing state standards within the context of child-centered approaches to curriculum and instruction,\u201d DeJong said. \u201cUltimately, we hope they will use and be stronger advocates for these models in their future classrooms.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
AUGUST 22, 2012
\nby Erikah Haavie, Contributing Writer<\/p>\n
\u201cHow do trees drink out of their roots?\u201d \u201cWhere does tree sap come from?\u201d \u201cWhy do squirrels live in trees?\u201d<\/p>\n
They may not even be in first grade yet, but a group of 3- to 6-year-olds in a new Furman summer school program spent four weeks in July and August asking tough questions \u2014 and getting answers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":265,"featured_media":719,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-department-page","category-education"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/265"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}