Wednesday, February 8, 2023

2/8/2023

The Name Change Process

" I love KW because I get to eat my lunch at school instead of at
home and I get to play with different friends. Because I like different friends and laughing together." Zari

For the past few weeks, children have been enthusiastically sharing ideas about KW and generating new name possibilities. Zari's quotation speaks to two important aspects of KW: lunch and the mixed age group. As Remy visited the greeting hallway with Zari yesterday, she shared adjectives that describe KW such as "best," "awesome," and "wise." Remy and Zari also incorporated elements of literacy as they wrote the words that they wanted to include.

More children visited the greeting hallway today. Louisa waited for inspiration, saying, "I've got to think!" She began to draw a smiley face and a fun name came to her: "Pineapple Strawberry Smiley."
There was a strong literacy element again today as children printed their name ideas.

"Play Workshop"

"Building Workshop"

"Cool Play"

"Team Awesome"

"Cool World Making Workshop"

We found that in returning to the experience with small groups, children understood that we were giving their ideas importance. The process communicates that we recognize and value their intelligence and thinking. Family members can demonstrate this as well by contributing ideas and revisiting the name suggestions posed by the children. We discussed our process with Amelia Gambetti (our collaborator in Reggio Emilia) today over Zoom. She encouraged us to keep going and support even more participation from families. Pease continue to share your ideas by email or in the greeting hallway. We will set up additional invitations and opportunities for collaboration in the coming weeks. We appreciate your willingness to think together with us!

Outdoor Day!

The weather was amazing and we decided to spend much of our day outside. Cal is a fan of frequent costume changes so we brought our dress up clothes to the outdoor classroom!