Chapters International

Overview:

Being in nature calms and regulates young children as well as encouraging them to feel good and benefit from its restorative effects. When children notice and respond to natures rhythms, cycles, evolutions, patterns, aesthetics, sounds, and movements they can take on a responsibility for caring about nature, each other, and themselves. When educators listen, join in, and respond to young children’s encounters with nature, they can create situations of learning that are rich in developing strong emotional well-being, personal and social growth through a pedagogy rich in amplifying curiosity and creativity.

Session 1

The power of playing and being in nature
Children noticing and responding to nature
Nature Connectedness

Session 2

Personal and social growth – growing in nature
Developing Emotional awareness and well-being in and with nature
Building relationships through and with nature

Session 3

Creativity in nature; nature and creativity
Working with children’s curiosities, ideas, and theories
Developing creative approaches for learning in and with nature

Session 4

Connecting in nature and bringing it back to the classroom
Sharing values of learning in nature with families
Self-Assessment Toolkit

DEBI KEYTE - HARTLAND

Debi Keyte-Hartland MA is an international consultant and artist educator with over 20 plus years of experience working in community settings including health, social and educational organizations primarily with a focus on early learning, creativity, the arts and inquiry. She has worked with schools in the UK, Singapore, China, Norway, Switzerland, Sweden, Romania, Canada, Brazil and Senegal and she is passionate about creative, reflective and transdisciplinary approaches to learning that involve the thinking and interests of young children.

She is influenced by the schools, values and processes of The Reggio Emilia Approach® and also by systems thinking (Gregory Bateson) and design thinking approaches. During her masters, she researched the creative and communicative approaches that young children displayed in their drawing and graphicacy to a transformed pedagogy and practice to create richer experiences for children.

She is an associate MA lecturer with CREC (Centre for Research for Early Childhood) with Birmingham City University, in the UK on the subject of Creativity and the Arts in Early Childhood and an Associate Consultant for Early Education (a UK national charity) supporting early years educators with training, resources and professional networks.

She encountered the work of Loris Malaguzzi more than 20 years ago and it has since served as a pillar of inspiration and ethical reference that continually transforms and shapes her work with children and their educators, family and community. She is currently studying with Reggio Children as part of their Teacher-Educator Program on the Reggio Emilia Approach® together with the International Network of Reggio Children.