Preschool, here I come

If I could go back to preschool, I’d want to go to Beginnings in Manhattan. (OK, I didn’t go to preschool, but it’s never to late to start.) The children at this early learning center get their hands dirty. They not only  build with blocks and create masterpieces with messy paints, they also construct projects with found objects and junk. In fact, according to an article in today’s Times, the school has a Materials Center, chock full of recycled items that get a new life as art. VHS tape boxes, old LPs, corks, bottles, and bicycle tires are reclaimed by the children and fashioned into sculptures and such.

It’s green. It’s creative. But most importantly, it’s developmentally appropriate.

The preschool follows the Reggio Emilia philosophy, which espouses a child-centered approach to learning. Developed in Italy after World War II, this approach uses the arts as a way for children to grow and learn through projects of their own choice. Teachers are learners, too. The environment is playful and fun. The focus is on the development of the whole child, rather than on narrow prescriptions of literacy and math skills. In fact, there is no focus whatsoever on traditional academics. The children learn, but they learn through play, through interaction with their peers, through creating their own course of discovery. There’s not a worksheet in the place, nor are there “assessments” of letter and number recognition.

This is precisely the kind of environment in which children thrive, and when the PTB in Washington start looking for ways to increase and improve early childhood education, they might well look to this model. As for me, I’m ready to pack up the recycle bin, with its rinsed-out cans and milk jugs, and head off  for Beginnings, a good place to start.