Articles
Bennett Day School Curriculum Design Approach
In building a program from the ground up, Bennett Day School has the extraordinary opportunity to develop our curriculum with intention and joy, unconstrained by “what we’ve always done.” In order to ensure our objectives, assessments, and assignments remain relevant, we adhere to a curriculum design framework called backward design. This framework allows us to focus…
What We Learned at Namaste Charter School
In early May, the Bennett Day School founding team participated in Namaste Charter School’s Learning the Namaste Way: Educators Starting a New School workshop. We learned about Namaste’s core values and how they infuse their classrooms, hallways, and school culture with these values and resultant goals. Shuchi and I attended a breakout session on parent involvement where we took…
Bennett Day School Attends More Than Milk Mothers Day Event
On May 12, Bennett Day School participated in More Than Milk’s Mother’s Day Brunch for New Moms, Inc. Our focus was on activities for young children using primarily found materials. In addition to our founding team, we had education team support and student volunteers on hand to facilitate learning and participation in the four activities on hand. The…
Inside the TinkerLab
In our last post, we told you a little about the philosophy behind the Bennett Day School TinkerLabs. This week, we’d like to give you a clearer picture of what these incredible learning spaces offer children and the role they play in the greater learning experience. Modeled after Malaguzzi’s aquarium, these spaces will be full…
Space: The Final Frontier of Education
How Bennett Day School’s TinkerLabs are peeling back the walls of the traditional classroom What does your child’s classroom do to improve the learning experience? What comes to mind when you picture a classroom? If you went to a traditional American school, you’re likely picturing a space that contains neat rows of desks, a…
Friday: The Digital Atelier
On Friday, we got to get our figurative hands dirty in one of ten ateliers that were arranged for us. I chose the Digital Atelier in large part because I am increasingly interested in the effective technology integration in the learning context. Seamless technology integration: that’s what I was hoping to explore. Well, I couldn’t…
BDS Visits the Diana Preschool in Reggio Emilia, Italy
This morning I visited the Diana preschool, the first of the municipal preschools that opened in 1970. The school is situated amidst a loose line of shrubs in the city’s central park. This was intentional; Malaguzzi wanted the school to be in the heart of the city, a symbolic representation of the centrality and importance of…
A Visit to Boiardo Primary School in Villa Bagno, Reggio Emilia
Our visit to Boiardo Primary School, a state school in the neighborhood of Villa Bagno, Reggio Emilia, started with snacks made by the students and a welcome from the network director Anna Maria. There are eight schools in the network, and five of them are primary. The Boiardo school just moved to their new building…
BDS Visits the Maramotti Infant-Toddler Center and Preschool
By Kate Cicchelli, Principal & Chief Academic Officer. I spent the afternoon at the Maramotti Infant-Toddler Center and Preschool, pictured below: The design for this beautiful space was created by Francesca Fava and Carlo Margini. The city of Reggio Emelia held a competition for local architects under the age of 35 and their design, “Children, spaces,…
Continuing the Adventure: Day 2 in Reggio Emilia, Italy
By Kate Cicchelli, Principal & Chief Academic Officer An intense morning here in Reggio. Today’s presenter, Paola Caligari, gave a rousing talk about the concept of continuity. She started by creating a “provisional map” for the week generated from suggestions shared by audience members as to what continuity means within our schools. Caligari then introduced…