When I was teaching I tended to get deep into what I was doing, and time and distractions would just disappear. I’d be observing children’s play, conversations, and representation, often documenting their process, and supporting them when needed. Suddenly,...
This post is number four in a series, each based on a question asked by the co-author of this pilot program, Jen Miller-Taylor. In the Fall of 2016, Jen was an experienced teacher but new to Kindergarten. She declared intent to bring the principles of the Reggio...
In the spring of 2015, I received what was probably a once-in-a-career opportunity to create a teaching and learning space with essentially no limits on funding (for my part, anyway). A great opportunity and a great responsibility! I got to imagine, design, shop, and...
Of all the “one hundred languages of children,” drawing is among both the most accessible and, for some children, the most powerful. I have known many verbally gifted five-year-olds, and none of them could do justice to her biggest ideas through words. Drawing,...
Creating the Outdoor Classroom was a collaborative venture. The seed had been rolling around in my imagination for years, fed by my observations of the way in which the children played outdoors and of the way they grow a relationship with nature. We’d tried some...
For many years, we had a red and yellow plastic and metal playground in a plot of mulch on a large lawn bordered on three sides by campus buildings. There was a magnolia tree that dropped feather-shaped leaves all year long and a sycamore tree that shed its bark and,...
