Encouragement is like an apple; praise is like candy.

[Praise] can only be given after success. Encouragement is so potent that it can be given after failure.

Praise is general and high-energy. Encouragement is low-key.

By the way, “thank you” is a powerful form of encouragement.

The Reggio Approach is a complex system that respects and puts into practice many of the fundamental aspects of the work of Dewey, Piaget, and Vygotsky and many others. It is a system that lends itself to: the role of collaboration among children, teachers and parent, the co-construction of knowledge , the interdependence of individual and social learning and the role of culture in understanding this interdependence. (Baji Rankin 2004).

A network of communication exists between the children, parents and teachers of Reggio. These three protagonists work together to create the spirit of co-operation, collaboration, and co-construction of knowledge. They work together interacting toward a common purpose; the building of a culture which respects childhood as a time to explore, create and be joyful. Each of these three protagonists has rights within the school. Those of the children were highlighted earlier.

Ask their own questions, and generate their own hypotheses and to test them.
To explore and generate many possibilities both affirming and contradictory. She welcomes contradictions as a venue for exploring, discussing and debating.
She provides opportunity to use symbolic languages to represent thoughts and hypothesis.
She provides opportunity for the children to communicate their ideas to others.
She offers children, through the process of revisiting the opportunity to reorganize concepts, ideas, thoughts and theories to construct new meaning.
She is a keen observer, documenter, and partner in the learning process.

Each day the teachers reflect on the experiences of the children always mindful to watch for “the ants instead of always waiting for the elephants”

The Reggio Emilia Approach is an educational philosophy focused on preschool and primary education. It was started by Loris Malaguzzi and the parents of the villages around Reggio Emilia in Italy after World War II. The destruction from the war, parents believed, necessitated a new, quick approach to teaching their children. They felt that it is in the early years of development that children form who they are as individuals. This led to creation of a program based on the principles of respect, responsibility, and community through exploration and discovery in a supportive and enriching environment based on the interests of the children through a self-guided curriculum.

As children proceed in an investigation, generating and testing their hypotheses, they are encouraged to depict their understanding through one of many symbolic languages, including drawing, sculpture, dramatic play, and writing. They work together toward the resolution of problems that arise. Teachers facilitate and then observe debates regarding the extent to which a child's drawing or other form of representation lives up to the expressed intent. Revision of drawings (and ideas) is encouraged, and teachers allow children to repeat activities and modify each other's work in the collective aim of better understanding the topic. Teachers foster children's involvement in the processes of exploration and evaluation, acknowledging the importance of their evolving products as vehicles for exchange.[4]

Everyday Utopias are two video documentations from The Wonder of Learning: Hundred Languages of Children exhibition, They describe a day in an infant-toddler center and a day in a preschool, the everyday-ness of being together, a special care for the environment, and the idea that the infant-toddler center and preschools are places in which culture is created.