Building Community

 A core component of the Reggio Emilia Philosophy is viewing children as respected members of the community. The image of the child shows that they are capable, passionate, discoverers, and deeply respected. 

Our school offers many events and activities to encourage building community with our students. To facilitate a deeply rooted student community, we offer Connecting once a week. Children in the preschool wing participate in visiting other classrooms to engage in current project topics, interact with new materials, and work closely with multiple age levels. The weekly connecting times promotes the interaction among the students within the school.

To strengthen the bonds of the parents in our community, the children of the Compass School host events to include their parents. Classrooms often invite their parents to their culminating event at the end of a project to display their knowledge or hold a special meal to celebrate their relationship. The parents show their respect for the work of the children by attending these functions.

Children at the Compass School routinely invite community members, Field Experts, into their school to share knowledge. Community members learn from the children or the children use the community members as tools to further their investigations and curiosity. 

Building community within the school is an extremely important aspect of the philosophy and highly encouraged at the Compass School.

A picture display of the members of the Compass School emphasizing

their relationships.

Photographs displayed in the classrooms to connect families 

and children to the school.

"We Are All Tied Together"  

An art piece created by Executive Director, Laura Carr, using donated ties 

from fathers of the children at the Compass School.

Nature Explorers

The Reggio Emilia learning philosophy accompanied with the project-based learning approach, encourages children to make meaning of their surrounding environment. The learning approach is inquiry-based which encourages children to ask questions and collaborate with peers, educators, and their environment to discover the answers. Many projects, based off of the interest of the child, include artifacts from the environment. The Compass School feels that projects that involve artifacts found in the daily life of the child are the most meaningful.

Therefore, the environment and nature plays a critical role in the learning atmosphere at The Compass School. The children often take their project work outdoors to aide in discovering answers. Nature becomes intertwined in their projects, creations, and investigations. With a large outdoor space, the children are capable and encouraged to use the environment to extend their learning. 

Below are some examples of how nature has played a role in the learning at The Compass School. 

The children in Sound Stage collect leaves.

Picture by Ashleigh Pylar

A child in Science Lab observes a local flowering plant.

Picture by Allison Greer

Science Lab children explore butterflies at the Krohn's Conservatory. 

Picture by Allison Greer

Siblings from the Think Tank class investigate plants at the Krohn's Conservatory.

Picture by Jillian Albertz

A Science Lab student plants a flower. 

Picture by Allison Greer

The Science Lab class plants Lima beans. 

Picture by Allison Greer

A Think Tank student creates art with tree blocks. 

Picture by Brandi Davis

The Think Tank class explores creating a city with nature.

Picture by Brandi Davis 

The Science Lab children create self portraits with nature.

Picture by Brandi Davis

An infant in Discoverers creates patterns with wood chips.

Picture by Brandi Davis 

The Adventurer class releases their butterflies.

Picture by Ashleigh Pylar

A Science Lab student measures a worm.

Picture by Allison Greer

The Trailblazers explore mud. 

Pictures by Brandi Davis 

Student Documentation

Another important aspect of the learning philosophy at The Compass School is documentation. The educators- or co-learners- and the children believe in documenting their learning. With this, children are encouraged to sketch, create, sculpt, build, or write their observations. The children use this to express their knowledge and as a tool to continue their learning.

During the project, children often take field experiences to extend the interest of the project. Field experiences are visits to places within the surrounding community that are related to the current project topic of the class. During the field experience, children are researchers. They carry clipboards to sketch and write their observations during their visit. After returning to our school, they used these findings to further their research in their project.

Below are some examples of the researchers at work!

Observations during a nature walk 

Photo by Brandi Davis

Observations during a nature walk 

Photo by Brandi Davis

Observations during a nature walk 

Photo by Brandi Davis

Observations during an experience at a park

Photo by Brandi Davis 

Weather Observations

Photo by Brandi Davis 

Weather Observations

Photo By Brandi Davis 

Photo by Brandi Davis 

Observations made at an aquarium field experience

Observations made with a local bridge field experience

Observations documented at a field experience to a local veterinarian office

Observations sketched at a field experience at an ice cream shop