Projects

OUR JOURNEY

Collingwood Neighbourhood House is located in East Vancouver. It’s a diverse community with immigrant families from Asia, South America and the Middle East. English is a second language for many families. Parents come to our program with an expectation that their children will learn their ABC’s and 123’s and have a finished product to take home each day. Naturally, parents want to ensure that their children’s experience is successful in the school system. Our team’s goal is to educate and guide parents to understand the learning values and benefits of our Reggio inspired approach. Our group planned a parent night with the help of the grant. We transformed the gym into a play space where parents could experience the language of wonder, happiness, mystery and excitement… The Hundred Languages of Children!

The Event was a great success! We learned once again that pedagogical documentation plays an important role in an emergent environment. Environment as a third teacher makes learning “inviting”, “warm”, “relaxing” and “peaceful” as commented by parents during the event.

This experience gave our team a very positive boost. Families are now more involved in their children’s learning and experiences. Parents are bringing in open ended materials to share with our centres.

Kalvinder and Renuka are also executives at ECEBC Vancouver Branch and are planning to share their learning with colleagues in the lower mainland.

Collingwood is also planning to take managers to Reggio Emilia in spring 2018. We the feel “the sky is the limit.”