September 21st, 2021

Continuation of School Tours

Loris Malaguzzi, the founder of the Reggio pedagogy, once wrote “children have the right to be recognized… as both source and constructors of their own experiences, and are therefore active participants in the organization of their identities, abilities and autonomy through relationships and interactions with peers, adults, ideas and objects”.  Following this, it is our intention that the children develop trust in each other, the materials and the school space. To facilitate this, we continued with our school tours this week. Children went in groups of two and chose what in the school they wanted to see. For some it was the bell tower and the church and for others it was the elevator and other classrooms.

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Cal and Ragnar 

Both Cal and Ragnar expressed an interest in seeing Molly’s office on Friday. Unfortunately, by then we’d run out of time so we made it a top priority on Monday. They were thrilled to join Molly, Audrey and Jen on the balcony, and both were quite curious about the office space, the church and their new perspectives. Cal and Ragnar even braved the stairs all the way up to the bell tower to see where the bell sound had been coming from!

“ I see something” - Cal realizing there were steps in Molly’s office that led up to a door. 
“Is this a tunnel?” - Ragnar climbing the steps to the bell tower
“What’s down there?” - Cal noticing the church pews below
“Now, I’m down here” - Cal acknowledges the change in perspective between the balcony and the ground floor
“This feels like an airplane” - Ragnar remarked as he and Cal sat in different pews

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Ford and Rawls

Upon Cal and Ragnar’s return, Ford and Rawls were particularly excited to explore the school. They followed Ragnar’s suggestion to check out Molly’s office, but soon into exploring the balcony Ford remarked “I wanna go to Tucker Room”. Once in Tucker room, Rawls was particularly excited that he was in his sisters classroom, and looked around for evidence of her having been there. He asked “this is Marley’s room?” again and again, and with some guidance from Molly pulled a stool up to the window to see see Marley outside.
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Rawls and Fay

Rawls offered to accompany Fay on her  school tour today. They began exploring the hallway and eventually found the elevator. When they exited the elevator, both noticed the skylight on the ceiling. Rawls reached for it and  upon discovering that he wasn’t tall enough to do so remarked “ I not reach high”. He noticed “rectangles!” in the window pane pattern and was excited about this discovery. Fay enjoyed the tour, and shared Rawls’ observation of the rectangles. ​

Charlton and Ramsey

Charlton and Ramsey shared an interest in the church, particularly the sanctuary space. They began with an exploration of the balcony, but quickly decided they wanted to be on the church’s ground level. Charlton, speculating from the balcony what might be downstairs suggested, “There might be Spider-Man down there. There might be Leonardo down there from ninja turtles. He can stay late with his brothers”. Below is a conversation between Ramsey and Charlton as they plan how to get down to the sanctuary. 

Let’s not go down there. -Ramsey
But, this is the church -Charlton
How do you think can we get down to the sanctuary? -Karen
I think we need stairs.- Charlton
After the two of them returned back upstairs from their explorations: 
Let’s go back down again. - Charlton
What’s that noise? Check it out. - Ramsey​

Ragnar and Mimi

Similarly, the sanctuary held interest for Ragnar and Mimi. Ragnar, having been on a tour yesterday, suggested to Mimi that they start with Molly’s office, but from the balcony they quickly noticed the church below. Ragnar offered a comparison of what the sanctuary looked like yesterday and Mimi compared it to a castle. 
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It’s not dark today. -Ragnar referring to the sanctuary.
I see a table (Mimi looking towards the altar). There is chairs. It is a castle. 
We can do the stairs- Ragnar

Please enjoy this slideshow that contains pictures from the rest of our day!