Should a classroom for young children be provocative? Maybe not in the sense of being risqué or unsettling, but educators in the schools of Reggio Emilia, Italy do hold a notion that the classroom environment itself can offer inspirations and challenges to the children. Every day at Hilltop Children’s Center we prepare our classrooms and studios with “provocations” and “invitations […]

In-depths are a perfect example of reflective practice enriching curriculum. The teacher must lead even though they don’t know where they are going. They supply the means, not the drive or the inspiration. If they think they know where they are going, then they must hope to be proven wrong, because by making an assumption, they have already closed their minds to many unpredictable experiences.

by Becky Krueger, Educator, Hilltop Children’s Center In my classroom, I used to think of taking a “first group” of children outside at 3:45 as a benefit mainly to the children who remained in the classroom: more time one-on-one with my co-teacher, more opportunities for focused work, or a space for quiet play in a smaller group. Over the past […]