Reggio Inspired Boulder Journey School

Boulder Journey School is located in the most beautiful location in Boulder, Colorado!!  You can see the mountains from the playground!  The playground wraps around the entire building and provides the children with a variety of areas and materials to interact with.  

I choose this school because although I like Reggio Emilia curriculum as it exists in Italy, I've always felt that it wouldn't "transfer" to the United States.   When Cheryl Joseph, an adjunct faculty member at Harper, told me that I had to go to Boulder Journey School because I had to see how this school had adapted this curriculum to their area - I added it to my list of visits!  My brother lives there so I stayed with his family there.  It was an awesome place!  Although they charged a fee for me to visit for two days, it was worth it!  I toured the center one morning and spent the next morning observing classrooms.  In the afternoons, I had the opportunity to meet with classroom, art  and theater teachers.  I had some of the most stimulating conversations about early childhood education and the Reggio way!! 

The first thing I noticed when I entered the school was the outstanding documentation on the walls of the halls!  I just took picture after picture because everything was so exciting. 

The second thing I noticed was the aesthetics EVERYWHERE!!!  As an early childhood teacher, I remember our Resource Room looked like a tornado had hit it, but not at Boulder Journey!  Each area of the "materials" room looked like a display case of a department store.  Just so beautiful to look at!

The third thing I noticed was how the school reflected the Boulder culture.  The town is home to two major universities and the staff of the school consists of  teachers with master degrees!  The school partners with the university to offers internships that along with coursework, result in a teaching certificate.  Reflecting the Reggio curriculum, the teachers are all intellectually curious and are constantly assessing and designing their curriculum based on what they are seeing in the classroom.  This isn't canned curriculum.  Boulder is very environmentally aware and this is reflected in the school also.  The use of a variety of recycled materials was evident throughout the school.  The children all bring their own lunches in environmentally friendly materials, each child has their own water bottle or drinking glass because they do not use plastic or paper products.

 The picture on the left was from a toddler room.  It is covered with tape to create a grid.  Although I didn't observe children playing with it, I know they would LOVE it! 

It felt like this school was true to the Reggio curriculum in the way that it reflected the culture of Boulder and I enjoyed the insightful conversations I had with several of the staff members.  This is not a stagnant school that has found the secret of early childhood education.  On the contrary, it is a vital anddynamic school that continues to evolve and adapt to changes in the culture.  My concern about the Waldorf school was that I felt it hadn't kept up with changes in the worlds although it was a very relaxing environment.  Boulder has adapted and included technology in a way that is reflective of the good way to use it.   I embrace technology and the wonderful opportunity for learning that it provides, so I'm a little bias on this point.  This was a great way to end my out-of-town visits.  As I look back on all of the visits, each one of them reflected the culture where they were located.  Is that true of the centers located in our area?  Interesting thought....