Early Years Who We Are, working on their posters Early Years Who We Are, with Ms. Lyndi Early Years Who We Are, Designing Early Years Who We Are, Sketching
“In Reggio the process of learning involves making connections and relationships
between feelings, ideas, words and actions.” – Debbie LeeKeenan & John Nimmo
During this project we made an inquiry into the nature of the self. We looked at the physical features, personal characteristics and made connections.
The Process
We started by identifying facial features. We identified the eyes, ears, mouth, nose, ears, and hair.
We used mirrors to look at our face and identify the features.
Early Years Who We Are, seeing his own reflection Early Years Who We Are, working together
Once we were able to identify our facial features, we started making self-portraits. We used a variety of ways to create our portraits: we used paint, markers, crayons, seeds, flowers, clay and play-dough.
“A self-portrait is an intimate, bold declaration of identity. In a self-portrait, a child offers
themselves as both subject and artist. When we look at the self-portrait, we see a child
as they see themselves.” – Unknown
Through our self-portraits we realized that we all are unique. Although each of us has the same features, our features are unique.
We are able to identify our own features among those of others.
We were also able to look at our bodies and identified different body parts: head, shoulders, arms, legs, toes, knees, elbows, etc.
The Connections
The students were able to make connections in other areas.
They started creating their own drawings of the self. They also made connections during play.
We looked at personal characteristics and saw that we all have a favorite color, favorite animal and dreams for the future.
We made connections to the late King, Rama 9 and also between ourselves. We connected the things that we have in common by using string.
Through this process, the students were able to see that even though we are all unique, we have similarities. This gave the students a sense that they are part of a bigger community.
