Every child has the right to feel happy, safe, and loved.

Every child has the right to feel valued, respected, and honored.

Every child has the right to live in a world where the earth is cared for.

When children experience inclusive, compassionate communities that respect all identities and cultures, they will thrive. When children feel safe, respected, and valued they may better develop the ability to think critically and engage our world with compassion, empathy, tolerance, wonder, and joy.

Our Practice

With our beliefs and values in mind, we have created a bright, open, healthy space for children to flourish. We strive for children of all identities to be reflected within our school.

Our students are invited to engage in creative, open-ended play and exploration in a mixed-age setting allowing children to learn from each other, developing social and emotional relationships with their peers and teachers.

Teachers and students are co-creators discovering our world together. With the needs and interests of our students in mind, we continually create and adapt project-based curriculum.

Children are beautifully capable. To prepare children for future school success, we encourage independence and self-regulation. Part of our daily experience is learning how to care for ourselves. We work to develop the confidence in skills (zipping coats, holding pencils, using scissors etc.) students will need upon entering to kindergarten.

Documentation

An essential part of the Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood education is the documentation of children’s work. Documentation is a powerful tool in viewing what is happening at a given time in the school year. The are numerous benefits to documenting children work and play: 

— Students have a means for viewing and celebrating their ongoing project work and play.
— Teachers and families are able to reflect upon the children’s work and play.
— Teachers may gain an overarching view of the community’s emergent themes in order to evaluate and present further opportunities.

Upon graduation, students will leave our school with comprehensive portfolios chronicling project work, photos, art, and play. We find these portfolios become beloved personal books for both children and families. They are also invaluable for future teachers to gain perspective on a child’s social, emotional, and physical development.

Early Literacy

With our commitment to emergent, constructivist curriculum, literacy is naturally built in to our daily play and projects. We are continually learning through experimentation, research, reading, and play. Letter and sound recognition along with early writing become a natural part of our conversation, art, and project work. 

*Check out our list of books in our school library on the Resources for Families page.

Community Through Family

An important part of our school community is the connections we make with families. We value all families and cultures. Throughout the year, we invite families to participate in gatherings. We have potlucks, park meetings, and other events. We invite families into the school for collaborative art projects. Family members are always welcome in the classroom and invited to share their cultures, interests, and talents.

Consent

We love snuggles and hugs here at school. We are also in charge of our own bodies. If a friend would like to give another friend a hug, hold hands, or touch their hair, we make it a practice to ask first. If we hear a “yes” or receive a clear non-verbal invitation, then all is well. Anything else is considered a “no” and we engage, play, and care for each other in alternative ways. Advocating for oneself (and for others) is a critical life skill. One way we teach and learn to speak for ourselves is through consent.

Conflict Resolution Through Compassion

Communication is key for kind, caring relationships. Part of this process is learning to resolve conflict in respectful and compassionate ways. If a friend feels wronged or unhappy, another friend might ask, “Are you okay?” or “Is there anything I can do to help?” Teachers and students will always make sure to check on each other to ensure a safe, inclusive, and nurturing community. 

Sometimes we need some breathing room. If a child is having trouble resolving a conflict, teachers will step in to help in various, developmentally appropriate ways. Younger friends may simply need some redirection. Older friends may sit down with one another (sometimes with a teacher involved) to talk through and find solutions to the conflict. At times, a student may need to take a few breaths and work on a solo project (book reading, painting, drawing) with a teacher nearby for support.

Potty Training

Our students are not required to be potty trained upon enrolling in our school. Teachers follow our student’s developmental needs with using the bathroom. We have students who are always in diapers, students who wear pull-ups part-time, and students who only use the potty. It is up to the student and family to guide us. We are always here for support and will provide gentle encouragement throughout the process

Advocacy, Activism, and Community Connections

Part of being in a caring community is taking action and being involved with the world around us beyond the school. On occasion we may choose to take on a project in order to give back to our Portland community and beyond. This could be researching and voting on an organization to support or as simple as making a collaborative poster as a gift to another school. This is fluid and emergent process based on our student’s interests and passions.

“The heart of anti-bias education is a vision of a world in which all children and families can become successful, contributing members of their society. To achieve this goal, they need to experience affirmation of their identities and cultural ways of being, and learn how to live and work together in diverse and inclusive environments.” — Derman-Sparks & Edwards in Leading Anti-Bias Early Childhood Programs: A Guide for Change

“To learn and relearn together with the children is our line of work. We proceed in such a way that the children are not shaped by experience but are the ones who give shape to it.” — Loris Malaguzzi in The Hundred Languages of Children: The Reggio Emilia Experience in Transformation