Brainstorming ideas for activities that support and connect different areas of the curriculum As Stephanie and Phyllis began to plan the thematic unit, they brainstormed ideas and concepts that would support the standards they are working on and what they have observed about the children lately. They used the five categories of the standards listed in Table 6.3 to organize a concept map of ideas (Figure 6.5). When teachers brainstorm, they record any idea that might be relevant to the topic and appropriate to the developmental levels of the children; at this stage it is not necessary to have a specific plan for an activity or to make a commitment to enact every idea on the map. It is simply an efficient and effective strategy for generating and organizing possibilities that may or may not ultimately be feasible to include in the unit plan.
As they continued to brainstorm, listing ideas for particular activities and experiences that would support the concept map, they thought about the centers in their room and materials on hand or that could easily be procured or created (Figure 6.6).