Articles
Why the West Loop?
We are so thrilled to have Bennett Day School in the West Loop, and couldn’t think of a better place for our school to be located. When our team began looking for locations, we knew residing on Fulton Market had a lot of potential. One of the first things we noticed when we scoped out…
Five Ways to Reinvigorate Your School Search
By Laura Gradman, Chicago Preschool Pro For Chicago’s families, admissions season is a flurry of dates, deadlines, research and introspection. The beginning of the process feels exciting and enlightening as families explore the plethora of options that exist in our city, both public and private. As time goes on, excitement may morph into anxiety and stress…
The 2014 North American Reggio Emilia Alliance (NAREA) Winter Conference
By Meg Fitzgerald and Colin ReynoldsFounding Team, Bennett Day SchoolThe North American Reggio Emilia Alliance (NAREA) Winter Conference is an opportunity for early childhood educators to gather and learn about the world of early childhood education inspired by the schools of Reggio Emilia, Italy. This year’s conference was hosted at First Baptist Church in Greenville,…
Envisioning our Early Childhood Campus
By Kate Cicchelli Co-founder, Principal, Chief Academic Officer On September 10, 2013, the Bennett Day School executive team gathered with our architecture team at Epstein for our first Visioning Session for our Early Childhood Campus at 657 West Fulton. We started with a word association exercise, which asked us to consider where we fell on a spectrum between two adjectives–for example, Playful/Serious,…
The Power of Play: Part 3
Bennett Day School advisor Jie-Qi Chen (Professor, Erikson Institute) discusses the importance of play in early childhood development. Part three of three.Block PlayWe see many types of blocks in American early childhood classrooms—unit blocks, cardboard blocks, wooden, hollow blocks, pattern blocks, and interlocking blocks such as Duplos and Legos, to name the most popular types of blocks…
The Power of Play: Part 2
Bennett Day School advisor Jie-Qi Chen (Professor, Erikson Institute) discusses the importance of play in early childhood development. Part two of three. Pretend PlayPretend play is a form of voluntary activity in which young children take on imaginary roles while imitating and creating actions, gestures, and/or the talk of characters. We see children engage in pretend play when they (1) create…
The Power of Play: Part 1
Bennett Day School advisor Jie-Qi Chen (Professor, Erikson Institute) discusses the importance of play in early childhood development. Part one of three.Play ABCPlay is ubiquitous among our species and many others. Children in cultures around the world love play. When they play, you hear their laughter and see their sustained attention. Children play in many different ways—they…
3 Roles For Technology at Bennett Day School
Technology is a learning tool that helps teachers and children research information and explore ideas, create artifacts that demonstrate their learning, collaborate with other learners in a co-learning environment, and communicate their ideas and learning in a meaningful way. Technology at Bennett Day School will serve three critical roles for children in early childhood classrooms:…
Applicant Families Event – January 29 @ 5:30 pm
Has your family applied to Bennett Day School? If so, you’re entered into a raffle to win a set of four tickets to the NPN Wake Up and Boogie Down Festival! We are scheduled to host an event for applicant families on January 29 @ 5:30 pm. Winners will be announced at this event, so…
Community Market at Bennett Day School
“One friend isn’t here today, so that leaves fourteen people for snack,” one Kindergartener tells another. “Ok, fourteen. Let’s go!” her peer shouts and off they head with their teacher, down the hall to the school’s Community Marketplace. As they arrive at the market they see there are no longer the graham crackers they had…