by Susan Ramsay and Guest Contributors
As educators, we hold a powerful role. We can bring children into conversations and experiences that nurture belonging and curiosity. We can help grow their capacity to understand, respect, and care about each other’s differences, cultures, and lived realities — to walk a mile in someone else’s moccasins. Explore these ideas with me as you read this article.
As educators, we hold a powerful role. We can bring children into conversations and experiences that nurture belonging and curiosity. We can help grow their capacity to understand, respect, and care about each other’s differences, cultures, and lived realities — to walk a mile in someone else’s moccasins. Explore these ideas with me as you read this article.
World Bee Day is observed on 20 May each year to draw attention to the essential role bees and other pollinators play in keeping people and the planet healthy. Check out this brief article which that draws Early Learning wisdom from the behaviour of the miraculous honey bee.
Four-year-old Meadow understands democracy in a way many adults don’t. I saw it come alive one sunny day as Meadow and her kindergarten classmates gathered outside the school. Sidewalk chalk or bubble wands in hand, they were celebrating the past few weeks of learning—a plan they had discussed and voted on together.
Seeking relationship with nature is not new. Nor is it exclusive to those who inspire environmental activism within our societies. From birth, children are mesmerized by the forces of nature and they remind us that the natural world is filled with mysteries, beauty, wonder and awe. How am I tuning into children’s wonderings and evolving relationships with the natural world?
In the Reggio-inspired classroom, empathy is more than an emotion. It’s a pedagogical stance. It’s visible in how we listen to children, how we organize our environments, and how we make decisions with—not for—the children in our care.
As teachers we anticipate that young children will relate to the experiences, courage, determination, and achievements of Black adults – that children of all cultural backgrounds will respect, admire and learn from them. But exactly how do we ‘uplift future generations’ with these ideals when we work with toddlers, preschoolers, and kindergarten children? How do we engage the voices of children about these big ideas when they can only make sense of their world by building on the experiences they are living?