Day 3: May 20
I had my second coffee this morning but it wasn’t as good as yesterday. Not bad but not as good. BUT it was €0.10 cheaper so that is something.
The walking tour and language tours today were helpful though repetitive. It was really cool to learn a few things (selfies were taken as a requirement of the walking language tour)
- Romolo Valli theater is used for music. And a dog was enjoying its fountain jets!
- An H&Mshop in Piazza Del Monte used to be a Jesuit monastery.
- The water fountain in Piazza Prampolini is fresh for filling bottles.
- The Santa Maria Assunta cathedral has parts going back to the 9th century. We saw the crypts with a grate to the original flooring, 42 columns, and an area dedicated to soldiers in WWI.
- The Antica Salumeria is a meat shop with chandeliers.
- The San Prospero church is for the patron saint of the city. It has the Last Judgement of Reggio Emilia on the ceiling behind the altar, which also has awesome organ pipes.
For €13, you can get a neon, dessert, or coffee, and water. Decent price for what people gone. And then we were on our way to preschool… Where we got poured on and everyone was soaked through pants, shoes, socks, and shirts (unless there was a raincoat). Even then, my coat soaked through a bit leading to a panic attack. But being at a Reggio infant/toddler school after hours (with the after school 4-6 program still there was nice. It was less of a culture shock and a good segue into what we'll be experiencing.
Nido Airone - Infant & Toddler Center
Setting
While there were no seating charts and few children while we were there, there were many tables in the classrooms and shared areas that had multiple chairs set up around them. The educators of the school explained that there are rooms for four different groups of students (3-12 months, 12-18 months, 18-24 months, and 24-36 months), though every room and space has glass windows so that students can meet and see each other. Each group of students has a different focus on which the educators consider for their projects that align with child development (Malaguzzi, 1993/1994; Wurm, 2005)—from creating a safe space for the youngest group to helping the oldest students understand their own change and growth. As well as having tables with chairs, the two rooms for the 12-18 months group and the 18-24 months group also had carpets in front of bookcases with pillows on them. The seating aligns with the Reggio mindset of creating community with a sense of belonging and allowing students to become involved in collaborative learning (Malaguzzi, 1993/1994; McNally & Slutsky, 2017). I did not see any area intended for independent learning, because even areas that did not have seating had projects that indicated collaborative learning, such as the area where students used materials to model an Italian building projected on a screen. The setting was less open than I anticipated, which makes sense given the wide range of students and needs at the infant/toddler levels, but having glass walls lining every room, and rooms connected to each other and/or the piazza gave more of a sense of open concept than I am accustomed to.



Teaching Materials and Decorations
Students at this school use a lot of materials that are seen in American schools, like clay, crayons, markers, and string. There were also typical toys, like bead mazes, that have been shown to increase mathematical understanding and promote different types of language development between students and teachers (Wati et al., 2023). Something that struck me is the amount of natural materials throughout the school in both regarding how students learned and how the decorations were set up. There were tree branches, rocks, pinecones, water, and shells, among many other things. The types of materials and decorations show how the Reggio approach allows students, educators, and other adults to consider the different types of languages beyond speaking (Malaguzzi, 1993/1994; McNally & Slutsky, 2017; Wurm, 2005).



This school in particular uses lighting in different ways, which the educators explained is instrumental in child development. Because I was informed of the explicit ways light is used in the school, I found myself drawn to the lighting styles. Most rooms had lamps in the corners and around the walls, providing a calm ambiance of yellow light as opposed to the fluorescent lights I am accustomed to. Some decorations had lights, or were under lights, to bring attention to the decoration. I also found it interesting to see the different ways in which shadows were highlighted and taught. the educators said that the youngest group plays with lighting changes and paper, the 12-18 month group begins to work with shadows and natural materials, the 18-24 month group consider shadows and light in their environment, and the 24-36 month group learn about changes in their environment, and also work with instruments as part of their materials.




Also part of the decorations were ample examples of student work. Indeed, it was difficult to take many pictures that ensured no student work or other identifying information was in the image! There were also cutouts of students in the 18-24 months room that looked as if students could put themselves in different situations and roleplay, which is part of the Reggio approach (Malaguzzi, 1993/1994; McNally & Slutsky, 2017).
Pedagogy and Classroom Management
I was fortunate to observe a small group of students working with two teachers in the atelier. The group was working with clay to form the connection between materials and nature--a small tree branch was in the center of the table. This room contained the wide variety of materials described above and allowed me to witness how the Reggio approach recognizes the 100 languages in its pedagogy. The all had clay balls in front of them, and three of them were molding the clay or poking holes with their fingers. One of those students would also touch the tree branch at times. The two teachers continuously asked questions about what they were doing and what they were thinking, and despite the limited verbal language, the students were communicating in different ways. The fourth student though had taken their clay and made different balls and cylindrical objects from it, sometimes saying "uno" as an answer. This child then looked at me with the clay in their hands and held it out to me. Suddenly, I was part of the Reggio community; I was part of the learning. Not only did I observe a community experience (Edwards & Gandini, 2015; Malaguzzi, 1993/1994; McNally & Slutsky, 2017; Wurm, 2005) of parents coming in to pick up their children and sometimes join in our conversation, but I was immediately immersed in it. I did not know what the child expected, but I did remember that the Reggio approach encourages children and adults to learn from each other (Malaguzzi, 1993/1994; McNally & Slutsky, 2017). I looked at the child who had touched the branch and said "like you," while touching it myself. I then took a small ball of the clay like the child who gave it to me had already done, and gave it texture like the tree branch. I pointed out the texture to the child, who smiled and continued to pull clay off to make balls and cylinders. "Uno!" They broke their cylinder in half. "Due?" I asked, with no response. But they were trying to explain their work and process to the teachers and me both verbally and nonverbally.

Other
The piazza held a small area that was a dressing room with hats, skirts, shoes, bags, dresses, and scarves. I overheard a teacher telling someone else that the area was new this year, and encouraged different types of play.

I was unable to observe the kitchen area, but the educators explained that many parents are encouraged to work at and cook for the school (Edwards & Gandini, 2015; Malaguzzi, 1993/1994; McNally & Slutsky, 2017; Wurm, 2005). This was reflected in the menu, which included different pastas or chicken each day of the month.
It was also interesting to hear how this specific school worked with students and the community. We were informed that the special education students had individualized plans that ensured they had the same rights as the other students. The educators also help students with different needs to work within different spaces. Along those lines, the pedagogist explained that she collaborates with the Reggio municipality to align the private Reggio school methods with methodologies of the public school in order to overcome educational disparities through shared experiences and projects. This, I realized, is the epitome of what it means to be a community of learners in relationship with one another, where not only was every student included, but other stakeholders and policymakers were required for decisions that impacted student learning and community building (Edwards & Gandini, 2015; Malaguzzi, 1993/1994; McNally & Slutsky, 2017; Wurm, 2005).
References
Edwards, C. P., & Gandini, L. (2015). Teacher research in Reggio Emilia: Essence of a dynamic, evolving role. Voices of Practitioners, 10(1), 89-103. http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/famconfacpub/105
Malaguzzi, L. (1994). Your image of the child: Where teaching begins. (B. Rankin, L. Morrow, & L. Gandini, Trans.). Child Care Information Exchange, 96, 52-61. (Original work published 1993, June).
McNally, S. A., & Slutsky, R. (2017). Key elements of the Reggio Emilia approach and how they are interconnected to create the highly regarded system of early childhood education. Early Child Development and Care, 187(12), 1925-1937. https://doi.org/10.1080/03004430.2016.1197920
Wati, O. P., Ekowati, D. W., Nusantara, T., Muksar, M., & Sudjimat, D. A. (2023). Bead maze media semiotics objects: A study of mathematics teaching for autism students in elementary school. Jurnal Ilmiah Sekolah Dasar, 7(3). https://doi.org/10.23887/jisd.v7i3.57227
Wurm, J. (2005). Working in the Reggio way: A beginner’s guide for American teachers. Redleaf Press.
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