Reggio Emilia
 
The Kindezi School is inspired by the educational practices of the Reggio Emilia tradition and hopes to apply elements of the Reggio Emilia philosophy to its own K-8 charter school model.
      
Reggio Emilia is the name of a town in northern Italy, a town that is globally distinguished for the fascinating and unique way it takes collective responsibility for the education of its infants, toddlers, and pre-school age children. There, 90% of all children under the age of 6 are enrolled in collectively funded infant and toddler centers and pre-schools that are so advanced and distinguished that educators from various countries visit and observe the schools in Reggio Emilia. The marriage between Reggio Emilia and Kindezi is not difficult because they are both grounded in similar principles and practices.
      
 
Principles and Practices of Reggio Emilia

The image of the child: as competent, strong, inventive, and full of ideas with rights instead of needs

Environment as the third teacher: preparing and environment […] carefully designed to facilitate the social constructions of understanding, and document the life within the space

Relationships: seeing the importance of relationships physically in the way objects are displayed in the classroom; socially and emotionally in the interactions of the people in the environment; and intellectually in the approach to learning that is always seen in context and depends on co-construction of knowledge

Collaboration: working together at every level through collaboration among teachers, children and teachers, children and children, children and parents, and the larger community

Documentation: providing a verbal and visual trace of the children’s experiences and work, and opportunities to revisit, reflect, and interpret.

Progettazione: this difficult to translate Italian word means making flexible plans for the further investigation of ideas, and devising the means for carrying them out in collaboration with the children, parents, and at times, the larger community

Provocation: listening closely to the children and devising a means for provoking further thought and action

One hundred languages of children: encouraging children to make symbolic representations of their ideas and providing them with many different kinds of media for representing those ideas

Transparency: through the light that infuses every space and in the mirrors, light tables, and glass jars that catch and reflect the light around the classroom; and metaphorically in the openness to ideas and theories from other parts of the world, and in the availability of information for visitors and parents