With fall transitioning into winter, and colder weather arriving in a few short weeks, we decided to create a documentation panel to frame our autumn inquiry. Naturally, we began the process by collecting evidence of student learning such as photographs, artwork, observational drawings, records of conversations and anecdotal notes to help us communicate student learning […]
Changing Seasons: Reggio Emilia Inspired Fall Explorations
The young children in our classroom have began to notice hints of fall in the changing colours of leaves, the temperature outside and activities at home such as baking pies and apple picking. As we begin to explore the season and document our observations, wonderings and understandings about fall, I thought I would share some […]
Funds of Knowledge – Connecting Culture with Play
“Wait, no, we don’t throw rice over our heads!” I explained to K.S. a (JK) student playing at the sensory bin. Our sensory bin is currently filled with rice and alphabet letters for students to discover, and in theory, students would quietly engage in exploration and find the hidden letters, and perhaps even identify them […]
Consider the Walls: Displays or Documentation?
The Friday of Easter Long Weekend, 2011. I remember the ‘date’ clearly. A few days prior, I had read an article titled “Consider the Walls” by Patricia Tarr (2004) where she suggested “classroom environments are public statements about the educational values of the institution and the teacher” (p. 2). For some reason, this statement resonated […]
What does it mean to ‘be’ Reggio Inspired?
Last night, while I was playing with our puppy Apollo in our front yard, I finally had the chance to meet our neighbour. As he explored our flowers, shrubs and grass, our neighbour came over and began gushing at how adorable he was. I was curious to observe how he reacted to meeting someone new, […]
Expectations vs. Goals – Is it just a question of semantics?
As I continue to write my dissertation, I find myself increasingly interested in words, and in particular, their meanings, definitions, and the possible underlying messages they may or may not imply. Last week, as I explored assessment in the Full Day Early Learning Kindergarten curriculum document and Te Whariki, New Zealand’s Early Childhood Education curriculum, I […]
Can a curriculum be neutral?
Year after year as a kindergarten teacher, my curriculum document was (and to some extent, still is) the foundation of my teaching practice. I would use it to think about what I needed to teach students, how I was going to teach (grouping specific expectations together), when I was going to teach a given subject area. Grundy (1994) […]
A Leap of Faith – Four perspectives on moving to a new country to study
Last year I decided to move halfway across the world to a new city alone. Yes, ALONE. It was terrifying and exciting all at the same time. I first came to New Zealand in 2006 to attend teachers college at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch. During the year and a half that I lived […]
Celebrating Lunar New Year In Auckland
Every year, to celebrate Lunar New Year, the city of Auckland organizes an event called the Lantern Festival. Over the span of a few days, green the city is transformed into a magical space full of decorations, food vendors and cultural activities. This year, to accommodate the thousands of visitors to the Lantern Festival, it […]
Explorers of the Diana School
Many of the resources I have been exploring about the Reggio Emilia approach are written by adults, so you can imagine my delight when I came across ADVISORIES, a book authored by five- and six- year old children from the Diana School in Reggio Emilia, Italy. Advisories is a visit to the Diana School from the […]
