Simon Sinek shared the importance of sharing your purpose in his inspiring and thought-provoking talk: Start with why – how great leaders inspire action. Therefore, when Toddle invited me to share the process and strategies for how I approached the creation of a virtual unit for 5-6-year-olds, I knew I should first start by explaining my ‘why’.

I created a virtual unit on Goods and Services on Toddle Community and by sharing my process of creating  this unit, I want to:

• support the PYP Early Years learning community in implementing remote learning more meaningfully,
• share authentic examples of inquiry and play-based experiences that have worked in a real classroom which will bridge the gap between planning and execution, 
• promote play as the primary driver for inquiry,
• develop age-appropriate inquiry-based learning experiences to set students up for success as they move to grade 1,

Before I start sharing the planning process, I think it’s important to consider ‘The Early Years Learner’. Loris Malaguzzi from Reggio Emilia says “Your Image of the Child is Where Teaching Begins”, so we must understand the needs and interests of our students to design authentic and meaningful experiences. The young learner is strong, intelligent and beautiful, with ambitious desires and requests and as teachers, we need to keep their choice and agency in the centre of the learning process.