Reggio Emilia at Creative Minds

Dear Parents,
As the new year approaches and we look ahead to another group of children graduating and going to kindergarten this summer, a recent topic of conversation among our preschool teachers has been: How can we make sure that our Reggio curriculum is appropriate for both younger preschoolers and older children preparing for kindergarten? How can we make sure our play-based program is preparing them for academic kindergarten? Also, how can we communicate the significance of what our children are doing when there sometimes is no tangible "take-home" from an activity?




In talking to kindergarten teachers, we've found that the most important "kindergarten prep" is actually the social-emotional development at least as much as the academic readiness. Our children really shine in this area. Our program places a strong emphasis on respect, community, and communication, all of which help build the self-esteem and confidence in relationships that facilitate future learning both in and out of school. In addition, our activities throughout the day are designed to incorporate letter awareness, writing skills, math concepts, and other academic elements, all in a play-based context. 3- and 4-year-old children learn best when they can integrate multiple sensory experiences, move their bodies, get creative, and work together. Worksheets and rigid academics can come later.




One important thing to keep in mind is that a Reggio program is focused on "process over product," meaning that children's experiences are more important to us than the tangible end result. An art project may not come out looking like anything recognizable, but it doesn't have to. The child had the fine motor experience of drawing, or of sculpting the clay, and had the opportunity to express themselves through that medium. A young child's writing may not be legible yet, but they are learning to hold a pencil, to write from left to right, to see writing as a way of recording language and ideas, etc. It will become more legible as they get older and have more practice.




The other important thing to remember about a Reggio program is that play-based learning is what's most appropriate for children at this age. A 4-year-old is not half of an 8-year-old. They are a 4-year-old. Their brain is actually different than that of an older child, so the best way to help them learn is to gear our expectations and activities to their current level, not just give them a watered-down version of what we would expect of an older child. The children who have come up through our program show the value of this play-based learning. For example, just last week, Teacher Aimee was reading a book called "I Like Me!" to the class at circle time. Later in the day, we saw three children reading it fluently to each other. These three children were all 4-year-olds who have been in our program for some time. The "learn-by-doing" approach of the Reggio program planted the seeds, and when they were ready, they took off on their own. The same pattern can be seen in the children's ever-blossoming skills in math, construction, art, fine motor, language, and social interactions.




There are many approaches to early childhood education. We are passionate about the Reggio philosophy because of its tremendous power to help the whole child develop in a vibrant, balanced way according to their own needs and interests. Through the Reggio emphasis on respect, creativity, and child-directed learning, our goal is for our children to enter kindergarten feeling excited to learn and confident in their abilities. This positive approach to school will serve them throughout their lives. Thank you for being a part of our community!

Dino month

Graduation and Big Moves: Learning How to Say Goodbye and Welcome New Faces

As Purple Room friends and family know, we are experiencing a lot of changes in the coming weeks and months. On Friday, we had a fun and entertaining (though rather hot) ceremony to acknowledge all our friends moving off to Kindergarten in the fall. We are extremely proud of them, and we have no doubt they will go on to do great things. But our Kindergartners are not the only ones our friends will have to say goodbye to as the summer progresses. We have several friends moving on to different schools, and both Teacher Kate and I (Teacher Susan) will be leaving as well. While we are thrilled for the opportunities we have been presented, Creative Minds and the community we are leaving behind here will be sorely missed.

Our departure, along with the influx of some exciting new teachers, presents a unique opportunity to talk to friends about how we say goodbye to the old and welcome new faces into the community. We will be discussing this theme throughout the month, hearing from friends about times that they have moved away or even left family after a visit. How did you feel? Did you know when you would see them again? How did you handle it? What can you do to stay in touch? What did you do to say goodbye?

This week is not about us but about them- helping them to accept the changes that are happening and making their transition as easy as possible. Our staggered departures (mine this week, Teacher Kate's at the end of the month, students' throughout the summer) will allow the transition to be gradual. Children will be able to take time to deal with each individual loss and adapt to new faces and new interactions on a case by case basis.

We are preparing the children for the feelings and experiences they are likely to be having in the coming months while trying not to draw out the process of the loss itself. By focusing on past experiences and coping mechanisms as an overarching concept, we can avoid pointing repeatedly to the individual losses.

We are encouraging students to celebrate where friends and teachers are going, rather than dwell on the sadness of our leaving. Graduation was not only a ceremony, but a party- celebrating the accomplishments of the past and embracing the future and their undoubted success in Kindergarten and beyond. On Friday, we will be having a party to celebrate my departure as well- focusing on my exciting future endeavors in grad school while also acknowledging how much I will miss my friends. When Teacher Kate departs, she will be helping friends to understand how important it is for her- personally and professionally- to go with her family. In understanding why people are leaving, we can alleviate feelings of fault and abandonment.

As new adults join us in the Purple Room (Make sure you get to know Teacher Maria and Teacher Cecilia!), we want to make sure students are accepting them not as replacements for us but as new and interesting teachers, caregivers, and friends. As new friends come in, we want them to be welcomed with open arms, ready to jump in, never left on the outside as "newcomers". We celebrate their arrival, then treat them as if they've always been there.

In focusing on the future both here and for those who are leaving, we can keep friends feeling positive about changes and allow them to adapt more seamlessly to whatever comes their way.

Painters!

You may have noticed a new gallery of art around the classroom the past couple weeks. We are currently working on the letter "P", and we decided to do a series of painters and mimic their styles/ methods. We were very excited to start the project, and we have been extremely impressed to see what they've done with it.

We used a variety of painters throughout history, each with his own unique style and point of view. We wanted to make sure that the projects stayed fresh and interesting throughout the week. Children had the opportunity to use water colors, tempera paint, and paint textured with shaving cream; as well as exploring different application techniques and materials.

For Monet, children drew inspiration from "Water Lilies" to create dot-by-dot water color images of our vase of daffodils. They used wide tipped sponges to apply the color for a bright and bold look without the dripping.

Van Gogh's "Starry Night" offered us the opportunity to experiment with texture. We mixed liquid water color with shaving cream and glue to mimic the soft, raised impressions of the stars, and we gave children the opportunity to experiment with different swirling techniques to bring in the breezy nature of the sky.

We delved into color mixing to find just the right hues and tones for portraits with Da Vinci's "Mona Lisa". Friends worked together in palettes mixing white paint with peach, brown, and yellow water colors. They were encouraged to look at their friends around the table and consider how the different areas of the face can be conveyed with different shades and strokes. While the final projects may have turned out more abstract, the intention behind the works they produced was actually quite careful and precise.

We also returned to a previous project with Michelangelo's work in the Sistine Chapel. We did a group project this time, creating a communal mural to place on the ceiling of our own classroom. Friends negotiated space under the table and worked together to create a work that all the artists could agree on and be proud of.

Andy Warhol brought us into the modern art era with his photos of Marilyn Monroe. We used our own photos as the canvas and added those splashes of color with crayon. While some friends used broad, undefined strokes of color, others worked diligently to fill in every line of the face and hair in a particular way with a particular color. Each face offered its own unique character, and friends were excited to be such an integral part of their own art.

In honor of Jackson Pollack, our friends had a very fun and exciting day of splatter painting. Friends stood about a foot away from a piece of white cloth on the ground and splattered tempera paints with their paint brushes. We considered how art can be anything you want it to be. It can be messy, or it can be tidy. It can be bright, or it can be dull. It can look like real things, or it can be completely abstract. And, it doesn't have to be what anyone else expects.

Please make sure to check out our gallery on the windows (and ceiling!) throughout the classroom!

Notes and Nails!

This week, we worked on two sets of homonyms with our friends at circle and in centers. We contrasted notes that you write to a friend with the musical notes that a composer writes. We discussed how you can hammer nails into wood, but you also have nails on your fingers and toes. While we did not put emphasis on the term "homonym" itself, understanding the concept is very valuable as they develop early literacy skills. Using context and picture clues, they can recognize the difference in the meanings of such words.

For notes, friends worked on several exciting projects. The writing center was open throughout the day for friends to write notes to themselves, their families, and their friends. They used inventive spelling to sound out the messages they wanted to write, and they looked to our word sticks for inspiration. On the musical note side, friends used dot markers on staff paper to compose their own music for Teacher Susan to play on her trumpet!

Friends also had the opportunity to try the trumpet for themselves, discussing the ways in which sound is made and changed in different instrument families (wind, string, etc.). Every friend was able to make a nice big sound with the trumpet, and many were eager to come back and try again.

Friends also had the opportunity to explore nails on the play yard, with polish and mallets (for both boys and girls)! They hammered nails into balsa wood, using gross and fine motor skills as well as physical strength.

Then, they expressed their individual style in picking just the right combination of colors for their fingernails. We discussed how many nails we have on our bodies and how they look and feel different from the nails that we hammer into wood.

Through all these activities, friends were able to gain a valuable understanding of a literacy concept while taking pride in themselves for accomplishing new things.

M Weeks: Music, Me, and walking a Mile!

In our long and exciting journey through the alphabet, M has been one of our most rewarding and intriguing letters yet. We talked about Moms, monkeys, mountains, mad, my, and many, many more! And, in that sweeping list, we found a few that really stuck out.

For music, we had some very special visitors. Friends interact with music every day with us- singing, listening to the ukulele, trying out trumpet, or dancing to Justin Bieber. But, it was quite a special treat to have D's dad, Mr. Rob, come in with his high school guitar class and play for us.

We sang some of our songs and learned a few new tunes from them. We put on our hats and sang a about fire fighters. We picked friends and sang about them. We stood up and danced to the music together. And, we even got to try picking the strings!

Another exciting topic for the week was "Me". We used Mirrors to look at ourselves and make self portraits. We wrote letters to ourselves about the goals we have or things we expect to happen in the future. And, we talked about how important it is to love and respect ourselves as we do our friends and family.

Finally, one of our biggest adventures yet was our MILE WALK! Friends paired up to walk a half mile out and back from the school. We compared this walk to walking the distance of a meter stick, and we discussed how the distance added up in the round trip. Friends thought about the importance of respecting the world around us as we walked through. We discussed road safety and how important it is to stick with a buddy. Then, we finished off the walk with a scary and exciting dinosaur hunt. Friends expressed a real sense of pride in their accomplishment, and they were eager to explore more next time.

Second Harvest Field Trip!

Hello Friends of the Purple Room!

We thought it was time to follow up with you all on our food drive. We've been quite busy in recent weeks, but our field trip to the Second Harvest Food Bank was definitely a highlight.

Friends worked together to move a van load of food items into the donation bin, where it will be distributed to those in need.

We took a little tour of the facility and heard about what they do there. We were very curious about who donates food and what they donate. We saw crates of fresh fruit and talked about the sponsors who donate milk, eggs, bread, and other essentials.

We even got an inside look at the distribution center!

Friends got the opportunity to ask questions about who needs food, how the food gets to them, and who gets it there. We learned that Second Harvest serves thousands and thousands of needy individuals and families, and we talked about how we could keep helping long into the future.

We got a first-hand look at the good work they are doing there and left with a sense of understanding for how important Second Harvest is to the community.