Our mission is to introduce the first Reggio-Emilia inspired pre-k program in Bethesda-Chevy Chase and give parents a fresh pre-k alternative ... (continue)
At the heart of the Reggio-Emilia philosophy is the belief that children are full of curiosity and creativity; they are not empty memory banks waiting to be filled with facts, figures and dates... (continue)
This poem by the founder of the Reggio-Emilia approach beautifully conveys the important roles imagination and discovery play in early childhood learning. Much of Reggio-Emilia philosophy is based on protecting children from becoming subjected too early to institutionalized doctrines which often make learning a chore rather than an extension of natural curiosity.
The child
is made of one hundred.
The child has
a hundred languages
a hundred hands
a hundred thoughts
a hundred ways of thinking
of playing, of speaking.
A hundred.
Always
a hundred
ways of listening
of marveling, of loving
a hundred joys
for singing and understanding
a hundred worlds
to discover
a hundred worlds
to invent
a hundred worlds
to dream.
The child
has
a hundred languages
(and a hundred hundred hundred more)
but they steal ninety-nine.
The school and the culture
separate the head from the body.
They tell the child:
to think without hands
to do without head
to listen and not to speak
to understand without joy
to love and to marvel
only at Easter and at Christmas.
They
tell the child:
to discover the world already there
and of the hundred
they steal ninety-nine.
They
tell the child:
that work and play
reality and fantasy
science and imagination
sky and earth
reason and dream
are things
that do not belong together.
And thus
they tell the child
that the hundred is not there.
The child says:
No way. The hundred is there.
-Loris
Malaguzzi
Founder of the Reggio Emilia Approach
