My Wish For Spring!

Yesterday, as I drove home form the school I rolled down my windows to enjoy the breeze. I stopped at the a red light and was drawn to the conversation taking place in the car next to mine.

"Did you do this all by yourself?" a father asked his young son.

"Yes I did it," he replied with great pride.

"That's amazing. You must work hard in kindergarten!"

"All the day,'he answered. (that made me laugh)

My eyes turned to them. I wondered what I might see.

There in full view was a booklet of photocopied work sheets. Some of trees, other of bugs. The title page,

Spring has Sprung.

I felt such disappointment. Is this all a parent and child should expect for Kindergarten?

I offer these beautiful treasures as an alternate to glorifying Spring, the season of birth.

Bugbots, Reggiobots, Girlbots and so Many More!

 Why are children so fascinated by robots? If we use the blockbuster series Transformers as our launch pad then its obvious why they attract children and adults alike. To create these unique bots we turned to our loose parts collections. As you will see we made good use of many odds and ends. Again, as with all of our work , the children created adventures for each of their robots. A perfect way to engage literacy in the classroom. 

An Old Favorite

Every so often I get a request to re post an old experience or I'm asked to post additional experiences related to an ongoing project. This particular post belonged to the City in Motion Project which I shared in a blog called City in Motion. After I closed the blog,  I received hundreds of requests to put it back up. So here it is, one of the many ways in which we shared our thoughts on the nature of a city.

In this experience the children we asked to represent their thinking on what a drive to the city might look like.

Along the road to the city you will find lots of cars and that's called traffic. My dad hates traffic!
In the city that's called Toronto you will see the CN Tower, we went all the way to the top floor with Reggio Kids.
A city has houses and skyscrapers. There is a lot of noise in the city. That's all I have to say about that! ~Justin

When Theory Meets Practice

I would consider myself vested in educating myself in my profession as an Early Childhood Educator, the owner of Reggio Kids and as a teacher of teachers. Over the last thirty years, I've met some wonderful professionals who have inspired me to new levels of thinking and practicing; most notable Dr. George Forman whom I consider not only a mentor but a friend from afar.

I  know for certain that no amount of theory can serve a teacher without the practice of the theory. It is in practice that we find ourselves Reggio Inspired.

It is only when theory meets practice that true "work" can happen between a teacher and her students, between a teacher her students and the environment, between a teacher, her students, the environment and the parents, between a teacher, her students, the environment, the parents and the global community. 

And then to master the practice of theory we must have supportive environments that are rich in the materials needed to practice our craft.

It is an intricate system, a fine balance, an exquisite journey!

Here the children recreate the characters and the castle from our own authored book
The Pancake Princess.