Why do we say something isn't fair? Can you be friends with someone you’ve never met? Is a dream real while you are having it? Young children ask questions like these all the time, and in this class we take them seriously. In this course, children will step into the world of philosophy: the practice of asking thoughtful questions, listening closely to others, thinking deeply about ideas, and discovering that some of the best questions don't have just one right answer.
Every class begins with group reading of a children’s book that invites big questions about fairness, friendships, truth, and imagination, which we then reflect on and discuss individually and in groups. Students practice asking their own questions, explaining what they think and why, and listening to classmates who see it differently. Discussions spill into playful, hands-on activities: acting out a thought experiment, drawing what an idea looks like, taking a side of the room and defending it, building a model of something we can't quite see. Students take home a journal of nine weeks of thinking, and families are welcome to join the final conversation.
