Waldorf Curriculum HOME




May 2006


The Reggio Experiment - Daily Rhythm


Project Idea List:

  • The Sun
  • Rocks/Soil/Living Earth
  • The Reggio Experiment

    What is Reggio? Not a set curriculum, it is an approach to early childhood education originating from the town of Reggio Emilia, Italy. With money given to them for rebuilding after WWII, residents of Reggio Emilia decided to build a new school for their children and have been developing a completely new way of teaching and learning together. Their approach has inspired the world and people regularly travel from all over the globe to Italy to observe and learn.

    Is Reggio compatible with Waldorf? With homeschooling? What can we take away from this method and use to improve our own teaching? The only way to know is to try it. Here are my own notes from our Reggio Experiment. Feel free to email me with your comments and ideas.

    Recommended Reading:

    I promise you that after you do the reading you will be inspired!


    *Note:
    We are currently taking our summer vacation -- I will begin to write more here in the Autumn when we get back into school. I have definitely decided to focus our time then on using the Reggio philosophy. I'm setting up the schoolroom in a Reggio way which I will document here (with photos if I can) and doing some more reading. Updates coming soon!


    May 2006


    May 18, 2006 - I wonder what the chances are of Steve letting me abscond with the shed. it would be a perfect playhouse, it's currently empty and is right at the edge of the yard, backing up to the woods. We could call it "Morning Glory House" and put a trellis up the side and plant morning glories on it, when the kids are older put a little mailbox out front and we could leave messages for one another. it is small but high; I wonder if it would be possible to safely put in an upper level nook with a ladder and a railing, for a little hideaway. And then the only thing below would need to be a playstand and some shelves and cloths, etc. it would help the kids to have a place to put away their outside playthings and would be a wonderful little house.

    * * * * *
    N cries, "Thank you for my pail, Mommy, thank you!" "I dig, with scoops!" to herself

    Steve approved my idea for the playhouse
    but he says not yet, which is fine because I want to focus on the wall first. maybe invite Betty to be a part of it? Mom too. cousins? each person does a part?

    I want a big floppy hat
    (this was because the sun is getting in my eyes as I try to observe the children. I'm not too close to Natalie because I don't want to distract her)

    dirt floating up into the wind
    "that dirt is from a fireplace" looks like smoke
    Art Project!
    millet seeds? collage

    N is singing

      put some dirt in my scoop
      put my scoop in some dirt
      dig some dirt and put it in my scoop
      and these rocks
      and plants plants plants

    so CONTENT

    "I'm putting a plant in my pail, Mommy! I put it in my scoop"

    she hardly ever talks to me or looks up, so absorbed. it's just the two of us, her sisters are already down for naps

    she's using one scoop to fill the other with dirt, carefully leveling it and smoothing it down with the edge of the empty scoop, then carrying the full scoop to the pail

    started compost pile today
    she thinks the animals will eat the banana peels. come back to that, how it gets broken down into the soil. again, SOIL, ROCKS
    maybe we can call it Living Earth, always changing, bring in the sand, beach, river
    Geology certainly runs in my family as an interest

    I asked her not to dig up by the house and said, how about this dirt right here? She looks at me and says firmly "That is sand."
    then changes her mind and says, "I'm going to dig in sand"

    Thinking Question: what is the difference between dirt and sand?

    wandering around aimlessly

    now she's using the scoops to bang on the sawhorse and make sounds
    putting the scoops inside one another, arranged in order of size
    (1/4 cup, 1/3 cup, 1/2 cup, 1 cup)
    testing the sounds they make on the ridged plastic gutter

    (back to business. how long did the aimless time last?)
    transferring dirt from the planter to her pail
    "My pail is full of dirt. Brining it over here to this plant."
    choosing what size scoop to use. suddenly decides the plants are in the way.

    "I'm going to pull these plants out," she announces
    pulls up a weed, brushes extra dirt back into the pot, as she's seen me do, and tosses the plant aside
    removes all plants
    then begins to dig

    (I start sketching out a plan for the yard)
    can the dog house become a chicken coop?
    right by the veg garden is a good place, and we're unlikely to let him sleep outside
    do we need a permit?
    can we keep chickens hidden?
    would something come out of the woods and eat them?

    veg garden is in sunniest spot, easy walk from front door, also by water spigot
    A GOOD PLACE

    N singing again - does this when she's focused, content

      Dig Dig Dig
      and rock, rock, rock (as she sees them go by)
      Pour pour pour
      dirt into the pail
    moving dirt from large planter to small pail

    this dirt is different - planting soil - she hasn't remarked on this
    does she like it because it's soft and easy to handle or because it's in a container?

    she's singing and singing, I can't catch the words, I heard
    "it's me"
    obviously rejoicing in her task and its usefullness

    has her hands in the dirt too, not just the scoops

    taking the dirt all out of the planter and onto the lawn
    what time did we come out here? I need to pay more attnetion to elaspsed time - determining quality of play
    today is obviously rich enough :-) YAY!!

    testing to see if she can pile dirt on the reverse side of the scoop
    convex, concave
    discussion of this?
    what is her explanation
    the pad and pencil works well for outside play time but I need a tape recorder for circle time

    drawing shapes in the dirt with her finger

    this may not be Waldorf, but when you look at her so absorbed you immediately think - play is the WORK of the young child

    she's completely pulled in to her world
    I facilitated by observing her, thinking of how to make her play richer
    benefit of documentation + transcription
    Waldorf doesn't emphasize this so much - are they missing something?

    it's definitely a Waldorf result but it took Reggio to get me there

    as soon as I saw her just listlessly flicking dirt
    standing, not crouching and absorbed, I said
    "alright, Natalie, time to put the scoops away in the pail"
    which she did immediately but said, can I wash the scoops and the pail?
    I said, sure
    and we went around to the front where the hose is
    she set all her scoops out on the ground and waited

    are we in to a distraction, water play?
    No she's washing them very well and setting each aside in the sun to dry
    oh, here we go, distracted on the last scoop, flinging water on the ground
    LOVED sand + water play at the beach yesterday, she was the only one who was into it, her sisters were too hot

    I wish I knew how much time had transpired
    rough guess: 1 hour 10 minutes

    ** need a watch **
    list of things to take outside for observations: pad of paper, pen, camera, watch

    there's a lizard. should I remark on it or not disturb the quality of her play?
    It's gone

    I went off to decide where the tree should be planted and the compost heap should go (by the veg garden) so of course she's distracted
    she's watering the flower beds
    time to wrap it up.

    began ~ 10:30
    ended ~ 11:40

    May 17, 2006 - yesterday, in the back yard for the first time, children were immediately drawn to the space under the deck and picking up the trash in the yard
    today digging with sticks is very popular, L did a lot of running and yelling, N went from digging under the deck to collecting rocks and making a careful pile over by the dog house
    took photos documenting the "before" space

    provocation tomorrow - white pail with scoops (these are really nice quality scoops, I recommend them)

    Natalie really likes rocks - maybe we should put smooth river stones and other favorite rocks in with our tile mosaic?

    other ways to beautify the environment: one copper chain instead of a gutter (the one right by the under-deck space)
    some kind of planting around the heat pump?

    Project Idea: Rocks


    May 16, 2006 - while the kids are playing outside in the back yard, I am sitting on a lawn chair watching
    this is my journalling time, observations, photographs
    would be nice to have a glider

    1st space to work on - outside wall and under deck
    tile mosaic

    can the shed become a playhouse? plant flowers around

    mud pit - Educating the Will

    first, they naturally begin to clean up
    went to go get them a trash bag

    have Steve do some outside play time with them too so he can share his ideas

    Project Idea: the Sun
    (helping Natalie go to bed, being more aware of the rhythm of the day, how does the sun help the flowers grow, gives us our food, etc)


     
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