Projects
At the heart of the Reggio Philosophy is the idea that children can explore and expand upon the knowledge they already have. One way this exploration can happen is during projects that are facilitated by the teachers. Here the Monarchs class is working on a project that explores their interest in rocks and more specifically, crystals.
Teacher Christine started with a small group meeting. She met with one student who had been the leader of the group's interest in crystals. They discussed possible shapes that crystals may come in and decided that one way of discovering this was using a kit to grow them.
The Monarch's first whole group meeting about crystals found the children discussing possible shapes that crystals came in and what colors. They then looked at and manipulated actual crystals such as quartz and citrine. The children then drew their representations of the crystals they had handled.
The second group meeting was spent discussing how to grow diamond crystals. The children came up with a solution and mixed it together to see if it would grow diamonds. When it did not work, the children learned that there were kits and other solutions to grow other types of crystals.
During the third group meeting Christine brought in books about crystals to compare various crystals to one another. They then used rock salt to make a solution to grow their own salt crystals. Periodically the children checked the growth of their salt crystals.
For the Monarch's final group meeting about crystals the children drew in their journals the results from the salt crystal solutions they had made. They also put in their journals their observations about crystal identification from their books and the crystals they handled in class.
Teacher Christine started with a small group meeting. She met with one student who had been the leader of the group's interest in crystals. They discussed possible shapes that crystals may come in and decided that one way of discovering this was using a kit to grow them.
The Monarch's first whole group meeting about crystals found the children discussing possible shapes that crystals came in and what colors. They then looked at and manipulated actual crystals such as quartz and citrine. The children then drew their representations of the crystals they had handled.
The second group meeting was spent discussing how to grow diamond crystals. The children came up with a solution and mixed it together to see if it would grow diamonds. When it did not work, the children learned that there were kits and other solutions to grow other types of crystals.
During the third group meeting Christine brought in books about crystals to compare various crystals to one another. They then used rock salt to make a solution to grow their own salt crystals. Periodically the children checked the growth of their salt crystals.
For the Monarch's final group meeting about crystals the children drew in their journals the results from the salt crystal solutions they had made. They also put in their journals their observations about crystal identification from their books and the crystals they handled in class.