Coming face to face with difficult behaviors is an intrinsic and inescapable aspect of working with children. Defiance, bullying, hyperactivity, disinterest, recklessness, destructive tendencies, and lack of volume control are just a few of the practical realities in the life of a preschool teacher. Working alongside students with developmental delays, learning disabilities, or complex home... Continue Reading →
After years of working with loose parts, I've come to realize that almost anything can be considered one. We've all seen the ubiquitous bits and pieces: string, glass beads, basket filler, wood scraps, tiles, etc. Like me, some teachers take a more natural approach by incorporating objects like pinecones, tree cookies, seed pods, flower petals,... Continue Reading →
Months and months ago, a fellow educator and advocate for outdoor play in Tennessee sent me a few ideas for blog posts. As I am wont to do, I hemmed and hawed over them for a long time, trying to find a way to organize them in my mind. With one of her prompts, she... Continue Reading →
Most preschool classrooms have "centers," and ours is no exception. In our inside space, we have an area for pretend play, an area for art, an area for reading and literacy exploration, an area for science, and an area for engineering, physics, and construction. We do our best to make sure that each of these... Continue Reading →
It isn't hard to imagine how Emergent Curriculum and the Reggio Way might go hand-in-hand. Letting students determine what they learn helps them feel empowered to direct the course of their own learning. It often confuses me that there aren't more schools out there that just bluntly ask students what they want to learn about. ... Continue Reading →
There is a wealth of powerful scientific data that points to the fact that children learn better in environments that are not highly decorated. Particularly for Reggio educators, there has been a large push-back against the brightly colored, plastic furniture and learning materials that were so common when I was a child. In general, I... Continue Reading →
When I first started working in the Reggio Way, "environment" was a word that felt hopelessly vague to me. Time after time, I floundered through discussions centered on "environment as the third teacher" that seemed to incorporate nearly everything. With only a few years of experience under my belt, I have heard the word used... Continue Reading →
Without Windows 