Creating Lights and Shadow Stories with Concordia

About Reggio

Reggio especially emphasizes the educational significance of the environment for children. At CKN, every space is carefully constructed in consideration of color, transparency, natural light. Open materials (so called Loose Parts in Reggio) which can stimulate the curiosity and imagination of children, such as green plants, rocks, shells, branches, leaves, bottle caps, etc., are all used in the classroom to create marvelous play corners. 

Concordia Kindergarten has created a new immersive environment for children to explore lights and shadows, allowing them to gain more exploration and discovery in the light and shadow classroom. 

光影世界

Light can change colors and create shadows, emphasizing shapes and forms. Children, as natural artists, have a special interest in lights and shadows. 

During a nine-week exploration of the IB-PYP curriculum "How We Express ourselves", children experienced themes and experiences related to light, including natural and artificial light.

▫How light creates shadows?

▫Understand the application of light in the field of social art?

▫How artificial light drives industrial development?

▫How professional light technology drives overall social progress？

In the classroom, the teacher provides various opportunities for children to explore and play under different light sources. Under the guidance of the teacher, students will conduct reflection experiments using materials such as flashlights (torches), candles, spotlights, mirrors, magnifying glasses, prisms, light bulbs, and other different materials. 

Using flashlights and different objects to create shadows, using sunlight and other methods to form the contours of shadows, demonstrating shadow play (puppetry) using light, and exploring reflection phenomena using different materials. 

Not only that, students will also learn about prisms and spectroscopy, and use different methods to create rainbows in other activities. At the end of the class, the children create an original artwork based on their knowledge of light and shadow to express their feelings or understanding of light.

02 PBL项目学习

As the core teaching method of Reggio, PBL (project-based learning) refers to a teaching approach wherein the teacher chooses the topics according to the interest if children and encourages everyone to find the solution for each problem together by using multiple methods like group discussion, observation, interview, experiment and so on. 

PBL Driving Questions

▫Where does light come from? 

▫Why is light important? 

Lines of Inquiry 

▫How light creates shadows？

▫How light has been used in the fields of art in society？

▫How we have advanced society with the inventions of man-made lights？

【九周启发式光影探究学习】

A nine week heuristic light and shadow exploration learning 

Various Lights

In the light and shadow class, the teacher introduced the two sources of natural light and artificial light, and discussed the wonders of these two light sources. As children grow up, they have an additional option to pursue a career as architectural lighting designers.

In addition, the teacher briefly explained the concept of architectural lighting design and its application in architectural and landscape design. The children learned about different types of lighting and shared their feelings about lighting design. 

Tiny Light - Fireflies

Under the guidance of the teachers, the children made "firefly friends" with soft clay, and the shining lights were undoubtedly the finishing touch! 

One of the happiest things in life is witnessing the discovery, display, expression of each child's unique potential. This uniqueness can be expressed in various ways, one of which is through art. 

In heuristic light and shadow learning, we make all the "Firefly Friends" which look very interesting and are also a mark of our young adventurer's imagination. After turning on the light, the teacher will lead the children to understand the sentence "My firefly friend is a natural light source" together. 

The History of Light

Alina, as a guest speaker, shares everything about light bulbs with children. Alina explained the history of light, from fire to oil lamps, from the earliest light bulbs to LED lights. 

Moreover, Alina also showed us the different types of light we use in life and society, such as cold light, natural light, and warm light. Children have the opportunity to deepen their understanding of light by touching different types of lights. 

Regional Games

Regional games are activities located in specific areas around the classroom. Children are grouped in different areas and can also work independently. Each area is open, allowing children to freely choose the materials they want to use and how they want to use them.

Because of this, games naturally occur when children explore, experiment, and discover various materials they discover in the area. 

Einstein once said 

"Play is the highest form of research."

Understanding oneself, discovering oneself, and showcasing oneself have played an unexpected role in children's cognitive process towards themselves and the external world. 

This is Reggio's light and shadow world, like a kaleidoscope, and every Concordia child in it will be a small explorer, discoverer and creator. 

We look forward to lighting up the minds and hearts and merging our lights together!