Your assignment for the SLP Pre-K back to school workshop is to bring ideas on how your classroom environment is going to welcome the children and their families into their second community (given that the child's first community is their home).
The goal of the workshop is for you to develop a plan for that environment that you will put into place this fall.
The following are some provocations to help you as you think about this over the next few weeks.
http://www.communityplaythings.co.uk/resources/articles/reggio-emilia.html
http://www.innovativece.com/environments.htm
http://www.communityplaythings.com/resources/articles/Reggio/index.html
http://www.boulderjourneyschool.com/Pages/Home/Virtual_Tour.htm
http://www.cariboo.bc.ca/ae/literacies/reggio/reggioarticle1.htm
I would suggest you check past Provocation Stations that recommended checking out a particular blog or website, if you have yet had an opportunity to do that.
Also, these exchanges came from the Reggio Listserv, which you are all welcome to join (REGGIO-L@LISTSERV.ILLINOIS.EDU)
"...One of my goals is to keep children connected to the families in the classroom. I am wondering how others on this list include families in the classroom. I would like children to be able to 'hold' their family during the day when needed. Initially I was thinking of framing a photo of each family but I will have at least 20 families so I am not sure about space..."
RESPONSES
"Our All About Me book has the child's self-portrait and something he or she wants others to know about him or herself, along with a simple drawing of the child that the parents do at back-to-school night along with something the family wants other people to know about the child. The children paint covers for the books and we make hardcover bindings for them. They are sent home, though."
"We invite each family to compile an 'All About Me' book for their child. This book stays with the child at school and is frequently pulled out to share with friends. I work with toddlers so the questions are kept simple: There are ___ people in my family, I like to eat ___, etc. But we encourage the parents to embellish with pictures and additional words telling us about their family."
"I send a small empty photo album home with the parents at orientation and ask them to put pictures of the family in it for the children to keep in the classroom. We keep the albums in a special basket and the children take them out to share, hold, as needed."
"The photos don't need to be all in the same space. By spreading them around the room, it feels more of a sense of community. Allowing families to add things that are representative of their families or contribute to the classroom also gives a sense of inclusion. It can be something such as a book from their own collection they are willing to donate or a piece of cloth for the housekeeping area that is representative of their culture. Flowers from their garden, a rock collection with each familing bringing in a rock they found that they liked. These could be used as is or turned into story stones or each family could simply write a word on them that represents their family. By inviting each familyto share a part of themselves in the classroom without asking for something specific, you may get a surprisingly wonderful variety of additions."
"...family journals--we send home the inexpensive blank composition notebooks, place a label on the outside as to whose family jounal it is with a note on the inside telling the families to include photos of memories, etc. They are to bring them into school and we share them and then place them into a basket where the children pull and read them all year long."
"Your statement: 'I would like children to be able to hold their family during the day when needed.' When I read that, suddenly this popped into mind.
"It would be a family evening around making lovey's. I would either scan or take images of each child's family. Then transfer them onto iron-on sheets. I would ask families to bring in small blankets (you need to check what type of fabric is needed for the fabric iron-ons), so that the images can be applied prior to the evening.
"For the evening I would supply fabric paint or markers. Each family (parent and child) would make the blanket their own by adding a few memories to the blanket. Even for small children just 'marking' on the blankets make them connect to the blanket as their own. In having each family embellish them in some way it would personalize them AND link the child with their time with their parent as they worked together on this blanket for school. The child will remember the moment with their parent and the blanket will now have meaning for them. Once dry the lovey would be used during nap time or when the child just needs to hang on to something for comfort or having the child bring them to small group story telling.
"Think of the why, then think about how you can make the blankets a link between home and school by having a very intimate evening of preparing the blankets. Think of ways that the lovey could be used during moments of stress, joy and other intimate times."
"...I theorized that perhaps those children from summer school would become the mentors for the new children. Rather than me having to help the children find things to do, where things were in the classroom, etc., the children from the summer school progtam already knew and would step into the leadership roles. It would allow those that were shy etc. to step up and would help support all the children's confidence. I felt that this would help make that transition into the place called school a lot smoother, that it would make peer-to-peer relationships come together quickly...In pondering on this more the aha went off in my mind. If you recall my group of 3s had within the first month of entering begun the line project which lasted for 9 months. I never had that experience before and I wondered why it happened, what caused it. In thinking about that, I believe one piece of the why was that for the majority of the children, they had built a relationship with the environment and the materials, so that even though we had some totally new children come in, peers were there to support themn. It supported and scaffolded peer relationships. Thus this community settled in quickly and was able to move into a project. In thinking about this more, I don't think we would have moved into a project so quickly because the children would have been trying to build a relationship with the materials and themselves which takes time...
"I suppose that is why I'm pondering about the new space we are moving into and rethinking the why for everything...how do I foster and nourish their familiarity with the environment...how best to create that relationship with the environment for them as well as thinking about adding in materials that will now support their next levels of thinking."
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