An Example Day at Villaggio.
Here are some examples of a typical day at Villaggio. You won’t see kids standing in lines, doing worksheets, or drilling with flashcards. You WILL see lots of creativity, child-directed play, problem solving, self-care, and community care. Each photo has its own story; please click a photo, so you can read more details.
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- Morning starts with free play time. A parent playing with a child (this boy is not his son). Villaggio welcomes parents to stay in the classroom and play with the children. I see many times moms and dads are reading books with small groups of our children. And, reading books with children is always, always, always a good thing to do!
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- Block play manipulates children’s imagination while children are practicing their small motor skills.
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- Playing with a real register. We have toys, but we prefer children have real experiences with real objects whenever possible. Here, children learn early math concepts and eye-hand co-ordination. Also, next time when he goes shopping with his mom, you can imagine how carefully he will watch the cashier, right? Concentration is developed when kids pay close attention to detail in the real world. Also, children can develop the social scripts of “what you do at a grocery store” or “what you do at a restaurant” even more easily when working with a real cash register.
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- A monster is eating a chicken! We encourage parents to donate their “treasures,” so children can play with their daily objects and expand their imagination. Using one’s imagination to pretend one kind of object is actually a different object is an important key factor for creativity and naturally teaching ecology.
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- Cooking and feeding her monster (pro-social care giving development). Children are usually terrified of monsters. I like how at Villaggio, instead of telling kids monsters don’t exist, monsters are embraced in a way that allows children to view them as living things needing care, just like them. It not only alleviates fear of the unknown, but also promotes empathy and compassion, two key components of socio-emotional learning.
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- Yum, yum, yum. Dramatic play is often times a good time to encourage social/emotional development.
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- Now, a teacher has joined the play and he is asking for something to eat. Social skill: Taking care of other people.
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- She cooked some dim sum. We like to include Hong Kong culture in the classroom because this is where we live.
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- A baby dinasaur is eating his food too.
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- Are they yummy???
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- A real phone also helps with social scripting. How do you start, continue, and end a phone conversation? What language cues tell you it’s time to hang up? Who do you call? Why do you call? Children explore these ideas and many others through dramatic play.
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- Some people asked me, “Why do you have so many Japanese books?” Well, teacher Mabo is Japanese, and there are Japanese speaking children at the school. As we grow our library, we want to include books that celebrate stories from all the cultures represented by the children in our classroom.
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- Our ceiling decorations softens the light, so children don’t get irritated or overstimulated by the overhead lights.
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- Putting the books away. Nicely done!
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- Clean up for the morning circle time! If they make a big mess, they need more time to clean. Circle doesn’t start until the children have worked as a team to return the toys neatly. If they waste time, they lose some of their fun circle time… This is a “natural consequence” and is the main form of discipline at Villaggio Dei Bambini.
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- Morning Circle Time. The teacher guides the group, but there are a lot of things coming from children too. Today’s book is his choice.
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- Do you notice that children are keeping trains behind them? This morning, many children were playing with trains. Note they are not playing with the trains or acting distracted. Children are given the freedom to self-regulate and self-control within the provided structure, so there is no need for the teacher to waste time telling the children how to behave.
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- So, this is how we run our daily “emergent curriculum.” Teachers saw that majority of children were interested in the trains… Teacher: “What’s in this box??? There is a hole! Do you think you can feel something???” The teacher is trying to let children use hypothesis making.
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- Child: “I can’t feel anything!!!” Increasing curiousity, imagination, and discovery.
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- They were trains!!!
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- Oh, yes. You saw something green on the photo. We have local plants growing in the classroom.
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- We use clear plastic bottles, so children can naturally observe how roots are growing.
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- Adding some music for the marching dinosaurs, which was another one of children’s interest for today..
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- Then, we moved to the art room. First, children were asked how and where their trains go? So, with pencils, children were showing where they go and how they go.
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- Children requested using paints. Teacher: “Then, where is your brush? What do you need?”
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- Children pour the paint by themselves. Self care is important.
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- The boy said his train was going to Hong Kong. So, he started making “Hong Kong Island.”
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- Older children (3-4y) started working on their own projects.
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- For some children, this is a time to just freely express their own feelings. And, explore how to make marks and mix colors.
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- Meanwhile, younger children started making “Train Foot Print.” Cause and Effect, eye-hand cordination, small motor, colour exploration, mark making, using different media to paint, etc. So many things are going on.
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- You may either think, “What a mess!!!” or “A harmony of different age groups working together!!!” I hope you thought the latter. Villaggio is a mixed age group setting.
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- The best part of mixed age group. Young children are always observing the older children. So, it’s a very natural thing for young children to imitate what older children were doing.
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- Don’t forget to write your name, so we know who made this painting. We encourage children to write meaningful text in a natural logical flow. Currently, we have “Toy Rental Sign-in Sheet” too. So, if your child wants to borrow a toy, it’s fine. But, she/he needs to sign her/his name.
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- Fixing a house. Taking care of objects. At Villaggio, we have three things that we want children to take care of: own self, other people and things. Pretty simple, but it covers a lot.
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- We use this house for nap time. Children take turns sleeping in their “own” house. (taking turn, social skill development) We think that nap time is a big adventure for young children. Sleeping outside of home, in a different bed, without mom or dad, can be a very scary thing to do. To overcome this, children must develop “trust.” And, this trust will lead to their autonomy development. Thus, this “house” helps not only self conforming, but also many things. And, of course, we want children to have a happy good sleep to rest their bodies and brains. So, we have some other ideas for nap time too.
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- Rocket launch, count down!! 『ごー！ よん！ さん！ にー！ いち！ 発射！！！』 This rocket is too heavy…
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- Reviewing what we have done. This is “Hong Kong Island.” I think it captured the feeling well. This kind of painting is called, “Gesture Painting” instead of “Contour Painting/Drawing.” And, you know, young children prefer… Yes! “Gesture Drawing!”
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- Japanese style story telling, 紙芝居：Kamimshibai.
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- Children saw a carrot in the story, so they were trying to eat it. Teacher was explaining that it’s good for your eyes because of Vitamin A… Your eyesight will become too sharp, sharper than mine, so: Don’t eat it! Don’t eat it!!! Then, they eat more. Reverse psychology.
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- Playing on the rooftop.
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- We have several different drawing/painting tools. This is a black board. What children see is just a board, and all their creations are depending on their imagination. Nothing will interrupt them. On the other hand, we have an acrylic board for painting too. In this way, because the acrylic board is transparent, children see through the objects on the other side while they are painting. It provides interaction and inspiration.
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- on the right hand side is an acrylic board for painting. You can see houses, mountains, trees, and birds on the other side. (Thank you Amy for cleaning!)
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- Lunch Time
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- Some parts that were missing… We have light tables.
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- We have edible herb garden.
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- And, we have a fish & turtle pond, right next to us!
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- Would you like to come see us? How about you join us!!! We are waiting for you〜
Summary of our daily schedule
