A Process Curriculum for Five-Year-Olds. Occasional Paper No. 7.

This paper presents a kindergarten teacher's attempt to implement a process kindergarten curriculum which emphasizes the three skills of perceiving, creating, and decision-making. The experiences, materials, displays, books, and projects used in the curriculum are described. For each skill area, specific dimensions of focus are defined: (1) perceiving (growing in awareness of oneself, others, and one's environment) (2) creating (fluency in producing numbers of ideas and flexibility in producing ideas in many different categories); and (3) decision-making (recognizing that a problem exists, describing the alternatives, and evaluating the chosen course of action. Many of the projects mentioned in the skill sections were designed by the teacher, but one chapter detailing activities especially initiated by the children is included. Independence to pursue individual interests is encouraged in the classroom, and special emphasis is placed on teacher-student verbal exchanges and teacher observation of students to ensure that the children's academic and social qualities and needs are recognized and given attention. The three appendices include book suggestions for background reading, examples of graphical designs used in the classroom and a list of classroom displays. (SDH)