A Look Inside our Lil Pallikkoodam Kindergarten- a ReggioEmilia Inspired Kinder Skool:
Uncategorized Sep 27, 2020
A Look Inside our Lil Pallikkoodam Kindergarten- a Reggio
Emilia Inspired Kinder Skool:
Let’s take a peek into the Reggio Emilia kindergarten classroom of Lil Pallikkoodam at the beginning of the school year. What will you see? The bare walls ready to exhibit children’s work, and the large environment filled with natural things awaits our RE children. There is natural lighting and child-sized furniture, carefully placed and considered. You will find no shortage of natural learning aids and hands-on teaching tools like natural learning sids, blocks, books, arts and craft supplies. As the year progresses, you will witness projects growing as children build their skills; you’ll see the unique educational approach that Reggio Emilia teachers use to guide the learning process. You will undoubtedly be welcomed into the school community, to witness how a Reggio Emilia kindergarten, in Lil & RaK’s Pallikkoodam is beneficial, enabling your child to be an Explorer and a Creator.
In the Reggio Emilia approach, children use their “many languages” of expression to direct classroom activities. Through a project-based Creative Curriculum, the child in the Reggio Emilia approach enters the world of learning creatively, in a manner that prepares their minds for a lifetime of educational exploration and skill development. Therefore, Reggio Emilia kindergarten classrooms are set up to support this child-centric educational philosophy. Additionally, the environment in a Reggio Emilia inspired classroom is incredibly important — so much so, that its role is said to be the “third teacher.” So, the design of the classroom matches the function of child-directed learning in these special classrooms.
Our teacher community acts as facilitators and arrange their learning spaces from a child’s perspective: making sure that there are a variety of exploration stations, and that there are comfortable spaces appropriate for solo, small group, and large group learning. Poking around, you might find science and nature areas, loose parts play corners, costumes for dramatic play, structures to build, quiet and cozy nooks, and writing, drawing and sculpting supplies. There may be materials for counting and organizing such as pebbles, colored buttons, feathers, twigs and yarn, or sensory tables holding sand or water. Reminders of home or familiar parts of children’s worlds is staged, such as play food and a mud kitchen, or gardening tools and soil. Here, children “practice” some of the activities that they see their families participating in. In a Reggio Emilia style classroom, children direct their own learning, probing, exploring with variety of things that are available which encourages the ignition of children’s individual curiosity.
Our teachers (called as Aunty) at Lil Pallikkoodam hold a special role in a Reggio Emilia classroom: they are researchers and documenters along side, the child’s learning journey. The themes covered turn into projects and are built from children’s questions; for example, how plants grow, or investigations into the life cycle of a caterpillar. One question leads to another, and projects may be as deep as children’s interests are contentedness! Teachers guide this exploration, acting as negotiators and supervisors.
As children explore projects, teachers maintain an open line of communication and continuously record, collect, save, and share all of the children’s creations with the parent community during open houses, art weeks, grandparents day and open days. Thanks to such project-based learning in a Reggio Emilia kindergarten program, teachers find plentiful documentation around the classroom. From self-portraits to clay bowls, science experiments to photographs of children working together, videos of learning through exploring their curiosity, to the results of giant group art projects — in a Reggio Emilia kindergarten, there will always be plenty to take home and add to their collection.
Kindergarten in Lil Pallikkoodam is different from standardized preschools with fixed benchmarks to be met. However children are encouraged to write, read, sing aloud rhymes during circle time and learn phonics through a fun and exciting way apart from their play and nature walks. (Handwriting the Reggio Way) At Pallikkoodam Coimbatore, every student’s individuality, as well as the diversity found in our school community, is celebrated.
To find out more about how a Reggio Emilia kindergarten classroom could be a good fit for your child, we encourage you to get in touch with us at Lil Pallikkoodam. Parents in our Pallikkoodam community have possibly the most important role: as partners and guides for our children in order to partner in your child’ learning journey to make the learning visible. We can’t wait to welcome you!
Sign up to attend a parent information session here or apply today!