The Room To Grow
Preschools for San Francisco and Oakland
OUR MISSION:
To cultivate a community rich with diverse possibilities, in which every child can discover their voice, value, and purpose, while recognizing the right of others to the same opportunities.
We seek to create confident, caring, competent learners,
one individual at a time.
We are a mixed-age, emergent curriculum, progressive preschool for 3-5 year old children.
Our schools are located in Bernal Heights, San Francisco and Rockridge, Oakland, with a maximum enrollment of 26 families per location.
Based on the Reggio Emilia approach, we provide the nurturing, encouraging framework children need, gaining confidence to construct personal knowledge.
Teachers act as guides and protectors, learning alongside children as they support exploration and new experiences within a logical, meaningful context.
Project work always starts with the questions:
"What do you already know about that?"
"What do you want to find out?"
These inquiries encourage kids to notice, wonder, collaborate, and resource the community. Children use many expressive languages to make their ideas visible, including art materials, movement, storytelling, and dramatic play.
Equally important is the opportunity to build strong relationships, practice resolving differences, and to create a climate honoring every child's story, background, and experiences.
Social justice and social responsibility are emphasized in these early experiences of understanding and respect.
The foundation we build our community upon is the practice of a democratic classroom, making agreements and decisions as a group after sharing concerns, ideas, and solutions.
THE REGGIO EMILIA APPROACH
COMMUNITY - CREATIVITY - IMAGE OF THE CHILD - JOY - THE ENVIRONMENT
The Reggio Emilia approach is an educational philosophy and pedagogy focused on preschool and primary education. It is a student-centered and constructivist self-guided curriculum that uses self-directed, experiential learning in relationship-driven environments. The program is based on the principles of respect, responsibility and community through exploration, discovery and play.
At the core of this philosophy is an assumption that children form their own personality during the early years of development and that they are endowed with “a hundred languages”, through which they can express their ideas. The aim of the Reggio approach is to teach children how to use these symbolic languages (e.g. painting, sculpting, drama) in everyday life. This approach was developed after World War II by pedagogist Loris Malaguzzi and parents in the villages around Reggio Emilia, Italy. The name of the approach therefore derives its name from the city.
COMMUNITY
Developing social-emotional health and awareness that are the foundation of an inclusive, responsive and joyful space.
The door at The Room To Grow is always open and there is a constant exchange of information, ideas and questions between the children, teachers, and parents. Every effort is made to maintain a dialogue around community awareness, responsibility and involvement. Our organization values collaboration and makes it visible in the way the teaching teams organize and share responsibilities, through the use of the democratic process to create agreements and pro-social solutions and by accessing our surrounding community in an intentional and meaningful way.
CREATIVITY
“Children need the freedom to appreciate the infinite resources of their hands, their eyes, and their ears – the resources of forms, materials, sounds and colors.” -Loris Malaguzzi
The studio and it’s materials and tools inspire and support the expression of ideas and foster individual and collaborative project work. Learning and wondering can be expressed in countless ways and children have near limitless access to experiment with a variety of materials in the well-equipped space – materials that range from paper, pens, chalk and paint to wire, wood, shells and any manner of repurposed and found objects. The act of sourcing materials can sometimes become a project unto itself as children and teachers explore our broader community and what treasures can be found.
IMAGE OF THE CHILD
Children have the right to be regarded as competent, to learn by having a voice in the community and the time to construct their own knowledge in their own way.
By first reflecting on our personal experiences as children, then on our journey as teachers and parents, we can begin to embrace an image of the child that recognizes and values the inherent competence of the individual. By approaching learning from a strength-based approach, we can empower the earliest learners to take risks, pursue ideas, express themselves confidently and be open to collaboration and compromise. Teachers present themselves as co-researchers, ready to share in the children’s inquiry through discussion and documentation to honor the work, deepen understanding and celebrate process.
JOY
By developing the joy of connection, self-expression and curiosity, children become lifelong learners with a strong sense of competence and a growth mindset.
Education, at its best, is a joyful and possibility-filled experience. Children and teachers are generating questions and ideas that fuel an environment where all participants are engaged in robust and challenging exploration. Learning through play and inquiry provides infinite opportunities for communication, problem solving and creative self-expression, while constructing individual knowledge and meaning. The work of forming the unique relationships that make up each year’s community leads to a rich and rewarding shared experience.
