Happy Tuesday readers!
Welcome back, we took a short break last week as I was on holiday (it was well needed). Now we are back, fully refreshed and ready to continue sharing our ideas and approaches to early childhood education.
This week I thought we would discuss the Reggio Emilia approach. As some of you may know we are heavily influenced by this approach. I thought I would write a brief introduction to what the approach is, how it began and how it differs from traditional education in this country and of course why we love it here at Squirrel Lodge.
I firstly wish to say that I am in no way an expert on this subject and I still learn new things about the approach each time I research it. To try and explain the approach in a short blog post I have broken this post down into a few small chapters; a bit of background, the hundred languages of children, the environment as third teacher, the atelier and how the approach works within our practice at squirrel lodge.
A bit of background.
The Reggio Approach stems from the town Reggio Emilia in Northern Italy. It originated after the second world war when parents and the community came together in an old building to help create a better future for their children. They worked with a young teacher at the time called Loris Malaguzzi and his pedagogy (a posh word for theory of teaching) to early childhood education; today this philosophy is known as the Reggio Approach. Then followed the many nursery schools that were built by the community. (For more detailed information about the history of the approach I will place a few links at the bottom of the post if you wish to learn more.) The Reggio approach is based around the individual child, meaning it is a child centred and led approach. This means that children are active participants in their learning and will be fully immersed in the learning that is taking place. The Reggio Approach also has a big sense of community, especially the origin being based upon the community and parents creating the nurseries in the beginning. This is done in differing ways; one way is to hold exhibitions showcasing the art work that the children have done, another way is to go into the community itself and use it as an environment for learning. The approach also recognises the value of art and artistic expression and incorporates it heavily into day to day practice. I will continue to explain these points in more detail below.
The hundred languages
Malaguzzi wrote a poem regarding children and their infinite ways to learn and explore the world. The poem highly influences the Reggio Approach, a small snippet is below. It is rather long, but it is such a lovely way to convey the endless possibilities that children have and how children can learn. I personally love this poem as it just encompasses everything that we at Squirrel Lodge are passionate about. If you would like to read the whole poem, I will attach the link below.
‘The child
is made of one hundred.
The child has
a hundred languages
a hundred hands
a hundred thoughts
a hundred ways of thinking
of playing, of speaking.
A hundred always a hundred
ways of listening
of marvelling of loving
a hundred joys
for singing and understanding
a hundred worlds
to discover
a hundred worlds
to invent
a hundred worlds
to dream.’
The third teacher
Within the Reggio Approach a child has 3 teachers. Firstly, the child as they are the centre of their learning, then the 2nd teacher is that in the traditional sense; us as practitioners, parents and carers. Who is the 3rd you may ask? It is the environment they are in. The Reggio Approach uses this phrase in order to show the importance of a child’s environment and that it must provide a wealth of inspiration and opportunity to spark curiosity. Without being within a stimulating environment the child may struggle to engage and be interested in learning. The environment is seen as something that should be inviting, inspiring, a representative of the community and the natural environment and filled with a variety of open-ended materials.
The atelier
The word ‘atelier’ in French translates to ‘workshop’. In the Reggio approach this is exactly what it is, it is the workspace in which an artist or creative practitioner (The Atelierista) works with the children to create. The ‘teacher’ generally has an art background and is passionate about early childhood education. They bring a different kind of perspective to early childhood education through art and artistic expression. They value how important creating and expressing through art can be and work with the children combining the two areas of knowledge creating a space to explore, create and express.
Our practice at Squirrel Lodge
When you step inside our nursery you may have noticed we are not like the traditional nursery (I mentioned this in my loose part post too). We have an inviting space which embraces the environment in which we are placed; a woodland. We embrace nature within our environment and day to day practice. We provide a variety of open-ended loose parts for children to imagine, create and explore. We celebrate our Squirrel Lodge community by celebrating our diverse cultures and encouraging all to learn more about them. We try to work with the community in a number of ways, we have held an exhibition of the art that the squirrels have created, we visit an elderly care home to help link the squirrels with the local elderly community, we ask the community for help sourcing loose parts resources as well as working to give back to the community ( keep your eyes peeled on Facebook for an upcoming way in which we wish to do this).
All our staff are passionate and knowledgeable about early childhood development, currently all our staff are trained in a variety of levels from level 3 to degree level and continue to develop professionally by attending local training courses.
At Squirrel Lodge we place a high value on art and artistic expression. We understand the importance of it within the children’s development. We have an outdoor atelier in which the practitioners work with the children inspired by different artists, following plans inspired by a curriculum that atelierista’s follow in Reggio Emilia. This is then done inside at our art area in the colder and wetter months. Our art area is fully stocked to allow children to explore a range of medias at anytime they wish. We encourage children to create during day to day activities, whether it be to create a flag for their castle, their own clothes for role play or a masterpiece to place on their fridge at home.
I hope this blog has helped give a deeper look into our philosophy and day to day practice at Squirrel Lodge. We are very passionate about this approach to early childhood education and I hope now you can see why.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us!
Keep your eyes peeled next week for a post outlining how beneficial it can be to let your children ‘help’ around the home.
Terrie and the squirrels
xx
Links for more info -
The Hundred languages poem - https://www.reggiochildren.it/en/reggio-emilia-approach/100-linguaggi-en/
Loris Malaguzzi International Centre of Childhood - https://www.reggiochildren.it/en/loris-malaguzzi-international-centre/
Reggio Emilia Approach via link above - https://www.reggiochildren.it/en/reggio-emilia-approach/
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