Preschool Program Prioritizes Student-Guided Discovery
With recent classroom renovations and a programmatic revamp, Principia’s Preschool is brimming over with freshness, excitement, and authentic learning. This fall, the PS-3 and PS-4 classes (for three- and four-year-olds, respectively) moved down the hill from the Lower School building to be near the Early Learning Center (formerly daycare) and Acorn Program.
In this vlog, you’ll learn how Preschool teachers are applying a Reggio Emilio-inspired approach to student-led learning. As Early Childhood Program Director Dorothy Halverson (C’85) puts it, “It’s bringing the outside into the classroom, using the environment that’s around you.” The students gather a variety of natural objects on their daily walks and create “collections,” which, Halverson says, they use “to sort, paint, draw, and write about.” Such learning is both immediate and authentic, and it develops students’ innate curiosity, creativity, and questioning and thinking skills.
The teachers, too, are benefitting from the new approach and spaces, as being in closer proximity with the other early childhood programs makes it easy to exchange ideas and collaborate professionally.