The Evansville Chapter of the Indiana Association for the Education of Young Children (IAEYC) will host a Reggio Summer Institute from July 13- 15 at the University of Southern Indiana’s Mitchell Auditorium, located on the first floor of the Health Professions Center.

The topic of the institute is “The Reggio Approach and the Rights of Children, Parents and Educators.” The Reggio Emilia Approach, according to Reggio Children, is “an educational philosophy based on the image of the child, and of human beings, as possessing strong potentials for development and as a subject of rights who learns and grows in the relationships with others.”

Speakers will include Amelia Gambetti from Reggio Emilia in Italy; Beth MacDonald from the MacDonald Montessori School in St. Paul, Minnesota; Jerry Bates and Jennifer Kesserlring from the Riverfield School in Tulsa, Oklahoma and members of the Evansville Reggio Collaborative.

The event is hosted by the USI Children’s Learning Center (CLC), a State Licensed and NAEYC Accredited child care facility that uses the Reggio Approach in collaboration with the Evansville Reggio Collaborative. By incorporating techniques from the Reggio Approach that encourage students to engage in activities and treat them as fully invested learners, the CLC offers an environment that encourages children to develop their capabilities and interests at their own pace and according to their individual needs. The CLC serves children 2-5 years of age and offers summer programming for children ages 6-11.

“The best way to teach is to engage children in what they’re interested in, and then prompt them to go further and further in their exploration,” said Jamie Madigan, manager of the CLC and president-elect of the Evansville chapter of the IAEYC.

Registration for the Institute is open, and an early bird discount is available for AEYC members as well as daily rates through Friday, June 23. Registration is online at IAEYC.org.

For more information, contact Madigan at 812-464-1869 or jrmadigan@usi.edu.