Reggio Emilia Aotearoa New Zealand

We must discover our place in the natural world. Together.
To nurture ecological identity in young children, we invite them into relationship with the world beyond walls and with the creatures that live there. We invite them into ethical thinking anchored by the compassion that comes from caring and engaged relationships. We invite them to come home to the Earth, and to live honorably in that home.
Join author Ann Pelo on her year-long journey as she nurtures the ecological identity of a toddler and discovers for herself what it means to live in relationship with the natural world…
…delighting in discovery and adventure
…developing dispositions and skills for being in the out-of-doors
…learning when to speak and when to be still
…knowing joy, grief, reverence, astonishment, and gladness
…embracing the comradeship of fellow explorers
When we turn towards the Earth with curiosity and sympathy, with humility and wonder, our lives fall into place — we fall into place. This is what it means to grow an ecological identity.
Each page reminds us that when we learn to live in a reverent relationship with nature, we will not allow it to be destroyed, but rather, bear joyful witness to the miracle of this planet and ally ourselves with it, to help life live.
- Margie Carter
“I do not know and cannot imagine a better or lovelier argument for taking our children OUT — and letting them take us too — from a very early age.”
Robert Michael Pyle
“The story Ann tells so beautifully in The Goodness of Rain will touch your heart, your mind, and your soul. You’ll feel something shifting within you as you read this book, and you’ll begin to see rain and the rest of the natural world in a whole new way. The impact of the book is profound and something that will stay with you long after you read the last page.”

For more information and to order, visit www.ChildCareExchange.com or call (800) 221-2864.

Stefania Giamminuti spent six months researching in the municipal infant–toddler centres and schools of Reggio Emilia, Italy. Her unique experiences are vividly recounted in this rich book, with its seductive images and lyrical storytelling drawing the reader into daily events in these world-renowned places for young children. The voices and contexts of children, teachers, atelieriste, pedagogiste, and families in Reggio Emilia come alive in this important and impressive book — an invitation to encounter the beauty and complexity of this exceptional social and cultural project of early education. Stefania proposes a new key for interpreting the educational project of Reggio Emilia in international contexts by exploring the ‘local values’ that emerged through her observation of life in Nido Arcobaleno and Scuola Pablo Neruda and relating these to ‘connective values’ to inform the philosophy, policy and practice of early childhood education and care internationally. Stefania engages with the construct of ‘quality’ in early childhood education and care, proposing new approaches to theorising quality as a metaphor and complex cultural and value-laden construct.
This is a book about the philosophical basis of a mode of early, preschool education. But that philosophical basis is not only set forth abstractly but explicated concretely by well observed examples of the daily life of those preschools. I happen to be a cittadino honorario of Reggio Emilia. And I confess that I am further honoured by the appearance of Ms Giamminuti’s book. For it brings that city and its pedagogical efforts into a universal context that honors us all. 
[from the Foreword] Jerome Bruner, University Professor, New York University, NYC (USA).
As I read this book, the story emerged of a special educational project, seen and narrated through the eyes of a researcher who has positioned herself as a listener and observer of daily events in the municipal infant–toddler centres and ‘schools of childhood’ of Reggio Emilia. Stefania has narrated the possible which the Reggio Emilia experience attempts to bear witness to — education as a primary and inalienable right of all children throughout the world.

[from the Epilogue] Claudia Giudici, President, Preschools and Infant—toddler Centres — Istituzione of the Municipality of Reggio Emilia.
Your book stands out in that it gives a genuine feeling for the schools and the community while also speaking to the already published literature.
Howard Gardner, Hobbs Professor of Cognition and Education, Harvard Graduate School of Education (USA).
I think the book will have an international appeal, well beyond Australia […] an important and impressive publication […] it is an assured debut.
Peter Moss, Emeritus Professor, Thomas Coram Research Unit, Institute of Education, University of London (UK).
If you know and love Italy and the gifts from Reggio Emilia, this feels like coming home. If you have not yet met this place, this beautifully illustrated book is an introduction bathed in light and colour.
Alma Fleet, Associate Professor, Macquarie University Institute of Early Childhood, Sydney (Australia).

Here is another opportunity for teachers to visit five Auckland Early Childhood Centres in the Twilight or early evening now it is getting darker earlier. Thanks to the willingness for these centres to open their doors between 6pm and 8pm you have a second chance to visit these Reggio Emilia inspired centres.
€ Magic Garden, Carlisle Road, Browns Bay
€ Browns Bay Preschool, Browns Bay Road, Browns Bay
€ Tots Corner, Woodside Avenue, Birkenhead
€ St Andrews Epsom Early Childhood Centre, 87 Onslow Ave Epsom
€ Botany Downs Kindergarten, 22 Maroubra Place, Botany Downs

Auckland Twilight Centre Visits 30th May 2013-2
Please register on the attached form.

The 5th International meeting was held in Reggio Emilia in February this year.
Lorraine Manuela and Wendy Larmer represented the REANZ Trust at this meeting which was supported by 34 countries from the Reggio Emilia International Network. We were asked to bring a document that represented the New Zealand context in Early Childhood Education. Please find attached:
REANZ for Reggio Chn Intern Network 2013

We worked in groups on developing an international manifesto on education as a common good for the conviction that education is the primary element for the promotion of citizenship for human beings. We will keep you informed as this document develops.

Lorraine worked in a small group of four to make a constuction in the air.

Jane McCall, who was the Interpreter at the Conference in October 2011, has never forgotten the kindness given to her when she fell ill in New Zealand. She sends her best wishes to all and wishes you to read a letter of her emotional journey since returning home to Reggio Emilia.
Letter from Jane:
LEETER_NEWZEALAND

Print Flier: img-3121056-0001
These centre visits were very successful with 250 registered. Unfortunately there were three motorway car crashes which caused congestion and difficult travel that night. Because of this situation we will repeat these twilight visits again this year.
Anchorage Park Kindergarten has offered to open again on Saturday 6th April – 9am to 11am
Cost: $15 per person
Where: 9 Tiaka Place Pakuranga. Ph 576 3138

Watch out for future Twilight Centre Visits.

The REANZ trustees trust you have enjoyed the March events, just two more on 23rd March, we now look ahead to April, May and June.
Diti Hill presents her Reggio Emilia summer school experiences

Research represents one of the essential dimensions of life of children and adults alike, a knowledge-building tension that must be recognised and valued. Shared research between adults and children is a priority practice of everyday life, an existential and ethical approach necessary for interpreting the complexity of the world, of phenomena, of systems of co-existence, and is a powerful instrument of renewal in education. As human beings, all children possess hundred languages, hundred ways of thinking, of expressing themselves, of understanding and of encountering others, with a way of thinking that creates connections between the various dimensions of experience rather than separating them.

Wellington 23rd March 2013Wellington 23March13

Invercargill 23rd March 201323rd March Invercargill

April Events
Whangarei 6th April 6th April

Dunedin 13th April 201313th April Dunedin

May Events
Christchurch 18th May18th May Christchurch

June Events
Wellington 15th JuneJune 15th Wellington

Enjoy the end of year NewsletterEnd of Year Newsletter

Helen P Ann Pelo Thank you to Helen Pritchard – Manukau Institute of Technology for writing about Ann Pelos workshops in October.

http://tvnz.co.nz/close-up/2012-11-27-video-5243128

Photos frpm Ann’s Seminar in Wellington
Ann Pelo coming to NZAnn is a teacher educator, program consultant, and author whose primary work focuses on Reggio-inspired, social justice, and ecological teaching and learning, and on the art of mentoring.

She worked as a teacher and teacher mentor for sixteen years at Hilltop Children’s Center, a full-day childcare program in Seattle, Washington. Ann is the author of four books: Season by Season the Year Unfolds: A Guidebook for Developing an Intentional Culture in Early Childhood Programs (2010), Rethinking Early Childhood Education (2008), The Language of Art: Inquiry-based Studio Practices in Early Childhood Settings (2007), and, with Fran Davidson, That’s Not Fair: A Teacher’s Guide to Activism with Young Children (2000). Ann’s next book, The Goodness of Rain, to be published in fall 2012, focuses on cultivating an ecological identity in young children.

Dates, times and cost …
Auckland: Saturday 29 September: 9am – 3.30pm $130.
KeriKeri Wednesday 3 Oct: 6.15 – 9.00pm; $45.
Whangarei Thursday 4 Oct: 6.15 – 9.00pm; $45.
Wellington Saturday 6 Oct: 9am – 3.30pm; $130.
Queenstown Thursday 11 Oct: 6.15 – 9.00pm; $45.
Dunedin Saturday 13 Oct: 9am– 3.30pm; $130

For registration and payments click here

Registration Form attached: REANZ Hamilton Seminar Flyer 2012

Therese Visser & Helen Aitken, trustees of REANZ, along with Bronwyn Glass from Botany Downs Kindergarten will share THREE presentations in this one day seminar. The presentations will be designed to provoke thinking and discussion in relation to the ‘pedagogy of listening’ and documenting children’s learning (and teacher reflection) more effectively.

Some of you who travelled north for the 100 Languages of Children conference last year may have had the opportunity to view some of the Pedagogical documentation panels produced by REANZ in collaboration with five centres. Two of the panels (Browns Bay Preschool & Botany Downs Kindergarten) will be travelling with us and Therese and Bronwyn will present the stories behind the documentation – including insights, explanations and reflections of the learning, as well as the documentation process.

Date: Saturday 27th October 2012

Time: 9.30am – 3.00pm

Venue: Wintec, Hamilton

Catering: Lunch and morning tea provided
(please indicate when registering if you have particular dietary requests)

Cost $120.00 per person

a New Zealand perspective…
Registration form click here REANZ November Events updated
The educational project in Reggio Emilia is a catalyst to provoke and challenge thinking about teaching and learning in the early years. This pedagogy involves choices and opens up many possibilities. It evolves and changes through a process that sees those involved informed by continual questioning, reflection and research. Hanna Faletaupule from Tots Corner, Therese Visser from Browns Bay Preschool and Sally Groenhart offer you three pedagogical panel presentation designed to provoke your thinking. We will focus on the notion of ‘listening’ to infants and toddlers and we invite you to join us in exploring what this might mean for you in your particular context in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Date: Wednesday, 7th November 2012

Time: 7.00pm – 9.00pm

Venue: Kohia Education Centre, 78 Epsom Avenue, Auckland (Gate 2, Level 2 for parking)

Cost $20 per person