Looking at West Chiltington Montessori and the Reggio Approach for the Autumn Term

Looking at West Chiltington Montessori and the Reggio Approach for the Autumn TermBy Julia, Yvonne & Antonia

Montessori

Child focused

Specially designed resources

Careful preparation of the layout of the room

Home from home environment Children to know where they can find things for themselves

Easy access to resources Everything having it’s own place

Practical life activities Doing up buttons and zips

Cutting and threading

Montessori

Sensory experiences

Children to express themselves freely

Children to be involved in real cooking and cleaning activities

Being involved in the community

Montessori is easily linked to the EYFS

The Reggio Approach

Reggio Emilia is a small city in the region of northern Italy

Founded after World War II

Loris Malaguzzi inspired the education experience

Children at the centre of the Reggio Pedagogy

100 languages of expression is a poem by Malaguzzi

Atelier Is the heart of the school

It is described as ‘the place of what is possible’

Has a wide range of resources available to the children

Atelierista to help with research and continue ongoing projects

A place for children to be creative

Environment

The environment is considered as the third teacher

Welcoming and beautiful to all

Natural plants

Open spaced

Open ended Resources available for the children to access independently

Inviting activities/compositions/provocations

Environment

The great outdoors

Environment

Environment

Documentation & Reflection

Is a process for documenting children's learning

It is not an end product, it is ongoing

Tools for documentation include photos, videos, drawings, written notes

For the children it helps them to reflect on their learning

For the practitioner it provides evidence to discover how the children are learning

For the parents it shows them what their child is doing to learn

Documentation & Reflection

EYFS linked to the Montessori and Reggio Approach A Unique Child

A powerful individual who is strong, confident and competent Positive relationships

Children, Teachers and Parents are equally important Enabling environments

Importance of the environment to support children’s development, play and learning

Learning an development Understand how children learn through long term projects, as individuals, as part

of a group and through reflective practice Key Person

Having a shared image of the child, having a two way relationships between the teachers, parents and children

Parent partnership is essential!

Working in Partnership with parents and families

Sharing Information Parents Evening (wine and cheese night)

Next Steps

Daily Diaries

Respect Listen to the parents decisions about their children

Trust Confidentiality

Creating positive relationships

Parents as Partners continued

Communication Posters Displayed

E-mail

Over the phone

Face to face

Social Media? (Confidential private group no information or photos of children.)

Diversity Show interest in the children's home life

Involve parents as much as possible

In the future a possible PTFA (Parent, Teacher, Friends Association) Be involved in the community

Summer Fairs

Summary

The Reggio and Montessori Approach are a good way to look at children’s enquiries into the way they think and play

Makes the children use their imagination

The EYFS is used as a reference system, not a target/tick box system to move children on through their development

Reggio and Montessori both share similar visions when looking at the environment and how things are set up

Both use natural materials, Montessori does have it’s own resources which are specifically designed for the approach

Important to work with parents as partners we both want what's best for the child.

September sees the start of further developing our approach – we value your support!