Our Philosophy
Part of the Reggio Emilia philosophy is the belief that environment acts as a third teacher. What does this mean? How we set up a space of learning for children reflects what capabilities we believe the children possess, as well as the type of knowledge we hope they will gain. At Kuwait Reggio Center, we have taken care to make sure that our learning environment will foster safe exploration, peer communication and language development, promote problem solving skills and spark child curiosity. Teachers are constantly working with our Curriculum Coordinator and Art Director in order to adapt their classrooms so that the space invites children to deepen their knowledge of specific, age appropriate ideas and concepts.
Classrooms
Our classrooms are thoughtfully designed to promote student inquiry and meaningful social interactions. With only 12-16 students per class, each student receives plenty of one-on-one attention from teachers, has space to move around the room, and plenty of access to all the materials. This freedom of access means there is less conflict between students and more opportunity for peer-lead learning. This in turn teaches students important social skills that they will use not only for the rest of their educational career, but also in the workplace and world at large.
KRC classrooms are characterized by open spaces, natural materials, and an abundance of natural light to promote a sense of calm and inspiration. The classroom is designed to be a reflection of the children's ideas, with flexible learning areas that encourage hands-on exploration, artistic expression, and meaningful interactions with the surrounding community.
The classrooms are also designed to take into consideration student ages and abilities. For example, the 1-2 year old classrooms offer a large amount of sensory objects, and large items for gross motor development, while the 3-4 year old classrooms offer an abundance of writing materials, glue, scissors, paint, and measuring utensils. Our 5-6 year old classrooms continue to offer opportunities for sensory and dramatic play, while also promoting more structured reading, writing, math, and history, and science.
Central Piazza And Playground
Learning and exploration are not confined to individual classrooms. Children are offered daily time to play in the school piazza (indoor meeting/play area) and the playground. Both of these areas allow students to interact with older and younger children from different classrooms. While teacher-student interaction is important, the well-known psychologist Vygotsky, also argues that social and cultural factors contribute to cognitive development. Children often value information more when it is being shared with them by other children or when they are working together to co-construct knowledge. Older children are encouraged to teach and help the younger ones, while the littles also learn from and show confidence playing with older children. This allows older children to reinforce skills that they have learned, feel proud about the work that they have done, learn patience, and challenge themselves to think from another person’s point of view. Younger students benefit by observing new things to try, improving speech and vocabulary, and feeling important due to the attention they receive from the older children.
The main Piazza is a large centrally located space inside the school that has been inspired by Kuwaiti culture and tradition. It has several spaces for intimate social interaction, loud play, and quiet, solo play.
Kuwait Reggio Center has three outdoor areas. The first area is dedicated to bikes, cars, and giant legos with wheels so students can build their own movable structures. The second area is a large playground with slides, play houses, and a sandbox. Finally, the last outdoor area is a large garden where children have the freedom to run around and explore as well as learn to grow vegetables that they will then harvest and use in their cooking classes.
Atelier
In keeping with Reggio tradition, the Kuwait Reggio Center has its own art studio called the “atelier.” Students go to the atelier in small groups to work with the art director or “atelierista.” The atelier has a wide variety of materials so that students are free to express themselves in any media or ‘language’ they choose. Students even help set up the studio so that they feel it is truly a space made for them. The “atelierista” or art director works closely with the classroom teachers and the school’s curriculum developer to set up the atelier in a way that encourages further exploration of the topics students are learning about in their classrooms. The atelier is constantly evolving to reflect children’s new ideas and understandings of these topics.