With the arrival of June, the summer season has begun, and our Creekside kids should be free to be out in the sun, adventuring, teaming up for games, and playing together unfettered. COVID19 changes what we can allow our kids to do; to protect them, we have to limit their contact with others and maintain a safe environment.

Summer comes with all sorts of kid-friendly traditions. The long lockdown has been challenging for both parents and children but, the arrival of summer gives us an opportunity to change that.  It’s important to adapt these rites of summer to safely let our kids know that the joys of life are  still there for them.  We want to teach our children that we are resilient and are able to thrive in times of adversity.

The joy of living.  Life is bursting out of every crook and cranny in the summer. Insects emerge and the butterflies and birds are back. Take time to celebrate these things with your kids. Point out an anthill that has newly formed and explain how the colony works inside it. Pull up a YouTube video on ant colonies.  Look for the returning birds and the Monarch butterflies. Take a moment to show your kids how to appreciate the pleasure of being alive together, even during a pandemic.

The great outdoors.  In the summer, we look to do the things we can’t do the rest of the time and much of it is outdoors. It’s just warm enough to eat dinner outside and if you stay outside at dusk, you may be lucky enough to see bats flying around.  On the hottest days, Cheyenne Creek is a good way to beat the heat and share some fun memories together. Nature hikes are a chance to get out together and explore our high desert environment.  Bear Creek Nature Center has easily accessible trails for kids and grandparents too. Share a sunrise or a sunset, if you have the right vista. 

The bounty of summer.  Summer brings great foods to the table, and it can help children process this transition. Buy a watermelon (have you tried the yellow watermelons?), pick wild strawberries and raspberries in Cheyenne Canyon. Summer fruits and vegetables from a container garden or raised bed will help key your child into the changing season and provide new opportunities for the children to taste fresh fruits and vegetables they grow themselves.

Plant a berry garden.  If you’ve got a yard to play with, why not play in the dirt with your kids? Plant strawberries, blueberries, and blackberries in a sunny place in your garden, and perhaps pumpkins too, in anticipation of Autumn. Have a look at James Prigioni’s Gardening Channel for ideas on berries you can grow.

Honor the break. If you have older kids you have been homeschooling, keep in mind that they need their summer break to play, be silly, and put the academics they have learned through the year to practical hands-on use. Their mood is transferable to their younger Creekside siblings, so if older siblings feel unfairly burdened by a school year that isn’t ending due to extra lessons and tutoring, it could create a negative impression for the younger ones. Make sure to have a cut-off date and honor it, so that all your kids know that summer has a sacred place, even during a pandemic.

Honoring the seasons as they change is important because they provide your preschooler with a deeper understanding of time, the calendar, seasons, celebrations, and even astronomy.   Seasons and celebrations are how young children understand and mark time.  Be sure to come back next month for some great kid-friendly activities you can explore with your Creekside kids this summer while social distancing!

There is no college, or institution, that one can become certified to teach the Reggio Emilia method.

In fact the Reggio Emilia method doesn’t even exist outside of the town of Reggio Emilia, Italy.

No two children learn exactly the same, nor does a group of children learn the same way over an extended period of time. Loris Malaguzzi, and parents in the villages around Reggio Emilia in Italy recognized this right after the second world war.  They believed that children between the ages of three and eight needed a new way of learning. They sought to instill an educational system that was child centric where children’s curiosity, thoughts, comments, and knowledge are valued and respected as any other adult’s would be.

Reggio Emilia Today

Their vision has now grown into a world-wide phenomenon.  It is one of the driving forces that wants to see early child development education made a priority around the world.  Children that learn under the Reggio Emilia inspired curriculum are more apt to solve problems on their own by researching to find the answers.

This style of learning is centered around the interest, and needs, of the child as they relate to their local community. Therefore, what’s good for the children of the village of Reggio Emilia is not necessarily good for the towns, and villages, of the rest of the world. Each institution that chooses to use the values of respect, responsibility, and community through exploration and discovery can only call themselves Reggio-inspired.

Within these Reggio-inspired classrooms, and programs there are three components that come together to form a child’s education.

Component Number One

Parents are the largest component of the Reggio Emilia philosophy.  Teachers, or co-learners, respect that parents are a child’s first teacher. Parents are school partners, collaborators, and advocates for the child’s education. They are consulted often in every aspect of the child’s curriculum. Parents are encouraged to, and often times, volunteer their own knowledge to help all the children receive a more rounded education of the community.

Component Number Two

The instructor is the second part of a Reggio-inspired child’s education. Each of these individuals has dedicated themselves to the life-long pursuit of the learning process. As the community changes so do the children, the educational expectations, and the way they learn. Reggo-inspired teachers are more than just instructors. They are co-learners, and collaborators, with your child. Our co-learners facilitate and plan activities based on a child’s interests. They ask questions to further understanding and engage in the activity with the child. They are considered to be on the inside of the learning instead of sitting back and watching.

Component Number Three

The final piece to a Reggio-inspired education is the environment in which a child learns. The environment is important because children make connections and understand their world in places that support “complex, varied, sustained, and changing relationships between people, the world of experience, ideas and the many ways of expressing ideas,” according to Louis Cadwell in her book Bringing Reggio Emilia Home.  Many of these classes have live plants, lots of natural light, and our within walking distance of playgrounds and activities.

Children express themselves in “a hundred languages” based on the Reggio-inspired curriculum. They are encouraged to paint, draw, color, dance, perform plays, and any other number of ways children communicate with the world around them. At the root of Reggio-Emilia is community, communication, and respect. Click here to register with North American Reggio Emilia Alliance.

By the creek side your child’s future is in their hands. Call Us At (719) 635-9111, Or
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Reggio Emilia Inspired Learning.