I'm just full of goodies today...

www.teachers.tv/videos/learning-from-europe-gunilla-dahlberg

Please read all the way through

Article from the Star-Tribune


An exhibit with an intriguing fusion of science and politics opened this week at the Science Museum of Minnesota. (And I'm not talking about the one that features Egypt and King Tut.) While the traveling Tut exhibit grabbed headlines, the Wonder Years quietly opened to teach Minnesotans about the stunning growth and brain development that takes place in infants and toddlers.

One activity allows visitors to see the world through the eyes of newborns and infants. A video shows children at different developmental stages to emphasize how much they learn in five years. A quiz show will test visitors' knowledge of young children in Minnesota. The exhibit even reveals some things that babies are better at than grown ups. (Identifying monkey faces? Hmm. Go figure.)

Exhibit creators at the University of Minnesota believe there's a gap between scientific understanding of infant brain development, and public understanding of this fleeting phase of life. If people knew, they might be stronger advocates for quality early childhood education, said Karen Cadigan, the U researcher whose team received $1.5 million in National Science Foundation grants to start Wonder Years and conduct related studies.

"The simple, everyday interactions between young children and adults, especially their parents, are powerful beyond appearance. It is the accumulation of these moments—in the grocery store, at mealtime, during play—that define the quality of the relationships upon which children's lives are built."

The opening of this exhibit comes as early childhood education is gaining political steam. While Gov. Mark Dayton didn't add much funding to early childhood ed in his 2012-2013 budget proposal, he singled it out as an area in need of investment when the state's finances stabilize. (One new investment in Dayton's budget would be an expansion of the Parent Aware system that rates the quality of child care centers and provides incentives for families to use the high-quality centers.)

The rating system was tested in Wayzata, St. Paul, north Minneapolis and in Blue Earth and Nicollet counties with the help of $20 million in private funding. Duane Benson of the Minnesota Early Learning Foundation, the business group that raised the money, said it is possible for the state to improve its early childhood programs by simply doing more with the public money it already spends.


BE AWARE...the "public money it already spends" includes funding for ECFE and School Readiness. The Minnesota Community Education Association is working against including this money in Parent Aware funding.

Some new resources from the Reggio Inspired Network of Minnesota

I've had enough snow. How about you?

Resources of Interest
Here are a couple of resources that have come to our attention recently. The first is a Blog by Jeanne Vergeront, local museum consultant who served on the Steering Group that worked to bring “The Hundred Languages of Children” exhibit to St. Paul in 2004. Her piece on Loose Parts is inspired and inspiring! http://www.museumnotes.blogspot.com/
The other resource is the most recent catalogue of all the books and materials available through Reggio Children. It’s a gorgeous publication in itself. Reggio Children catalogue (1)

Upcoming workshop

“Wire and Found Objects” – Saturday, Feb. 12th


February’s Materials Exploration, Wire and Found Objects is coming up on Saturday, February 12, 2011 at SE Loft, 730 Stinson Blvd., Minneapolis 55413. Registration is required $25. Fee payable by check to “Reggio-Inspired Network of Minnesota” along with the attached registration form. Mail to 312 Parkway Court, Minneapolis, MN 55419. Contact Monica Malley for more information: monicamalley@gmail.com

An article worth looking at

Some very nice photographs with this article. Hope you enjoy it, that you are all staying work, and that you continue on your Reggio journeys.



Experiences with Light
http://www.ohio.edu/childdevcenter/DOCUMENTS/lightbook.pdf

Always something to think about...

From the Reggio listserv. Happy New Year to all!

List,

There has been some conversations on the list around environment. I'm sending you a link to a gallery which will share with you the evolution of our community. The environment has evolved as we observed and listened to the how the children and parents interacted within our classroom environment. Note how the conversation areas have shifted as well as many of the areas. (NOTE: We aren't finished yet!! Also a donation of a settee added to how we "set" the classroom)

The first gallery is the classroom as it looked first thing yesterday morning (1/6)

http://www.midpac.edu/elementary/PG/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=80921&g2_page=1

The second gallery is the classroom coming to life as the children discover and begin to have conversations with the various "communities" with in the classroom.

http://www.midpac.edu/elementary/PG/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core:ShowItem&g2_itemId=81138

Note: As we listened to the children just before the children left -- over the break our team discussed many aspects of the children's work. We were struck at the shift in the play and how the children were "inventing" play. For example we observed the girls using small stuffed owls that are in the room and wrapping them like babies. We noted the boys bringing in small figurines.

We wondered if the children brought in the own babies from home how this would foster the play as the children would view their own babies as "family." How would this unfold? Would this play into the individuality of each child? The same for the figurines.

Wanting to nurture and honor the children's work we asked that those children who wished to could bring in their babies or lego size figurines. The images from the first day reflect this change. We also noted to the families that they only bring babies and blankets--that the team would observe the play and then "add" or seed the environment in supporting their play/work as this unfolds.

As the first morning of work unfolded we were struck by how the various areas exploded! We felt the why for this was two fold--the children's adding to the play with their own things and the new environment supporting this "new" play as we had reset the environment from our early observations of the children's play/work. The timing of how we seeded materials in the environment throughout the year also seeded collaborative and group play.

We also observed a smooth transition unfold for our first day back after a long 2 week break. The younger children came into the classroom confident and assured. We strongly felt that because each child had a "piece" of home that they had brought in this helped in bridging a link between home and school as their "things" helped to remind them of their families and home. So a piece of home was alive in the classroom.

We are excited to see how this continues to unfold....

Back to listening...

Leslie

Happy Holidays Reading List

This comes from Julianne Wurm, who wrote Working in the Reggio Way. Hopefully this will feed your professional development needs!

Here are some of the things I have been reading and would recommend:
Cadwell, L. B. (1997). Bringing Reggio Emilia home. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
Cadwell, L. B. (2003). Bringing learning to life. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
Carini & Himley. (2000). From another angle: Children’s strengths and school standards: The Prospect Center’s descriptive review of the child (Practitioner Inquiry). New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
Cochran-Smith, M., & Lytle, S. L. (1993). Inside out: Teacher research and knowledge. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
Cohen, D. H., Stern, V., & Balaban, N. (1997). Observing and recording the behavior of young children. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
Cox, S. S. (2006). Making learning visible through documentation: Creating a culture of inquiry among pre-service teachers. New Educator, 2(1), 33-55.
Crain, W. (1980). Theories of development. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Dewey, J. (1933/1960). How we think. Lexington, MA: Heath.
Dewey, J. (1944/1961). Democracy and education. New York: Macmillan.
Donovan, M., & Sutter, C. (2004). Encouraging doubt and dialogue: Documentation as a tool for critique. Language Arts, 81(5), 377-384.
DuFour, R., DuFour, R., Eaker, R., & Many, T. (2006). Learning by doing: A handbook for professional learning communities at work. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree.
Edwards, C., Gandini, L., & Forman, G. (Eds.). (1993). The hundred languages of children: The Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood education. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
Edwards, L. G. (2000). Bambini: The Italian approach to infant/toddler care. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
Gandini, L., Cadwell, L. B., Hill, L., & Schwall, C. (2005). In the spirit of the studio: Learning from the atelier of Reggio Emilia. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
Gandini, L., & Goldhaber, J. (2001). Two reflections about documentation. In L. Gandini & C. Pope Edwards (2001). Bambini: The Italian approach to infant/toddler care. New York: Teachers College Press.
Goldhaber, J., & Smith, V. R. (2002). Application of the Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood science curriculum. Early Childhood Education Journal, 30(3), 163-169. DOI: 10.1023/A:1022013905793
Helm, J. H. (2007a). Energizing your professional development by connecting with a purpose: Building communities of practice. Young Children, 12-17.
Helm, J. H. (2007b). Windows on learning: Documenting young children's work. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
Helm, J. H., & Beneke, S. (2003). The power of projects: Meeting contemporary challenges in early childhood classrooms. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
Helm, J. H., & Helm, A. (2006). Building support for your school: How to use children's work to show learning. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
Helm, J. H., & Katz, L. (2000). Young investigators: The project approach in the early years. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
Katz, L. G., & Cesarone, B. (Eds.). (1994). Reflections on the Reggio Emilia approach. Champaign, IL: ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Education.
Lewis-Benham, A. (2006). Possible schools: The Reggio approach to urban education. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
Piaget, J. (1967). Biology and knowledge. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Project Zero and Reggio Children. (2001). Making learning visible: Children as individual and group learners. Reggio Emilia, Italy: Reggio Children.
Rinaldi, C. (1998). Projected curriculum constructed through documentation—Progettazione. In C. Edwards, L. Gandini, & G. Forman (Eds.), The hundred languages of children: The Reggio Emilia approach—Advanced reflections (2nd ed., pp. 113-125). Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
Schon, D. A. (1983). The reflective practitioner: How professionals think in action. New York, NY: Basic Books.
Schon, D. A. (1987). Educating the reflective practitioner. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Weber, E. (1984). Ideas influencing early childhood education. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.