Raising America is a provocative documentary on the history of early childhood education in this country. It asks the questions, "why do we as a nation, make it so hard for our children to thrive? What can we do better?"

All of the episodes of the documentary series are streaming for free until 2/15. Click here to go the website.

If you watch the documentary, what were your impressions of the movie? What made the strongest impression? We would love to know, you can post a comment below, or on our facebook page.

Sandy Burwell is offering material exploration classes. These explorations are not hosted by the Reggio-Inspired Network of Minnesota. See registration information below or go to the Facebook page titled Learning Together to get registration information.

The explorations are on the following dates.

Saturday, December 5
EXPLORING THE LANGUAGES OF PAINTING AND DRAWING
South Metro Montessori School
10970 - 185th ST. W. Farmington, MN
9 to 12am -- $40.

Wednesday, January 27
EXPLORING THE LANGUAGES OF LIGHT AND SHADOW
Dodge Nature Pre-school
1715 Charlton St
West St. Paul, MN
5:30 to 7:30 -- $30.

Both classes for $60.
Register: smburwell@gmail.com
Pay with a check to
Sandra Burwell
5560 Pillsbury Ave So
Mpls, MN 55419
or use
Paypal

In our Saturday Gathering on 10/24, we will be exploring the environment of the Westwood Early Childhood Center.

Here are some guiding questions to consider when exploring environments:

• On what values do you base the design of your environment?
• What do you see in the environment as potential for beauty, integration, fluidity?
• What struggles do you have? What issues in your context cannot be changed?
• How do you strategize to deal with them?
• How can infant/toddler environments integrate beauty, experiences, materials and safety?
• How can we make the most of the unique aspects of our context?

By Sandy Burwell (questions originally posted on 3.20.14)

This 6 minute video gives an introduction to the Loris Malaguzzi International Centre and an overview of the international work of Reggio Children: Loris Malaguzzi Centre Video