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 […]

It’s happening: public awareness in the United States is catching up to the reality that gender identity is neither absolute nor binary. And many people – children included – are finding new freedom to describe their experience and to express their gender identity more accurately.

Each day gives us multiple opportunities to explore justice: how to describe it, how to create it, how to feel it. Teachers know that children learn best when they are engaged in meaningful ways and when we focus on the process instead of the product…

Those of us who work with young children know how critically important our work is. Though we may face the misunderstanding that we are “babysitters” and that our job “must be so fun,” we know that early childhood education is a rigorous, compelling, impactful profession.