The Third Teacher

The Reggio approach to education believes that the environment is the third teacher. In a recent staff enrichment meeting we discussed the topic of how children learn in depth. Where and how does learning happen? At Imagine we believe the environment should be rich with opportunities for children to discover and explore, with many possibilities for children to become inspired. The environment should be one that gives the children the freedom to form their own ideas about the world, and test their theories out. There should be plenty of time given for children to interact with each other, giving them many opportunities to share discovered knowledge with each other and the adults that share the space. The teacher, who is the second teacher (the parent being the first), is responsible for creating this environment. The environment reflects a classroom culture of kindness and respect. This space we  create places a strong emphasis on valuing the ideas, feelings, and creations of the children. 

With this in mind....

This summer the preschool is providing the children with a multitude of water experiences. The environment will be rich with opportunities to explore the different properties of water using all of their senses. We will also be experimenting with different art mediums to prepare ourselves for the coming school year. These art mediums will be introduced through provocations that all suggest water. 
The blog may not follow its typical pattern. I am not sure of the shape it will take but my guess is that it may become more of a photo journal of our collective experiences. What you read will be the voices of the children...
Happy summer....and go get into some water! 
“I know that water makes little bubbles if you’re splashing around”.Daniela 
“Water comes from the water fountain and from rain”. Leo
“I think it comes from a water factory. Sometimes it comes from pipes”.Penelope 
“I don’t know where the water from the rain comes from”. Daniela 
“It comes from the rain”. Max
“It’s on the ground and then it goes into the clouds and then it rains and it’s on the ground again”. Roy 
“The water is so blurry when I do this”. Cece 
“I see the reflection of my hand moving in the water”. Roy 
“If it heavy it sinks, if it’s light it floats”. Daniela 

“When water gets cold it turns into ice”. Roy 

Popular posts from this blog

Insect Compositions

Image
We often use loose material compositions in our classroom as a way for children to tell us what they know. We set out various materials, stones, gems, paper and sticks. These representations are not permanent.  We take a picture and then the material gets sorted back and the activity is ready for the next child.
Read more

Summer Art Show

Image
This summer has been an incredible journey into the world of art. It started with a family trip to the Harn museum that inspired explorations into color,lines and shapes, which led to the discovery of different mediums and techniques.We read books about famous artists like, Vincent Van Gogh, Georgia O'Keeffe and Jackson Pollack. Somewhere around mid summer we provoked the idea of finding a way to show our art to our families .We talked about our trip to the museum and the children were excited to make an "art show" for their parents and friends. Our art show was a huge success.  We documented the work that the children did with the intention of making our summer visible to our parents. This type of documentation lets those not in our classroom day to day understand our path; where we started and why and how we ended up where we did. Our art show was not only an opportunity to show off our beautiful  works of creativity, it was also a way to sho
Read more

Painting Storm Clouds

Image
We learned there are different types of clouds, and that not all clouds bring rain. We can tell the weather by the kinds of clouds that are in the sky. Storm clouds are called cumulonimbus. They are tall, puffy and grey. They bring the rain. We invited the children to paint storm clouds. They turned out beautiful! Look for the them in our work room to the left of our back door.
Read more