Festival of Learning Welcome and History
Welcome to Our Annual Festival of Learning!
There are more details on this Website at Festival of Learning 2010
This year's theme is
DISCOVERIES!
The Inspirations, Insights, and Innovations from Children's Interactions with Materials, People, and ProcessesIntroduction
We are excited to announce our fourth annual C5 Festival of Learning. It is a celebration of children's capacities, expressions, and joy for learning. It will run from March 16 to April 1, 2010. It includes an exhibit of children's ongoing projects and activities, children working in public with their teachers, an Innovative Teacher Project Roundtable, and a Gala Party.
The opening event will be the Exhibit Ribbon Cutting Ceremony on Tuesday, March 16, from 11:00 to 11:30 am in the Great Hall at the Preschool Center. The Exhibit will remain up for three weeks through April 1st. Teachers and children will be taking learning activities into public venues throughout the three weeks. The Innovative Teacher Project Roundtable for educators and parents will take place Saturday morning, March 20, from 9:00 am to12:00 pm. We will celebrate with a Gala Party for parents, children, extended family members, and friends on the evening of Friday, March 26th, from 5:00 to 7:30 pm.
The Festival of Learning is also our largest fundraiser of the year. So, the involvement of all C5 families and friends of C5 is critical. Money raised supports our Scholarship Fund and our Bridge to Reggio program, which benefit the children, families, and teachers in our community. We welcome sponsors and hold an amazing raffle with splendid gifts.
The Festival of Learning is a comprehensive advocacy project that focuses on the capacities and potential of all children. It provides many examples of the rich early learning program that the children, families, staff, and the larger community experience on a daily basis at C5 Children's School. Children build self-confidence and gain a sense of powerfulness when they see their amazing learning activities and projects displayed in public in a respectful manner as part of the Exhibit.
Early childhood educators from around the Bay Area come to see the products of our emergent curriculum that are based on children's interests and fascinations, and they take many inspirations and concrete ideas back to their own schools. The festival is also a compelling professional development experience for our teachers, as they facilitate children's learning and collaborate with their colleagues and the children's parents to document children's work and make it accessible to the community. Children gain experience in presenting to a broad audience and working in settings outside their classrooms when they and their teachers take their learning activities into a variety of public venues. The public also gains new perspectives on how powerful and capable young children are as learners and as shapers of our culture now and in the future.
History
Our first exhibit was in 2005. Many examples of children's work were displayed on the mezzanine in front of the Preschool Center and around the hallways outside the school. The theme that year was "Making Learning Visible -- An exhibit advocating for the rights of children and the possibilities of learning for all."
In 2006, the exhibit was installed in the Great Hall at the Preschool Center building and was displayed prior to the auction. That year, the theme was "Growing Strong Together."
In 2007, we discontinued the auction and created the Festival of Learning with the central focus on children, their work, and their learning. We replaced the fundraising function of the auction with money donations from families, friends, extended families, and corporations; and, the sales of raffle tickets and tickets to the Gala Party. These funds were used for special enhancement activities and a small number of partial scholarships. The festival theme that year was "Facilitating Learning and Development in Partnership with Young Children and Families."
Also in 2007, as part of our staff retention and incentive plan and to augment our comprehensive staff development and curriculum planning, we set an objective of sending two teachers each year on the U.S. Study Tour to Reggio Emilia, Italy. The proceeds from the Festival of Learning fundraising activities go to support these study tours, along with providing scholarships for children whose families could not otherwise afford to enroll their children in our school or to stay at C5 Children's School.
In 2008, the festival and exhibit theme was "The Surprise! ... what children can do!!!"
Last year, in 2009, the festival and exhibit theme was "The Greening of Learning -- Reducing, Reusing, Recycling, ReCreating."
We have now sent six teachers on the U.S. Study Tours to Reggio Emilia, and two more will go in May of this year. The study tours have been life-changing professional growth events for all six teachers. They enthusiastically tell stories of their experiences and implement what they have learned to create many more amazing possibilities for a new culture of childhood at C5.
We invite you to join us this year for our celebrated Festival of Learning!
