Umbrella project

Each year, we launch a new Umbrella project. We choose a big idea the whole school will think about together. This time, we're doing one that Lella Gandini suggested when she visited last year- time.

looking at clocks

making a watch

To start, the teachers gathered to fill our metaphorical pockets with ways of connecting ourselves, the children and families with the idea of time.


This is what we brainstormed... historicalcontext*counting*hindsight*timeline*traditions*birthdays*paperwhite*relationships*change*perception*seasons*breath*year*garden*germination*gestation*physical growth*change*clocks*sundials*
time travel*school at night*brain, neuroscience*mindfulness*the forest, nature*when does time stand still?*language like nostalgia,catharsis, lifetime, New York minute*modernity and time speeding up*
art and music history, jazz*theater history*repetition*cosmic time*distance/time*medicine/time*biological/time*photography*latitude*meridian*now/memory*hourglass*elapsed/remaining*analog/digital*anticipation*timed storytelling*time in stories*school time/schedules,transitions*yesterday*fashion/time*time*zones/politics&government*
divisions/separation*perception of time, personal/historical*can you control time*emotional component (time flies when you're having fun?)*sound?*scent?*mental calendars*
representing time*culture/time*history of, geography of*ecological time vs.cultural*repetition*beat*rhythm*

Already lots of research questions have come up- here are a few:
Do young children think of time as something they can control?  Do children care about time or is it something imposed by adults? Can Kindergarteners understand other children's sense of time or just their own?
and
Where on a clock do the tick and the tock come from? What gives a fairer turn- an hourglass or a stopwatch? Has there been or can there be a time with no time?