Reading List

To help us prepare our new classroom environment we have been reading books that were suggested to us or that we have picked up ourselves.  Some of the books below are ones that we have read or are currently reading.




Natural Curiosity: Building Children's Understanding of the World through Environmental Inquiry by OISE - The Laboratory School at the Dr. Eric Jackman Institute of Child Study


Natural Curiosity Website - Download Free Copy

-an excellent book that looks at inquiry through the lens of environmental education, we highly recommend it 
-we have used this book throughout the school year and have participated in a monthly professional learning community
-we like the four branches that comprise Environmental Inquiry: Inquiry-based Learning, Integrated Learning, Experiential Learning, and Stewardship

QUOTE: "When direct experience in nature falls to the wayside, the opportunity to explore the ditch gets replaced by memorizing lists of plants you might find if you actually ever went to the ditch." Natural Curiosity

Authentic Childhood by Susan Fraser
-highly recommend this book as an introduction to Reggio Emillia philosophy of education, especially since it's with a Canadian focus

QUOTE: "A number of principles, including aesthetics, active learning, collaboration, transparency, "bringing the outdoors in," flexibility, relationship, and reciprocity, need to be addressed to create an environment that acts as a third teacher." Susan Fraser






Insights and Inspirations from Reggio Emilia: Stories of Teachers and Children from North America. Edited by Lella Gandini, Susan Etheredge, and Lynn Hill
-wonderful collection of articles and stories, helpful to see Reggio Emilia represented through the eyes of others in North America

QUOTE: "...start from an explicit declaration about the very open image of the child...An image in the sense of an interpretation, strong and optimistic about the child; a child who is born with many resources and extraordinary potentialities that never fail to surprise us; a child with autonomous capacities to construct thoughts, ideas, questions and attempts to give answers." Loris Malaguzzi





Designs for Living and Learning: Transforming Early Childhood Environments by Dev Curtis and Margie Carter
-new resource recommended to us by Dr. Carol Anne Wien as a great place to start looking at the space in our classroom







We Are All Explorers: Learning and Teaching with Reggio Principles in Urban Settings. Edited by Daniel R. Scheinfeld, Karen Marie Haig, and Sandra J Scheinfeld.
-this resource is a good basic introduction to Reggio, we found the chapter on team-teaching valuable

Materials

We are very excited that we have received our first order of some of the materials that we have purchased for next year.  When we were going through the catalogues, we were mindful to choose materials that were natural, transparent and purposeful and ones that would encourage investigation and exploration.

Below are some pictures of the items that we have purchased:

Tree Blocks

Rainbow Blocks

Mirrored Shape Blocks

Wooden Playdough Set

Wooden Abacus

Wooden Scissor Holder

Glass Beads

 

We are very excited for our students to use these materials next year!

Stephanie and Helen