Book Description

Bringing Reggio Emilia Home is the first book to integrate the experiences of one American teacher on a year-long internship in the preschools of Reggio, with a four-year adaptation effort in one American school. The lively text includes many “mini-stories” of preschool and kindergarten-age children, teachers, and parents who embark on journeys of learning together. These journeys take shape in language, in drawings, in tempera paint and clay, in outdoor excursions, and in the imaginations of both the children and adults. This informative and accessible work features photographs of the children (both in Italy and the United States) and samples of the children’s work, including some in full color. During the past 10 years there has been a tremendous interest among early childhood educators and parents in the innovative approaches to teaching pioneered in the preschools of Reggio Emilia, Italy. This book is a must read for anyone interested in the Reggio Approach! Teachers, especially those in early childhood, teacher educators, policymakers, administrators, and parents will find it invaluable. Selected topics: The Fundamentals of the Reggio Approach • The Pleasure and Power of Playing with Materials • Plants in Relationships • Children and Spoken Language • Transforming Space, Time, and Relations • Turning the Preschool Classroom into a Greenhouse • Taking the Plant Project to Kindergarten “Between 1989 and 1993, just three educators from the United States were granted permission to spend a year as interns in the schools of Reggio Emilia, Italy. Louise Cadwell was one of them.” —From the Foreword by Lella Gandini