Reggio Emilia Education; What is it?
Seven Key Charecteristics
You would have read on our landing page that we are a Reggio Emilia inspired centre. You may be asking yourself “What is Reggio Emilia?” and “Why is Reggio best for my child?”. Reggio Emilia is a educational philosophy or curriculum style that believes the child is full of potential and invites children to present their ideas in Various ways! Reggio Emilia is a child-centered and constructivist self-guided curriculum that uses self-directed, experiential learning in relationship-driven environments.
There are seven key characteristics of a Reggio Emilia inspired program. Below we explore what these seven are and ways that Raising Stars Preschool ltd. Honors and follows these characteristic in our early learning programs.
Child-centered:
Our staff at Raising Stars Preschool meet monthly to discuss what we will be learning about the next month. Our discissions on what to learn about are based on what we see our children being interested in! Because of this we are unable to tell parents at enrollment/ the beginning of the year what we will be learning about in the coming year as it depends on your children’s interests.
By not having a set in stone curriculum children who attended Raising Stars for multiple years are always learning and never have to learn the same things year after year, they will never be bord here!
A child centered preschool means that even teacher lead times such as circle time involve the children heavily, we are just there to guide the children during teacher lead activities, the activities are all about the children and they take the lead in these times and support each other!
We have long periods of free play, allowing the children to explore and learn from the world around them (more about this in Learning from the Environment)
Learning from the Environment:
Open windows, large rooms with less children, colourful and welcoming learning space, a home-like environment are all aspects of Reggio Emilia programs, and we have them all! Our rooms are large with plenty of space to move around and explore. Unlike traditional classrooms where one item needs to remain at one area of the room, children at Raising Stars Preschool are welcome to move from place to place in a classroom experimenting, playing and learning from each other, the room and the materials in the room! With lots of loose parts the children are free to experiment and discover how items and materials can be used in play!
Reggio Emilia approach believes in the importance in large, beautiful outdoor spaces where children can be free to play without a lot of rules or teacher instruction.
Documentation:
At Raising Stars we do documentation every day. From large documentation areas with play stories, dialogs, and scripts in the classrooms. To daily posts of pictures and videos about what we are doing during the day. This documentation is made available to parents/guardians through our school app Classdojo.
Documentation can be through quotes, recording’s, audio or pictures. These documentations help educators know what is needed to support children, where they are at developmentally as well as help parents see what is happening at Preschool, solving the common answer of “I don’t know” to “what did you do today?”.
Inquiry:
Inquiry:
One of the main focuses of Reggio Emilia is Wondering with the child, which is where Inquiry comes into play. When we allow the children to ask questions, and wonder about the world around them they develop a natural sense of wonder and excitement. Allowing the children to wonder through their scense (See, Taste, Hear, Touch, Feel).
Reggio Emilia also is where “Provocations” come from. A provocation is a question asked at a centre, a challenge to have the children try something or attempt to create something. Provocations is used daily at Raising Stars weather it be a physical provocation try or a simple as a question that provokes a question or wondering for the children.
Observation:
Observation goes hand in hand with documentation in Reggio Emilia. The educators stand back a lot during the day and observe the children’s strengths and weaknesses developmentally and make note of where the children are developmentally. Educators observe children’s play and regulation abilities, working with the child to become independent.
Collaboration:
Reggio Emilia approach believes in collaborative growth and development. Children learn best when working as a team, learning to share, work together and good sportsmanship. We work as a team to create beautiful art pieces in the classrooms (Such as chandeliers or murals). Children learn their own strengths and learn how to support others in their groups. When working as a team children learn communication skills and strengthen their sharing abilities.
Community:
Reggio Emilia believes in a community aspect of early childhood education. At Raising Stars we take this two ways. First, we are very involved as a school community. All three classrooms get throughout the day to play, create and learn together. We team up during outside play to play as a community, the children learn to respect the school by helping in all aspects of the day. Our school community combines for field trips (such as our summer program when we are out nearly every day) or for weekly trips to the library.
We also are involved in our local municipal community. We utilize local parks and local activity centres such as the Okanagan Science Centre or Vernon Okanagan Regional Library. In addition we take part in local events when available. Children at Raising Stars are able to connect with the community with their preschool and find a sense of community within their programs.
Raising Stars is a proud member of the North American Reggio Emilia Alliance!
Raising Stars Preschool Limited
Address: 3404 24th Street Vernon BC, Canada
Phone: (250) 938-7264
Email: raisingstarspreschool@gmail.com
Hours: 8:30am - 6:00pm