The Reggio Emilia educational method views young children as individuals who are curious about their world, “each child has 100 languages” and tries to develop them with innovation, art, music, dance, writing, talking, singing, and science. Children are considered to be “knowledge bearers”, so they are encouraged to share their thoughts and ideas about everything they could meet or do during the day.

The child is viewed as being an active constructor of knowledge, rather than being seen as the target of instruction. Children are seen as having an active role of an apprentice. The teacher’s main role is to work alongside the children, to provoke ideas, problem solving, and resolve conflicts.

Four major principles of the Reggio Emilia Approach:

• Emergent Curriculum. A classroom’s curriculum stems from the particular interests of children. Curriculum topics are derived from talking with children and their families, as well as from things that are known to be interesting to children.
• In-Depth Projects. These projects are thorough studies of concepts and ideas based on the information gathered about a child’s interests. Projects are often introduced to children as adventures, and can last anywhere from a week or two to the entire school year.
• Representational Development. This principal takes into account Howard Gardner’s concept of multiple intelligences. The Reggio Emilia approach calls for the presentation of new ideas and concepts in multiple forms, such as print, art, drama, music, puppetry, and so on.
• Collaboration. The idea of collaboration is seen as necessary to further a child’s cognitive development. There is a close interaction between teachers, parents, and children. Children are viewed as collaborators and work best when included in a community as opposed to working independently. Therefore, emphasis is placed on working in small groups, which is based on the idea that we form ourselves through interaction with peers, adults, and the world around us.

PBL is a student-centered pedagogy that involves a dynamic classroom approach in which it is believed that students acquire a deeper knowledge through active exploration of real-world challenges and problems. Students work on a project over an extended period of time which engages them to solve a real-world problem or to answer complex questions. As a result, students develop deep content knowledge, as well as critical thinking, creativity, and communication skills in the context of doing a project of interest.

The PBL learning style leads to a greater depth of understanding of concepts, improved communication and interpersonal/social skills, enhanced leadership skills, increased creativity, and improved writing skills.

Rudolph Steiner, the founder of Waldorf education, proposes a philosophy of child development that suggests a human is a threefold being of spirit, soul, and body whose capacities unfold in three developmental stages on the path to adulthood: early childhood, middle childhood, and adolescence.

The Waldorf curriculum is broad and comprehensive and designed to bring age appropriate subjects that support each of these developmental phases. The early childhood curriculum, therefore, centers on experiential education, allowing children to learn by example and opportunities for imaginative play.

The overall goal of the Waldorf curriculum is to cultivate and support the child’s deep, inborn natural attitude, belief and trust in and basic reverence for the world as an interesting and good place to live in. The teacher recognizes the multi-faceted way that each child learns, and strives to meet the needs of all types of learners, kinesthetic, visual and auditory.

The curriculum is enlivened and strengthened by incorporating art, music, and movement into daily practice. Waldorf education is richly steeped in the humanities, foreign languages, sciences, and the arts, and strives to create a genuine love for learning.

To see our program in action and for a tour of our facilities, please visit us.