By: Diane Kashin, Ed.D, RECE. Recently, a kind and sharing early childhood educator posted my blog, Pedagogical Documentation: Why? When? Who? What? Where? How? on a Facebook group for Reggio-inspired educators. Since she tagged me, I looked and saw that it immediately garnered a comment. “Basic” was all she wrote. I replied “it was meant to be” … Continue reading
By: Diane Kashin, Ed.D, RECE. Curriculum can emerge from outdoor play experiences in wondrous and authentic ways. The changing seasons offer invitations for learning that cannot be duplicated indoors. Curriculum can and should emerge from nature. It is in nature that children’s interests will be piqued. Whether it be building snow forts in the winter, puddle … Continue reading
By: Diane Kashin, Ed.D, RECE. I regret to say that when I worked with young children I did not fully embrace the opportunity to help them build nature connections. I have made that confession in a previous post. However, in the last five or six years, nature pedagogy has become both a passion and a research … Continue reading
By: Diane Kashin, Ed.D, RECE. and Cindy Green, BSc, RECE. One of the most significant professional learning experiences that we have engaged in during the last few years was our trip to Adelaide, South Australia. While there to present workshops focused on the possibilities of buttons as loose parts and the beauty of agates as materials to … Continue reading
By: Diane Kashin, Ed.D, RECE. and Cindy Green, BSc, RECE. This is the third in a series of blogs written about a leadership research project that we are working on with Upper Canada Child Care Centres. In the first post we introduced the research project. In the second post we reflected on reflection as an important process essential to … Continue reading
By: Diane Kashin, Ed.D, RECE. and Cindy Green, BSc, RECE. This is the first of a series of blogs written about a leadership research project that we are working on with Upper Canada Child Care Centres. It has been many years since we first connected with Upper Canada Child Care in various capacities. Most recently … Continue reading
By: Diane Kashin, Ed.D, RECE. Many years ago, Jean Piaget, the famous Swiss psychologist who spent most of his life studying children and how they learn, said: Play is the answer to the question, how does anything new ever come about? ~ Jean Piaget The playing child is a learning child. We need to make … Continue reading
By: Diane Kashin, Ed.D, RECE. Loris Malaguzzi reminds us that our image of the child is where teaching should begin. As many of us are beginning a new school year, examining our images of children is a good way to start thinking about our practices and journeys. The image of the child is also a great … Continue reading
By: Diane Kashin, Ed.D, RECE. This is the third summer, that the York Region Nature Collaborative has hosted the The Rhythm of Learning in Nature, which has been promoted over the years as a 5-day summer intensive – an unforgettable indoor/outdoor learning journey for about 30 early learning professionals. Previously billed as the Reggio Summer Intensive, this … Continue reading
By: Diane Kashin, Ed.D, RECE. When the physical environment acts as the third teacher it holds the potential to influence what and how children learn. Carter (2007) suggests that “if we are to embrace the idea of the environment as a significant educator in our early childhood programs, we must expand our thinking … We … Continue reading
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