What is a Reggio Emilia oriented school?
Children’s work is play. Collaborative play, the business of school, is an important part of children’s intellectual and social development. This kind of play is enhanced by two things: 1) a rich environment, designed to provide stimulation, challenges, and open-ended spaces for creative exploration; and 2) the mentoring of expert teachers who interact with children and model the process of problem solving as well as skills in the various intelligence areas. Howard Gardner has defined eight types of intelligence that human beings need to develop: linguistic, mathematical, visual, musical, kinesthetic, inter-personal, intra-personal, and recently added, naturalistic. While Gardner’s theory has flaws, the basic idea can serve as a useful guide. It has been applied to the classroom in an approach often called an “integrated thematic curriculum”, which is what we plan to employ. In this approach, themes are chosen by the week or month, and a series of experiences in all domains are planned
