Let kids learn how fun Hebrew day school can be at RHA
Issue link: https://rhacademy.uberflip.com/i/1044128
Reggio Emilia is recognized by educators, psychologists and researchers as the world's best approach to early years education. We are already seeing its impact: children who are more engaged, more excited to learn and even better prepared to move into their elementary years. On one rainy day, the JK class is dancing through puddles in the playground when suddenly, rain begins to skate down the outside of the building. It comes in a whoosh. The children are mesmerized. How did that happen? Where did so much water come from? Where will it go? The questions come fast and furious. The teacher explains that the water is coming from the eavestroughs. What are those? What do they do? How do they work? What do they look like? The children return to the classroom where they use materials — many of them loose parts and natural to the environment — to recreate an eavestrough and look for the answers. Then the teacher, who is the children's guide and collaborator, asks them to consider something new: What happens if you change the position of the eavestrough? Where will the water go now? What needs to change so that water does not pour over the side of the building? That's when the creativity really sets in. Innovating is also a daily activity. That's because STEM is built into the Reggio Emilia approach. Bit Kits are a favourite. They are circuitry kits with color-coded input and output mechanisms. The children learn how to make a fan spin. Or how to make a clock ding. For Passover, the students are asked how the Israelites could make food grow in the desert. They use their kits to explore new ideas. Without knowing it, the kids are learning perseverance and self-regulation as they try and try again. The children are disappointed when STEM comes to an end. But they are happy to hear it's time for literacy centres. Reggio Emilia: Three Years Later The Early Years It has been three years since RHA instituted a Reggio Emilia-inspired curriculum in our Early Years Program. Three years of little learners who spend their days exploring, creating and asking endless questions that are answered with interest and respect.