Building Blocks Preschool I am excited to welcome back our returning families and share information about our school with new families. Building Blocks Preschool wel- comes you and your child into our school with open arms. It is our hope that this year will be one of joy and growth for all. Your child is the “protagonist” of their journey here at Building Blocks Preschool. The term “protagonist” in Early Childhood Education is a choice that the educators in Reggio Emilia have made to describe their particular view of the competencies and capabilities that children possess, and are able to bring to their own learning. The idea that each child is a protagonist of their own journey is that the educational experi- ence overall, is about the child - each indi- vidual child’s interests, explorations, theo- ries, and questions. In our inquiry based classrooms, teach- ers are highly intentional – guided by clear principles and are driven by a pow- erful sense of real purpose. We slow down, listen, reflect, research, collabo- rate, plan, implement and then reflect again. We value children's rights and we focus on making learning visible with our com- munication style, low teacher-to-child ratios, and our inspired-well trained and caring professional teachers. We value nature and the outdoors, while preparing the child for the intellectual, social, emotional and physical challenges of school and life. Our parents value the exceptional ways we facilitate the educational process by building knowledgeable and capable, self- confident and self-aware, interested and interesting students while fostering a life- long love of learning. We believe in hands on inquiry based learning, fostering positive relationships with each child, and fostering in him or her a love for learning. That is what we believe is the strong foun- dation we give to your child. Warmly, Executive Director Letter Inside this issue: Growth Mindset 2 Ray of Light 2 Referral Credit 3 Wonder of Learning 4 FALL 2017 VOLUME 14, ISSUE 1 “We do not consider creativity sacred; we do not consider it as extraordinary but rather as likely to emerge from daily experience…creativity should not be considered a separate mental faculty but a characteristic of our way of thinking, knowing and making choices.” -Loris Malaguzzi, quoted in The Hundred Languages of Children Danny, a child in our Toddler Program, found a watermelon in the garden.
Transcript
Building Blocks Preschool
I am excited to
welcome back our
returning families and
share information
about our school with
new families. Building
Blocks Preschool wel-
comes you and your
child into our school
with open arms. It is our hope that this
year will be one of joy and growth for all.
Your child is the “protagonist” of their
journey here at Building Blocks Preschool.
The term “protagonist” in Early Childhood
Education is a choice that the educators in
Reggio Emilia have made to describe their
particular view of the competencies and
capabilities that children possess, and are
able to bring to their own learning. The
idea that each child is a protagonist of their
own journey is that the educational experi-
ence overall, is about the child - each indi-
vidual child’s interests, explorations, theo-
ries, and questions.
In our inquiry based classrooms, teach-
ers are highly intentional – guided by
clear principles and are driven by a pow-
erful sense of real purpose. We slow
down, listen, reflect, research, collabo-
rate, plan, implement and then reflect
again.
We value children's rights and we focus
on making learning visible with our com-
munication style, low teacher-to-child
ratios, and our inspired-well trained and
caring professional teachers. We value
nature and the outdoors, while preparing
the child for the intellectual, social,
emotional and physical challenges of
school and life. Our parents value the
exceptional ways we facilitate the
educational process by building
knowledgeable and capable, self-
confident and self-aware, interested and
interesting students while fostering a life-
long love of learning. We believe in
hands on inquiry based learning, fostering
positive relationships with each child, and
fostering in him or her a love for learning.
That is what we believe is the strong foun-
dation we give to your child.
Warmly,
Executive Director Letter
Inside this issue:
Growth Mindset 2
Ray of Light 2
Referral Credit 3
Wonder of Learning 4
FALL 2017
VOLUME 14, ISSUE 1
“We do not consider creativity sacred; we do not consider it as extraordinary
but rather as likely to emerge from daily experience…creativity should not be
considered a separate mental faculty but a characteristic of our way of thinking,
knowing and making choices.”
-Loris Malaguzzi, quoted in The Hundred Languages of Children
Danny, a child in our
Toddler Program, found a
watermelon in the garden.
Building Blocks Preschool
Growth Mindset and Agency
Light Exploration - One of the 100 Languages The children encounter light and more generally, the phenomena of nature with strategies that are relational and affective as well as rational and cognitive. The initial springboards to learning are wonder and curiosi-ty. The environments can multiply this wonder by amplifying certain phenomena and making them ‘spectacular’. The resulting experience is aesthetic and engaging, the fruit of sensitivity and perception, an experi-ence of freedom and of participation. Our Light Studio is based on these considerations and does not propose predetermined paths, keeping open all possible ways of interacting and learning.
Save the Date: Halloween Light at Night
We look forward to seeing you and your family at our annual Halloween
Light at Night on Friday, October 20 at 7:00 p.m. This event is
something your family will not want to miss!
Our mission at Building Blocks Preschool is to support our Early Childhood Learning
Community with a growth mindset. Our mindsets are what guides our actions, reac-
tions and behaviors, in particular to gaining knowledge and learning new skills. We
know that children develop self-regulation skills through a scaffolding process that
should be supported in a positive environment. Young children naturally lean toward a
growth mindset rather than a fixed mindset as they are curious about their environment
and explore and learn through all of their senses. By developing a growth mindset
children improve their skills for effectively solving problems every day and in more
challenging scenarios. Carol Dweck, the author of Mindset: The New Psychology of Success
states, “If parents want to give their children a gift, the best thing they can do is to teach
their children to love challenges, be intrigued by mistakes, enjoy effort, and keep on learning.”
In Julianne Wurm’s book , MORE Working the Reggio Way, she describes agen-
cy as a person’s independent ability to act upon their desires. One of the most
important goals of any educational program is to help children develop agency.
It is a driving force in life for most of us, our agency. This includes decision mak-
ing, self-control, and all of the other forms of agency that human beings struggle
with. When we think of young children, we often think of their need for im-
pulse control and the ability to recognize cause and effect, when in fact these
skills come much later in their development. It is crucial to support the ability of
young children so they have a voice to act on their emerging agency. Developing
agency in a child takes place with limits and within structure. Structure informs
a child’s sense of agency and can determine or limit it and his or her decisions.
However, sometimes adults are busy asking children to do what we tell them that it minimizes their ability to develop
agency. Without the freedom to choose, or without a scaffold in place to support this choice, it will likely take much
longer for a child to learn to manage his or her interests.
Ways to Stimulate a
Growth Mindset in Children: • Acknowledge the Effort
• Accept Failures
• Ask for Explanations
• Express the Amount of Work Put In
• Say, “Your Brain is Growing”
• Acknowledge the PROCESS!
Building Blocks Preschool
The highest compliment
we can receive is the referral
of family or friends for Early
Childhood Education at
Building Blocks Preschool
from our families. Please
share information about our
Reggio Inspired/ Nature
School with your friends,
neighbors and family. If you
like something we are doing
please share it on social
media. The trust and confi-
dence that you place in us
each and every day means a
great deal.
Each time a new family is
enrolled in our Preschool
Program for 3 + Full-
Days as a result of your
referral, you will receive a
$100 TUITION CREDIT.
The credit will be received
after the newly enrollee
family has attended our
school for one month. Now
is the time to refer us and
allow us to THANK YOU!
“We want to know what the children think, feel, and
wonder. We believe that the children will have things
to tell each other and us that we have never heard
before. We are always listening for a surprise and
the birth of a new idea. This practice supports a
searching together for new meaning. Together we
become a community of seekers.”
-Louise Boyd Cadwell
Tuition Referral Credit
Building Blocks Preschool
Community of Learners
The Wonder of Learning: The Hundred Languages of Children
The Wonder of Learning: The
Hundred Languages of Children is a
continuously updated travelling ex-
hibit that is translated into various
languages and has been telling the
story of the Reggio Emilia educa-
tional experience worldwide to
thousands of visitors for over thirty
years since the Autumn of 1981.
Building Blocks Preschool began our
Reggio Inspired journey in 2004. In
2011, Ms. Wendy, Ms. Jen, Ms.
Jennifer, Ms. Leah, Ms. Emily, and
Ms. Suzanne visited the Ohio WOL
Exhibit.
The exhibit came to the Univer-
sity of Michigan - Ann Arbor this
summer 2017. Many of our fami-
lies, teachers, and children joined us
on a field trip to WOL in July.
The exhibit aims to reconfirm
certain values at the heart of the
Reggio Emilia educational philoso-
phy and recount the changes, devel-
opments and innovations these have
undergone, all sparked off by expe-
riences at different levels and in situ-
ations going beyond Reggio Emilia
and its infant-toddler centers, pre-
schools and elementary schools, to
involve other cities, other areas in
Italy and other countries around the
world.
Our Staff Ms. Suzanne - Owner/Executive Director, Since 2004 - Celebrating 13 Years of Service Ms. Emily – Director, Since 2006 - Celebrating 11 Years of Service Ms. Wendy - Infant and Young Toddler Mentor Teacher, Since 2004 - Celebrating 13 Years of Service Ms. Jen - Preschool Mentor Teacher, Since 2008 -Celebrating 9 Years of Service Ms. Jennifer - Preschool Mentor Teacher, Since 2008 -Celebrating 9 Years of Service Ms. Leah - Toddler
Teacher, Since 2007- 2012 Returned 2015 - Celebrating 8 Years of Service Ms. Jamie - Preschool Teacher and School-Age Summer Camp Teacher, Since 2011 - Celebrating 6 Years of Service Ms. JoAnne - Infant and Toddler Teacher, Since 2011 - Celebrating 6 Years of Service Ms. Megan T. - Preschool Teacher, Since 2014 - Celebrating 3 Years of Service Ms. Sue-Before and After School Age Care Teacher and Preschool Assistant Teacher, Since 2015 - Celebrating 2 Years of Service Ms. Amber – Preschool Assistant Teacher, Since 2016 - Celebrating 1 Years of Service Ms. Megan B. –Preschool Teacher, Since 2016 - Celebrating 1 Years of Service Ms. Dana - Toddler Teacher, Since January 2017 Ms. Kourtney -Infant and Toddler Assistant Teacher, Since May 2017
