April 27-May 1

Connections: Gaining Momentum and Depth

As we've settled into a rhythm in this new season, we're seeing increased connections between concepts and areas of focus in our learning. Families have reported the range of engagement children experience with the different modalities of "online" and "offline" learning, but also that some children are starting to shift into a deeper connection with the experiences being offered. We are seeing this too and, while it still varies and that is completely understandable given the circumstances, we also are noting many connections weaving throughout the various concept threads we are following. 

Some Current Concepts and Threads of Learning:

Art Journaling
Mark-Making
Pattern
Texture
Color (and the Rainbow)
Emotions
Light and Shadow
Sound
​Connections to nature
Building
Paper sculpture
Relationships between each other, families, and materials

These also include some use of  other languages such as photography, literature, and tools as we are always looking for ways to diversify our offerings and allow for new insights through multiple languages.

Leigh responds to Mark-Making to Music

Austin's response to the Weekend Walk Scavenger Hunt

Children demonstrate connections forming across learning concepts:

During our Zoom interactions and on Seesaw this week we observed multiple links children have and are making between concepts. These concepts interweave across the variety of experiences offered showing the cognitive connections children are making and the ways they continue to think about the concepts in various contexts. 

Here are some examples from the week, categorized by our three offerings over Zoom.
(Note: Scroll through the slideshows to see and read about Color-Mixing & Rolling Beads.)

Making Connections Through Color-Mixing

Connecting Concepts to Rolling Paper Beads

Concepts Observed Through Movement

During our Dance Party, today, we listened to the tracks used for our Mark-Making to Sound activity on Seesaw. This time we made "marks" or motions using our bodies. This created a different opportunity for children to interpret the feeling of sound and music using body motions. We observed children respond by choosing between these kinds of movements:

• large and small
• fast and slow
• circular or linear (horizontal or vertical)
• distinct or subtle

How We're Working to Extend Learning

A BIG THANK YOU for your feedback during conferences and on Seesaw this week...it all has contributed greatly to our ability to see not only see what is engaging children, but gain insight into the children's learning processes and their connections. We also learned more about the different ways families are utilizing experiences and the range of needs and desires around how to deepen the connection to the work.

As we plan each week with the children, we think about activities which weave concepts together and extend into a "next step" or different perspective or language.  One of the ways we do this is to deliberately offer a diversity of experiences. We consider what ideas arose during the week, what threads we have been following, and how can we plan a next experience to deepen our and the children's understanding of those ideas. We consider all of the teachers including families, teachers, children and the environment (in this case, home, our online platforms, the materials, and experiences offered.)

In doing so, this week we implemented a new series of activities that we hope brings all of this together and especially brings us back to the children's voices:  Inspired Connections. You may have seen the first two activities on Seesaw inspired by Lou Lou's response to gathering and arranging rainbows with materials and Jack's response to nature which reminded us of some current threads. 

Our hope is that we can remember an important aspect of the Reggio Philosophy, in that we value an intentional revisiting of concepts and experiences as a way to deepen our understandings. We invite you to use Seesaw and the documentation shared by families and ourselves as a way to revisit, deepen, and extend the learning. We aim in this season to provide new content and new ways of approaching the learning each week, but we highly encourage you to go at the pace that is right for your child...slow it down and really immerse yourself and the children in the experiences when possible. 

As much as we can, we will offer a variety of ways to connect to and extend these experiences at home both in our Zoom interactions, but especially within the Seesaw activities where we often suggest a variety of questions to consider and languages to explore the activity through. Feel free to use as much or as little or to add your own twists to these ideas. We want each of you, and the children, to feel free to access the right amount of content and depth that works for you in this time.

An Invitation

During conferences we received a variety of feedback on how much each family and child is able to engage during this time. Many are really trying to juggle many roles and needs under one roof and we again hope to support you in the best way we can. Thank you for the feedback and always feel free to reach out with more!

We received one request for more ideas to extend the learning, possibly into a long-term project to be explored at home.​ If you are wanting the same, we'd like to offer an *optional* invitation: to hold a team meeting with you (Jill, Jessica, and parent(s)) where we discuss ideas and plan a possible project to follow at home. Please reach out if you are interested in this!​

Thanks so much for reading and reflecting with us!
​
​We hope you all have a wonderful weekend and look forward to another great week of KW!