Bringing Reggio Emilia Home: An Innovative Approach to Early Childhood Education

Bringing Reggio Emilia Home is the first book to integrate the experiences of one American teacher on a year-long internship in the preschools of Reggio, with a four-year adaptation effort in one American school. The lively text includes many "mini-stories" of preschool and kindergarten-age children , teachers, and parents who embark on journeys of learning together. These journeys take shape in language, in drawings, in tempera paint and clay, in outdoor excursions, and in the imaginations of both the children and adults. This informative and accessible work features photographs of the children (both in Italy and the United States) and samples of the children’s work, including some in full color.

During the past 10 years there has been a tremendous interest among early childhood educators and parents in the innovative approaches to teaching pioneered in the preschools of Reggio Emilia, Italy. This book is a must read for anyone interested in the Reggio Approach! Teachers, especially those in early childhood, teacher educators, policy makers, administrators, and parents will find it invaluable.

Selected topics: The Fundamentals of the Reggio Approach • The Pleasure and Power of Playing with Materials • Plants in Relationships • Children and Spoken Language • Transforming Space, Time, and Relations • Turning the Preschool Classroom into a Greenhouse • Taking the Plant Project to Kindergarten

Louise Boyd Cadwell is the Atelierista at the College School and consultant to the St. Michael School and Clayton Schools' Family Center.