Curriculum

Music and movement are important parts of an early childhood curriculum. This semester I am teaching a curriculum class. We are discussing ways to support learning and development through curriculum. Content areas like music and movement are part of the curriculum in early childhood education. The creative arts is a language for children to express themselves (Macy et al., 2017). Young children respond to opportunities to move and participate in musical adventures as discussed with Dr. Timothy Askew on episode 48 of the BUTTERCUP podcast.

Dr. Askew shared why it is important to take children on location where music and the arts are celebrated. For example, concerts can inspire children and adults alike. Going on location expands ideas. Field trips can create new ways of thinking.

One of the things I love about about the place is that in the heart of Reggio Emilia there is an opera house. If you are in the neighborhood on a Saturday morning, it is worth your time to go on the one-hour tour of Il Teatro Valli. Gain inspiration for ways to include music with children. Share different types of music that could also include opera, classical, jazz, and more. Children with and without disabilities benefit from opportunities for an enriching curriculum (Landini & Macy, 2025; Regalla et al., 2024).

From the lobby of Il Teatro Valli in Reggio Emilia, Italy.

Taking a selfie in the Reggio Emilia opera house.

The magnifico ceiling at Il Teatro Valli.

Il Teatro Valli entrance faces piazza with fountains.

Our tour guide explaining the stage at Il Teatro Valli.

Reflection of the Reggio Emilia clock and bell tower from the doors of Il Teatro Valli.

View of the stage from an entrance to the theatre.

Il Teatro Valli in Reggio Emilia, Italia.

My daughter painting the air with beautiful sounds of music.

References

Landini, A. & Macy, M. (2025). Early childhood inclusion in Italy. Infants and Young Children: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Special Care Practices, 38(4), 322-333. https://doi.org/10.1097/IYC.0000000000000302

Macy, M. (Host). (2022, September 1). Lift Every Voice and Sing with Dr. Timothy Almon Askew [Podcast]. BUTTERCUP https://youtu.be/lyprCD30VGs?si=4uAUY9D26cB1xjY4  

Macy, M., Zhang, B., Ji, Y., & Macy, R. (2017). Authentic assessment to measure outcomes in creative arts. NHSA Dialog: Research-to-Practice for the Early Education Field, 20(1), 83-95. https://doi.org/10.55370/hsdialog.v20i1.748

Regalla, M., Peker, H., & Macy, M. (2024). An examination of an inclusive French immersion program and preschoolers’ executive functioning skills. Foreign Language Annals (of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages) Foreign Language Annals (of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages), 57, 1000-1025.  https://doi:10.1111/flan.12773

Making Waves with Math

“Catch a wave and you’re sitting on top of the world.” ~The Beach Boys

Last month I wrote about developmental waves related to language and early literacy. I shared how my little one and I created learning opportunities at the beach. We explored storytelling by the seaside. This month the topic relates to how young children develop and learn math skills.

Families can play a role in their child’s math development. I had a chance to talk about this topic on my University of Wyoming College of Education podcast episode #3 entitled, “Working with Families.” I shared some of the research my colleagues and I have been doing, as well as practice oriented strategies to partner with families of children. Math opportunities could also be embedded into activities like a day at the beach or children’s familiar routines. While playing with toes on feet, we could embed math concepts. For example, we could count toes on each foot and create playful moments with storytelling.

Developmental waves with math occur during familiar routines, play, and small and/or large group activities. Embedded learning opportunities could be planned or spontaneous. Learning opportunities could be child-directed or adult-directed. There are many ways we can teach children who are developing their math skills. University of Wyoming professor of mathematics, Dr. Scott Chamberlin, spoke about how math skills could be taught on the BUTTERCUP podcast episode. Curriculum of all types can be considered for supporting math learning in young children. For example, the AEPS-3 has a Math area can be used with a curriculum and assessment.

Early childhood professionals can support children’s math development by using a high quality curriculum-based assessment that has undergone research. The AEPS-3 incorporates authentic assessment in math with a companion curriculum to teach the targeted skills for children with and without disabilities. There are crosswalks created for state early learning standards, For an example of how Wyoming state learning standards align with the CBA see the Wyoming math alignment here (click). https://aepsinteractive.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/AEPS-3-Wyoming-Early-Learning-Standards_FINAL.pdf

For other state math alignments, see website. If you’re interested, click on the link below that will take you to the math blog I wrote about the AEPS-3 for Brookes Publishing. Link to Math information here: How AEPS-3 Supports Early Math Skills in Young Children.

When my daughter was in kindergarten she came home from school one day with a self-portrait entitled, “Math About Me.” It was a life size cut out of her holding a poster. On the self-portrait poster it showed how she saw herself portrayed in math concepts. She personally represented math ideas (e.g.., like how many?) and what they meant to her. Here are the six ideas that were represented on her hand drawn poster:

·      I am 6 years old.

3+3=6

5+1=6

4+2=6

6+0=6

·      I was born on this day….

·      I have ___ pets.

·      There are ____ people in my family.

·      My favorite number is 3.

1+2=3

3+0=3

·      I have lost 3 teeth so far.

The Montessori approach has many ways to create math learning. Dr. Maria Montessori was trained in Rome to become a medical doctor. Her early work was with children who were experiencing homelessness, as well as children with delays/disabilities. Her philosophy of education was revolutionary at the time, and she believed children had a right to high quality early learning experiences.

While I was in Italy, I had a chance to visit preschoolers in a municipal Montessori school. Children were learning about math using Montessori materials with their trained Montessorian teachers as shown in some pictures below.

Preschoolers in a municipal Montessori school in Italy exploring math concepts.

Montessori materials in a municipal Montessori school in Italy.

Montessori materials in a municipal Montessori school in Italy.

Preschoolers in a municipal Montessori school in Italy exploring math concepts.

Preschoolers in a municipal Montessori school in Italy exploring math concepts.

Preschoolers in a municipal Montessori school in Italy exploring math concepts.

A picture of Dr. Maria Montessori hangs in every classroom at the municipal Montessori school I visited in Northern Italy.

Two educators, Fred Rogers and Loris Malaguzzi, must have also had a love of numbers. Mr. Rogers, from United States, had his #143. It was his way of saying, “I love you” with math.

1 (I)

4 (love)

3 (you)

Loris Malaguzzi, from Italy, is known for his famous poem, “No Way. The Hundred Is There.” Some of the lines from his poem are:

“…a hundred languages

a hundred hands

a hundred thoughts

a hundred ways of thinking

of playing, of speaking.”

1+4+3= Fred Rogers

💯 + 💯 + 💯 + 💯 and 💯 more = Loris Malaguzzi

For the love of numbers and children, why not make some waves with math moments today.

Rights

There is a piazza in front of the university in Reggio Emilia with a celebration of children’s words and drawings. Children shared their ideas and I think they are profoundly thought provoking. Children’s ideas are displayed in pictures here showing their thoughts on rights.

Do you have ideas about children’s rights that you’d like to share? Would you like to write a chapter for a new edited book about children’s rights and the Reggio Emilia approach?

I will be editing a book on this topic along with my colleagues Drs. Emer Ring & Alessandra Landini. We have an open call for book chapter proposals for our edited book project entitled: "Realizing Children's Rights in a Global Context: The Reggio Emilia Approach.” 

For more information about this project and to submit your proposals, please access the following link. https://www.igi-global.com/publish/call-for-papers/call-details/8684

I hope to read your thoughts on children’s rights.

“Diritti, devi averli, altrimenti ti senti male.” (Written and illustrated by children in Reggio Emilia, Italy).

Reggio Emilia, Italia

“Rights, you have to have them, if not you feel bad.” (Written and illustrated by children in Reggio Emilia).

Together We Bloom

Warning. You might feel like you are in a Monet painting when you visit. Reggio Emilia is bursting at the seams with poppies everywhere in springtime.

 If you wonder what Reggio Emilia is like, experience it. Spoiler alert. It’s pretty magical. Seize the day and come to Italy with us where every route is the scenic route. Our group of ten Americans took several routes to learning and professional development while we were in this northern region of Italy called Emilia-Romagna.

 After World War II, people in the Italian town were disgusted by what the war did to their community. They wanted to rebuild. They turned to early childhood education in hope for their future. The Reggio Emilia approach was founded by Loris Malaguzzi and parents from Emilia-Romagna. The “100 Languages” poem (at end) was written by Malaguzzi and conveys some of the philosophy.

Reggio Emilia, Italia.

 An Italian company located in the heart of Reggio Emilia, created a 2-week itinerary for us to experience early childhood education in Italy. Reggio Lingua provided us with a translator during school visits. Being in a place where the primary language spoken everywhere is Italian, gave us English-speaking Americans a feeling of what it might be like for our children and families in U.S.A. whose home language is different from English.

 The people of Reggio Emilia measure the hours in a day by the church bells ringing in their village and rewarding social connections. We met many early childhood professionals from Italy, and around the world, who shared their love for teaching and learning. We explored Reggio Emilia programs for babies, preschoolers, and early elementary school children.

 Teachers gave us a warm “benvenuti” when they welcomed us in their schools, and they shared with us like we were their long-lost cousins with endless things to talk about. Early childhood professionals in Reggio Emilia took care in discussing what it’s like to teach in Italy, as well as special routines and rituals. One of my favorites was spending mealtime with them.

 We got to experience meals with Reggio Emilia educators and children. Mealtimes are a revered ritual in Italian culture. All day long, but especially during meals, their class family gathered where stories were the focal point (oh and delicious food too). They showed how food can bring people together.

 Benvenuti was how the children welcomed us too. The bambini, little ones, talked with us about their interests during mealtime conversations around the table. Children showed us the things they were proud of in their classrooms.

Here are ideas I took away from early childhood professionals and children in Reggio Emilia, Italy:

1.      Play is a universal language. Children speak the language of play fluently.

2.      Attuned caregiving starts with listening. If you listen carefully to what their behavior is saying, children communicate their wants and needs.

3.      Observation during children’s familiar routines and activities can be the basis for accurate assessment.

4.      Inclusion means we are creating a sense of belonging for everyone together.

5.      All members of the community are responsible for creating a healthy and happy environment where everybody can grow.

6.      Professional well-being and care strengthens the overall community.

7.      Kindness is spoken in hearts of early childhood professionals when families are respected in little and big ways.

Sometimes it’s necessary to explore afar in order to journey within. Our American delegation went to Italy together, and we collaborated with one another before, during, and after our time in Italy. In addition to expanding ideas about teaching, the trip to Italy with other professionals gave us time to reinforce the bonds we have with one another. I feel like our community of practice at home got stronger from going on location in Italy together. This shared experience was both personally and professionally rewarding for me. I now have nine American friends that I can say, “remember when we were in Italy and we (fill in the blank).” For example, “Remember when we were in Italy and we ate Erbazzone Reggiano out of a paper bag while watching Reggiani ride their bikes that were decorated in flowers like a parade float in front of the Reggio Emilia Opera House?”

 Speaking of music. One of my favorite songs to sing with children (and anyone who will sing along) is, “The More We Get Together.” The lyrics of the song highlight the importance of togetherness. Together we learn. Together we teach. Together we make a difference for children and families. All together. Together we bloom into the best version of ourselves. “The more we get together, the happier we will be.”

“The Beauty of the World Lies in the Diversity of Its People” (bulletin board at Northlake Park Elementary in Orlando, Florida)

Note: I wrote this for the Buffett Early Childhood Institute blog. Click on this link if you want to read it on the Buffett Institute website. Thank you Erin Duffy and Buffett team for inviting me to share this experience with your readers.

Reggio Emilia countryside.

 

Me stepping into a Monet painting in Reggio Emilia in the spring.

Let's go to school in the museum!

Professor Alessandra Landini from University of Modena-Reggio Emilia helps us discover meaningful connections when a public space like a museum collaborates with their neighborhood school. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Landini and her school community relocated to the town public Museum’s Palace, in Reggio Emilia, Italy. Musei Civici became their school during the pandemic.

Her community partnership sustained the education program. Everything like food and resources followed her and children. The pandemic is over, but partnership between museum and school remains. In the tradition of the atelier, artistic and cultural expression in childhood is enhanced when professionals have resources. Entities outside of Reggio Emilia schools support early childhood education in this region of Italy. Many community-based programs exist in Emilia-Romagna that have meaningful contributions for professionals working with young children.

It is nearly impossible to separate education from the community context in Reggio Emilia when wondering if you can bottle up this magic. When you come to Reggio Emilia it is possible to wonder how you can take some of this magic home with you. If you want to hear more about this community-based partnership between the Reggio Emilia school and the municipal museum, head over to the BUTTERCUP podcast (click on bold) and listen to Dr. Landini tell the amazing story.

Musei Civici in Reggio Emilia, Italia.

Follow me to the Musei Civici in Reggio Emilia, Italia.

Musei Civici in Reggio Emilia, Italia.

Musei Civici in Reggio Emilia, Italia.

Musei Civici in Reggio Emilia, Italia.

Circle time and then small group activities were done here the day we visited the Musei Civici in Reggio Emilia, Italia.

Light tables and ateliers. Musei Civici in Reggio Emilia, Italia.

Musei Civici in Reggio Emilia, Italia.

Studies in sealife. Musei Civici in Reggio Emilia, Italia.

One child chose to draw this giraffe and then write about it in their journal. Musei Civici in Reggio Emilia, Italia.

Preschooler drew this giraffe in notebook. Musei Civici in Reggio Emilia, Italia.

Musei Civici in Reggio Emilia, Italia.

Musei Civici in Reggio Emilia, Italia.


Source: Landini, A. & Macy, M. (September, 2023). Case Study of Social Inclusion and Community-based Partnership in Reggio Emilia, Italia. Sixteenth International Conference on the Inclusive Museum, “Museum Transformations: Pathways to Community Engagement,” Vancouver, Canada.

Loris Malaguzzi Center in Reggio Emilia

The Malaguzzi Center is a charming and one-of-a-kind physical space that represents a beautiful tribute honoring children, families, professionals, and neighborhoods. The Loris Malaguzzi Center in Reggio Emilia, Italy is a place devoted to learning and discussing the ideas surrounding the early childhood education approach. People who go to Reggio Emilia for early childhood education delegations often spend at least one day at the Center. There are many things to do. For example, workshops on the Reggio Emilia model are offered by th Loris Malaguzzi Center.

The Reggio Emilia approach is named after the town of about 150,000 Italians living in the Emilia Romagna region of Italy. It is a child-centered and community-oriented model that uses fine arts as the foundation. The atelier is central to a Reggio Emilia classroom environment.

After World War II, the people of Reggio Emilia were outraged by what the war did to their community. They wanted to create beauty and hope for their future. They wanted good things for their children.

Loris Malaguzzi and parents created the Reggio Emilia approach. He was moved by the families and their hopes and dreams for their children. The picture below shows Loris Malaguzzi in the atelier, and his poem is included below showing his philosophies on child development and learning. This approach allows children and professionals permission to be human.

REmida

When you think of a recycling center in America, what image comes to mind? Recycling centers where I live remind me of smelly and disgusting places located next to trash.

A recycling center and program in Reggio Emilia, Italy is called REmida. It is totally different than what I have experienced with recycling centers in America. REmida is a beautiful place full of opportunity.

Entities outside of Reggio Emilia schools support early childhood education in this region of Italy. Many community-based programs exist in Emilia-Romagna that have meaningful contributions for professionals working with young children. One of them is REmida. It is a center devoted to providing materials for early childhood educators. In the tradition of the atelier, artistic expression in childhood is enhanced when early childhood professionals have resources.

REmida is a place where businesses donate their surplus materials and resources for teachers. For example, fashion houses like nearby Max Mara donate textiles that would otherwise be thrown away. RE (means king in Italian and also it represents the initials of Reggio Emilia) + Mida is based on the idea of turning trash to treasure. King Midas had a special gift of turning things into gold - the “Midas touch.” Giving new life to things is the point of REmida for teachers. A membership to REmida costs Italian educators about 40 euros (which would be less than $50 USD for conversion rate in 2023 when I write this) for the year. Teachers have unlimited use with their annual membership meaning they can take anything they want from REmida. The day we visited there were several teachers who got off work at 4pm on Thursday and were shopping the REmida Center for their classes. They packed their shopping carts full of endless possibilities to use in their classrooms and services for children and their families.

Recycling centers might be unpleasant places connected with landfills in some communities. Not REmida. REmida is a beautiful environment in a nice area that is welcoming. The physical space invites creativity with the way materials are displayed throughout the large building in Reggio Emilia.

Not far from REmida is a big supermarket, residential neighborhood, and sports facility dedicated to the memory of basketball player Kobe Bryant who lived here in his youth when his father was a professional athlete and moved the family to Reggio Emilia. Bryant is gone but not forgotten in Reggio Emilia, and the town adores him as evidenced by monuments and streets named after him.

REmida is supported by Reggio Emilia Foundation, municipality, private investors, and infant/toddler centers. There are 12 of these in the world. “Stare insieme” means how to be together. Maybe communities can learn from this approach and come together with resources for educators.

REmida. I am in love with this red wall of fibers! I want to touch every stitch!

Me playing with some of the fun materials at the REmida.

Table-scape at REmida with ideas for using recycled materials.

D is for Deutsch

She said hers is “scoppiare” (popcorn)! She rapidly responded when I asked her favorite word. It was as though she too has spent several hours thinking about fabulous words. My Italian friend is a linguist in Emilia-Romagna, Italia. She loves words too she told me. Munching on the goodness from farms in middle America and popcorn is one of our favorite snacks when my daughter and I watch movies. We love popcorn or scoppiare. Maybe Italians do too?! Who knew. Nebraskans do too. So much so that corn is a mascot for many schools and sports teams in my beautiful state of Nebraska where we have lived since 2021.

My Italian friend spent a year in Maine, but she has never been to Nebraska. I’m pretty sure she had no idea that I come from the land of popcorn in the Midwest. We played the favorite word game during train rides in Italy. Sounds like the kind of game I would initiate, but it was another friend from Florida who started us playing this game. When you travel for 2 weeks with several early childhood educators in Italy, you are likely to learn new games to play with friends. And play we did! I got to learn my friends’ faves and shared my favorite word (of the moment) as I stared out the train windows and thought about how the gorgeous Italian countryside reminds me of my home in Nebraska.

I see many similarities between Nebraska and the Emilia-Romagna (E-R) region of Italy. The eastern part of the E-R region, Emilia, is flat. Eastern E-R looks to me a lot like eastern Nebraska. The Nebraska poet Ted Kooser described eastern Nebraska as a flat table that has a wobbly leg. Not quite flat, but not quite hilly or mountainous either. Just a little tilted. The east is also where a bulk of the population of people live in E-R which is similar to Nebraska.

As you travel west to the Romagnan part of the E-R region it gets less populated and the countryside is painted with jagged hills. Western E-R is similar to western NE where places like Scottsbluff and Chimney Rock in the west have different landscapes compared to eastern NE. In Nebraska, we don’t have a sea at our border like the Adriatic. But wow do we have an amazeballs river. Oh the river! Po River runs through E-R and we have the Platte River in Nebraska.

Still thinking about our word game while I traveled home and spent 33 hours in shuttles, cars, and on planes. It was a gate agent from Lufthansa in Munich airport who gave me my new favorite word.

 He asked for my passport. I gave my passport to him in a little booklet I picked up in the Bologna airport that says, “Wanderlust.” The only reason I bought the booklet with the wanderlust word on it was because I wanted privacy with my identity and not flash the precious blue passport revealing to other passengers my country of origin. Safety!

“Sprechen sie Deutsch,” he asked loudly. When he questioned me, I experienced flashbacks to 9th grade when I took Frau Ruth Strange’s class to learn to speak German.

Umm. Does a year and a grade of “D” count as speaking Deutsch? I kept that pesky thought to myself. “No. English. I speak English,” I said.

A spunky smile accompanied his reply in English as he pointed to the word on the booklet that covers my passport. “Okay. I ask because wanderlust is German.” This is how he started telling me about the word. His enthusiasm for Deutsch got me excited for learning more about the language that I sadly gave up on when I was 14. German. How cool!

When it comes to words, I am like the bread Italians use to soak up sauce on the plate. There’s a phrase for it in Italian, fare la scarpetta (little shoe for bread). Licking the dish clean and leaving no sauce behind. I have a fondness and hunger to soak up words. Nothing pleases me more than to hear people talk and pay attention to the words they use. Love to read their writing too.

Malcom Gladwell wrote an essay about mustard and ketchup in David Remnick’s book, “Secret Ingredients.” In his essay, Gladwell described someone’s enthusiasm for a topic. I loved the words he used that went something like… the person is so charismatic they make you want to become a statistician after taking their required stats class. I know people like this. Do you? The Munich gate agent could be one of them.

Grinning gate agent is not a statistician (that I am aware of) but his contagious zest for Deutsch interested me. I developed a curiosity for “wanderlust.” What is wanderlust? Where does wanderlust come from? How is wanderlust used in sentences?

I’ll explore this more later when I have time, but for now while I write this on the treadmill at my gym and construct my own meaning I’m going to settle on this personal definition that I create for myself. My definition of wanderlust is…

 Wander + lust = being seduced by the possibilities of travel.

I think of wanderlust as a secret ingredient when going someplace and comparing new worlds to home. Can’t help but make comparisons. “Take me home, country roads,” sang John Denver. Wanderlust with winding roads can take us places and also lead us back home. In classrooms we sometimes say “popcorn” when we toss a question or idea to our friend. What is your favorite word? Popcorn! Yes, you! Scoppiare to you. Mine could change by the time I push the submit button. I’ll tell you mine, if you tell me yours. Over to you.

All roads lead home. Wanderlust brought me here. Being myselfie and getting lost on a winding country road in Reggio Emilia, Italia.

Gladwell, M. (2008). The ketchup conundrum. In D. Remnick, Secret Ingredients: The New Yorker Book of Food and Drink (Ed.). Random House.

Is Reggio Emilia the Trip of a Lifetime?

People said to me… “how wonderful that you are about to go on the trip of a lifetime.” Hmm? Really? Of a “lifetime?” I was curious hearing these words. What the heck is a “trip of a lifetime” anyway? Have I ever had one? Have you? What is it like to have a travel experience that exceeds all others in one’s entire life? I wonder….

I have been to Italy many times. I am American with roots in Italy. My Dad's family is from northern Italy near Milan, and my mother grew up in southern Italy on a tobacco farm that is still in the family and has been for hundreds of years. I grew up speaking Italian at home. We have family all over Italy that I have traveled from America to visit. But this will be my first time to Reggio Emilia, Italy.

Would Reggio Emilia be my “trip of a lifetime (TOAL)?” Will it blow my socks off? Sure, it is bound to be special. I will be traveling to Reggio Emilia with a dozen of my friends who are early childhood colleagues from America experiencing an Italian early childhood approach to education for my first time. I am ready for professional fulfilment and learning more about children, families, and the teaching profession in another country. Having new ways of thinking about child development is another outcome I expect to experience from my trip to Reggio Emilia, Italy. Marcel Proust wrote, “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” I’m all in and ready to see early childhood education with new eyes. Maybe this can be TOAL for me?! So how does one plan for TOAL?

Planning for the “Trip of a Lifetime” (TOAL)

“People don’t take trips, trips take people.”~John Steinbeck

Our American team had several meetings leading up to the Reggio Emilia delegation. A pre-travel survey that we created (Levin, Brasel, & Macy, 2023) was completed to get a baseline on where we were all at with understanding the Reggio Emilia approach to education. After the pre-travel survey, we read three things (Edwards, Gandini, & Forman, 2011; Rinaldi, 2006; Vecchi, 2010) prior to leaving for Reggio Emilia (full citations at the end of this blog post). Reading these articles gave our group a collective understanding of the history of the Reggio Emilia approach, as well as a framework to view the schools, the REmida Center, and the International Loris Malaguzzi Center.

When I zipped my suitcase and was ready to leave for the Omaha airport, I still wondered about TOAL.

TOAL? Really? One of my favorite travel writers and foodies is the late Anthony Bourdain. I reflected on TOAL and Bourdain’s words: “Travel isn’t always pretty. It isn’t always comfortable. Sometimes it hurts, it even breaks your heart. But that’s okay. The journey changes you; it should change you. It leaves marks on your memory, on your consciousness, on your heart, and on your body. You take something with you. Hopefully, you leave something good behind.” TOAL, here we come!

TOAL vs. OIAL

Maybe the part that has me questioning TOAL is that I associate the platitude with, “once in a lifetime” (OIAL). I plan to return to Reggio Emilia many more times. This trip I’m taking will not be “once” in my lifetime. My plan is that it will be an annual event in my life. My aim is to return every spring as though I am a sandhill crane spending springtime in central Nebraska again and again for my annual migration. Yes, this trip means more to me than OIAL.

This year I am traveling to Reggio Emilia to create pathways for future delegations to experience Reggio firsthand. This year our delegation consists of me and my friends from Florida who I worked and played with before moving to Nebraska in 2021. Dr. Judy Levin started the Reggio Emilia trip in 2012 when she first took students, or pre-service professionals in our teacher preparation program, from University of Central Florida to experience the study abroad in Italy. Then the brilliant Dr. Levin came up with a professional development approach to create the opportunity for the people who were supervising our students in fieldwork. The cooperating professionals. Let’s bring in-service professionals too. Brilliant! She added in-service professionals who were already in the early childhood workforce and no longer students. I’ve been wanting to go with her for many years, but I was hesitant because I didn’t want to leave my young child for two weeks.

TOAL? Maybe TOAL.

OIAL? Not a chance. This is not a once in a lifetime trip for me. More like it will be Once Every Year or OEY for me.

Update

“I am not the same, having seen the moon shine on the other side of the world.” ~Mary Anne Radmacher

It happened! I had a TOAL in May 2023 when I traveled with my early childhood education team from America to Reggio Emilia, Italy. So many wonderful memories I am taking back to Nebraska with me. I’ll be reflecting on this first time in Reggio Emilia while unpacking so many lovely memories. “Take only memories, leave only footprints,” ~Chief Seattle.

These were the three readings we had on the Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood education before we went.

Time for a selfie with this incredible scholar on the Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood education. Dr. Carlina Rinaldi and me at the International Loris Malaguzzi Center.

#1- This book about the Reggio Emilia approach was written by Dr. Carolyn Edwards who was a professor from the University of Nebraska Lincoln with her co-authors Drs. Lella Gandini and George Forman. The new College of Education building at the University of Nebraska Lincoln is named after this Reggio Emilia scholar — Dr. Carolyn Pope Edwards.

Edwards, C., Gandini, L., & Forman, G. (2011). The hundred languages of children: The Reggio Emilia experience in transformation (3rd ed.). Santa Barbara: Praeger.

#2- Dr. Carlina Rinaldi takes us on a journey and we are transported to Reggio Emilia, Italy and early childhood education. I got to meet her in person at the Loris Malaguzzi Center. What a thrill. She is lovely.

 

Rinaldi, C. (2006). Listening, researching, and learning. In G. Dahlberg and P. Moss (Eds.) The Space of Childhood: Contesting Early  Childhood Series. New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group. 

#3- Dr. Vea Vecchi’s writing is part Italian memoir and part Reggio Emilia handbook about her exploration of creativeness in the early years.

 

Vecchi, V. (2010). Art and creativity in Reggio Emilia. Exploring the role of ateliers in early childhood education. London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203854679