Imagine believing that children have the ability to express themselves in more than one way?
Now times that by 100! Loris Malaguzzi, founder of the Reggio Approach, describes the "infinite ways that children can express, explore, and connect their thoughts, feelings and imaginings."
These languages (the Hundred Languages of Children) are symbolic and are open to the endless potentials in children. They believe in the potential of a child's ability to wonder. It is the belief that there are "multiple ways of seeing and multiple ways of being."
At Neshama Preschool, we offer so many ways for children to share their thinking and ideas via open discussion, collaborative learning, and multiple venues for self-expression.
With thought-provoking questions we guide our friends, extending their curiosity and learning with play.
Taking a closer look, Did you know that each of our classrooms are equipped with its very own atelier - art studio?
At Neshama, we believe that the environment serves as the third teacher.
When we designed the pre-school, we always wanted to ensure there was a creative space dedicated to art and creativity, with a wealth of resources children can freely access. In French, the word atelier is a common term meaning an artist’s studio or workshop. At Neshama, our atelier is a space that aims to encourage children’s exploration and use of many materials, symbolic languages, and forms of representation.
To inspire our little artists we set this space with a wealth of dynamic resources.
The atelier offers a variety of versatile materials and serves as the central place within the pre-school where many collections of materials are located and used. These collections include traditional art media, such as paint, collaging, and clay, but also contain non-traditional materials, such as found objects, recycled items, and natural materials. Stones, shells, leaves, dried flowers, etc. are neatly arranged.
The variety of rich materials in the atelier facilitate children’s thoughts, preparing them to be the successful innovators of the next generation.