The Language of Nature
Spring Villa
2021/2022
Aurora Ecosystem
At the core of the Reggio Emilia philosophy and our own, is the emphasis on building and sustaining relationships. We believe that strong communities are built on relationships.
Therefore, on returning to school after such a long closure due to COVID, we wondered how we could develop a sense of belonging? What were the signs of a community of learners connecting and how could we strengthen this? Through the hundred languages we have explored the very broad concepts of connec tion and belonging in meaningful, age appropriate ways.
It has been a journey of discovering and strengthening the wonderful dispositions of learning we have noticed. The resilience, the courage, the curiosity, the persistence and the determination found in our children, alongside the kindness and playfulness they have displayed on their return to school.
We know that it is through responsive and reciprocal relationships with people, places and things that children have opportunities to try out their ideas and to refine their working theories, hence our mission was to empower children to learn and grow as they connected and formed relationships.
A truly remarkable year, made more so by truly remarkable children.
Ms. Penny Pedagogista
Kate, Camellia, painting
The Art of Play
It's wonderful when we make time to connect, to observe the things that bring us joy and find ways to bring them into our day. We were exploring the sensory materiality of clay, it's textures, it's potential and it's malleability.
We gathered in the piazza and covered the table with a mixture of found objects and natural clay. The children each found their own ways to interpret the material and took great pride in their creations. Some of them wanted to throw the clay and enjoy the sound of its thump upon the table, others wanted to decorate it with flowers and pinecones, some wanted to enjoy its sensory qualities as they rolled and soaked the clay.
During our sensory exploration, we have never see the children so excited! Everyone rushed to the table to see what they could find.
We noticed how much they loved using the containers, it was wonderful to see how they would hold the colourful grains in their hands and watch them fall. They seemed interested in the tactility and textures.
We love getting to share these discoveries and the pursuit of knowledge with our Magnolia friends.
Mango, painting
Nep, painting
Beyond the Canvas
We started this morning with so much joy. We made a painting!
Aurora had a big beautiful canvas for Children's Day, and we wanted to make our mark on it.
We didn't do it alone, our friends from Frangipani wanted to help!
Isn't it incredible getting to work together with some of the older children? We observed how they used the rollers and played with the paint and found our ways of using the canvas expressively.
It's clear we have some talented young artists here in Magnolia, everyone has their own unique of way of working with the materials in front of them.
The Magnolia Olympics!
Let the games begin!
Our primary friends were hosting their own sports day and we wanted to get in on the action.
After visiting the primary villa and seeing how the games were put together, we decided to host our sports day in the Magnolia classroom.
We had so many exciting things to play with, from long bendy tubes, big rainbow coloured canopies and bowling balls and pins. The children's joy and enthusiasm was contagious, as they leapt and giggled with glee from one thing to another.
Magnolia, Painting
Paint with Nature
The Marigold children had such a wonderful time exploring process art by painting with nature brushes. Using foraged flowers and leaves each brush was unique in it's different textures, lines, patterns and mark making.
Let Your Fingers Do the Seeing
Exploring the world through touch. Our Marigold friends love to paint with their hands as if they were their brushes.
You can tell that the children wanted to feel the paint between their fingers and to play with it giving the paper a big high five.
Sensory
The first step to unfolding intelligence is to discover the sensory information that the environment can gift us with. Our senses allow us to perceive the natural world around us through many means.
Over the past few months, we have explored a lot of sensory play from ice painting sensory boxes, foam soap, moon sand, sensory walk, play dough, clay, and more.
'Before we ever put a pencil in a child’s hands, those hands should dig, climb, press, pull, squish, twist, and pinch a wide array of environments and various materials.'
- Amanda Morgan
Light
"Lights are everywhere around us, but to see them we have to illuminate them in our minds" Loris Malaguzzi
'What's important is that children have an opportunity to bond with the natural world, to learn to love it, before being asked to heal its wounds.'
- David Sobel
The Language of Nature
More Nature Brushes!
Camellia friends were so excited to make their mark on this day.
Such incredible movements and explorations were taking place.
“Flower” Mia
“Flower there” Kaleb
“I like the yellow one” Ayaki
“Red” Harry
They also thought beyond the brushes in your hands.
“Bang bang bang” Harry
(as he makes paint marks with his palm)
“Tada” Hugh (showing his painted hand)
“I want blue” Cami
“My mum like blue” Anna
“I want red colour please” Maya to Anna
Anna, Painting
Experiencing The Joys of Light
We extended our investigations with nature and senses to the light atelier. Here, we used nature as our inspiration to explore light and develop relationships with friends and teachers.
Building Connections Through the Language of Music
Music proved to be a beautiful way for children to connect again after an extended period at home. Through their shared love of music, we witnessed them form bonds, holding hands, smiling, and laughing with each other.
It brings us such joy to see how everyone came together in these moments when listening to their favourite songs.
Magnolia Class
Camellia Class
