I don't get this Reggio thing...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hello this is OP. (My first response). I read all the answers and still don't see get it. Most of the posts were similar to what I read on the internet. I am not trying to diss it, I just don't understand it in application. Montessori is easy to conceptualize. Maybe I will ask my center for a proper tour (we registers sight unseen as we were overseas) and the director can point out examples of Reggio tools. We were in a DOD daycare facility before this and it seems absolutely the same (free play, breakfast, circle time, outdoor time, snack, activity, lunch, nap, outdoor time, snack, etc).

The schedule is the same (at least at my Reggio inspired preschool). It’s the environment/ classroom and hiwnthr teachers interact with the kids during free play and activities that is different.

For example - when my son was at Bright Horizons they would make construction paper snow men. Each child was given cutout pieces and a glue stick and shown the “right” way to make it. At his Reggio school they talk about snow and then some kids may choose to paint actual snow with food color while others go out in the snow and collect branches and leaves to paint with. Some other kids still might go to the atelier and get “loose parts” to build a snowman from boxes and recycled materials and paint it when they are finished.

If OP doesn’t get it after reading this example, then I have lost hope.

Thanks! I'll see if I can get more feedback from my center. I did have the opportunity to view their yoga class today. While absolutely adorable, it did not look at all "child led". One child was directed aside for fooling around and not being ready to participate. All the kids were directed to pay attention and do the poses the yoga instructor was teaching, even if they didn't seem totally interested. Personally, I am fine with that - my kid needs a little pushing to go with the group, otherwise he totally does his own thing. (He'd actually really benefit from Montessori IMO). But anyway, while I really enjoyed watching the yoga class, it did not seem at all like a child-driven experience.

I don't think the entire time at a Reggio-inspired preschool is meant to be "child-led". There is a structure to the day. The "work" segments of the day are child-led, but not snack time, etc.

+1 my kid goes to a Reggio PreK, and while she does not take yoga there, if she did I can't imagine it would be a student-led endeavor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son attends a reggio daycare. I haven't particularly tried hard to understand it, mostly because I love his daycare and (more importantly) he does too. My two big takeaways are that the place is absolutely beautiful, and that my two-year-old uses the words "piazza" and "provocation" a lot.

Lol

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hello this is OP. (My first response). I read all the answers and still don't see get it. Most of the posts were similar to what I read on the internet. I am not trying to diss it, I just don't understand it in application. Montessori is easy to conceptualize. Maybe I will ask my center for a proper tour (we registers sight unseen as we were overseas) and the director can point out examples of Reggio tools. We were in a DOD daycare facility before this and it seems absolutely the same (free play, breakfast, circle time, outdoor time, snack, activity, lunch, nap, outdoor time, snack, etc).

The schedule is the same (at least at my Reggio inspired preschool). It’s the environment/ classroom and hiwnthr teachers interact with the kids during free play and activities that is different.

For example - when my son was at Bright Horizons they would make construction paper snow men. Each child was given cutout pieces and a glue stick and shown the “right” way to make it. At his Reggio school they talk about snow and then some kids may choose to paint actual snow with food color while others go out in the snow and collect branches and leaves to paint with. Some other kids still might go to the atelier and get “loose parts” to build a snowman from boxes and recycled materials and paint it when they are finished.

If OP doesn’t get it after reading this example, then I have lost hope.

Thanks! I'll see if I can get more feedback from my center. I did have the opportunity to view their yoga class today. While absolutely adorable, it did not look at all "child led". One child was directed aside for fooling around and not being ready to participate. All the kids were directed to pay attention and do the poses the yoga instructor was teaching, even if they didn't seem totally interested. Personally, I am fine with that - my kid needs a little pushing to go with the group, otherwise he totally does his own thing. (He'd actually really benefit from Montessori IMO). But anyway, while I really enjoyed watching the yoga class, it did not seem at all like a child-driven experience.

I don't think the entire time at a Reggio-inspired preschool is meant to be "child-led". There is a structure to the day. The "work" segments of the day are child-led, but not snack time, etc.

Exactly this. I actually teach yoga in a Reggio-inspired school (outside of the DC area), and for me it’s the planning that’s child-centric, not the facilitation. It would be dangerous if, for example, Toby was doing horse kicks while everyone else was doing tree pose, and distracting if Hattie was running around the Circle or playing on a xylophone while everyone else was having relaxing time.

I build my sequences to fit in with our child-centered curriculum (it’s a nature-living bunch, so we’re studyi birds this week; the practice is based on a bird life cycle and types of birds), and the poses I know the children like (Tommy has been asking for crocodile pose, Sebastian loves warrior 2, a few of them are ready to try handstands). This week, I did add a child-directed section: when “our baby birds kearned to fly,” the students suggested things they saw from the air, and I made their suggestions into poses. It was fun coming up with Doc McStuffins pose!

Obviously, I don’t know exactly how the yoga classes work at your child’s school. But I hope this gives you a glimpse into how something more structured can fit in with the philosophy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I taught at a school on the west coast which practiced a Reggio Emilia philosophy and also visited the city in Italy as a work related study. A school which truly understands this methodologie will have a deep understanding of the innate curiously of children and how to honor that. They also follow the practice of the environment as the third teacher which translates to a true devotion to a thoughtfully and beautifully put together environment that allows children to truly explore with accessible materials that are more open ended. So yes it is about playing but teachers act more like guides observing children playing and building a curriculum around their interests and discoveries rather than some random theme. For me what sets apart a true Reggio program is a beautiful environment and the atelier... you can look that up to learn more.

Perhaps you should do some reading beyond DCUM. In The meantime...
If you read the post above, it’s NOT all play. It’s about infusing the curriculum and following the kids’ lead. For example, if the kids are playing in the dramatic play area in the classroom and become engaged by creating their own pet hospital, the teacher could then take that lead. So when choosing a read aloud, she might select books about animals and taking care of them. They might write a book together about animal care. In math, they might be studying geometry and the concept of longer than, shorter than, etc. The teacher might use the stuffed animals from the “pet hospital” the students created as objects for students to measure with nonstandard units and then compare. The following year, the teacher is still going to teach math and reading and writing. But it may have nothing whatsoever to do with a pet hospital because that’s not what the kids are interested in.
Does that make sense?

The second quoted paragraph gives some examples of how it might look in a Reggio inspired school. Child led doesn't mean the children lead (decide) everything, rather the teacher uses the children's interest to teach things like literacy, math, science, etc. Interested children are more engaged in learning.

/quote]

This, x1,000
And the snowman example.

Another example: at our Reggio Emilia inspired preschool, one classroom was just really interested in instruments - they played the guitar, drums, hit everything to make it sound like music, etc. And they stood together and sang songs while playing said instruments.

So after observing (this is critical for Reggio schools) the children the teachers decided to build on the child's interests and brought in drums, a mini piano, guitars (ukeleles make great child-sized guitars), cymbals, and many other instruments. Because the children loved to perform together (seriously, they would just break out into song all the time together), the teachers created a stage (putting a table on the floor without legs) and the children played on that all the time.

They wondered if the children would like to make instruments, so made rain sticks. While it was fun for the children to do this, they weren't all that interested in and those instruments aren't used much. And they've gone to a few music field trips to experience and explore what a band does and invited parents and grandparents who play instruments to come in and play with the children and show them their instruments. This the children loved!

While the children do many other things around the room, including painting, clay, collage, reading, dancing, jumping on mats, outdoor play, yoga and more, this interest/exploration has been a very strong one since about October. So they are still adding to it and listening to what the children are doing with their band, instruments, etc. The teachers also discuss what the children are learning and how to continue supporting them and then changing things, adding things, etc. For example, once when the children were listening to music they wondered where the words were. (it was instrumental music). So they discussed that music sometimes has lyrics, sometimes doesn't - and brought in various examples of each. So now the children sometimes "just play music" although mostly they like to sing along.

The difference is:
at a more traditional preschool, the teachers might (might) have noticed that the children liked music. So they'd "do music" for 4 week. Week 1: read books about instruments. Make instruments. Week 2: listen to all different types of music Week 3: do crafts like giving them music instrument shapes and have them glue that on (what that has to do with instruments, I'll never know), Week 4: go to a music performance/have a musician come into school
Week 5 - move on to something else.

And none of the activities that a traditional preschool would be based on what the kids' interests were - you'd look up "interesting music activities" and just do them. some might work out, some less so, but it's done all from the teachers' point of view, and planned by them, etc.

Another aspect of a RE inspired program is that we are going deeper, we are asking questions - what are the children learning when they play together? What are they interested in knowing more about? How could we support them? What are they really interested in learning (sometimes what looks like music might be really an interest in working together, or wondering about something else). And we do it on the children's time, so not just 4 weeks and then that's it. We view teachers as researchers, observing, discovering what they want to learn, doing things, then seeing how that worked with the children. It's a complete cycle of inquiry.

There is a Reggio Emilia inspired school in Nantucket that is exploring and investigating music, too (we're facebook friends) and their children have been more interested in the sounds of music - so making music but making sound - so they've also explored all the things that make sound, including bells, tapping metal bowls and pots, playing listening and sound games, etc. So not performing together, but sound.

Now, all of this is being done with 2 and 3 year olds - they are turning 3 years old but not all of them are 3 years old yet. It's just a different way of looking at early childhood education. Not everything is child-led, in fact, teachers are part of the community of the classroom and will often bring something in to see if it sparks an interest in the children, or will on purpose do something that will help children move forward in some type of learning. it's not jsut "let the kids do whatever" Child-led means we are observing the children and figuring out what they are interested in - and then supporting that interest through activities, materials, time, research (visiting places to learn more), etc. But it doesn't mean we are letting them do whatever they want, there is a structure of the day, a natural flow to the organization of the day, there are still boundaries (no hitting, stay with the group, first you use the bathroom then you wash hands, use your words to explain, take turns, etc)

[Anonymous]

Lmao Albert Einstein didn't go to any prestigious daycare center or school after his 2 years old. Parents these days think thier kids are special Haha. The important thing for a kid is to feel support, love and teach them good manners and kindness. Then academics comes later.

[Anonymous]

Our Reggio-inspired daycare/ preschool has been amazing. I have 3 kids and we’ve moved multiple times, so we have been enrolled in a total of 5 places. The Reggio has been the best. To give some examples, the teacher observed the kids were interested in restaurants, so she organized a field trip so they could see the back of the house operation at a nearby chain restaurant. The kids then planned to open a cafe. For at least a week, they created a menu, handwrote menus, decided on prices, made paper flowers for the tables,shopped and cooked (a simple spaghetti, salad, garlic bread) and ran a cafe that parents could come to. They worked as servers, bussed tables, collected payment and made change, etc. it was play, but all carefully crafted by the teacher so that they’d learn along the way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lmao Albert Einstein didn't go to any prestigious daycare center or school after his 2 years old. Parents these days think thier kids are special Haha. The important thing for a kid is to feel support, love and teach them good manners and kindness. Then academics comes later.

Reggio isn’t about academics, but ok....

[Anonymous]

My son goes to a Reggio-inspired preschool. It used to adhere to the philosophy more closely before the previous director left for family reasons. Even though it's "less Reggio" this year it's still a solidly play-based school and we're very happy with it. My mom was an elementary school teacher for many years and has repeatedly warned me against pushing academics too early. It leads to kids being bored by the time they get to school which can in turn make them hate school and that of course can lead to disastrous consequences.

In addition to what PPs have said, Reggio is different from other curriculums in that if the students are really into a theme (say, the rainforest), the teachers will keep on that theme until they start to lose interest. They don't stop and move on to a new theme just because it's a new week or month. Will every single kid be equally as interested? Of course not. But they take what most of the kids seem to be excited about and run with it.

[Anonymous]

I toured several preschools and the Reggio one stood out to me in several ways. I like how the learning environment was very beautiful and very calming. I liked all the teachers really interacted with the students. Out of all the schools that we toured the Reggio school was the only school that ask me about our child and her likes/dislikes and interests.

I really like how the curriculum was about following the child's interests, there's a lot of observation in place where the teachers are documenting students and the siding on what to learn based on that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My dd goes to an independent preschool-8th whose early childhood program is Reggio Emilia inspired. She only did one year in early childhood and this was 5 years ago. Things I noticed:

1. The classrooms are gorgeous and have a calming effect. Natural light, earth tones, soft colors. Basically the opposite of a traditional preschool with primary colors and busy walls.

2. The materials are beautiful and for the most part, natural.

3. The teachers bring nature inside the classroom, and the teachers bring the kids outside for lessons and play.

4. The art was amazing. The early childhood had their own art studio called an atelier. And their own art teacher called an atelierista. (I’m not looking up how to spell those right) she took about 4 kids at a time and they did all kinds of art, again mostly with natural materials. Paint, weaving, clay...

5. There is a strong philosophy of recording and reflection. Art was labeled with the child’s picture. The teachers recorded the child’s feelings about what they created. We received daily reports. The teachers recorded exactly what the kids said. Lots of quotes.

6. The teachers follow the children’s lead. One year they were interested in robots, and devoted much of their learning to that. Read about robots, art about robots, they designed robots, had a robot play. One year they opened a camera repair shop and people brought in broken cameras. This year it’s maps. In kindergarten my dd’s Class was interested in song. They studied songs, wrote songs, recorded a CD. They did a rock theme one year.

It’s a great educational philosophy when done right. But I would not say it’s the best. It is not just free play either, but I don’t see anything wrong with letting kids just play in a well thought out learning environment guided by educators. It is very light on actual academics which was why we chose it. But if your child needs direct instruction to learn how to read they won’t learn how to read in preschool. Most of the families who choose this school are well educated and the kids had every advantage in education at home.

My child's preschool has a curriculum that says it is partially Reggio-inspired, and incorporates some of the above items (like there is an atelier , they display the artwork and explanations about it throughout the school, and they spend a lot of time outside doing things like tending to their garden, talking about the plants and bugs, going on walks, etc.).

My DS also went to a Reggio-inspired preschool, and the PPs characterization is apt. I was not deeply into the Reggio philosophy myself, but much of what resulted in the classroom was really great, for the kids and for the teachers. I think that having some well-educated teachers who are serious about executing an approach has some benefits due to sheer commitment -- no way that the Reggio teachers can just phone it in ; they have to work hard, plan, and respond to kids in order to pull off this Reggio educational vision. I don't think that its "the one true preschool approach", but it is a good approach.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:. . . then don't do this Reggio thing. How hard is that?

Again, as I said, I like my Reggio inspired program. One can do that and question the utility of jaunts to Italy. That was the main point of my post you apparently missed.

It's not a "jaunt" to Italy. It's professional training.

Your contempt for teachers registers loud and clear.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:. . . then don't do this Reggio thing. How hard is that?

Again, as I said, I like my Reggio inspired program. One can do that and question the utility of jaunts to Italy. That was the main point of my post you apparently missed.

It's not a "jaunt" to Italy. It's professional training.

Your contempt for teachers registers loud and clear.

Questioning whether training in Italy is so unique to justify the tremendous cost v. closer training programs is hardly contempt for teachers.

[Anonymous]

As someone who has as participated in many trainings, including going to Reggio, I can tell you that there is nothing like being in Italy and studying with the folks there. It is not a “jaunt”. It is an INTENSIVE time of study and reflection. Imagine being totally immersed, where all you work on is learning as much as possible. I went with a group and we studied late into the night each day we were there. There is no training or school in the US that provides anything like this. It is well worth going to and studying in Reggio. People come back being deeper thinkers, better observers of children, and more committed to the field of early childhood education.

[Anonymous]

What are the Reggio type preschools in this area? Easy to google Montessori to find those schools but not same for Reggio it seems. Which schools are Reggio?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What are the Reggio type preschools in this area? Easy to google Montessori to find those schools but not same for Reggio it seems. Which schools are Reggio?

Some are listed here - https://www.reggioalliance.org/schools/

Others are St. John's Episcopal (seems to be the most popular), Beverley Hills Church Preschool, Bethesda Reggio, DCJCC, Temple Sinai, DCPS's School Within a School (which is PK3-5), Faith Lutheran.