Malaguzzi (Edwards, 2012) highlights the principle of the Reggio approach: “Relationship is the primary connecting dimension of our system, however, understood not merely as a warm, protective envelope but rather as a dynamic conjunction of forces and elements interacting toward a common purpose. The strength of our system lies in the ways we make explicit and then intensify the necessary conditions for relations and interaction.” ( p.45)
One of the strategies we have been using to support the children in building new relationships is encouraging them to line up in pairs to connect to a peer as they transition from meetings to appointments. To support the children in recognizing we are interconnected, we decided to read the book, The Invisible String, by Patricia Karst. After reading the book, the teachers demonstrated this concept using yarn with the intention of making visible the multiple connections individuals can have. Using colored string to represent themselves, they selected and searched for connections among everyone’s laminated photograph.
Teacher Cynthia: Who do you feel connected to and how did you connect with this friend?
Jack: Rufus and I are connected because we played super heroes together. It made me feel happy when we played together.
Elliot: I’m feeling connected to Golda. During lunch time we lined up together. She likes me and her dresses. We like the same dresses!
Mars: My invisible string that connects to Golda is getting bigger and bigger. We give hugs. I like Golda’s hugs. She makes me happy.
Christoph: My invisible string connects to Asher. We connected yesterday playing knights.
Tai (after listening to Christoph’s reflection about his connection with Asher): Christoph connects with Asher, and I connect to Levi, and now we are all connected. We are four friends now! Tai, Christoph, Levi, and Asher.
Poppy: Hey, I’m connected to myself.
Teacher Adriana: Yeah, that’s a very special feeling.
Poppy: Yeah, I’m connected to myself, and I feel my heart beating and beating.
Dylan: Wow, Poppy! I also feel connected to you.
Poppy: When I’m gone you are still connected to me Dylan with the invisible string and I feel it in my heart.
We see the children recognizing they can have multiple emotional bonds and we are researching other materials to represent this invisible mosaic of relationships, to reinterpret their thoughts so they can think about their thinking and therefore, more deeply ingrain their joy in socially constructing knowledge.
We wonder what working with a different material will reveal about their understanding of relationships and how we can extend this with our questions in support of our research into the intersection of nature and technology. The children have expressed wanting to include their classroom turtles, Cody and Squirt, in this project and we see possibilities for making this experiment more complex by imagining a digital component here. We have redesigned the south end of the West Wing with this in mind and will share their responses next week after implementing our questions.
Edwards, C., Gandini, L, Forman, G. The Hundred Languages of Children, 3rd Edition. Prager, 2012