Reggio Approach

The core principle of the Reggio Approach is the child, the environment, and the teacher. Children construct their learning and understanding through interaction with others. The environment is their teacher. The adult's role is only to guide them. Documenting a child's thoughts is very important. Children have many languages, which express themselves through other than talking, like their works and arts.

One of the fundamental beliefs of the Reggio Emilia approach is that children develop their personalities during the early years of development and have over a hundred languages they use to communicate their interests and views. This approach aims to educate children on using these symbolic languages in everyday life. Under this model, children are viewed as a controlling factor. They are valued as rich with knowledge and wonder, resilient, strong, and capable. These features are used to derive their learning.

The second belief is that kids use various ways to demonstrate their understanding and express their creativity and thoughts. Children have many different ways (hundred) of learning, thinking, and discovering. Through pretend play, painting, movement, music, dance, sculpting, and drawing, each of these Hundred Languages is valued and nurtured. Therefore, these languages are all part of the child. In addition, play and learning are not separated.

The third belief is that parents and the entire community have the collective responsibility of children. Reggio’s approach considers parents, children, and the community vital to learning. Parents, for instance, are viewed as partners; they are the first teachers before a kid enrolls in school. Hence, it encourages parents to volunteer to assist in the classrooms, regular communication between families and teachers, and incorporate the approach at home.

Key Beliefs

How Are Observations Used

Reggio’s approach focuses on children’s thoughts, ideas, memories, and experiences in their learning. Observation factors into this curriculum in that it allows adults to learn many things, educational or psychological, that are not in books. It also indicates that children are stipulated by and learn visibly from each other’s work through the documents. Therefore, the curriculum considers observation necessary. First, it helps teachers and parents understand the needs of the children. Secondly, it allows teachers to know the kids better and recognize how they learn better and their knowledge, skills, talents, and interests. The types of observations done include anecdotal records and running records.

Teachers observe children and find out the areas in which children are interested. Observing and documenting them helps to identify a child’s strength and their thinking at the time.

How the Curriculum Implemented

The inside and the outside environment are designed with group collaboration and research in mind. The environment can be modified to suit the type of exploration. A typical day as described by Reggio Emilia Early Learning Center, is as follows:

Arrival, breakfast, small group time, outdoor play, indoor programmed experience, bathroom break, group time, lunchtime, rest time, bathroom break, quiet affair, snack time, group

Time, outdoor play, bathroom break, indoor experiences (individual), and departure. Learning takes place both indoors and outdoors and is emergent. The time allotted for each activity depends on the children, as it is child-led programming. The aim is to create as much of a predictable routine as possible for the children, but it is entirely flexible. there is a schedule but that it was child-led, so if the children were interested in spending more time on a certain project or activity, that's what would happen.

How Is Planning Approached

In Reggio Emilia’s approach, first, planning occurs through skilled observations of children. Therefore, observations inform teachers’ planning (Santn & Torruella, 2017). Secondly, planning lessons and activities center on the child’s interests, academic curiosity, or parents’ social concerns from parents or teachers.

The teacher decides what exercises to do with the children, and their decisions are usually based on active participation, asking questions to further their understanding. Finally, the teachers keep track of the plans through continuous evaluation and ongoing dialogues of their practices and ideas.

Planning is done based on the observation and documentation. Teacher’s plan according to the children’s interests. Provocation also helps to do planning in curriculum.

The Role of

Documentation

Documentation in the Reggio approach comes in various forms, including paintings, voice records, photography, films, visual mediums like wire and clay, and conversation transcript (Santn & Torruella, 2017). The documentation highlights children’s play by evaluating their intention during and after it. Its purpose is to identify a child’s strength and thinking at the moment. Teachers use it to support children learning. Teachers, children, and parents can easily access documentation. Methods of documentation that are encouraged are writing as talking observation notes, work samples, anecdotes ,portfolios , language transcribing as well as taking pictures, videos, and tape recordings.

HDLH Demonstration

- Belonging is represented through the artwork that the children create that is put on display, through the aesthetic of the room being welcoming and safe to all children, through working with nature, through the social constructiveness theory of learning, through mealtimes where everyone eats

together, and through the relationships that are built between children and educators, parents, and community.

Well-Being is represented through their abundance of active play and hands-on learning. lastly, it is shown through their sense of self that they are continuing to develop each and every day by being acknowledged as competent individuals who are full of potential

Engagement is represented through their natural curiosity and involvement in their world.

Engagement is encouraged through the curriculum's promotion of interest-based and child-led learning

and exploring. The children engage as they explore the world around them and interact with their peers,

educators, environment, and community members.

Expression is highly represented in this curriculum through the 100 languages of children.

They are encouraged to discover and express themselves each day through the artwork they create,

through music, through dramatic play, through painting, through sculpting, and through all other types

of hands-on experiences

https://theartofeducation.edu/2016/04/15/40660/#:~:text=How%20is%20learning%20assessed%20in

https://www.thecompassschool.com/blog/power-documentation-reggio-inspired-classroom/

Hewett, V. M. (2001). Examining the Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood education. Early childhood education journal, 29(2), 95-100.

Malaguzzi, L. (1993). In C. Edwards, L. Gandini, & G. Forman. The hundred languages of children: the Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood education.

Santn, M. F., & Torruella, M. F. (2017). Reggio Emilia: An essential tool to develop critical thinking in early childhood. Journal of New Approaches in Educational Research (NAER Journal), 6(1), 50-56.

Stone, J. E. (2012). A Vygotskian commentary on the Reggio Emilia approach. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 13(4), 276-289.

Wien, C. A. (2015). Emergent Curriculum in the primary classroom: Interpreting the Reggio Emilia approach in schools. Teachers College Press.

References

HDLH Recommendation

One recommendation would be to improve the ways that well-being can be improved upon. I suggest that they incorporate a more active involvement in both physical and

mental health activities such as yoga, skiing, hiking, gratitude journal, etc. I would also

improve the inclusive in the program by being sure to represent the diverse cultures, genders,

celebrations, disabilities, sexual orientation, religions, and languages. To provide learning

opportunities for these topics would be a great asset to the program to increase the children’s

sense of belonging.