Dear Families and Friends,
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Palisades Preschool Staff Members at First Presbyterian
Nursery School, Santa Monica
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When we work with the children in our classrooms, discovery rooms, atelier and outdoor environment, we are most often working in small groups. According to social constructivist theory, many children are best able to build their own learning in the small group setting with the support of peers and adults who scaffold explorations within a zone of proximal development—the difference between the developmental level a child has reached and the level she is potentially capable of reaching with the guidance of a more skilled collaborator (Vygotsky, 1978).
Adults, of course, also scaffold one another’s attempts to reach new understandings and to acquire new skills. Over the past two and half years, our Palisades Preschool community has been studying the work of the educators in Reggio Emilia. Our readings, our visits to the Reggio inspired schools in our area and beyond, our meetings, our research in small group explorations, our documentation of the children’s learning, our continuing college courses and our collaboration with families have all scaffolded our learning through many zones of proximal development along our Reggio inspired journey.
And now. . .”The Wonder of Learning” exhibit shows us another view of the many possibilities enticing us to continue our investigation of this very beautiful and complex approach to working with young children constructed by the Italian educators in Reggio Emilia over the past 47 years. The current exhibit represents the newest version of the “Hundred Languages of Children” exhibit that has visited many cities throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico. This new version opened in Colorado, traveled to Indianapolis and will go to Chicago, Ohio, Monterey County, Portland and Vancouver after it leaves Santa Monica at the end of April, 2010. The travelling exhibition shares the experience of the infant-toddler centers, preschools and primary schools in the city of Reggio Emilia through photos, videos, drawings, music and text and reconfirms the values at the center of the Reggio Emilia philosophy.
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Nathalie & Amelia Gambetti
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The Opening Event at First Presbyterian Nursery School began on Thursday evening with the featured speaker for the 3 day conference, Amelia Gambetti. As a teacher in the Reggio Emilia municipal schools for 25 years, Amelia’s mentor was Loris Malaguzzi, the originator and leader of the schools. She now works as a pedagogical consultant through Reggio Children, has visited more than 300 schools in the U.S. and worked as an active participant in the creation of the new “Wonder of Learning” exhibit. Her presentations each day were stimulating and inspiring and, in conjunction with the tours of First Pres. environments and the dialogues with educators from all over California (and a few other states), her words provoked considerable reflection among our PPS staff members about what we are doing and why we are doing it.
Among numerous comments that I included in my notes from the event was one particular statement by Amelia that resonated for me in my role as the director of our preschool: “A school is a system of ongoing relationships.” I believe that it is very important for us to think about the interconnected quality of all of the relationships that are a part of our own web of systems at PPS—from the relationships between children, teachers and parents to the associations between families and with the community. We--and the materials and environments--are all collaborators in creating intentions and putting forth efforts to provide a high quality education for the children in our preschool. Each of us influences the other.
We have much to learn from the educators in Reggio Emilia and we must allow ourselves the time to learn and, especially, to support one another’s learning. I encourage all of our families to experience the exhibit. (For more information, please go to: www.reggioexhibitla.com.)
Warm wishes,
Nancy
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