The Reggio Emilia Approach

“Education is not the learning of facts, but the training of the mind to think.” - Einstein

Reggio-Inspired:

I am a Reggio-inspired Teacher.  

“Every child is a creative child, full of potential, with the desire and right to make meaning out of life within a context of rich relationships, in many ways, and using many langugages.” -In the Spirit of the Studio

Children are Encouraged to Explore & Investigate:

Children are capable and passionate discoverers. They learn best through exploring and investigating their interests during play. While exploring within my classroom and the classroom outdoors, children are encouraged to create their own hypothesis regarding their interests and to test their ideas. In the process of exploring, predicting, and testing, children learn many things:  They acquire the ability to think strategically (making predictions and testing them); they train their minds to think creatively (posing possible solutions to their philosophies); and they learn to respect, and have faith in, both their own ideas and the ideas of others.

Through the process of learning through inquiry, children develop an appreciation for the process of learning. They document their journey and express their learning in various ways: drawing, writing, painting, sculpting, building, dramatizing, dancing, photographing, etc. This expression of their learning is used to further extend the thinking and learning of each child’s individual area of interest.

 Children Are Engaged in Project-Based Learning:

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Children Are Viewed As Respected Members of a Community:

My class offers many opportunities and activities that encourage the building of community. To facilitate a deeply rooted student community, children work and play in assorted groupings with various classmates. Interest groups are formed where students learn with, and from, friends who share their interests during group investigations and explorations. Children also work on various collaborative art installations throughout the year. As a result of these communal experiences, children learn from, and teach, each other.  They realize they are all students AND they are all Teachers.

To strengthen our bonds with the parents/guardians in our community, we invite you to visit and take part in our classroom before, after, and/or during school hours. I include you in your children’s learning via an interactive, digital portfolio / blog. I also send home calendars, newsletters, notes, and helpful tips. On top of this, I document and feature children’s work throughout the classroom during the school year via slideshows, documentation panels that feature photographs and write-ups, writing portfolios, reading journals, artistic creations, and more. Children bring home levelled reading text and a  Poem & Chant folder to share with their parent(s)/guardian(s).Children also host events to include their parents. You will be invited by the children to a culminating event at the end of a project so that the children may celebrate their knowledge with you.

We fortify our connection with our community members and field experts by inviting them into the classroom to share knowledge. We also make visits to members within our community during community outings (community walks and field trips). Community members learn from the children and the children use the community members as tools to further their investigations and curiosity. 

The children of this classroom also work with children and Teachers in various grades throughout the school. The children work with the other Kindergarten classes on projects throughout the year, and often invite children from other grades to share their knowledge and celebrate their ideas and creations. The Principal and Vice Principal are encouraged to visit the classroom on an on-going basis to witness the learning that is taking place. Children love to showcase and celebrate their ideas with them.

Children Explore and Express their Ideas Using Hundreds of Languages:

Declan specifically chose tree blocks to represent a "dead forest," purple lights to create an eery feel,  a variety of creepy crawlies, and some monsters to capture his idea of what a "Monster Forest" would look and feel like. 

The Reggio philosophy emphasizes the environment as the Third Teacher. The classroom has the job of capturing the child’s interest, provoking curiosity, and encouraging investigation and exploration.

The classroom needs to be multi-sensorial, and invite interactions amongst students, Teachers, and materials. It should engage the mind, body, and imagination, and offer high-quality materials and tools, and a variety of engaging opportunities.

Materials that are hosted within the classroom are chosen thoughtfully and with great care. Their intention is to create excitement, interest, and a sense of wonderment/curiosity.

In the early years of learning, words are often not enough. Materials are so important because they are a conduit for expression, and actively communicate the child’s thoughts and feelings. The availability of various materials gives children the opportunity to showcase their thinking in myriad ways, and fluently sing in a new language.

Materials are open-ended/non-specific so they can be used in hundreds of ways. Think of a piece of fabric. It can be used in so many ways. The only limitation is the child’s imagination: A magic carpet; a cape; butterfly wings; an apron; a sari, or a portion of a weaving, a collage, or a quilt. The list goes on.

Materials available for exploration are also gender-neutral, age-neutral, and beautiful. They are treasured pieces that spur and extend the child’s interests, and inspire creative thinking and problem solving. The quality of the materials that are used speak to the importance of the child. When children are given the opportunity to play with “beautiful stuff,” they realize their own importance and see themselves as important and valuable. This extends to their learning as they see their exploration as precious and respected as well.

Materials change according to student interests and needs. New materials are forever added and older materials are continually taken away. This creates on-going interest and ever-evolving ideas and creativity.

Examples of materials used in our classroom are glass beads, glass tiles, wooden beads, tree blocks, branch blocks, leaves, pinecones, acorns, seeds, flowers, feathers, fabric, buttons, ribbon, thread/yarn, sticks, stones, pebbles, shells, clay, cans, hardware (metal items), water colours, tempera, acrylics, pastels, chalk, ink, and photographs.

The products that children create with the materials available can facilitate new understandings and be very useful in revealing children’s knowledge. Children’s creations can also be used to find new ways to support on-going learning.

Children Turn the Outside In:

Most investigations are inspired by what children find interesting in their natural surroundings. A simple nature walk often leads to numerous questions, and inspirations for investigations. Inquiries inspired by nature prompt children to develop a curiosity, a respect, and a love of nature, and the beautiful.

In keeping with our commitment to promoting care and respect for the environment, we like to use as many natural (and recycled) materials in our classroom as possible. Quite frequently, our nature walks turn into treasure hunts. Children collect natural materials and bring them into the classroom to explore, create, and inspire. The fact that the materials are their own helps to ensure the children take ownership over their investigations and creations. They are motivated to respect their collection of materials because they found value in the treasure and took the time and effort to gather it. Students are more likely to explore the materials because they are self-chosen.

Some of the natural materials that are often collected by the children, and found within the classroom are, pine cones, acorns, sticks, stones, shells, insects, and flowers.

I hope you and your child will engage in an ongoing treasure hunt, and share your valuable findings with the classroom so that we may add to our collection of natural objects.

Children’s Experiences With Learning are Documented

The process of learning is celebrated and made visible via documentation.

Children are encouraged to sketch, create, sculpt, build, photograph, videotape, or write their observations.  The children use their documentation of their learning to express and showcase their knowledge and launch further learning.

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Children are Given Time

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