Our idea of school:
educational proposals
A competent child is able to give adequate answers even in problematic situations, giving the best of himself. We therefore believe it is necessary to focus on the concept of competence which once again restores centrality to the child.
Competence includes:
knowledge (knowledge)
skills (know-how)
attitudes (curiosity, interest, inclination).
To identify the educational proposals most suited to the children's needs, the school provides a moment of collegial planning in the first week of July. This allows us to identify a common thread of the training path, which will be developed differently in each section, with regard to the age and skills of the children. The project hypotheses therefore take a concrete form during the year through section and collegiate programming, without overshadowing the observation of the children , especially in the first months, to identify their primary needs.
Each project is discussed together by the class teachers and, if it involves common elements (Christmas and Easter itinerary, grandparents', mother's, father's day) it is discussed in the collective.
Once the theme of the project and its aims have been identified, starting from the observation of the children, it is proposed to them and possibly modified along the way , based on the children's feedback. During the journey, a panel is built and hung in section which is expanded as the explorations and experiments continue. This panel is visible both by parents, who in this way participate in the school activity, and by children, who can relive and remember experiences through images.
At the end of the project , the documents are always returned home , complete with photos and description of the route.
In the spring section, parents can see photos of the day every day thanks to a special digital frame placed in the section, while in the other sections there is a logbook always available to families and updated several times a week.
Finally, during the year, the school provides for the return of two documents relating to one the Christmas project and the other the religious path, which both include the activities of all the sections. At the end of the school year, however, the section documentation is delivered, containing all the experiences experienced from September to June.
long live nature
"Children have an increasingly greater need for nature: trees, earth, open spaces where they can have unique, precious, indelible experiences. They know with their senses, they search for and collect natural materials, they invent new games, they discover silence, long times and instinctively they they venture out to discover the world. For a child, nature is irresistible, in all its nuances ."
("The school in the woods", by M. Schenetti, I. Salvaterra, B. Rossini)
Nature is good for you. More and more studies scientifically confirm what we alone are able to recognize through our sensations: when we have the opportunity to be outdoors, to enjoy nature, we feel good. Being in contact with nature has a regenerating effect on the brain, increases attention levels, promotes the development of good physical coordination, balance and agility, generates an inclination to feel more confident and autonomous, and facilitates the predisposition to work in groups and to develop empathy and skills for coexistence. Children who, however, can only enjoy experiences and moments in nature to a limited extent show the consequences of what Richard Louv calls "nature deficit", i.e. they appear more fearful, develop more allergies, are more overweight, nervous, insecure, bored.
Scientific research only strengthens the awareness that as adults we have the responsibility to guarantee and offer the little ones, wherever they live, spaces, times and experiences of nature: contact with nature, in the countryside as in the city, is a resource , an urgent need, a source of well-being for all children. Therefore, it is important to grasp the daily nature of each place and look for those with a greater natural vocation to fully absorb the intensity of the benefits that nature can offer, especially in educational and school contexts where children and young people spend many hours of their day. Being adults who favor "outside" experiences also means knowing how to respect the role of children as born explorers:
“Children, from the first years of life, by playing, have explored the small world into which they were born. They saw, heard, touched, smelled and tasted what was at hand. They played with water, sand and other materials and thus discovered many laws of the physical world. With that knowledge they organized their first culture. They did like the scientists. But soon children began to watch the world through television, using only two of their five senses. They have seen many distant things and have neglected the near things. Yet around us, in the small world of a meadow, a garden or an old brick wall, an intense life is hidden in every season..."
“Me and nature”, Mario Lodi
Outside there is the world: a "natural" and beautiful school, made up of fragments of life that come towards us.
educational purposes
Our school participates in training and refresher initiatives financed by the FISM, the region, the municipalities and other bodies. It is also followed by a coordination network of pedagogists, appointed by the FISM, with funding from the Regional Law of Emilia Romagna.
In the "Elisa Lari" nursery school the new orientations are fully implemented within the Educational Teaching Project which characterizes it and makes it, specifically, a place of human, moral and cultural growth for children, teachers and parents.
Every year in July an educational and didactic plan is developed by the Teaching Committee which identifies the common thread of the training path.
The educational aims of the “Elisa Lari” nursery school are the following:
Personal training promoting affectively safe and balanced personalities , capable of controlling difficulties and conflict situations, aimed at achieving autonomy on a cognitive and behavioral level;
Social training by creating an educational community in which each child experiences relationships with peers and adults, characterized by a climate of serenity, help, friendship , also strengthened by small frustrations deriving from comparison;
Cultural training , through activities and experiences of observation, research, exploration, arrangement, symbolization. Particular importance is given to permanent and temporary laboratories. A specific characteristic of the Elisa Lari nursery school's proposals is the rejection of cognitivism and technicality as an end in itself. Cultural enrichment passes through the joyfulness and flexibility of the various experiences which lay the foundations for giving the child the taste of knowing and learning;
Religious and moral training which, while respecting diversity, is aimed at developing awareness of the need to respect people , the rules of coexistence and to bring out the spiritual and religious dimension of every man.
school of democracy
The educational offer of our Christian-inspired nursery school enhances all the dimensions structurally inherent in man, in the awareness that the educational intervention must promote the formation of a complete and balanced personality, also in harmony with the principles of the Constitution of Italian republic.
We identify ourselves as a school of democracy , a place "of all and for all", open to all children whose families accept the School's Educational Project. The definition of the Educational Project is entrusted to the entire "educational community" made up of parents and families, teachers and all those who share the aims and style of the school.
We are therefore committed to applying the current regulations regarding the inclusion of children with disabilities or disadvantaged conditions.
The pedagogical - educational proposal of our school is inspired by the fundamental lines of the '91 Guidelines, in accordance with the Christian identity that characterizes us and the National Indications of 2012.
During a meeting with parents, the then president of the school Don Luca Ferrari, explained some guidelines of the educational project and the essential collaboration between school and family (02/10/07):
“For education, a determining value must be the understanding between educators and parents, there must be esteem and harmony. It is essential to stipulate an educational pact. If there is no esteem between parents and teachers, the possibility of educating is demolished and trust in children is demolished. We need to continually discern and search. An added and precious value of this school is Catholic education, to establish an educational alliance with the family. There needs to be constant dialogue between parents and teachers."
Don Luca Ferrari
Based on these principles, our educational commitment is aimed at educating our children to be authentic human beings, that is, at forming them in the image of Christ. Christ, perfect man , grows in his entirety in intelligence of the heart and mind (wisdom), in the body (age), in the spirit (grace). And this does not happen in a miraculous way but in an ordinary way, under the watchful eyes of God and men, responsible for this growth.
Reading fairy tales to a child is essential for him to grow in wisdom, taking him to play outdoors is necessary for him to grow in age and self-awareness. Teaching him to pray simply and as a family is necessary for him to grow in grace and in the knowledge of God.
Pope Francis, also loved by children, has words of hope and encouragement, he speaks of amazement, tenderness, beauty and love.
We educators are called to humanly and professionally follow the magical thread of these messages aimed at everyone, putting them in tune with the school educational project and concretizing them in the training offer plan as a response to children's rights and the legitimate expectations of their parents.
spaces and materials
It is good practice for educators to organize the space so that it can take into account the multiplicity of children's needs and that can combine the need for safety, affection and care with the need and desire for exploration and knowledge and the feeling of intimacy with the pleasure of being together with others. The care in choosing the destination, the organization and furnishings of the various environments respond to precise meanings and educational choices according to criteria of order, predictability, readability and availability of different materials to activate paths of discovery, exploration and inclusion.
The spring section is made up of three internal areas (section, bathroom, dining room) and an outdoor garden for the exclusive use of the children of the section.
In section, in the center of the room, there are two benches that frame a yellow carpet. They delimit a private space that the teachers use as a morning greeting circle. Every day, after the welcome, the children are invited to sit in a semicircle, ready to begin the morning rituals: greeting, songs, distribution of fruit, launch of the day's activities. We return to this place later for the distribution of napkins and prayer before the meal. Furthermore, it also appears as a corner of construction , as inside the benches there are some drawers containing construction games.
In the section there is also the symbolic play corner , with the kitchen and a space for the dolls. Here, thanks to saucepans, cutlery, fake food, but also clothes and blankets, children can have fun playing the game of "pretending", repeating known gestures and actions that will evolve into new forms of thought.
Another important space is that of reading , made up of some bookcases at child height, from which it is possible to independently take the desired book. Finally, a soft corner completes the section, used both for narratives and for sensory-motor games.
The spaces of the section are often modified during the year depending on the needs of the group.
The section is also used as a dormitory for afternoon rest.
In the meal room there are three circular tables which can each accommodate a maximum of 8 children. They are used for lunch, for an afternoon snack and often also for some types of project activities.
This space also houses the lockers where each child can store his things (jacket, shoes, personal items).
The garden is used every day for free play in the morning, after lunch and after the afternoon snack, but also as a natural place for exploration in project activities. There are some traditional games such as the slide, the house and the tricycles, but experiments with the natural elements present, such as logs, are increasingly encouraged. Also in the garden there is a space dedicated to the friendship circle, used during the summer.
During reception and for some specific activities, the children of the spring section go to the playroom, a common space for the whole school. Also in this environment we find the corner of constructiveness, symbolic play and reading.
of the family, with the family
The heart of our nursery section and our nursery school are not only the children, but all the families who entrust us with their precious treasures. Our desire is for them to always feel welcomed and listened to, in a willingness to dialogue aimed at making them an increasingly active part of our educational action. This is precisely the intent of our pact: to involve families for co-responsibility in education, in a relationship of trust and mutual support. Elisa Lari nursery school: “The family school, with the family” .
The belief that the family is the natural and primary place within which the true education of children takes place supports, bases and justifies all choices regarding school-family collaboration.
The school becomes a place, an opportunity for parents to grow, meet and discuss, but at the same time it becomes a school supported, defended and desired by families and the local community. Parents undertake to collaborate in the various initiatives and to give their availability also in the maintenance of the school.
Parental involvement includes:
The presentation of the educational project and the educational project (PEI) to all parents at the beginning of the year;
Information and discussion on the situation and general activities of the school;
Personal interview between parents and teachers (one at the beginning of the year and one in the middle of the school year);
Training meetings on psycho-pedagogical issues and on the educational values of the School's Educational Programming.
The meetings aimed at socializing between parents are: parties, masses, dinners, preparation of decorative material, maintenance of the building, activities in the kitchen, some section meetings, the course for parents organized in October by Catholic Action, courses for families or meetings organized by our pastoral unit.
Twice a year the elected section representatives meet with Carmela Adani, the director, to understand if the school offers what families really need. These are fundamental moments for parents, for an honest and current exchange.
In the photos below:
American teachers visiting the school, some volunteer fathers tidying up the garden, the mayor Luca Vecchi visiting, teachers at work to beautify the school
the importance of relationships
An educational context for early childhood qualifies as such when it is proposed as a place of significant relationships , intentionally designed to allow the child to experience a climate of well-being and develop a sense of security, trust and self-esteem.
For this reason, for schools, a great opportunity is represented by intersection projects. These open up to sharing and allow the children's needs to be alternated: both that of the safety of a known space and that of curiosity for new situations.
A significant relational context is also linked to the creation of a positive social climate among adults , who must be able to listen and welcome the child and support the growth of his cognitive, emotional and relational abilities.
