ABSTRACT
Stretch the Imagination is a half-day preschool that works with families in the Pacific Heights area of San Francisco. With 14 teachers and staff, the school serves 125 families. Built on the idea that children are capable and competent, teachers, together with their students, undertake project-based learning that is rooted in inquiry. Documentation of children's learning and teacher understanding of children's learning also lies at the heart of the school's mission. Typically, children are kept together as a class unit as they move through the years at Stretch and, when possible, teachers loop with their classes. This chapter presents the story of two projects that involved children's inquiry, representation of their ideas, and their own evolving process as reflective teachers. The first story is of the Maple class, consisting of 3.5-4.5-year-olds, and the project studying animals. The second story is of the Juniper class, consisting of 2.5–3.5-year-olds, and the study of weather and the seasons.
