Along about third or fourth grade, children begin to make the transition to independent learning. They develop interests of their own, and can show remarkable ability to dig deeply into a topic, becoming experts in their chosen field of study.

A great way to acknowledge and encourage this new independence and enthusiasm is to give your students a say in what topics they will study. Instead of brainstorming the coming school year's themes during the summer, why not gather age-appropriate books and magazines on a variety of topics, and have them waiting for your students as they walk into your classroom at the beginning of the school year? Give them a couple days to look over the materials in their classroom, and then announce that they are going to decide what themes they will study that year, based on the books and magazines in their classroom.

Have a brainstorming session with the children and have them suggest topics for themes. Write each topic down on the blackboard, and then have each child choose five favorites from the list. Tally the results (or have one of your students tally them), and come up with the top five topics. At that point you can have another vote to choose the topic of the first theme. You might want to save the others for later in the school year, or have another brainstorming session and vote when it's time for a new theme. You may also want the children to put their names on their "ballots", so you can incorporate some of these theme ideas into learning centers or independent projects for individual students.

Once you've chosen your theme for the next few weeks, you can hold another brainstorming session to come up with ideas for particular lessons, activities and projects. Gather student suggestions for reading, math, science, social studies, art, music - all of your curriculum needs. If you have an art or music teacher who visits periodically, try to invite her or him into the process as well.

You may be amazed at the creative ideas your students present to you. Once you've gotten all this valuable feedback from your children, you can develop lesson plans and activities incorporating the appropriate curriculum requirements.

One good reason for basing the theme ideas on material you've already gathered is that you can get a jump-start on the material you will be covering. So what if one or more of your students insists on theme ideas you haven't included? You have a couple of options; you can agree to consider them for the second theme of the year, or you can go ahead and vote on them. If one of these new theme ideas pops up as your class's favorite, simply arrange a quick lesson on research for your students at the school library so they can gather some of their own materials.

Giving your students choices in the topics they study during the school year will not only build confidence as they accept their new role as independent learners, but it will help them sustain a high level of interest throughout the school year. Rather than confining themselves to the traditional teacher-student relationship, they will begin to become partners in their own learning.