Filling in Facts: Looking at Leaders

This is Mayor Dwight Jones, who leads our city. New City Hall, where he works, is in the background.

Irene Carney, Executive Director of our school. "She doesn't have a principal's office, though"

President Barack Obama and a drawing of the White House where he works.

               













A wonderful moment as the children discussed how to draw President Obama.

There's always a big question about when and if to share information with children, especially "academic" information. To me, the time to share some facts is when either the children need some information that they aren't likely to stumble upon on their own, or when stopping to research one thing will stop momentum on something else that's really important.
In this case, the children have spent a lot of time learning about Richmond, but are kind of hazy about who runs it. Most have heard there is a Mayor in city hall, which they have explored quite a bit. However, when it came down to who is in charge of the city, President Obama, police, or 'workers' have come up most often. So the teachers decided it was time to loan them some information about government.
Loris Malaguzzi said :

“We seek a situation in which the child is about to see what the adult already sees. In such a situation, the adult can and must loan to the children his judgement and knowledge”