Robbins Hebrew Academy

Discover RHA Winter 2017

Let kids learn how fun Hebrew day school can be at RHA

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By all accounts, it was one of the best Woods Wednesdays of the year; the year that saw RHA begin a Reggio Emilia-inspired curriculum in our nursery, JK and SK program. Instead of the JK class taking their weekly walk to explore the nearby ravine, they donned their rain jackets and boots and stepped outside onto their own playground. "We normally walk to the woods," explains JK teacher Jodi Goldstein, "but on this day there was a storm brewing and the ravine just wasn't safe. Instead, we went outside and took things as they came. What came was rain, and with the rain, the questions. Where does the rain come from? How can water be in the sky? Why are there puddles? "We let the children lead the learning." At the crux of a Reggio Emilia-inspired curriculum is a focus on how children learn best. A fundamental belief is "the hundred languages of children." It is the idea that kids communicate in all sorts of different ways and develop intellectually through curiosity, wonder, investigation and discovery. In Reggio Emilia, children are seen not as passive consumers of information but as active learners, driven by their own interests to know more. Born from a region in Italy over 50 years ago, the Reggio Emilia approach to pedagogy views the child as a collaborator and communicator and is considered by educators, psychologists and researchers to be the highest-quality approach to early childhood education in the world. Then there is the classroom itself, considered the 'third teacher' in this model of education. With the first stage of our major renovation complete, our early years classrooms are Reggio Emilia-ready. Classrooms are not merely spaces, but living and changing systems. They are designed with natural light, order and beauty. They have open areas free of clutter as well as cozy nooks for small-group learning. They are filled with both single purpose toys and with "loose parts," authentic materials and tools that promote creativity and curiosity (pretty much eliminating the waste of consumable materials). RHA'S REGGIO EMILIA-INSPIRED CURRICULUM A World-Leading Model of Early Childhood Education

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