New Spaces and Approaches Benefit Our Youngest Learners
Over the summer, construction and facilities crews worked long hours to transform classrooms throughout the Lower School as well as to update spaces in the Early Childhood building for the relocation of the growing Preschool classes for three- and four-year-olds.
The immediate and inspiring visual difference—spacious, light-filled rooms and hallways, neutral color schemes, and plenty of space for displaying student work—is far more than cosmetic. The change reflects and reinforces the School’s commitment to student-centered learning and teaching.
Flexible Learning Spaces
With differentiated work (and play) stations, reading nooks, group seating areas, and easy access to the outdoors, the classrooms are designed to be student-centered rather than teacher-centric. That’s why, as Lower School Interim Principal Heather Tibbetts explains, “You will not see a large teacher’s desk as the focus in a classroom. Instead, you’ll see flexible spaces where students can move around. And you will see meaningful student work on the walls—so the students can see themselves and their own learning reflected and acknowledged.”
Many of the design changes have come about as a result of a three-year partnership with the Cadwell Collaborative, a husband-and-wife team of educators who are experienced at incorporating elements of the renowned Reggio Emilia approach. Simply put, Reggio principles prioritize daily student-directed inquiry; tactile experiences; open-ended projects linked to extensive exploration of the natural world; storytelling and communication; and the visible documentation and display of student work. The focus on self-directed exploration and expression encourages children to observe closely, respect their own and others’ curiosity, imagine and test out solutions, and share their discoveries.
Expressing Learning in and through Art
A benefit of incorporating Reggio principles in the early grades has been “seeing the power of linking art to our units of study,” Tibbetts notes, with praise for art teacher Louise Elmgren’s “amazing ability to take a unit the class is studying” and figure out ways to connect student creativity and artistry to it, thereby solidifying understanding.
In the Lower School, Elmgren (C’84) works with K–5 students in her studio, introducing them to an array of skills, concepts, media, and modes of expression. The result? Individual and group-created artworks that tie to classroom content as well as to the environment (nature and the community) and to character-growth themes. For instance, the entire Lower School collaborated on decorating “Character Rocks.” Now displayed in the lobby area, these painted rocks highlight key character and spiritual qualities that students have been discussing and sharing during weekly rallies and other activities.
In the Preschool, Elmgren’s role has been transformed into that of an “atelierista”—where she “workshops” art with PS-3 and PS-4 students in a specially designated area of their classrooms several mornings each week. The “atelier” setup allows Elmgren to work closely with a few students at a time—driving student exploration in deeper, more concrete ways—while their peers are involved elsewhere. During these focused sessions, Elmgren and the students converse about the materials being used, how they might incorporate all kinds of natural and found items, what approach the students want to take and why. Questions often spark further investigations with different materials and processes. The resulting array of collages, sculptures, and two-dimensional pieces that the students produce is not the work of a specific class period but the result of a process, Elmgren says.
“Visual study and work in the atelier dovetails with students’ interests in the classroom—and discoveries made in the atelier may be brought back to the classroom for further study,” Emlgren remarks. “One informs the other, creating a synergy that works both ways.”
Dorothy Halverson (C’85), the director of the School’s Early Childhood Program, notes that the benefits of this creative, iterative process permeate all aspects of children’s learning. “The increased level of students’ observation skills, their creativity and questioning, and the ideas and stories they are able to communicate is absolutely amazing,” she says.