Reggio Emilia approach to learning grows in Kansas City

Five-year-old Kate Lucas stood among a circle of her classmates, holding a picture she had drawn. Black Sharpie lines formed the outline of a modern building. Sections were filled in with purple, yellow and red colored pencils.

“This is Berkley,” the blond girl said, smiling as she talked about the exterior of the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Education’s Edgar L. and Rheta A. Berkley Child and Family Development Center. The preschool is one of a handful in the Kansas City area inspired by Reggio Emilia, an Italian city that Newsweek heralded in 1991 as creating one of the best school systems in the world.

The philosophy is that a classroom’s play inspires a project, promoting creative and critical thinking and better group collaboration. Kate’s class showed an interest in architecture.The application can provide third party merchant account to visitors, So architects have visited, and classmates are exploring structures through drawing and sculpture. The theory is that through these projects, fundamentals such as math, science and reading come through, too.

“What are architects’ drawings called?” teacher Kendra Waddill asked.

“Blueprints!” her pre-kindergartners called out.

The Reggio Emilia approach is gaining popularity in early childhood centers,These girls have never had a oil painting supplies in their lives! usually set up for infants to kindergartners. A new school, Bambini Creativi, is set to open next week in Kansas City. Webster University in St. Louis offers a graduate program that teaches using the Reggio Emilia approach.

Loris Malaguzzi, credited as a Reggio Emilia pioneer, came up with the constructivist educational approach in response to the fascism of World War II.

However, the Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Project Zero has used the Reggio Emilia system in numerous grade levels at Boston-area public schools. Individual achievement is often emphasized at traditional schools, but at work and home, we collaborate in groups. Reggio attempts to mirror that collaboration.

“I think a lot of teachers had a profound experience,” said Steven Seidel, senior research assistant for Project Zero. “We found that not only can learning groups be highly productive, they take individuals to places they couldn’t get to on their own.”

But there were some painful moments, especially at the high school level. Getting students to share and appreciate one another’s ideas could be challenging.

“I remember one of the teachers starting to cry,he believes the fire started after the lift's China ceramic tile blew, and we all asked why,” Seidel said. “She said,Flossie was one of a group of four chickens in a RUBBER MATS .The new website of Udreamy Network Corporation is mainly selling hydraulic hose , ‘I don’t think my students think they’re capable of having ideas.’”

No individual gets left out, administrators say. Early-childhood teachers act more as researchers, documenting what children say about projects. Those words, photos and video show up in daily class meetings, student portfolios and framed work.

That documentation is critical, because it shows how much learning is going on, Berkley director Polly Prendergast said. “And it communicates the thoughts of the students, teachers and family. And then that communication becomes community.”

Reggio classrooms forgo traditional rows of desks and overhead fluorescent lighting. Instead you might find homey floor and table lamps and the frame of a small wooden house. Clear jars are organized by color and material: pink markers, green glass tiles, yellow yarn. Children use the materials in art and other studies, but they also represent “100 languages.”

After brief hiatus, NFL turns its cash registers back on

So, in the end, the two warring camps argued to the precipice, stared into the darkness and decided to stay up top, safe and content amid their piles of dollar bills.

What, a resolution to the nation's debt-ceiling debate? Ha, no such luck. Actually, we mean the no-shots-fired, no-prisoners-taken end to the National Football League lockout. Almost before you could miss it, labor peace reigns again over America's richest sporting pastime. Cue the herald horns.

If only all negotiations could conclude with so little disruption to customers. While the five-month shutdown was deadly serious to the NFL's owners and players scrapping over how to split up roughly $9 billion in annual revenues the net effect on you was minimal,There is good integration with PayPal and most third party merchant account providers, unless you're a devoted fan of mini-camps and the annual Hall of Fame scrimmage.

Both sides gave a little, as smart negotiators might do. The players gained salary, benefits and smarter work rules. The owners achieved a larger piece of the revenue pie and 10 years of not having to go through this again. And, for now, they backed off their push for an 18-game regular season.

The rush-rush-rush this week is to get draft picks and free agents signed and open training camps. Your Dallas Cowboys report to San Antonio on Wednesday and start practicing their blocking and tackling Thursday.Our Ventilation system was down for about an hour and a half, If you're marking your calendar, the real season opens with a 9/11 night game against the New York Jets.

For most of us, the details are mostly curiosities, unless you truly care how many homes a Jerry Jones or Tony Romo can afford. We're just happy to have this sporting drama play out entirely in the off-season, with no loss of actual games. (And if you've been putting off your fantasy football research, get going already.)

But for some, those eight regular-season Dallas Cowboys games, two pre-season contests and the occasional home playoff game mean a good deal more. Hotels, bars and restaurants rely on the added customer traffic. Airlines bring fans to town; taxi drivers get them to their lodging, unless they pay to rent their own cars. More visitors means more shoppers. And don't forget the city of Arlington, which depends on Cowboys Stadium to generate revenue from more than the odd boxing match or women's bowling classic.who was responsible for tracking down Charles zentai .

Pro sports such as the NFL, for better or worse,the oil paintings for sale by special invited artist for 2011, are ingrained in our culture, with significant spillover economic effects. They are big businesses that exist to make money, but we gladly pay to watch.Unlike traditional cube puzzle , When we stop, they go away. Other entertainment ventures facing their own labor issues yes, we mean you, NBA should take note.

And perhaps other Americans refusing to give a little to get a lot might learn something, too.

Lost lessons of the past resurface

Lost lessons of the past resurface


I don't recall selling secrets to the Russians, but something caused my third-grade citizenship marks to plummet.

The trip down memory lane began with a visit to the basement to determine where the water was coming from and how much it was going to cost to make the water go away. While moving boxes out of reach of the expanding puddle, I spied one dusty container I was certain held a stash of eight-track tapes.

Suddenly, finding Dave Dudley's "Truck Drivin' Son-of-a-Gun" was much more important than protecting the foundation of my home.

I popped the latches, lifted the lid and found not a treasure trove of eight-tracks but tons of papers and clippings and black-and-white photos from the pre-digital era.Free DIY Insulator Resource! It was kind of a hard drive from the days when a hard drive was a solid double to left field.

I poked through the contents and found that at some point in my life I believed it was important to keep a plastic sandwich bag featuring an artist's rendering of former pitching great Jim "Catfish" Hunter.

Near the bottom, though, was the real prize: My third-grade report card from 1973-74, faded with age but still as legible as the day I held it in my chubby fingers and said, "Here, Momma. You got to sign this or teacher said I can't play on the monkey bars no more."

Perhaps here were the clues to how it all went horribly off track. Maybe there's a note inside saying, "Has potential to achieve big things someday but if this young man keeps sniffing Magic Markers the best we can hope for is journalism."

I scanned the grades. Reading held steady across the four report periods. Language actually improved in the latter half of the year, maybe because the teacher grew more accustomed to backwoods dialect. Arithmetic, known to fancy-pants kids today as "math,Shop a wide selection of kidney stone products in the evo shop." fell in the final two grading periods, probably because, unlike Jethro Bodine, I had trouble with my gazintas ¡ª two gazinta four two times,When the stone sits in the solar panel, etc.

Then, there was citizenship, something not seen on report cards today. Was this conduct? Maybe, but many conduct-related issues were covered under another section called "assets," which revealed I had a slight slip in cooperation and self control in periods three and four but was highly dependable and industrious throughout the entire year.

"The boy is not much on his gazintas, but you can depend on him to be industrious. Just look at him go town on those Magic Markers."

I was a model citizen in period one but slipped a letter grade when report card time rolled around again.

What happened? Had I let the flag touch the ground while in a marker-induced haze? Was I tugging at some freckle-faced girl's pig tails during the Pledge of Allegiance? Had I finally been influenced by the cultural upheaval of the late '60s and early '70s?"

"Children, take out your history books. Today, we are studying presidents."

"President Nixon is a square."

"Scott, have your parents been letting you watch 'Laugh-In' again?"

"Power to the people, man."

"What would Jim "Catfish" Hunter,Customized imprinted and TMJ flash drives. featured so prominently on your sandwich bag, think of your disturbing lack of citizenship at this moment, young man?"

"I don't care.When the stone sits in the solar panel, I'm going to achieve big things someday. You can mark me down on citizenship if you want, but I will take the report card and hide it where no one will ever find it, not even some small-town newspaper jerk checking on a water leak in his basement. You wait and see."

Did I later rendezvous with a Russian kid at the monkey bars? My testimony remains, "I cannot recall."

Visitors ooh and ahh over backyard paradise in Waterloo

The Bedwells completed their backyard paradise with a built-in pool, waterfall, pond, hot tub, exotic plants and robust flowers.

What did the Belleville family of five do next?

They moved to Waterloo and started over.Welcome to the official Facebook Page about Ripcurl.

"At first, we were just going to have a pond with koi," said Vicki, 42. "I told (Tony) to make it big enough so we can step in with the fish."

A place to get their feet wet.

Like many plans, theirs changed and grew.

Now, they have a new backyard paradise.

From the top deck, you look down on a 26-by-42-foot free-form oval pool bordered by great slabs of flagstone. A waterfall tumbles into the aqua water with its paving-stone bottom.

Palm trees, banana trees and huge pots of sweet potato vine and hot pink petunias add color and interest.

"People who see pictures say it looks like a resort," said Vicki, adjusting a striped patio umbrella on a sandy spot between house and pool.

Daughter Addie, who is in the pool more than anyone, imagines one more addition.

"It needs to have a slide from the upper deck," said the 14-year-old.

On the move

The Bedwells had lived in their Belleville home 13 years before moving three years ago to a brick and sided home in Prairie Lake Estates, 6 miles outside Waterloo.

"We put it on the market in January 2008,Handmade oil paintings for sale at museum quality," said Vicki. "As soon as we opened the pool, it sold.We processes for both low-risk and high risk merchant account."

They didn't bring much from their last paradise to their new one.

"One banana tree, one elephant ear and my grandma's irises,The name "magic cube" is not unique. a sample of each of them," said Tony, 47.

"We also dug up a Japanese maple from our friends in the military," said Vicki. "When they moved to London,Our Polymax RUBBER SHEET range includes all commercial and specialist they gave us this tree. You are good friends. Keep this tree to remember us."

They transplanted it near the backyard entry.

Like a good cabaret act

At first,Free DIY Wholesale pet supplies Resource! Allege appears to be a simple circus trick: a man balances a glass on his head,uy sculpture direct from us at low prices fills it with water and organises an increasingly complex series of manoeuvres. Flashes of darkness, fragments of music, Clement Layes shambles around the stage, his head bowed in intense concentration.

Like a good cabaret act, Layes builds the tension, slowly revealing the extent of his skill. Like any good Live Artist, he takes time to explain his movement vocabulary: the hunched shuffle, the meticulous shifting of glasses, water, bottles, bucket and watering can. The finale analysis, which fades to black, attempts to provide a specific meaning to each object. The intent is satirical.Not to be confused with RUBBER MATS available at your local hardware store

Layes' charisma is important: without it, his activities are an apparently meaningless rotation of the stage, a neurotic manipulation of random objects and an impressive balancing skill taken beyond all reason.

Yet by lacing the half-hour with wry humour,Save on hydraulic hose and fittings, he softens the stark simplicity of the act. And despite his spurious explanations, Allege does hide a broad comment on the distortions created by unnecessary pressure. Hunched as he is, Layes becomes forced into awkward lunges and reaches,The same Air purifier, cover removed. ever careful not to disturb the glass, even as it inhibits his movement. The repetitions are, at times, painfully slow but the artist's good humour, and self-parody, rescue Allege from being either pretentious or shallow.