How it started
Teachers introduced a stack of cardboard boxes and brought them into their classroom, sparking comments and questions from the children. The castle project encompassed both Reggio Emilia and project-based learning, incorporating academic, motor and social-emotional skills over nearly three months.
What is the Reggio Emilia approach to learning?
Founded by Loris Malaguzzi, a teacher and philosopher in Reggio Emilia, Italy, after World War II, the Reggio Emilia approach is a philosophy of education in which the child is an active participant in their own learning. It promotes critical thinking skills, creativity, and collaboration with others. The environment is unique because the classroom is the third teacher. The classroom is set up to promote children’s creativity, using natural and open-ended materials. Children’s learning is showcased throughout the classroom, highlighting ideas such as artwork and projects. Teachers are partners in the learning, providing support to the children as they explore the world around them. Multiple early learning standards, academic skills, social-emotional skills, and motor skills are included across the curriculum. Teachers facilitate learning experiences, encouraging problem solving and critical thinking skills throughout the learning process.
Boxes as open-ended materials
Cardboard boxes are an example of open-ended materials. They allow children to explore and create without a specific end goal in mind, piquing their natural curiosity. Using boxes allows multiple early learning content standards to be experienced, including academic and social-emotional skills It encourages questions such as “Can we build with it?” and “Can we make something?” The children were encouraged to voice their ideas about what they wanted to build.
Exhibiting social-emotional awareness
After creating a list of possibilities, the children voted on what they wanted to build. This promoted social and emotional learning because the children were given the opportunity to showcase that they have a voice and that their voice matters. Teachers further promoted social-emotional skills to congratulate those whose idea had the most votes. In turn, teachers and students discussed what it feels like when your idea wasn’t chosen but how you still get to be a part of the project, therefore validating everyone’s feelings.
Language and literacy competencies
Teachers gathered fiction and non-fiction books so the children could immerse themselves in the history and lore of castles, which also incorporated a social studies component. Children studied pictures of local and famous castles worldwide which were hung throughout the classroom. After reading, the children began using language that is used on construction sites. Teachers consulted architects to make certain they were using the correct verbiage. The children incorporated new vocabulary such as drawbridge, battlements, and moat into their language as they worked on the castle. Both children and teachers had many conversations that revolved around how to physically construct the castle.
The construction process
To construct the castle, the children drew a blueprint with design details they learned from the castle books. They labeled where the windows, drawbridge, bricks, and other features were located. The children incorporated castle words and construction vocabulary into their conversations with their peers and teachers. Using research from non-fiction books and their own experiences, the children brainstormed the kinds of furniture they would find in a castle and the different types of rooms. After construction was completed, the children used both art and dramatic play materials to furnish the castle.
Engagement and persistence
Mathematics was incorporated through measurement, shapes and counting skills. The children measured the two towers, comparing which tower was going to be bigger versus smaller. The children chose the form and length of the battlements, the shapes of the windows, bricks, and the overall design of the castle. The children counted the number of walls, windows and towers. Scientific thinking was promoted when the children realized they needed a drawbridge. They used problem solving skills to design a drawbridge mechanism. The children chose materials to connect the drawbridge to the castle wall and determined the length of the chain.
Ohio Early Learning Standards
- Approaches to Learning: Engagement and Persistence
- Cognitive Development: Memory, Symbolic Thought, Problem Solving and Reasoning
- Creative Development: Creativity and Play
- Language and Literacy: Language and Communication
- Mathematics: Measurement, Geometry
- Social and Emotional Development: Social Awareness, Relationship Skills
- Social Studies: People, Communities, and their Environment
- Science: Science Inquiry and Application
