Little Sunshine’s Playhouse & Preschool® proudly provides your children with an emergent curriculum based on the highly acclaimed Reggio Emilia philosophy.
Reggio Emilia is an early childhood education approach that originated in Reggio Emilia, Italy. This approach is a way of observing what your child knows, is curious about and what challenges them in order to customize their early education journey to make it more engaging and meaningful.
Our Educational Approach
Principles of Reggio Emilia
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Children are capable of constructing their own learning.
Children are the main initiators of their own learning process and should be treated as active collaborators in their education, as opposed to passive observers.
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Children are collaborators and learn through interaction within their communities.
Learning is based on relationships across all spectrums of learning. In Reggio Emilia there is a close interaction between teachers, parents, and children.
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Children are natural communicators and should be encouraged to express themselves however they feel they can.
Children learn through words, movement, drawings, paintings, buildings, sculptures, and more.
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The classroom environment acts as the third teacher.
Children thrive in welcoming, aesthetically pleasing environments that are suited to their interests and developmental stages. The layout of the classroom promotes relationships, communication, collaboration, and exploration through play.
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Teachers are partners, nurturers, and guides who help facilitate the exploration of children’s interests.
Teachers guide experiences, discovery, and problem solving. A teacher listens and observes the children, as well as questions and looks for opportunities to encourage further exploration of a child’s interests.
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Documentation is a critical component of communication.
Teachers document the learning process within the classroom and transcribe the verbal language used by children using photos, videos and a portfolio of artwork.
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Parents are partners in education.
Parental participation in their child’s education as a critical component of the learning philosophy. Parents should always be invited to play an active role in their child’s learning experiences as well as help to ensure the welfare of the children in the community around them.
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The philosophy of Reggio-Emilia enriches children’s lives through active relationships. The child, the teacher, and the environment interact to create meaningful learning experiences. I love hearing, “Hey, I’ve got an idea!” in my classroom. It lets me know that the Reggio philosophy is hard at work creating a place where children love to learn and grow!"
Reggio Emilia in our Schools
Reggio Emilia for Parents
What is the Reggio Emilia Philosophy?
As a Reggio Emilia-inspired school, Little Sunshine’s Playhouse and Preschool provides an emergent curriculum to children every day, but what is Reggio Emilia? Who does it benefit? When, where, why, and how is it implemented?
Children Are Capable: Principles of Reggio Emilia
Think back to your favorite class in school. It can be as far back as kindergarten or more recently as high school or college. Do
Expression & Environment: Principles of Reggio Emilia
One of the great parts about the Reggio Emilia Philosophy is that many of its principles and methods weave in and around one another. They link together to create a really unified idea of how to interact and educate the next generation of kids.
Teachers & Parents Teaming Up: Principles of Reggio Emilia
Up until now, our series explaining the basics of Reggio Emilia have been focused on children. (Which makes sense.) But there are two very important groups of people who have to be involved for the goals of Reggio Emilia to work: teachers and parents.
