Reggio Emilia Archives - Berkshire Country Day School

Starting the School Year With a BANG!

On just the third day of school, nature provided the Preschool class with such an exciting and memorable event. While the children were in their very first gym class, a powerful thunderstorm rolled in.
We had wind. We had very bright lightning and very loud thunder. We had torrential rain.
We had a shared experience.

The thunderstorm hung around for a while, so the children were “stuck” in the gym – a pretty good place to be stuck, with Mr. Storti, and Kristina, and plenty of balls and hoops to play with. When Dr. Segar made the rounds around campus to check on everybody, he stopped in to see them. He comforted a frightened child and listened to another who had a lot to report.

Meanwhile, I was “stuck” back in the classroom. When the wind came up, I frantically ran around closing windows, which had been wide open against the stifling heat. Eventually, after the lightning and rain subsided, I walked over to the gym to join the children.

In the end, even the families got to share in this unusual event. At pickup time, the lightning was gone, but it was still raining. So parents or grandparents had to find us at the gym to take us away under the cover of umbrellas.

A group builds a “fire boat” together.

The next day, what did we talk about at Morning Meeting? The rainstorm! What IS rain? Why does it rain? What do we find on the ground in the rain? What do we like to do in the rain? The children had a lot to say.

We read books: Rain Drop SPLASH by Alvin Tresselt, wherein rain grows into a stream, which grows into a river and into the sea. This led to a discussion of boats.

In one of our discussions, somebody shared their knowledge that sun and rain together make a rainbow. Oh gee, we HAD to read Sky Fire by Frank Asch. Somebody asked the big question: Why does a rainbow disappear? At nap time, the children notice the rainbows on the floor, made by the prisms hanging in our windows. What makes that rainbow? Hmmm….

Painting thunderstorms

Just like that, in the blink of a thunderstorm, a project was born. Our class will continue to explore water and things related to water. Already they are expressing their knowledge of water and storms through language – “sprinkle,” “pour,” “wet,” “soaked,” “gushy;” through art – one child dots paint on paper to make rain, another swirls paint with a brush to make wind; through building – every day a new kind of boat.

Two children work on a “zoo boat.” After classifying the animals, they assign them different living spaces.

Now, instead of frantically closing windows, I am frantically trying to record their words on paper; save their artwork; and capture their constructions with a camera. I struggle to keep up with their free and agile activity. My teacher-brain struggles to keep up with so many ideas of ways to provoke their curiosity and imagination. We have a stream and a pond to visit, mud to find, water droppers to play with, paint to blow, a rainbow to construct, more boats to make.

This is Reggio-Emilia: Environment is the third teacher. Teacher and students explore and learn together.

By BCD Blog|2018-09-18T08:44:03-04:00September 17th, 2018|

BCD’s First Course

Recently, my boss made a comment that sparked a new perspective on life with the B2’s. I realized that by creating this Program at BCD this school year, we provided an opportunity for two year olds to take what amounts to their first school course, “Problem Solving for the Beginner Two.”

On a recent winter day, the B2’s assistant teacher, Carli, was unexpectedly sick. What to do? Our Associate Head of School, Leigh Doherty, filled in, and spent most of the day with me and the B2’s. Even on normal days, Leigh is a regular visitor to our classroom. The children always love to see her, she knows them well, they know her, and she loves to be silly with them and pay us a visit to get a dose of cuteness.

But on this day, Leigh spent more time than ever with us, following along as the children took her through their daily routines. The next morning, Leigh said to me, “At the end of the day, it struck me that the B2 children’s days are just a continual series of problem solving — all day long!”

I was so happy to hear Leigh’s comment. It’s easy to appreciate two and three year old cuteness, but for the finale to this school year’s blog posts, I thought I’d shine a light on the hard work these young children engage in each day. So here is my course description!

PROBLEM SOLVING FOR THE BEGINNER TWO

This course reflects BCD’s core values of community and respect.

In this class, we will explore the many facets of becoming a member of a community, and engage in intensive practice with life skills. Through attentive guidance and consistent routines, the children will be introduced to ways to navigate life’s common but challenging social skills — sharing, taking turns, recognizing another’s pain, meal time etiquette, and teamwork. They will also be encouraged and expected to persist towards mastering essential practical life skills such as eating with a utensil, washing hands, putting on and taking off jackets and other clothing, and removing and putting on socks, shoes, and boots. Toileting practice is also encouraged and supported.

The children will face a range of other physical challenges, including managing lunch boxes, food containers, and ziploc baggies; drawing and painting with various tools; stacking blocks and digging with a shovel; removing sand from inside shoes; climbing ladders and walls; throwing and rolling balls; jumping with two feet; pedaling bikes and navigating with scooters. The curriculum also includes safe stick play, story time etiquette, and what to do when encountering insects, chipmunks, and dead birds.

As if this wasn’t enough, the B2 children will also learn a great deal of expressive language during their school year. Some will move from single words to speaking in sentences, and learn to articulate multiple sounds and blends. Each child’s vocabulary will grow enormously, and most will learn to answer questions, and engage in conversation of a few exchanges. Their language develops through intense social interaction; through reading books and singing songs; and through rich experiences with new materials and exploration around our amazing campus.

They do all of this while beginning to face the daunting challenge of learning appropriate and effective ways to manage their most basic emotions of sadness, joy, and anger.

After completing this course, the children will have mastered many life skills, and be very familiar with the benefits of persistence, perseverance, and kindness when solving many of life’s daily problems.

Yes, small children are cute. But here at BCD, our focus is on respecting the hard work they engage in each day.

By BCD Blog|2018-05-29T14:04:25-04:00May 29th, 2018|

“A ladybug on the gym floor!”

Early childhood educators love the word “Wonder.” We talk about a child’s sense of wonder and cultivating that wonder. Books have been written on “The Wonder Years,” and we have famously labeled four year olds as “Wild and Wonderful.” Indeed, every day this wonder in young children — in the form of a ladybug found on the gym floor, a prism rainbow on the wall, newly formed ice on a puddle, the gurgling of water under a grate — sustains us in our work with young children. Our B2’s wonder is contagious!

In Hawaii …

Over our Spring Break, I was again so fortunate to be able to travel to a far-away land, this time across the Pacific Ocean for two weeks on the islands of Hawaii. Each day brought new sights, smells, tastes, and sounds, from volcanoes, geckos, and sea turtles, to Kalhili Ginger, fresh Mahi-Mahi and Ono fish, tree frog peeps surrounding us through the night, and bamboo groves rattling in the breeze. For two weeks, I floated in what I will always remember as a “Wonder Bliss.”

One day I had a little revelation about Wonder that seemed especially relevant to my work with young children. I had driven 1.5 miles over lava rock, on what could barely be called a road, in order to get to an oasis of a beach we had read about in our guide book. At the end of this bumpy primitive road, we were surprised to find a parking lot full of cars, and many people lugging picnics and towels, just as we did.

As we ate, I watched a couple of young men snorkeling in a cove near our picnic table. Clearly, they had been at it for a while — wearing full wet suits with various straps and gear attached. After a while, they emerged with a few octopuses hanging from their belts! Before they emerged, I had seen them shed their wet suit shirts and spend several minutes floating and snorkeling in the very shallow reef water. They had been on a fishing expedition, but I didn’t realize until I myself got into the water why they had been hanging out for so long in that cove.

I was hot, so I put on my prescription swim goggles and ventured into that water. It was cold and wonderful, so I dunked down. I was immediately surprised and rewarded with three bright yellow fish with black stripes! Wow! I dunked again, and spotted black and white ones! Again, and I saw a large and shimmering blue-green fish. I kept floating and dunking, finding more and more. I lost count of how many different varieties of fish lived there in that little cove. A rainbow of colors, a full spectrum of geometric patterns of all sizes! This silent underwater world absorbed me completely. And I had discovered it!

After some time, I left the water to tell my husband about the great surprise I had found. I was absolutely thrilled. But I was also chilled, so I covered myself up with hat and big shirt, and went for a walk down the beach to dry off. I headed towards another cove in the distance that intrigued me. Having to choose between hot lava rock, hot sand, and stony water on my bare feet, I was looking down a lot — so until I was about 30 feet away, I didn’t notice an enormous creature lying on the sand! It was certainly as large as a baby elephant!

From my research afterwards, I learned that this monstrous creature was a Hawaiian Monk Seal. These are endangered, and there are only about 1500 of them left on earth. I also learned that they come onto the beach in order to give birth — which was almost certainly why I saw this one there on that lovely beach. And when I told my husband about it, I was not exaggerating — they do weigh hundreds of pounds (even when not pregnant).

So what does all of this have to do with young children? This day on the beach reminded me that the thing that makes wonder even more joyfully intense and memorable is the element of surprise, and the sense of having discovered something oneself. When I dunked down into that reef water, I had never been snorkeling before, and I had absolutely no idea that I would see all of those tropical fish. When I set off on that walk down the beach, of course I had not even an inkling that I might run into that awesome monk seal. I felt the thrill of an explorer, and I will forever remember that day.

A few days later, we did go on an official snorkeling trip along with dozens of other excited tourists. Somebody taught me how to use snorkel gear, and I stepped off a boat into a huge reef filled with countless tropical fish. I loved every minute of it, but I’m glad that my very first experience with tropical fish was on my own, and by surprise.

Back at BCD in Massachusetts …

we took the B2’s on a walk around campus one day. For four long months, the snow had prevented us from trekking down the path and crossing the bridge over the little stream to get to our favorite pine grove and hillside. But now the snow had mostly melted, and as we approached the bridge, a sound stopped us all short! The children were hearing a new and mysterious noise! Of course I knew what it was — the little stream from last fall was now a rushing river, cruising over its rocky stream bed. But the children had no idea what that sound was … water??? We walked to the bridge, and wow! In an instant they became explorers, discovering the magic of a swelling stream. They exclaimed, “WATER!” They watched, entranced. They lay down on the bridge on their bellies to look; they wanted to get as close as possible to that rushing water.

They were surprised, and enthralled! The next day at school, the first thing P. said to me was, “Can we go on a long walk?”

Wonder Bliss

When we work with young children, one of the reasons we provide opportunities for open-ended experiences is so that they can experience the depth of joy and learning that comes from discovering something themselves. There are countless ways we can recreate the “explorer” experience in the classroom. Instead of being told what to expect, or how to use the paints, or what a finished product should look like, curiosity will motivate them to discover these things themselves, and they will create a product (or a process), that is uniquely theirs. Through this opportunity for adventure, they experience surprise, wonder and absorption. They gain confidence to take the risk to try new things — the desire to go on ANOTHER long walk — and the joy that comes from creating something truly their own.

By BCD Blog|2018-04-19T14:14:06-04:00April 19th, 2018|

Birds!

It all started with a crow. PreK was taking a hike through the woods, and a crow swooped down and landed on a tree nearby and started cawing. The next day we were on the playground, and we saw a beautiful red-tailed hawk soaring. Then suddenly a group of crows started working together to chase it away. The children’s interests grew as they started noticing all the different birds that frequent the feeders in front of the science building. They asked questions about what birds eat and how they sleep. A study was born.

The Reggio Emilia approach believes that children are capable of constructing their own learning. And that they are driven by their interests to understand and have a deeper knowledge of the world around them. After we realized that the children were showing an interest in birds, we had a meeting to discuss what we already know about birds and what we want to learn about them. They came up with a great list of questions: Do birds have teeth? Why do they fly? Why do they tweet? Why do some birds fly away when it snows? As the children shared their own prior knowledge of birds, they taught their classmates, who in turn added their own ideas and observations.

PreK’s interests grew as we learned to “speak” chickadee. We played games only using a chickadee’s language, telling friends that we found food, all is good, or sent a loud warning that a Cooper’s Hawk is lurking.

We built nests out of clay, twigs, moss, and dried grasses. They also created a “rainbow nest” with a cardboard box.

We studied and felt bird skulls.

We saw different birds hunt, make nests, and eat through videos that we watched in the classroom.

We learned about different beaks and why they were different shapes.

Most recently we have begun to build a 8-foot nest out of branches and bark in the woods. The children ask to go to our nest daily. They want to add to it, play in it, and “lay” eggs in it. It is their “home.”

Like other Reggio investigations, it has been fascinating (and fun!) to see where the kids have taken this study—and in particular, to see how invested they have become in birds! They have learned patience and how to quietly observe birds; they have learned that there are many varieties of birds and how each kind is brilliantly adapted to its environment; they have built their cooperation skills as they construct community “nests” for the class, both indoors and out; and they have developed their diligence and perseverance in pursuit of answers to their questions.

Vicky

By BCD Blog|2019-01-10T11:30:10-05:00March 9th, 2018|

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Reggio Emilia

Starting the School Year With a BANG!

BCD’s First Course

What’s the Big Deal About “Wonder”?

Birds!