08.05.2023

Café & Educação: Beacon ECE Practice

On Thursday, we had another edition of Café & Educação, this time focusing on the practices and concepts that permeate Early Childhood Education.

The coordinators in this area covered the pedagogical practices of Reggio Emilia and Maria Montessori within the IB curriculum, which, intertwined, make up the day-to-day of early childhood education at Beacon.

In a time when the development of critical thinking, creativity, communication, and cooperation are becoming increasingly essential for our future, the coordinators were able to explain how these practices constantly work together to promote these attributes.

The children’s investigative journeys are understood individually and enhanced through the mediation of teachers. Thus, materials are not passive; they establish a constant dialogue in which they are modified while the child is drawn to explore them. Understanding the properties of materials and interactions in play expands to concepts that will be pillars in the development of literacy, socio-emotional skills, motor skills, and, ultimately, the holistic development of the child.

We understand the environments in early childhood education as the third educator. Teachers dedicate themselves to creating provocations that are rich in intentionality and maintain a careful eye on aesthetic presentation. The organization and arrangement of spaces ensure an environment that sparks exploration and learning.

Videos and photos shared during the meeting exemplified different practices of children’s play as well as careful projects that involve significant exploration of materials and different languages. Children, materials, concepts, and tools highlighted the learning journeys, showing that the child is the protagonist of their learning process, having a voice, choice, and ownership in their daily school life, from their enrollment at Beacon.

Watch the video here.