Emergent Curriculum

Consistent with our view of children, our curriculum is emergent, meaning that it arises naturally from a discourse or series of interactions between the child and the teacher, or between the child and their peers.  Because we place importance on the role of communication in the learning process, we value the work of Lev Vygotsky and Loris Malaguzzi, who both understood that children learn in relationship with others. 

 

In addition to this view of children as socially interdependent, we also view children as competent individuals who are interested in having a say in their own education. Children naturally want to learn, and it is often a matter of getting out of their way. By closely observing the child's interests and areas of focus, we are able to help them to develop their ideas, expand upon their initial interpretations and deepen their understanding.

 

In this way, we value a long-term project approach to learning. By encouraging and sustaining these slowly unfolding investigations, we are supporting the development of critical thinking skills and allowing for time in the learning process. Because of the nature of in-depth study, the child necessarily must utilize tools of reading, writing, mathematics, and science. Within this naturally meaningful context, the knowledge attained in these content areas has staying power by association to the interest of the child.

 

Additionally, in a multi-age setting children will encounter opportunities to scaffold each other, and be scaffolded in the learning process. This type of peer support is powerful in a way that adult support cannot be; it allows children to teach each other, and therefore own their knowledge, skills and ability to communicate.

 

Environment & Materials Documentation & Assessment Offerings
Image of the Child Role of the Teacher Technology

 

 

Environment & Materials
The school environment should provide provocations that promote critical thinking. This access allows for the most valuable type of learning, that which comes from actively engaging with one's world. First-hand experience with both the natural and the man-made world will allow children to learn from their own mistakes and explorations.  To see pictures of the environment at each location, see our Preschool or Elementary program pages.

 

By offering children a wide variety of materials, we allow them to construct their own learning. Materials that are open-ended and can be used in various ways are the most effective for promoting critical thinking and imaginative play. In addition, we can help encourage children to be confident and competent by organizing materials in a way that allows children to easily access them and understand how to put them away.   We are always looking for new materials to ensure that we have a variety of novel provocations, so if you have anything you might like to donate, please see our donation page for ideas.

 

 

Documentation & Assessment
Documentation is an important component of the Reggio Emilia approach. Documentation can help teachers and children create records of their common experiences, creating a sense of community. In addition, photographs, video, and recorded conversations can be reviewed by teachers to help determine what the children already know and where they might try to go next. The documentation can also be reviewed by the children to help them reflect on their experiences, allowing them to think critically about what they learned.  We believe that documenting children in this way authentically assesses their progress.  Therefore we do not utilize any other standards or standardized testing for assessment. 

 

 

Offerings
"Offerings" is a term we use to talk about activities that are presented to the children. These are not called "lessons" or "classes" because the children are always given a choice of whether or not they would like to participate. This is based on the belief that children will choose challenge when given the opportunity to do so. Each day teachers (and sometimes parents, children, or other community members) will offer up between two and four ideas for the day -- these include things such as art projects, research, games, books, or even a nature walk. Generally these offerings will be related to topics that the children have shown an interest in and have explored to some extent. The children are also given opportunities to suggest their own ideas for the day, which can result in future offerings, small projects, or even long-term investigations.

 

Offerings that have been given by teachers:
nature walk, self-portraits, magnet & iron filing investigation, online volcano research, weather charting, fire-fighter dress-up, fire & water dancing, guitar playing, etc.

 

Offerings that have been given by parents:
stained-glass valentines, banjo playing, drumming, pottery, guitar playing, ornament making, pipe-cleaner sculptures, venus fly-trap watching, etc.

 

Offerings that have been given by children:

shoe-box cities, magic dust, wood sculptures, dancing, painting, book sharing, book making, bug hunting, etc.

 

Offerings that have been given by community members:
planet lecture, flute playing, piano playing, clay sculpting, story-telling, etc.

 

Image of the Child

Children should be respected as people, and valued for who they are, rather than for who they might become. Therefore, it is important to provide an education for the whole child by valuing their social, emotional, physical, linguistic, and logical-mathematical intelligences.

 

Because we believe that no child can be forced to learn, we think children should be offered an environment which encourages their natural inclination to learn. By respecting the child's right to make choices regarding his or her education, we support the development of their self-awareness, as well as their self-regulation.

 

In an environment where children feel safe and confident, they are free to be their naturally competent selves.

 

Role of the Teacher

We view the role of the teacher as flexible and changing as the needs of the children change.  The teacher is the caretaker of the environment, a model for the children to emulate and a keeper of the educational philosophy.  As teachers, we trust that children will learn if we allow them both freedom and access to resources.  Hence, we view the teacher as more of a shadow than a director, ready to step in and assist when necessary, to provide a possible expansion to an idea, to ask a challenging question, or just to document and record an experience for later reflection.  Please see our Teacher Preparation Program if you are interested in finding out how you can learn more about this type of teaching.

 

 

Technology
We believe that computers are immensely useful when used as tools, the way they were intended to be used, and the way that they are used by adults in everyday life. We believe that it is a disservice to children to ban technology altogether because it is a reality in this day and age, and computer skills are going to be just as important as literacy in the near future. At the same time, it is very important to help children learn the powers and dangers of technology. We like to compare using technology with children to helping them learn to cook: at first you help them understand the dangers of knives and stoves by keeping them away from them altogether, then eventually you let them help pour the pancake batter or cut with a butter knife, and finally you allow them to start cooking some simple things on their own. Just as we wouldn't keep children out of the kitchen entirely, we shouldn't deny them the oppportunity to learn about computers in a safe and natural setting.

 

At school we believe that computers can be used for research, for communication, and for expression. We frequently use the school laptops to look up some tidbit of information we couldn't find in a book, or to find a video of some type of insect or musical instrument that the children have never seen but are curious about. The computers are always used with a teacher, who can use the opportunity to talk about search engines, about finding trusted sources of information, about avoiding advertisements, about how careful one must be with the computer itself, or about other topics that may come up. These concepts, along with the idea that computers are helpful tools, are then explored and experienced in a meaningful and safe context. As for communication, we use the computers to show the children pictures of events so that we can reflect on our experiences together, we show them short videos of themselves, and sometimes we might send an email together if it is relevant (such as a note inviting parents to an event). As an example, we once took a video of a group of children putting on a puppet show for the first time and then let them review the video so that they could see what improvements they wanted to make (one particular puppet kept slipping behind the stage, which they could then see once they became the audience). In addition, we also hope to expose children (as appropriate) to programs like word processors, paintshop, and digital photo progams so that they have additional means for expressing themselves. For example, we have discovered that some children who might not have the fine motor skills to write well, but who are interested in letters will get excited about learning to spell by using a word processor, which will in turn help them learn to read and write.

Ultimately, these guided experiences with technology at an early age will help children to become computer literate and will help them understand the many ways that computers can be helpful tools.

 

 


  

 

 

Children choose the curriculum and are supported in deepening their natural curiosity.
-Parent

 

When you know your granddaughter looks forward to going to school and returns with big smiles and stories of educational events and good times you know this must be a good school.

-Grandparent