2021 (#114)

We need to know how to recognize a new presence,
how to wait for the child.

Malaguzzi

I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits,

(Tehillim/Psalms 130:5)

Commit to the Lord whatever you do,
and he will establish your plans.

(Proverbs)

To get to the idea of playing it is helpful to think of the
preoccupation that characterizes the playing of a young child.
The content does not matter. What matters is the nearwithdrawal
state, akin to the concentration of older children
and adults. The playing child inhabits an area that cannot be
easily left, nor can it easily admit intrusions.

-(Winnicott)

The proverbs of Shlomo the son of David,
king of Isra’el,
2 are for learning about wisdom and discipline;
for understanding words expressing deep insight;
3 for gaining an intelligently disciplined life,
doing what is right, just and fair;
4 for endowing with caution those who don’t think
and the young person with knowledge and discretion.
5 Someone who is already wise
will hear and learn still more;
someone who already understands
will gain the ability to counsel well;
6 he will understand proverbs, obscure expressions,
the sayings and riddles of the wise.

(Proverbs)

Observation, very general and wide-spread, has
shown that small children are endowed with a special
psychic nature. This shows us a new way of imparting
education ! A different form which concerns humanity
itself and which has never been taken into consideration.
The real constructive energy, alive and dynamic, of
children, remained unknown for thousands of years.

(Montessori)

in these communications the power to see is not separated from the will to do, but the insight proceeds from obedience. and the obedience proceeds from a joyful perception, every moment when a man feels invaded by it is memorable.
(Emerson)

The Lord has done great things for us,
    and we are filled with joy.

(Tehillim/Psalms 126:3)

Let the children come to me, don’t stop them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.

• Mark 10:14

We teachers must see ourselves as researchers, able to think, and to produce a true curriculum, a curriculum produced from all of the children.

(Malaguzzi)

He moves the mountains, although they don’t know it

Job 9:5

Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way.

• 2 Thessalonians 3:16

The pedagogy of listening is not only a pedagogy for
the school; it’s an attitude for life. It can be a tool but
it can be something more. What does listening mean?
It means taking responsibility for what I am sharing. If
we need to be listened to, then listening is one of the
most important attitudes for the identity of the human
being, starting from the moment of the birth. Before
we are born, we live for nine months in the body of
our mother. Therefore, we grow up as a listener surrounded by dialogue, and listening becomes a natural
attitude. Listening is a sensitivity to everything that
connects us to the others, not only the listening of the
school but the listening that we need in our life. The
most important gift that we can give to the children
in the school and in the family is time . . . to offer our
time to the children, because time is the only possibility for listening and being listened to by others.

(Carlina Rinaldi)

Observing in this way offers tremendous benefits. It
requires a shift in the role of the teacher from an
emphasis of teaching to an emphasis on learning,
teachers learning about themselves as teachers as
well as teachers learning about children. This is a self-learning that takes place for the teacher and it
enables the teacher to see things that are taking place
in children that teachers were not able to see before.
(Malaguzzi)

Wisdom has built her house;
she has set up[a] its seven pillars.
2 She has prepared her meat and mixed her wine;
she has also set her table.
(Proverbs)

³ Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

(Ephesians 1:3)

We must forge strong alliances with the families of
our children. Imagine the school as an enormous
hot air balloon.

(Malaguzzi)

Those who are kind benefit themselves
(Proverbs)

⁴ For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love ⁵ he^[b] predestined us for adoption to sonship^[c] through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— ⁶ to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.

(Ephesians 1:4-6)

A heart at peace gives life to the body
(Proverbs)

Teachers need to learn to see the children, to listen to them, to know when they are feeling some distance from us as adults and from children, when they are distracted, when they are surrounded by a shadow of happiness and pleasure, and when they are surrounded by a shadow of sadness and suffering. We have to understand that they are moving and working with many ideas, but their most important task is to build relationships with friends. 

(Malaguzzi)

Once again, the decisive factor for me was curiosity. When my intention was
limited to announcing my own point of view, communication came to a halt. My
voice drowned out the children’s. However, when they said things that surprised
me, exposing ideas I did not imagine they held, my excitement mounted and 1
could feel myself transcribing their words even as they spoke. I kept the children
talking, savoring the uniqueness of responses so singularly different from mine.
The rules of teaching had changed; I now wanted to hear the answers I could not
myself invent.,IQscores were irrelevant in the realms of fantasy, friendship, and
fairness where every child could reach into a deep wellspring of opinions and
images. Indeed, the inventions tumbled out as if they simply had been waiting for
me to stop talking and begin listening.

(Vivien Paley)

⁷ In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace ⁸ that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding,

(Ephesians 1:7)

Gracious words are a honeycomb,
sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.
(Proverbs)

They are trying to understand what friendship is. Children grow in many directions together, but a child is always in search of relationships. 

(Malaguzzi)

⁹ he^[d] made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, ¹⁰ to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.

(Ephesians 1:9)

Anxiety weighs down the heart,
but a kind word cheers it up.
(Proverbs)

 Children get to know each other through all their senses. Touching the hair of another child is very important. Smell is important. This is a way children are able to understand the identity of themselves and the identity of others.

(Malaguzzi)

In ascending
to this primary and aboriginal sentiment we have come from
our remote station on the circumference instantaneously to the
centre of the world, where, as in the closet of God, we see causes,
and anticipate the universe, which is but a slow effect.

(Emerson)

the kingdom of God is within you.

-(Luke 17:20)

Then you will understand righteousness, justice,
fairness and every good path.
10 For wisdom will enter your heart,
knowledge will be enjoyable for you,
11 discretion will watch over you,
and discernment will guard you.

(Proverbs)

We need to define the role of the adult, not as a transmitter but as a creator of relationships — relationships not only between people but also between things, between thoughts, with the environment. It’s like we need to create a typical New York City traffic jam in the school.

(Malaguzzi)

We do more than tell our stories; we also act them out. The formal storytelling
and acting that often arise out of and run parallel to the children’s fantasy play
have become a central feature of our day. The children’s stories fonn the perfect
middle ground between the chiidren and me, for they enable us to speak to one
another in the same language. Much to my surprise, when I moved from the kindergarten to the nursery school, I found that the storytelling and acting were accepted with equal enthusiaarn as the natural order, for nearly everything there
taka on more recognizable shape in fantasy.

(Vivien Paley)

The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.

(John 3:8)

Do not let grace and truth leave you —
bind them around your neck;
write them on the tablet of your heart.
4 Then you will win favor and esteem
in the sight of God and of people.

(Proverbs)

Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning,

(Luke 12:35)

The child wants to be observed, but she doesn’t want to be judged. Even when we do judge, things escape us, we do not see things, so we are not able to evaluate in a wide way. This system of observing children carries you into many different feelings and thoughts, into a kind of teaching full of uncertainty and doubt, and it takes wisdom and a great deal of knowledge on the part of the teachers to be able to work within this situation of uncertainty.

(Malaguzzi)

“Let’s
pretend” was a stronger glue than any preplanned list of topics, and the
necd to make friends, assuage jealousy, and gain a rense of one’s om destiny provided better reasons for d-control than all my diipliiary devices. A different
reality cocxbted beside my own, containing more vitality, originality, and wideopen potential than could be found in any lesson plan. How was I to enter this
intriguing place, and toward what end would the childraps play become my work.

(Vivien Paley)

Trust in Adonai with all your heart;
do not rely on your own understanding.
6 In all your ways acknowledge him;
then he will level your paths.

(Proverbs)

¹¹ In him we were also chosen,^[e] having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, ¹² in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.

(Ephesians 1:11-12)

Being slow to anger goes with great understanding,
being quick-tempered makes folly still worse.

(Proverbs)

All of this is a great forest. Inside the forest is the child. The forest is beautiful, fascinating, green, and full of hopes; there are no paths. Although it isn’t easy, we have to make our own paths, as teachers and children and families, in the forest. Sometimes we find ourselves together within the forest, sometimes we may get lost from each other, sometimes we’ll greet each other from far away across the forest; but it’s living together in this forest that is important. And this living together is not easy.

(Malaguzzi)

Hot-tempered people stir up strife,
but patient people quiet quarrels.

(Proverbs)

We have to find each other in the forest and begin to discuss what the education of the child actually means. The important aspect is not just to promote the education of the child but the health and happiness of the child as well.

(Malaguzzi)

A person can receive only what is given them from heaven.

(John 3:27)

A cheerful glance brings joy to the heart,
and good news invigorates the bones.

(Proverbs)

 I would never go into
a parent-teacher conference without
a page of at least five brief stories
highlighting the creative play and conversation of the child. I’d share these
before discussing anything else. 

(Vivien Paley)

The discipline of wisdom is fear of Adonai,
so before being honored, a person must be humble.

(Proverbs)

the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything. (John 14:26)

I would never go into
a parent-teacher conference without
a page of at least five brief stories
highlighting the creative play and conversation of the child. I’d share these
before discussing anything else. Now
that parent knew I liked his or her
child. If you take down their stories,
you like them. If they know you’re taking down their stories, they like you.
And we start with liking each other,
and we see how happy children are
when they play. I would invite them in
to watch storytelling and story acting;
it so resembles the play experience
and gives it more meaning.

(Vivian Paley)

A person is responsible to prepare his heart,
but how the tongue speaks is from Adonai.

(Proverbs)

Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.
(Mark 3:35)

Think dramatically. Get in the
habit of thinking of yourself and the
children as partners in an acting
company. Once we learn to imagine
ourselves as characters in a story, a
particular set of events expands in all
directions. We find ourselves being
kinder and more respectful to one
another because our options have
grown in intimacy, humor, and literary
flavor.

(Vivian Paley)

⁴ In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ,

(Ephesians 3:4)

A person may plan his path,
but Adonai directs his steps.

(Proverbs)

¹¹ In him we were also chosen,^[e] having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, 

(Ephesians 1:11)

For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God^[i] gives the Spirit without limit.

(John 3:34)

The unfolding of your words gives light

(Tehillim 119:130)

your kingdom come,
your will be done,
    on earth as it is in heaven.

(Mathew 6:9-10)

2021 (#113)

The environment you construct around you and the
children also reflects this image you have about the
child. There’s a difference between the environment
that you are able to build based on a preconceived
image of the child and the environment that you can
build that is based on the child you see in front of you
— the relationship you build with the child, the
games you play. An environment that grows out of
your relationship with the child is unique and fluid.
The quality and quantity of relationships among you
as adults and educators also reflects your image of
the child. Children are very sensitive and can see and
sense very quickly the spirit of what is going on
among the adults in their world. They understand
whether the adults are working together in a truly
collaborative way or if they are separated in some
way from each other, living their experience as if it
were private with little interaction.

(Malaguzzi)

“Let’s
pretend” was a stronger glue than any pre-planned list of topics, and the
need to make friends, assuage jealousy, and gain a sense of one’s own destiny provided better reasons for self control than all my disciplinary devices. A different
reality coexisted beside my own, containing more vitality, originality, and wide open potential than could be found in any lesson plan. How was I to enter this
intriguing place, and toward what end would the children’s play become my work.

(Vivien Paley)

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God..

(Romans 8:14)

The Light of consciousness comes to him through infinite powers of perception, and yet he is above all these powers. (Bhagavad Gita)

The Master gives himself up
to whatever the moment brings.
(Tao Te Ching)

Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.

(Jeremiah 33:3)

When we have broken our god of tradition and ceased from our god of rhetoric, then may God fire the heart with his presence. It is the doubling of the heart itself, nay, the infinite enlargement of the heart with a power of growth to a new infinity on every side. It inspires in man an infallible trust. He has not the conviction, but the sight, that the best is true, and may in that thought easily dismiss all particular uncertainties and fears, and adjourn to the sure revelation of time the solution of his private riddles. He is sure that his welfare is dear to the heart of being.
(Emerson)

the kingdom of God is within you.

-(Luke 17:20)

The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.

(John 3:8)

He is beyond all, and yet he supports all. He is beyond the world of matter, and yet he has joy in this world.

(Bhagavad Gita)

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.

John 15:9

your kingdom come,
your will be done,
    on earth as it is in heaven.

Mathew 6:9-10

2021 (#112)

 The adult
and the child must come together ; the adult must be
humble and learn from the child to be great. It is curious
that among all the miracles which humanity has per-
formed, there is only one miracle that he has not taken
into consideration : the miracle that God has sent from
the beginning : the Child..

(Montessori)

Those who are kind benefit themselves

(Proverbs)

It’s a constant value for the children to know that the
adult is there, attentive and helpful, a guide for the
child. Perhaps this way of working with the child
will build a different understanding of our role than
we have had before. Clarifying the meaning of our
presence and our being with children is something
that is vital for the child. When the child sees that the
adult is there, totally involved with the child, the
child doesn’t forget. This is something that’s right for
us and it’s right for the children.

(Malaguzzi)

In their hearts humans plan their course,
but the Lord establishes their steps.
(Proverbs)

What is unexpected on one level may be certain to happen, when seen from a higher level After all, we are within the limits of the mind. In reality nothing happens, there is no past nor future; all appears and nothing is. (Emerson)

I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see how the fields are already white with harvest.

(John 4:35)

After the discussion, a second, more obvious truth emerged. If the tape recorder
was left running, what I replayed later and dutifully transcribed became a source
of increasing fascination for me. The subjects that inspired our best discussions
were the me onw that occupied most of the fm play. The children sounded like
groups of acton, r&arsing spontaneous skits on a moving stage, blending into
one anothu’s plots, carrying on philosophical debates while borrowing freely from
the frogmento of dialogue that floated by. Themes from fairy tala and television
cartoom mimd caaily with social commentary and private fantasies, eo that what
to me often munded random and erratic formed a familiar and comfortable worid
for the children.

(Vivien Paley)

From the fruit of their lips people are filled with good things,
and the work of their hands brings them reward.
(Proverbs)

Each one of us needs to be able to play with the
things that are coming out of the world of children.
Each one of us needs to have curiosity, and we need
to be able to try something new based on the ideas
that we collect from the children as they go along.

(Malaguzzi)

To get to the idea of playing it is helpful to think of the
preoccupation that characterizes the playing of a young child.
The content does not matter. What matters is the nearwithdrawal
state, akin to the concentration of older children
and adults. The playing child inhabits an area that cannot be
easily left, nor can it easily admit intrusions.

-Winnicott

The path of the righteous is like the morning sun,
shining ever brighter till the full light of day.
(Proverbs)

in these communications the power to see is not separated from the will to do, but the insight proceeds from obedience. and the obedience proceeds from a joyful perception, every moment when a man feels invaded by it is memorable.
(Emerson)

In fact, the children were continually making natural connections, adding a
structure of dca and traditions according to their own logic. They reinvented and
urplsined the codes of behavior every time they talked and played, each child attempting in wme way to answer the question, What is going on in this place called
rchool, and what role do I play?

(Vivien Paley)

From the fruit of their lips people enjoy good things
(Proverbs)

Life has to be somewhat agitated and upset, a bit
restless, somewhat unknown. As life flows with the
thoughts of the children, we need to be open, we
need to change our ideas; we need to be comfortable
with the restless nature of life.

(Malaguzzi)

Gracious words are a honeycomb,
sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.
(Proverbs)

“Let’s
pretend” was a stronger glue than any preplanned list of topics, and the
necd to make friends, assuage jealousy, and gain a rense of one’s om destiny provided better reasons for d-control than all my diipliiary devices. A different
reality cocxbted beside my own, containing more vitality, originality, and wideopen potential than could be found in any lesson plan. How was I to enter this
intriguing place, and toward what end would the childraps play become my work.

(Vivien Paley)

Commit to the Lord whatever you do,
and he will establish your plans.

(Proverbs)

Forgive and you will be forgiven.

(Luke 6:37)

Once again, the decisive factor for me was curiosity. When my intention was
limited to announcing my own point of view, communication came to a halt. My
voice drowned out the children’s. However, when they said things that surprised
me, exposing ideas I did not imagine they held, my excitement mounted and 1
could feel myself transcribing their words even as they spoke. I kept the children
talking, savoring the uniqueness of responses so singularly different from mine.
The rules of teaching had changed; I now wanted to hear the answers I could not
myself invent.,IQscores were irrelevant in the realms of fantasy, friendship, and
fairness where every child could reach into a deep wellspring of opinions and
images. Indeed, the inventions tumbled out as if they simply had been waiting for
me to stop talking and begin listening.

(Vivien Paley)

Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life which the Son of Man will give you. (John 6:27)

We do more than tell our stories; we also act them out. The formal storytelling
and acting that often arise out of and run parallel to the children’s fantasy play
have become a central feature of our day. The children’s stories fonn the perfect
middle ground between the chiidren and me, for they enable us to speak to one
another in the same language. Much to my surprise, when I moved from the kindergarten to the nursery school, I found that the storytelling and acting were accepted with equal enthusiaarn as the natural order, for nearly everything there
taka on more recognizable shape in fantasy.

(Vivien Paley)

The environment you construct around you and the
children also reflects this image you have about the
child. There’s a difference between the environment
that you are able to build based on a preconceived
image of the child and the environment that you can
build that is based on the child you see in front of you
— the relationship you build with the child, the
games you play. An environment that grows out of
your relationship with the child is unique and fluid.

(Malaguzzi)

To those who have not realized God, as well as to those who have, the word ‘I’ refers to the body, but with this difference, that for those who have not realized, the ‘I’ is confined to the body whereas for those who have realized the Self within the body the ‘I’ shines as limitless

.(Sri Ramana Maharshi)

The blessing of the Lord brings wealth,
without painful toil for it.

(Proverbs)

Let the children come to me, don’t stop them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.

(Mark 10:14)

 In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will,

(Ephesians 1:11)

20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.

(John 14:20)

In ascending
to this primary and aboriginal sentiment we have come from
our remote station on the circumference instantaneously to the
centre of the world, where, as in the closet of God, we see causes,
and anticipate the universe, which is but a slow effect.

(Emerson)

The wind blows where it wants to, and you hear its sound, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it’s going. That’s how it is with everyone who has been born from the Spirit.

The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.

(John 3:8)

your kingdom come,
your will be done,
    on earth as it is in heaven.

(Mathew 6:9-10)

2021 (#111)

We need to know how to recognize a new presence,
how to wait for the child.

Malaguzzi

I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits,

(Tehillim/Psalms 130:5)

Children start to understand when they start to put things into relationship. And the joy of children is to put together things which are apparently far away!

Malaguzzi

The Lord has done great things for us,
    and we are filled with joy.

(Tehillim/Psalms 126:3)

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.

(John 15:9)

God is in the innermost part of each and every thing, only in its innermost part, and He alone is One.

(Meister Eckhart)

The teacher or the child who suggests a role for the child who’s been
left out is practicing what I think of
as creative kindness. The effort to
respect, include, and admire a child
takes into account the particular
nature of a child’s desires and self image.

(Vivien Paley)

And God said , ‘Let water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly
above the earth across the expanse of the sky.

(Genesis 1:20)

In harmony with the Tao, the sky is clear and spacious, the earth is solid and full , all creatures flourish together, content with the way they are, endlessly repeating themselves, endlessly renewed.

(Tao Te Ching))

As rivers flowing into the ocean find their final peace and their name and form disappear even so the wise become free from name and form and enter into the radiance of the Supreme Spirit who is greater than all greatness. In truth who knows God becomes God.

(Mundaka Upanishad)

It’s much easier to practice creative
kindness in a classroom that allows
for play and storytelling and story
acting because you can insert new scenes and new roles in stories. When
the classroom is primarily organized
around subject lessons, it is harder to
accomplish. For young children, it is
easier to explain the creative side of
kindness where there are roles to be
explored and a story to be told.

(Vivien Paley)

Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.

(John 3:5-6)

it is always possible for a text to become new, since the white spaces open up its structure to an indefinitely disseminated transformation.

(Derrida)

“The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”

(John 6:29)

⁷ I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power.

(Ephesians 3:7)

The wind blows where it wants to, and you hear its sound, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it’s going. That’s how it is with everyone who has been born from the Spirit.

The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.

John 3:8

⁷ But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.

Ephesians 4:7

your kingdom come,
your will be done,
    on earth as it is in heaven.

Mathew 6:9-10

2021 (#110)

Our task is to construct educational situations that we
propose to the children in the morning. It’s okay to
improvise sometimes but we need to plan the project.
It may be a project that is projected over a period of
days, or weeks, or even months. We need to produce
situations in which children learn by themselves, in
which children can take advantage of their own
knowledge and resources autonomously, and in
which we guarantee the intervention of the adult as
little as possible. We don’t want to teach children
something that they can learn by themselves. We
don’t want to give them thoughts that they can come
up with by themselves. What we want to do is
activate within children the desire and will and great
pleasure that comes from being the authors of their
own learning.,

(Malaguzzi)

Storytelling performs the dual cultural functions of making the strange familiar and ourselves private and distinctive. If pupils are encouraged to think about the different outcomes that could have resulted from a set of circumstances, they are demonstrating useability of knowledge about a subject. Rather than just retaining knowledge and facts, they go beyond them to use their imaginations to think about other outcomes, as they don’t need the completion of a logical argument to understand a story. This helps them to think about facing the future, and it stimulates the teacher too.

(Bruner)

Instead of the instinct of possession, on this higher level we see three things : to know, to love and to serve.

(Montessori)

Your eyes saw my unformed body;
    all the days ordained for me were written in your book
    before one of them came to be.

(Tehillim/Psalms 139:16)

⁶ And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,

(Ephesians 2:6)

logical interactions are usually better
explained and understood in terms
of these imaginary themes. Vygotsky
pointed it out brilliantly. Famously he
told this story: Two little sisters are
walking together, and suddenly one
says, “Pretend we are sisters, and pretend we’re taking a walk.” They are sisters, they are taking a walk. But what
the older child has intuitively realized
is that to view a larger perspective of
the narrative, to be able to expand the
story, they need to pretend they are
the characters acting the roles logical interactions are usually better
explained and understood in terms
of these imaginary themes.

(Vivian Paley)

The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.

(John 3:8)

Teachers also begin to use storytelling as a teaching and learning device.
Once I understood this, many situations in preschool and kindergarten
classrooms became clear. “Pretend
we’re lining up like penguins tiptoeing
on ice.” “Pretend we’re like giraffes
with long, straight necks.” “Like
baby ducks following their mother.
Pretend.” Let’s say before a math
activity, “Pretend we’re so tiny we
don’t even know how to count on our
fingers yet. And then we learn how.”

(Vivian Paley)

From heaven Adonai observes humankind
to see if anyone has understanding,
if anyone seeks God.

(Tehillim 14:2)

And on different days, there are
different ways of focusing and endless
conversation, including between the
teacher and her associates. With my
assistants and student teachers, after
every school day, our first question
might be “How did we achieve intimacy today? What role did the teacher
play?” And each one offered his or her
own notion.

(Vivian Paley)

Light in a messenger’s eyes brings joy to the heart,
and good news gives health to the bones.

(Mashal/Proverbs)

Well into my teaching career, I
learned that good and bad play are
usually a matter of having a script that
works or one that needs to be rewritten. Once you begin to depend on
storytelling and story acting, you start
looking at your classroom as theater.
The children are constantly imagining
characters and plots and, when they
have a chance, with each other, acting
out little stories. You can look at the
children and yourself as actors. “Well,
this hasn’t worked. We’d better think
of a better way to pretend this story.”
What seems to be a chaotic scene,
one we might call bad play, is simply
a scene that lacks closure for one or
more characters.

(Vivian Paley)

For Adonai gives wisdom;
from his mouth comes knowledge and understanding.

(Mashal/Proverbs)

Let’s say the teacher feels that the
action in the doll corner is becoming
chaotic, over-excited, and she wants to
help. She becomes accustomed to saying, “Who are you pretending to be?”
The child says, “I’m a bad dinosaur.”
The teacher replies, “Ah, okay. I
thought as much. What can a bad
dinosaur do in this story that is
allowed in our classroom?”

(Vivian Paley)

7 “How blessed are those who show mercy!
for they will be shown mercy.

(Mathew, Mattityahu, gift of Yahweh, 5:7)

Given the story the children are
acting out, they need a bad dinosaur.
But there are certain rules in a classroom. This of course is very helpful in
expanding vocabulary, imagery, social
awareness, and the valuable idea that
we can choose different outcomes
for most of our actions. It is a worthy approach whereby we study and
achieve literary and social control.

(Vivian Paley)

6 Pleasant places were measured out for me;
I am content with my heritage.

(Psalms/Tehillim 16:1-3)

The effort to
respect, include, and admire a child
takes into account the particular
nature of a child’s desires and self image.

(Vivian Paley)

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. Take to heart these instructions with which I charge you this day. Impress them upon your children. Recite them when you stay at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you get up. Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them serve as a symbol on your forehead, inscribe them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

(Deuteronomy/Devarim 6:5)

Let’s say the teacher says,
“Peter really loves being the big monster, doesn’t he? I wonder if anyone
has a place in their story for a big
monster. And maybe Peter would like
to know how you want the big monster to act so he doesn’t frighten the
baby.” You can see all the creativity
that goes into this kind of thinking.

(Vivian Paley)

7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. —

(Mathew 7:7)

For young children, it is
easier to explain the creative side of
kindness where there are roles to be
explored and a story to be told.

(Vivian Paley)

you will understand righteousness, justice,
fairness and every good path.
For wisdom will enter your heart,
knowledge will be enjoyable for you,
discretion will watch over you,
and discernment will guard you. —

(Proverbs/Mashal)

It is the teacher’s role to keep telling
anecdotes about how clever, inventive, innovative, nice, and sweet children are in play. I would never go into
a parent-teacher conference without
a page of at least five brief stories
highlighting the creative play and conversation of the child. I’d share these
before discussing anything else. Now
that parent knew I liked his or her
child. If you take down their stories,
you like them. If they know you’re taking down their stories, they like you.
And we start with liking each other,
and we see how happy children are
when they play. I would invite them in
to watch storytelling and story acting;
it so resembles the play experience
and gives it more meaning.

(Vivian Paley)

Trust in Adonai with all your heart;
do not rely on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge him;
then he will level your paths.

(Proverbs/Mashal)

Think dramatically. Get in the
habit of thinking of yourself and the
children as partners in an acting
company. Once we learn to imagine
ourselves as characters in a story, a
particular set of events expands in all
directions. We find ourselves being
kinder and more respectful to one
another because our options have
grown in intimacy, humor, and literary
flavor.

(Vivian Paley)

“With what can we compare the Kingdom of God? What illustration should we use to describe it? 31 It is like a mustard seed, which, when planted, is the smallest of all the seeds in the field; 32 but after it has been planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all the plants, with such big branches that the birds flying about can build nests in its shade.”

(Mark 4:30)

It was not the monsters they invented that frightened them in kindergarten; it was being told to sit still and pay attention for long periods of time.

 a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. ²⁴ God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

(John 4:23-24)

An analysis which is not merely a theoretical analysis, but at the same time another writing of the question of Being or meaning: deconstruction is also a manner or writing and putting forward another text.

(Derrida)

We saw that the children’s concentration was intense when they played and we filled the other times with playful rhyming games, songs, and poetry, to which we added picture books and fairy tales. The children’s own chants and shouts rang out as they ran, climbed, jumped, pushed, pulled, and rearranged their environment, all in the name of fantasy play. Restlessness, impulsivity, and timidness faded in the quest for a dramatic role, and daydreams awakened into social play and big arcs of paint.

(Vivian Paley)

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well.

(Tehillim/Psalms 139:14)

if we will not interfere with our thought , but will act entirely, or see how the thing stands in God, we know the particular thing and everything and every man> for the maker of all things and all persons stands behind us and casts his omniscience through us over things.

(Emerson)

Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.
(Mark 3:35)

your kingdom come,
your will be done,
    on earth as it is in heaven.

Mathew 6:9-10

2021 (#109)

Teachers observe from outside the
drama and comment in the manner of
a Greek chorus, sometimes repeating
something a child or character has
said. Their role is to try to make connections that help reveal the players’
intentions, especially when it seems
as if the players may have lost touch
with what those connections are. After
all, the players are much younger than
the teacher. They’re just learning to
make these connections.

(Vivian Paley)

And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.

(Isaiah 11:2)

All of this pushes us to produce a higher level of
observation. We must move beyond just looking at
the child to become better observers, able to penetrate into the child to understand each child’s resources
and potential and present state of mind. We need to
compare these with our own in order to work well
together.

(Malaguzzi)

Above all, I think, the continued
observation of children at play demonstrates the importance of make-believe
as the thinking tool children use. The
reality is that most social, linguistic,

logical interactions are usually better
explained and understood in terms
of these imaginary themes. Vygotsky
pointed it out brilliantly. Famously he
told this story: Two little sisters are
walking together, and suddenly one
says, “Pretend we are sisters, and pretend we’re taking a walk.” They are sisters, they are taking a walk. But what
the older child has intuitively realized
is that to view a larger perspective of
the narrative, to be able to expand the
story, they need to pretend they are
the characters acting the roles.

(Vivian Paley)

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

(John 14:16-17)

We need to define the role of the adult, not as a
transmitter but as a creator of relationships —
relationships not only between people but also
between things, between thoughts, with the environment.

(Malaguzzi)

Sometimes a problem that’s obvious to the children can be handled
in another way. The teacher can say,
“You know, here’s something that
needs a longer discussion. Let’s put it
on our list of discussions we need to
have.” Or getting back to the storytelling: “This is an interesting problem,interesting story. Maybe someone
would like to help me write it down
so we can act it out? Put your name
on the story list, and perhaps you
can think of something in the story.”
With experience a teacher learns how
to use this basic format, to tease out
ideas and help the drama go better.
Because that’s the common goal.
Not to see how smart someone is,
not to see how quickly someone can
respond, but the play’s the thing. The
children understand and want to help
improve the play once they realize
that it is all a matter of how their story
is constructed.

(Vivian Paley)

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

(2 Corinthians 3:17)

We teachers must see ourselves as researchers, able to
think, and to produce a true curriculum, a curriculum
produced from all of the children.

(Malaguzzi)

When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

(John 16:13-15)

What we so often do is impose adult time on
children’s time and this negates children being able to
work with their own resources.

(Malaguzzi)

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

(Romans 15:13)

The environment you construct around you and the
children also reflects this image you have about the
child. There’s a difference between the environment
that you are able to build based on a preconceived
image of the child and the environment that you can
build that is based on the child you see in front of you
— the relationship you build with the child, the
games you play. An environment that grows out of
your relationship with the child is unique and fluid.

(Malaguzzi)

All of this changes the role of the teacher, a role that
becomes much more difficult and complex. It also
makes the world of the teacher more beautiful,
something to become involved in.

(Malaguzzi)

And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.

(1 Corinthians 2:13)

We can never think of the child in the abstract. When
we think about a child, when we pull out a child to
look at, that child is already tightly connected and
linked to a certain reality of the world — she has
relationships and experiences. We cannot separate
this child from a particular reality. She brings these
experiences, feelings, and relationships into school
with her.

(Malaguzzi)

So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.

(Philippians 2:1-3)

Both children and adults need to feel active and
important — to be rewarded by their own efforts,
their own intelligences, their own activity and
energy. When a child feels these things are valued,
they become a fountain of strength for him. He feels
the joy of working with adults who value his work
and this is one of the bases for learning.

(Malaguzzi)

That is what deconstruction is made of: not the mixture but the tension between memory, fidelity, the preservation of something that has been given to us, and, at the same time, heterogeneity, something absolutely new, and a break. The condition of this performative success, which is never guaranteed, is the alliance of these to newness.

(Derrida)

2021 (#108)

Listening to children play, we become reporters and anecdotists, passing
along our accounts and searching for meaning in what we see and hear. The
search itself, which includes the children in our pool of curious researchers,
becomes the academic tool of the children’s intuitive activity. Play gives
us the opportunity to seek its own meaning in a way that no other subject
can, because in play the subjects are always seeking to know what they are
inventing (though of course they are unaware of their design). Fantasy play
is a curriculum filled with the potential for rich language and social experiences bound together by the structure of story..

Where do educators begin our practice of becoming anecdotists and
storytellers? The opportunities are many: in our schools of education, in
our faculty rooms, at our parent-teacher conferences, and above all, in the
classroom with our children and fellow teachers

(Vivian Paley)

We have to understand that they are moving
and working with many ideas, but their most important task is to build relationships with friends. They
are trying to understand what friendship is. Children
grow in many directions together, but a child is
always in search of relationships,

(Malaguzzi)

the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything.

(John, Yəhôḥānān, “YHWH has been gracious” )

In play, children begin with their own set of premises and learn to follow
through, step-by-step, scene by scene in the complex process of creating
a logical and literary dramatic project of their own. In each episode, one
can intuit a child’s individual approach to the principles underlying fairness, friendship, fear, storytelling, and personal history. In each episode
one can study the development of a community of learners in a hands-on,
face-to-face, authentic manner.

(Vivian Paley)

Those who are kind benefit themselves

(Mashal/Proverbs 11:17)

We need to know how to recognize a new presence,
how to wait for the child. This is something that is
learned, it’s not automatic. We often have to do it
against our own rush to work in our own way. We’ll
discover that our presence, which has to be visible
and warm, makes it possible for us to try to get inside
the child and what that child is doing. And this may
seem to be passive, but it is really a very strong
activity on our part.

(Malaguzzi)

Early in my career as teacher and writer, I began to realize that any discussion with young children based on the substance of their fantasy play
went very well, whereas discussion evolving from my own agenda frequently
got stalled in rote responses and restlessness. Group or individual conversations that referred to events, pretend characters, story lines, and social
issues encountered during play merged into lively considerations of such
urgent matters as friendship, fairness, and fear, in which every child voiced
an opinion and often expressed deeply felt emotion.

(Vivian Paley)

Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.

(John 4:14)

 In fantasy play, children learn to envision new roles for themselves and for
other people. They learn to change and redirect the outcome of an imaginary
plot and to include the ideas of others in their plans. 

(Vivian Paley)

The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
2 Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they reveal knowledge.
3 They have no speech, they use no words;
no sound is heard from them.
4 Yet their voice[b] goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world

(Mizmor/Tehellim/Psalms 7:19-1-4)

The precariousness of play belongs to the fact that it is always
on the theoretical line between the subjective and that which is
objectively perceived. It is my purpose here simply to give a reminder that children’s playing has everything in it.

(Winnicott)

When the common
story becomes more important than one’s habitual stance, the individual
mind expands in the search for more common ground. Experience teaches us
that we and our narratives become more interesting when we add maximum
variety in people and ideas. It is a tall order, but the more we play out the
problem involved, the more likely we are to find the right balance between
the individual and the group.

(Vivian Paley)

The most favorable situation for creativity seems to be interpersonal exchange, with negotiation of conflict and comparison of ideas and actions being decisive elements.

(Malaguzzi)

A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters. 

(Bereshit 1:10)

I have found that my own core curriculum, consisting of the dictated
story acted out on a pretend stage, gives us the opportunity to step aside and
see the larger picture. Just as play itself opens the landscape, the additional
structure of storytelling and story acting enables children to reenvision
some of the spontaneous scenes remembered from play and to reshape
them in further detail or design, thereby creating an open-ended dialogue
with oneself and the community.

(Vivian Paley)

We must, in short, keep in mind what might be called the
philosophy of movement ‘.

(Montessori)

they will flourish in the courtyards of our God.

Play is entirely local; each classroom resembles a novel in which increasingly well-defined characters act out their roles. If we begin to think of the
early-childhood classroom as theater, we are on the right track. “What story
are you playing in the doll corner?” we ask the children who rush in and
put on new disguises each day. “Who is in the spaceship? Where are the
enemies you are banging at? Tell me the story and later we’ll act it out.”

(Vivian Paley)

(Tehillim 92:14)

“As it is present in all persons, so it is in every period of life. it is adult already in the infant man” —

(Emerson)

In their hearts humans plan their course,
but the Lord establishes their steps.

(Proverbs/Mashal 15:9)

The unfolding of your words gives light

(Tehillim/Psalms 119:130)

 Something continues in the sub-conscious,
because what has been formed by the child can never
be totally destroyed. This Mneme, which may be con-
sidered as a superior natural memory, not only creates
characteristics, but holds them alive in the individual.
The individual changes, it is true, but those things which
are formed by the child remain in the personality just
as the legs remain, so that each man has this special
character.

(Montessori)

Listening to children play, we become reporters and anecdotists, passing
along our accounts and searching for meaning in what we see and hear. The
search itself, which includes the children in our pool of curious researchers,
becomes the academic tool of the children’s intuitive activity. Play gives
us the opportunity to seek its own meaning in a way that no other subject
can, because in play the subjects are always seeking to know what they are
inventing (though of course they are unaware of their design). Fantasy play
is a curriculum filled with the potential for rich language and social experiences bound together by the structure of story.

(Vivian Paley)

We need to define the role of the adult, not as a
transmitter but as a creator of relationships —
relationships not only between people but also
between things, between thoughts, with the environment.

(Malaguzzi)

What I say to you, I say to everyone: “Watch!”

(Mark 13:37)

It is by studying the behaviour of these children
and their re-actions to each other in this atmosphere of
freedom that the real secret of society is revealed. They
are fine and delicate facts that have to be examined
with a spiritual microscope, but they are of the utmost
interest since they reveal facts inherent in the very
nature of man. These schools, therefore, are thought
of as laboratories for psychological research, although
it is not really research, but observation that is carried
out. It is this observation which is important.

(Montessori)

6 Let everything that has breath praise Adonai!

Halleluyah!

(Tehillim 150:4-6)

Sing to Adonai a new song!
Let his praise be sung from the ends of the earth
by those sailing the sea and by everything in it,
by the coastlands and those living there.

(Isaiah 32:10)

To stimulate life,–leaving it then free to develop, to unfold,–herein lies the first task of the educator —

(Montessori)

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

(John 14:26, John, Yəhôḥānān, “YHWH has been gracious” )

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

(Romans 8:14)

The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.

(Jeremiah 31:3)

The peace, freedom and blessedness of all souls consist in their abiding in God’s will. Towards this union with God for which it is created the soul strives perpetually. (Meister Eckhart)

I will give thanks to the Lord because of his righteousness;
I will sing the praises of the name of the Lord Most High.
(Tehillim 7:17)

Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

(Mathew, Mattityahu, gift of Yahweh)

The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.

(John 3:8)

Let the children come to me, don’t stop them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.

(Mark 10:14)

Children
grow in many directions together, but a child is
always in search of relationships. Children get to
know each other through all their senses. Touching
the hair of another child is very important. Smell is
important. This is a way children are able to understand the identity of themselves and the identity of
others.

(Malaguzzi)

The Lord is in his holy temple;
the Lord is on his heavenly throne.
He observes everyone on earth;
his eyes examine them.
(Tehillim 11:4)

the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything. (John, Yəhôḥānān, “YHWH has been gracious” )

Don’t be sad, because the joy of Adonai is your strength.”
(Nehemiah, to comfort, 8:10)

Forgive and you will be forgiven. (Luke 6:37)

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

Romans 15:13

We teachers must see ourselves as researchers, able to
think, and to produce a true curriculum, a curriculum
produced from all of the children.

(Malaguzzi)

5 “How blessed are the meek!
for they will inherit the Land![a]

(Mathew, Mattityahu, gift of Yahweh)

When pride comes, then comes disgrace,
but with humility comes wisdom.
(Proverbs/mashal 11:2)

It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me

(John 6:45)

The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.

(John 3:8)

Let the children come to me, don’t stop them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.

(Mark 10:14)

Teachers in Reggio Emilia—and also in schools in this country that
have had experience with the ideas and practices developed in Reggio
Emilia and made them their own—are very interested in sustaining and
encouraging children to express their thoughts, ideas, and theories.
Often children express their ideas through metaphors that are very
beautiful. Here is one about natural phenomena:

The leaves fall because they are holding on to the tree with just
one hand,
The sea is born from mommy wave,
The thunder makes the clouds dance.

(Gandini)

8 “How blessed are the pure in heart!
for they will see God. – (Mathew/Mattityahu – gift of YAHWEH)

Awareness is dynamic, love is being. Awareness is love in action. By itself the mind can actualize any number of possibilities, but unless they are prompted by love, they are valueless. Love precedes creation. Without it there is only chaos. (Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj – Maurice Friedman)

In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.

(John 14:20)

We have to let children be with children. Children
learn a lot from other children, and adults learn
from children being with children. Children love to
learn among themselves, and they learn things that
it would never be possible to learn from interactions
with an adult. The interaction between children is a
very fertile and a very rich relationship. If it is left to
ferment without adult interference and without that
excessive assistance that we sometimes give, then
it’s more advantageous to the child.
(Malaguzzi)

Let man then learn revelation of all nature and all thought to his heart; this; namely; that the highest dwells with him; that the sources of nature are in his own mind, if the sentiment of duty is there.

(Emerson)

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

(Galations 2:20)

It’s important for the teacher who works with young
children to understand that she knows little about
children. Teachers need to learn to see the children,
to listen to them, to know when they are feeling some
distance from us as adults and from children, when
they are distracted, when they are surrounded by a
shadow of happiness and pleasure, and when they
are surrounded by a shadow of sadness and suffering. We have to understand that they are moving
and working with many ideas, but their most important task is to build relationships with friends. (Malaguzzi)

be sung from the ends of the earth
by those sailing the sea and by everything in it,
by the coastlands and those living there.

(Isaiah 42:10)

By whatever path you go, you will have to lose yourself in God. Surrender is complete only when you reach the stage ‘Thou art all’ and ‘Thy will be done’.

(Sri Ramana Maharshi)

Your eyes saw my unformed body;
    all the days ordained for me were written in your book
    before one of them came to be.

(Tehillim/Psalms 139:16)

¹⁸ I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, 

(Ephesians 1:18)

 Adonai, God, said, “It isn’t good that the person should be alone. I will make for him a companion suitable for helping him.”

(Bereshit/Genesis 2:18)

The pedagogy of listening is not only a pedagogy for
the school; it’s an attitude for life. It can be a tool but
it can be something more. What does listening mean?
It means taking responsibility for what I am sharing. If
we need to be listened to, then listening is one of the
most important attitudes for the identity of the human
being, starting from the moment of the birth. Before
we are born, we live for nine months in the body of
our mother. Therefore, we grow up as a listener surrounded by dialogue, and listening becomes a natural
attitude. Listening is a sensitivity to everything that
connects us to the others, not only the listening of the
school but the listening that we need in our life. The
most important gift that we can give to the children
in the school and in the family is time . . . to offer our
time to the children, because time is the only possibility for listening and being listened to by others.

(Carlina Rinaldi)

For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God[i] gives the Spirit without limit. 35 The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands.

(John 3:35)

Direct my footsteps according to your word

(Tehillim/Psalms119:133)

The Lord is my strength and my song; he has given me victory. This is my God, and I will praise him— my father’s God, and I will exalt him!
(Exodus 15:2)

When one’s wisdom, mind, faith and refuge are all fixed in God, then one becomes fully cleansed of misgivings through complete understanding and thus proceeds straight on the path of liberation

(Bhagavad Gita)

Yah is my strength and my song,
and he has become my salvation.
This is my God: I will glorify him;
my father’s God: I will exalt him.
(Shemot, Names 15:2)

When something long since passed away comes back again in a changed world, it is new. To give birth to the ancient in a new time
is creation. This is the creation of the new, and that redeems me.Salvation is the resolution of the task. The task is to give birth to the old in a new time

(Jung)

Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. —

(Mathew/Mattityahu – gift of YAHWEH)

⁶ And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,

(Ephesians 2:6)

The wind blows where it wants to, and you hear its sound, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it’s going. That’s how it is with everyone who has been born from the Spirit.

The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.

(John 3:8)

Purpose implies movement, change, a sense of imperfection. God does not aim at beauty — whatever he does is beautiful. God is perfection itself, not an effort at perfection.

(Sri Ramana Maharshi)

 Something continues in the sub-conscious,
because what has been formed by the child can never
be totally destroyed. This Mneme, which may be con-
sidered as a superior natural memory, not only creates
characteristics, but holds them alive in the individual.
The individual changes, it is true, but those things which
are formed by the child remain in the personality just
as the legs remain, so that each man has this special
character.

(Montessori)

By going one step farther back in thought, discordant opinions are reconciled by being seen to be two extremes of one principle, and we can never go so far back as to preclude a still higher vision.

(Emerson)

⁴³ Let whoever is wise observe these things
and consider Adonai’s loving deeds.

(Tehillim/Psalms 107:43)

By thy grace I remember my Light, and now gone is my delusion. My doubts are no more, my faith is firm; and now I can say ‘Thy will be done’.

(Bhagavad Gita)

the kingdom of God is within you.

(Luke 17:20)

Eating God’s words constitutes a parallel to the Holy Sacrament—here too, a divine transubstantiation takes place. And that has left its mark on modern hermeneutics, which of course has its roots in biblical interpretation

(Derrida)

A person can receive only what is given them from heaven

(John 3:27)

⁸ For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹ not by works, so that no one can boast. ¹⁰ For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

(Ephesians 2:7-10)

Don’t be afraid; just believe.

(Mark 5:36)

Moreover I declare to you that the Lord will build you a house.

(I Chronicles 17:10)

Very truly I tell you, whoever accepts anyone I send accepts me; and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me.

(John 13:20)

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

(Mathew 6:19-21)

45 It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God.’[d] Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from him comes to me.

(John 6:45)

Let the children come to me, don’t stop them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.

(Mark 10:14)

May our eyes see the good. May we serve him with the whole strength of our body. May we, all our life, carry out his will. May peace and peace and peace be everywhere.

(Prashna Upanishad)

All of this pushes us to produce a higher level of observation. We must move beyond just looking at the child to become better observers, able to penetrate
into the child to understand each child’s resources and potential and present state of mind. We need to compare these with our own in order to work well together.

(Malaguzzi)

Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.
(Mark 3:35)

And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand.

(John 10:28)

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

(Mathew 7:7)

 In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will,

(Ephesians 1:11)

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love

(John 15:9)

Adonai, the deep is raising up,

the deep is raising up its voice,

the deep is raising its crashing waves.

(Tehillim/Psalms 93:3)

¹⁸ And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.

(Ephesians 6:18)

And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The Kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo, here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

(Luke 17:20-21)

Forgive and you will be forgiven.

(Luke 6:37)

I and the Father are one.

I and My Father are one.

I and my Father, We are One

(John 10:30)

This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but that I [give new life and] raise it up at the last day.–

(John 6:39)

your kingdom come,
your will be done,
    on earth as it is in heaven.

(Mathew 6:10)

……………………………………………………………………………….

All of this is a great forest. Inside the forest is the child. The forest is beautiful, fascinating, green, and full of hopes; there are no paths. Although it isn’t easy, we have to make our own paths, as teachers and children and families, in the forest. Sometimes we find ourselves together within the forest, sometimes we may get lost from each other, sometimes we’ll greet each other from far away across the forest; but it’s living together in this forest that is important. And this living together is not easy.

We have to find each other in the forest and begin to discuss what the education of the child actually means. The important aspect is not just to promote the education of the child but the health and happiness of the child as well.

(Malaguzzi)

---

Children learn by doing but also by reflecting on what they are doing. They go forward and pause, stop, go backwards. This all takes place in exchange with others…the process is never linear or made up of a predetermined sequence…[We need] not to understand what they have learned but how they have learned it, not the product but rather the process, the construction of knowledge with other children and how they learn to learn.

(The Educators of Reggio Emilia, Canadian Study Tour to Reggio Emilia, April 2011)

When the words are spoken, there is silence. When the relative is over, the absolute remains. The silence before the words were spoken, is it different from the silence that comes after? The silence is one and without it the words could not have been heard. It is always there — at the back of the words. Shift your attention from words to silence and you will hear it.

(Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj-Maurice Friedman)

Whoever is of God listens to God.
God’s children listen to God’s words.
Whoever belongs to God listens to what God says
Anyone who belongs to God will listen to his message.
He that is of God hears the words of God
Whoever belongs to God accepts what he says.
The person who belongs to God understands what God says.
He who comes from God listens to God’s words.
The one who belongs to God listens to the words of God.
The one who belongs to God listens and responds to God’s words.
Whoever is born of God listens to God’s Word.
Anyone who belongs to God listens gladly to the words of God.
The person who comes from God listens to what God says.

(John 8:47)

’ll give you an example, from Mollie Is Three, of two three-year-olds
learning to view their classroom roles in a more objective, open-minded
way, thanks to the imaginative intervention of a four-year-old.
Frederick, new to the ways of school, seems locked into the notion that
when he sees something he wants, he can take it even if another child has
it first. The toy he wants is a cash register, and Mollie is definitely playing
with it. When Frederick pulls it away, the usual scenario takes place: Molly
cries, the teacher intervenes, and Frederick retreats, sullen and resentful.
However, when the aggressive act is repeated a few moments later,
Libby steps in. “Don’t let him come to your birthday, Mollie. He’s just a
robber.”
Molly stops crying, and Frederick pauses to consider. “Yeah, I am a
robber,” he says.
AmJP 02_2 text.indd 126 10/12/09 1:20:21 PM
“Well, too bad for you,” Libby continues, “because robbers can’t come
into the doll corner!”
The children have begun a robber-in-the-doll-corner plot, and there
are well-established rules to cover its exigencies. “She’s right, Frederick,”
the teacher says. “If you want to play in the doll corner, you’ll have to be
something else, not a robber.”
“He can be the father,” Samantha says. “Put on this vest, Father. And
Mollie is the baby. Get in the crib, sweet child.”
Suddenly, Mollie and Frederick are part of a drama that has its own
conventions and evolving set of rules. There is nothing in my curriculum
that can match the doll corner in its potential for examining behavior and
ideas in an open-ended process. The moment Frederick, the bad boy, becomes Frederick, the robber, the problem of the purloined cash register
can be addressed according to the rules of the stage, where characters can
easily change their personas on demand to suit the ongoing story.

(Vivian Paley)

2021 (#107)

We need to think of the school as a living organism.
Children have to feel that the world is inside the
school and moves and thinks and works and reflects
on everything that goes on. Of course not all children
are the same — each child brings a part of something
that’s different into the school…

(Malaguzzi)

When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come

(John 16:13)

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,

(Colossions 1:15-19)

Because we would discover a great deal about learning and relationship strategies shared with joy between adults and children and about the
creative play of inventing words and rhymes by children. We would learn
about the power of literacy developing in the interaction of adults with
children and of children with children in play.

(Gandini)

It’s a constant value for the children to know that the
adult is there, attentive and helpful, a guide for the
child. Perhaps this way of working with the child
will build a different understanding of our role than
we have had before. Clarifying the meaning of our
presence and our being with children is something
that is vital for the child. When the child sees that the
adult is there, totally involved with the child, the
child doesn’t forget. This is something that’s right for
us and it’s right for the children.

(Malaguzzi)

Malaguzzi said very clearly that nothing in the school should happen
without joy.

(Gandini)

⁸ Blessed are the pure in heart,
    for they will see God.

(Mathew 5:8)

We must move beyond just looking at the child to become better observers, able to penetrate
into the child to understand each child’s resources and potential and present state of mind. We need to compare these with our own in order to work well together. (Malaguzzi)

The child is endowed with an unknown power and
this unknown power guides us towards a more luminous
future. Education can no longer be the giving of know-
ledge only ; it must take a different path. The con-
sideration of personality, the development of human
potentialities must become the centre of education. When
to begin such education ? (Montessori)

In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.

(John 14:20)

The ability to enjoy relationships and work together
is very important. Children need to enjoy being in
school, they need to love their school and the interactions that take place there. Their expectations of
these interactions is critical.
It is also important for the teachers to enjoy being
with the other teachers, to enjoy seeing the children
stretch their capacities and use their intelligences, to
enjoy interactions with the children. Both parts are
essential.

(Malaguzzi)

We may say that we become ourselves through others and that this rule applies not only to the personality as a whole, but also to the history of every individual function.

(Vygotsky)

I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

(John 15:5)

Both children and adults need to feel active and
important — to be rewarded by their own efforts,
their own intelligences, their own activity and
energy. When a child feels these things are valued,
they become a fountain of strength for him. He feels
the joy of working with adults who value his work
and this is one of the bases for learning.

(Malaguzzi)

For with you is the fountain of life;
in your light we see light.

(Tehillim/Psalms 36:10)

There are many things that are part of a child’s life
just as they are part of an adult’s life. The desire to
do something for someone, for instance. Every adult
has a need to feel that we are seen/observed by
others. (Observing others is also important.) This is
just as true for children as for adults. Therefore, it’s
possible to observe, to receive a lot of pleasure and
satisfaction from observing in many different ways

(Malaguzzi)

3 Call unto Me, and I will answer thee, and show thee gedolot (great things) and unsearchable things, which thou knowest not.

(Jeremiah/Yirmeyah 33:2-3)

When the child is observed, the child is happy — it’s
almost an honor that he is observed by an adult. On
the other hand, a good teacher who knows how to
observe feels good about himself because that person
knows that he is able to take something from the
situation, transform it, and understand it in a new
way.

(Malaguzzi)

. Teaching is even more difficult than learning. We
know that; but we rarely think about it. And why is teaching
more difficult than learning? Not because the teacher
must have a larger store of information, and have it always
ready. Teaching is more difficult than learning because
what teaching calls for is this: to let learn. The real teacher,
in fact, lets nothing else be learned than-learning. His conduct,
therefore, often produces the impression that we
properly learn nothing from him, if by “learning” we now
suddenly understand merely the procurement of useful information.
The teacher is ahead of his apprentices in this
alone, that he has still far more to learn than they-he
has to learn to let them learn. The teacher must be capable
of being more teachable than the apprentices.

(Heidegger)

When children begin to play in groups or start to spend part of their day in
a center, a preschool, or, later, a primary school, there is a repertoire of rhymes
that is always refreshed and reinvented to tease or to accompany play. There
are counting rhymes, jump-rope rhymes, and many others that accompany
movement or facilitate selection in group games. These are part of play and
often have the function of initiation within a group. They often absorb contemporary events and characters that strike the children’s imagination and are
transmitted through the secret channels of children’s communication.

(Gandini)

In an enigmatic sense which will clarify itself perhaps (perhaps, because nothing should be sure here, for essential reasons), the question of the archive is not, we repeat, a question of the past. This is not the question of a concept dealing with the past which might already be at our disposal or not at our disposal, an archivable concept of the archive. It is a question of the future, the question of the future itself, the question of a response, of a promise and of a responsibility for tomorrow. The archive: if we want to know what this will have meant, we will only know in the times to come. Perhaps. Not tomorrow but in the times to come, later on or perhaps never. A spectral messianicity is at work in the concept of the archive and ties it, like religion, like history, like science itself, to a very singular experience of the promise.

(Derrida)

Besides the lullabies, there are traditional rhymes that for many a century have been vehicles for learning with closeness and pleasure between
mother (or grandmother or nanny) and child. Those are the ones that are
used by parents to enter in close relationships with young children, creating a physical bond, developing their language skills, and enjoying playful
games, accompanied by a sense of rhyme and rhythm.

(Gandini)

But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

(Mathew 4:4)

Man speaks in that he responds to language. This responding is hearing. It hears because it listens to the command of stillness.

(Heidegger)

By virtue of this inevitable nature, private will is overpowered, and maugre our efforts or our imperfections, your genius will speak from you, and mine from me.That which we are, we shall teach, not voluntarily but involuntarily. Thoughts come into our minds by avenues which we never voluntarily opened. Character teaches over our head.”

(Emerson)

Because we would discover a great deal about learning and relationship strategies shared with joy between adults and children and about the
creative play of inventing words and rhymes by children. We would learn
about the power of literacy developing in the interaction of adults with
children and of children with children in play.

(Gandini)

the only mode of obtaining an answer to these questions of the senses is to forego all low curiosity and, accepting the tide of being which floats us into the secret of nature , work and live, work and live, and all unawares the advancing soul has built and forged for itself a new condition, and the question and the answer are one.

(Emerson)

³ Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. ⁴ For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love ⁵ he^[b] predestined us for adoption to sonship^[c] through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— ⁶ to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.

(Ephesians 1:3-6)

The wind blows where it wants to, and you hear its sound, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it’s going. That’s how it is with everyone who has been born from the Spirit.

The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.

(John 3:8)

16 The rainbow will be in the cloud; so that when I look at it, I will remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of any kind on the earth.

(Genesis 9:13-15)

With all wisdom and understanding, ⁹ he^[d] made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, ¹⁰ to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.

(Ephesians 1:9-10)

2 “Thus says Adonai the maker,
Adonai who formed [the universe]
so as to keep directing it —
Adonai is his name:
3 ‘Call out to me,
and I will answer you —
I will tell you great things,
hidden things of which you are unaware.

(Jeremiah/Yirmeyah 33:2-3)

Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life which the Son of Man will give you.

(John 6:27)

¹¹ In him we were also chosen,^[e] having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, 

(Ephesians 1:11)

34 “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. 35 Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 36 Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. 37 Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. 38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”

(John 4:34-37)

¹⁷ I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit^[f] of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.

(Ephesians 1:17)

3 Call unto Me, and I will answer thee, and show thee gedolot (great things) and unsearchable things, which thou knowest not

(Jeremiah/Yirmeyah 33:2-3)

¹⁰ For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

(Ephesians 2:10)

in these communications the power to see is not separated from the will to do, but the insight proceeds from obedience. and the obedience proceeds from a joyful perception, every moment when a man feels invaded by it is memorable.

(Emerson)

¹⁷ He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. ¹⁸ For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

(Ephesians 2:17)

 Blessed are the peacemakers,
    for they will be called children of God.

(Mathew)

⁴ In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ,

(Ephesians 3:4)

To stimulate life,–leaving it then free to develop, to unfold,–herein lies the first task of the educator —

(Montessori)

⁷ I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power.

(Ephesians 3:7)

In whatever way men approach Me, even so do I reward them; My path do men tread in all ways

(Bhagavad Gita)

¹⁶ I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, ¹⁷ so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.

(Ephesians 3:16)

the kingdom of God is within you.

(Luke 17:20)

¹⁹ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

(Ephesians 3:19)

Let the floods clap their hands;
let the mountains sing together for joy

(Tehillim/Psalms 98:8)

²⁰ Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 

(Ephesians 3:20)

Blessed are the merciful,
    for they will be shown mercy.
(Mathew)

³ Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 

(Ephesians 4:3)

The Lord formed me from the beginning, before he created any-
thing else. …I was there when he set the clouds above, when he
established springs deep in the earth. …And when he marked off the
earth’s foundations, I was the architect at his side. I was his constant
delight, rejoicing always in his presence. —

(Genesis/Bereshit)

⁷ But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. ⁸ This is why it^[a] says:

“When he ascended on high,
    he took many captives
    and gave gifts to his people.”^[b]

⁹ (What does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions^[c]? ¹⁰ He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.)

(Ephesians 4:7-10)

The precariousness of play belongs to the fact that it is always
on the theoretical line between the subjective and that which is
objectively perceived. It is my purpose here simply to give a reminder that children’s playing has everything in it.

(Winnicott)

³² Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

(Ephesians 4:32)

For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God[i] gives the Spirit without limit. 35 The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands.

(John 3:35)

¹ Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children ² and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

(Ephesians 5:1-2)

Let the children come to me, don’t stop them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.

(Mark 10:14)

¹⁹ speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, ²⁰ always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

(Ephesians 5:19-20)

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

(Galations 2:20)

¹⁸ And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.

(Ephesians 6:18)

²⁹ Yeshua answered, “The most important commandment is,

‘Sh’ma Yisra’el, Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai echad [Hear, O Isra’el, the Lord our God, the Lord is one], ³⁰ and you are to love Adonai your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your understanding and with all your strength.’^[d]

(Mark 12:29)

²³ Peace to the brothers and sisters,^[c] and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁴ Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love.^[d]

(Ephesian 6:23-24)

In their hearts humans plan their course,
but the Lord establishes their steps.

(Proverbs/Mashal 15:9)

Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.
(Mark 3:35)

For whoever does the ratzon Hashem, this one is my brother and my sister and mother.

(Markos 3:35)

your kingdom come,
your will be done,
    on earth as it is in heaven.

(Mathew 6:10)

2021 (#106)

The ability to enjoy relationships and work together
is very important. Children need to enjoy being in
school, they need to love their school and the interactions that take place there. Their expectations of
these interactions is critical.
It is also important for the teachers to enjoy being
with the other teachers, to enjoy seeing the children
stretch their capacities and use their intelligences, to
enjoy interactions with the children. Both parts are
essential.

(Malaguzzi)

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
(Genesis 1:1)

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was with God in the beginning. (John 1:1-2)

the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything. (John 14:26)

Creativity requires that the school of knowing finds connections with the school of expressing, opening doors (this is our slogan) to the hundred languages of children. (Malaguzzi)

Malaguzzi said very clearly that nothing in the school should happen
without joy.
(Gandini)

Malaguzzi’s very first explorations and experiences with children were
based on play with a purpose. His views were contrary to ritual play managed and controlled by adults, where children were expected to repeat
gestures and words chosen by teachers. In Reggio, when children arrive
at school in the morning, they play with their friends using materials or
games or toys. There is first of all the joy of finding their friends—friends
with whom they will spend a long day together and with whom they have
already shared years of companionship in school.

(Gandini)

We must move beyond just looking at the child to become better observers, able to penetrate
into the child to understand each child’s resources and potential and present state of mind. We need to compare these with our own in order to work well together. (Malaguzzi)

It is by studying the behaviour of these children
and their re-actions to each other in this atmosphere of
freedom that the real secret of society is revealed. They
are fine and delicate facts that have to be examined
with a spiritual microscope, but they are of the utmost
interest since they reveal facts inherent in the very
nature of man. These schools, therefore, are thought
of as laboratories for psychological research, although
it is not really research, but observation that is carried
out. It is this observation which is important. (Montessori)

Education is thus a fostering, a nurturing, a cultivating, process. All of these words
mean that it implies attention to the conditions of growth.
(John Dewey)

In it’s essence, language is neither expression nor an activity of man. Language speaks. Accordingly, what we seek lies in the poetry of the spoken word. (Heidegger)

³ Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. ⁴ For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love ⁵ he^[b] predestined us for adoption to sonship^[c] through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— ⁶ to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.

(Ephesians 1:3-6)

In the beginning Elohim created hashomayim (the heavens, Himel) and haaretz (the earth).

2 And the earth was tohu vavohu (without form, and void); and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Ruach Elohim was hovering upon the face of the waters.

3 And Elohim said, Let there be light: and there was light [Tehillim 33:6,9].

Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.
(Mark 3:35)

I was also very interested in the rituals of separation at bedtime and
how there are in those rituals both individual family and cultural variations. There is a time of the day in the lives of families with young children,
especially in western cultures (I was studying New England and two regions
of Italy), when there is a heightened sense of interdependence and a pull
between the desire both to enjoy each other’s company and to let one’s self
go to sleep. The schedule of young children at bedtime in Italy is almost
two hours later than it is in families in my sample in New England, but
the strategies that children find to receive more attention are brilliant and
inventive in both cases. (Gandini)

We may say that we become ourselves through others and that this rule applies not only to the personality as a whole, but also to the history of every individual function.

(Vygotsky)

With all wisdom and understanding, ⁹ he^[d] made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, ¹⁰ to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.

(Ephesians 1:9-10)

The superior man sets his life in order and examines himself. The superior man is always filled with reverence at the manifestation of God; he sets his life in order and searches his heart, lest it harbor any secret opposition to the will of God. (I Ching)

The child is endowed with an unknown power and
this unknown power guides us towards a more luminous
future. Education can no longer be the giving of know-
ledge only ; it must take a different path. The con-
sideration of personality, the development of human
potentialities must become the centre of education. When
to begin such education ? (Montessori)

Creativity seems to emerge from multiple experiences, coupled with a well-supported development of personal resources including a sense of freedom to venture beyond the known. (Malaguzzi)

¹¹ In him we were also chosen,^[e] having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, 

(Ephesians 1:11)

a river watering the garden flowed from Eden ; from there it was separated into four headwaters. The name of the first is Pison; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. The name of the second river is Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush. The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Asshur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates. (Genesis 2:10)

‘This Eden, they say, is the brain. ‘ Three of the rivers of Paradise are sensory functions (Pison = sight, Gihon = hearing, Tigris = smell), but the fourth, the Euphrates, is the mouth, ‘ the seat of prayer and the entrance of food.’(Jung)

When waves realize that the sea is the common support, all fight ceases.–When water is realized, wave and sea vanish. What appeared as two is thus realized as one.–

(Sri Atmananda)

The wind blows where it wants to, and you hear its sound, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it’s going. That’s how it is with everyone who has been born from the Spirit.

The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.

(John 3:8)

The environment you construct around you and the
children also reflects this image you have about the
child. There’s a difference between the environment
that you are able to build based on a preconceived
image of the child and the environment that you can
build that is based on the child you see in front of you
— the relationship you build with the child, the
games you play. An environment that grows out of
your relationship with the child is unique and fluid.
The quality and quantity of relationships among you
as adults and educators also reflects your image of
the child. Children are very sensitive and can see and
sense very quickly the spirit of what is going on
among the adults in their world. (Malaguzzi)

¹⁷ I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit^[f] of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.

(Ephesians 1:17)

Wisdom has built her house;
she has set up[a] its seven pillars.
2 She has prepared her meat and mixed her wine;
she has also set her table.
(Proverbs 9:1-2)

Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life which the Son of Man will give you. (John 6:27)

if we will not interfere with our thought , but will act entirely, or see how the thing stands in God, we know the particular thing and everything and every man> for the maker of all things and all persons stands behind us and casts his omniscience through us over things.(Emerson)

¹⁰ For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

(Ephesians 2:10)

You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. (Isaiah 55:12)

When we have rounded a certain corner in our reading, we will
place ourselves on that side of the lustre where the “medium” is shining.
(Derrida)

Play is immensely exciting. It is exciting not primarily because the
instincts are involved, be it understood! The thing about playing is
always the precariousness of the interplay of personal psychic
reality and the experience of control of actual objects. This is the
precariousness of magic itself, magic that arises in intimacy, in a
relationship that is being found to be reliable.

(Winnicott)

Though play can be fun, as one of
the three essential drives—love, play, work—it contributes to the best kind
of learning. Play operates as more than a creative urge; it also functions as a
fundamental mode of learning. (Elkind)

¹⁷ He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. ¹⁸ For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

(Ephesians 2:17)

Language is the house of Being, in its home man dwells. Those who think and those who create with words are the guardians of this home. (Heidegger)

Literacy risks being seen both as the only pathway to success and at the
same time a punitive boogeyman that scares away children’s joy. Generally,
teachers are as much in agreement about the importance of literacy as we
are about the importance of play, but sometimes we think they are mutually
exclusive—that time devoted to one takes away from the other. Literacy
and play, indeed all learning and play, can go together. They really must
go together; together they can and should be pleasurable and rewarding
experiences for children, and for teachers and parents as well, who clearly
want the best possible for their children now and for the future. (Gandini)

Both children and adults need to feel active and
important — to be rewarded by their own efforts,
their own intelligences, their own activity and
energy. When a child feels these things are valued,
they become a fountain of strength for him. He feels
the joy of working with adults who value his work
and this is one of the bases for learning.

(Malaguzzi)

I am the other person, the other person is myself; in name and shape we are different, but there is no separation. At the root of our being we are one with God.

(Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj)

⁴ In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ,

(Ephesians 3:4)

Supreme Mind finds itself related to all its works and will travel a royal road to particular knowledges and powers. In ascending to this primary and aboriginal sentiment we have come from our remote station on the circumference instantaneously to the center of the world, where, as in the closet of God, we see causes, and anticipate the universe, which is but a slow effect.

(Emerson)

Each one of us needs to be able to play with the things that are coming out of the world of children. Each one of us needs to have curiosity, and we need to be able to try something new based on the ideas that we collect from the children as they go along. Life has to be somewhat agitated and upset, a bit restless, somewhat unknown. As life flows with the thoughts of the children, we need to be open, we need to change our ideas; we need to be comfortable with the restless nature of life.

(Malaguzzi)

What has no essence, does not exist. There is no creature that has essence, because the essence of all is in the presence of God. If God went out of the creatures even for a single moment, they would disappear into nothingness.

(Meister Eckhart)

The ability to enjoy relationships and work together
is very important. Children need to enjoy being in
school, they need to love their school and the interactions that take place there. Their expectations of
these interactions is critical.
It is also important for the teachers to enjoy being
with the other teachers, to enjoy seeing the children
stretch their capacities and use their intelligences, to
enjoy interactions with the children. Both parts are
essential.

(Malaguzzi)

I am constrained every moment to acknowledge a higher origin for events than the will I call mine. (Emerson)

⁷ I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power.

(Ephesians 3:7)

34 “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. 35 Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 36 Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. 37 Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. 38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”

(John 4:34-37)

Let God work in you, give the work to God, and have peace. Don’t worry if He works through your nature or above your nature, because both are His, nature and grace. (Meister Eckhart)

We may say that we become ourselves through others and that this rule applies not only to the personality as a whole, but also to the history of every individual function.

(Vygotsky)

Play is immensely exciting. It is exciting not primarily because the
instincts are involved, be it understood! The thing about playing is
always the precariousness of the interplay of personal psychic
reality and the experience of control of actual objects. This is the
precariousness of magic itself, magic that arises in intimacy, in a
relationship that is being found to be reliable.

(Winnicott)

Both children and adults need to feel active and
important — to be rewarded by their own efforts,
their own intelligences, their own activity and
energy. When a child feels these things are valued,
they become a fountain of strength for him. He feels
the joy of working with adults who value his work
and this is one of the bases for learning.

(Malaguzzi)

I am the other person, the other person is myself; in name and shape we are different, but there is no separation. At the root of our being we are one with God.

(Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj)

Each one of us needs to be able to play with the things that are coming out of the world of children. Each one of us needs to have curiosity, and we need to be able to try something new based on the ideas that we collect from the children as they go along. Life has to be somewhat agitated and upset, a bit restless, somewhat unknown. As life flows with the thoughts of the children, we need to be open, we need to change our ideas; we need to be comfortable with the restless nature of life.

(Malaguzzi)

What has no essence, does not exist. There is no creature that has essence, because the essence of all is in the presence of God. If God went out of the creatures even for a single moment, they would disappear into nothingness.

(Meister Eckhart)

 Don’t
you begin to see in this behaviour that animals sacrifice
themselves for the welfare of other types of life, instead
of trying to eat as much as possible merely for their own
existence or upkeep ? The more one studies the behaviour
of animals and of plants, the more clearly one sees that
they have a task to perform for the welfare of the whole.
(Montessori)

¹⁶ I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, ¹⁷ so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.

(Ephesians 3:16)

The archivist produces more archive, and that is why the archive is never closed. It opens out of the future.How can we think about this fatal repetition, about repetition in general in its relationship to memory and the archive? It is easy to perceive, if not to interpret, the necessity of such a relationship, at least if one associates the archive, as naturally one is always tempted to do, with repetition, and repetition with the past. But it is the future which is at issue here, and the archive as an irreducible experience of the future.

(Derrida)

Each one of us needs to be able to play with the things that are coming out of the world of children. Each one of us needs to have curiosity, and we need to be able to try something new based on the ideas that we collect from the children as they go along. Life has to be somewhat agitated and upset, a bit restless, somewhat unknown. As life flows with the thoughts of the children, we need to be open, we need to change our ideas; we need to be comfortable with the restless nature of life

(Malaguzzi)

Myths and fairy stories both answer the eternal questions: What is the world
really like? How am I to live my life in it? How can I truly be myself? The answers
given by myths are definite, while the fairy tale is suggestive; its messages may imply
solutions, but it never spells them out. Fairy tales leave to the child’s fantasizing whether
and how to apply to himself what the story reveals about life and human nature.
(Bettelheim)

Act in accordance with the situation and keep still
Contemplating the image,
The superior person comprehends
The alternatiion of increase and decrease,
Also the alternation of fullness and emptiness.
It is the Tao of Heaven.

(I Ching)

¹⁹ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

(Ephesians 3:19)

I can now restate what I am trying to convey. I want to draw
attention away from the sequence psychoanalysis, psychotherapy,
play material, playing, and to set this up again the other way
round. In other words, it is play that is the universal, and that belongs
to health: playing facilitates growth and therefore health; playing
leads into group relationships; playing can be a form of communication
in psychotherapy; and, lastly, psychoanalysis has
been developed as a highly specialized form of playing in the
service of communication with oneself and others.

(Winnicott)

Her motive seeking nourishment from below is not for herself but for others — thus, there is good fortune.

Good fortune in turning upside down, seeking nourishment. The one above sheds light.

(I Ching)

Edmund, Aged Two and a Half Years
The mother came to consult me about herself and she brought
Edmund with her. Edmund was in my room while I was talking
to his mother, and I placed among us a table and a little chair
which he could use if he wished to do so. He looked serious but
not frightened or depressed. He said: ‘Where’s toys?’ This is all
he said throughout the hour. Evidently he had been told to
expect toys and I said that there were some to be found at the
other end of the room on the floor under the bookcase.

(Winnicott)

²⁰ Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 

(Ephesians 3:20)

WORSHIP, make sacrifice; recommend or introduce yourself. The ideogram: leading animals to green pastures.

(I Ching)

After about twenty minutes Edmund began to liven up, and
he went to the other end of the room for a fresh supply of toys.
Out of the muddle there he brought a tangle of string. The
mother (undoubtedly affected by his choice of string, but not
conscious of the symbolism) made the remark: At his most
non-verbal Edmund is most clinging, needing contact with my
actual breast, and needing my actual lap.’

(Winnicott)

³ Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 

(Ephesians 4:3)

The bliss is in the awareness of God, in not shrinking, or in any way turning away from God. All happiness comes from awareness of God. The more we are conscious of God, the deeper the joy. Acceptance of pain, non-resistance, courage and endurance — these open deep and perennial sources of real happiness, true bliss of God.

(Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj)

At this point Edmund quite naturally left the toys, got onto the couch and crept
like an animal towards his mother and curled up on her lap. He stayed there about
three minutes. She gave a very natural response, not exaggerated. Then he uncurled
and returned to the toys. He now put the string (which he seemed fond of) at the
bottom of the bucket like bedding, and began to put the toys in, so that they had a nice
soft place to lie in, like a cradle or cot. After once more clinging to his mother and
then returning to the toys, he was ready to go, the mother and I having finished our
business. (Winnicott)

² Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. ³ Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

(Ephesians 4:2)

The archivist produces more archive, and that is why the archive is never closed. It opens out of the future.How can we think about this fatal repetition, about repetition in general in its relationship to memory and the archive? It is easy to perceive, if not to interpret, the necessity of such a relationship, at least if one associates the archive, as naturally one is always tempted to do, with repetition, and repetition with the past. But it is the future which is at issue here, and the archive as an irreducible experience of the future.

(Derrida)

Each one of us needs to be able to play with the things that are coming out of the world of children. Each one of us needs to have curiosity, and we need to be able to try something new based on the ideas that we collect from the children as they go along. Life has to be somewhat agitated and upset, a bit restless, somewhat unknown. As life flows with the thoughts of the children, we need to be open, we need to change our ideas; we need to be comfortable with the restless nature of life

(Malaguzzi)

Act in accordance with the situation and keep still
Contemplating the image,
The superior person comprehends
The alternatiion of increase and decrease,
Also the alternation of fullness and emptiness.
It is the Tao of Heaven.

(I Ching)

I can now restate what I am trying to convey. I want to draw
attention away from the sequence psychoanalysis, psychotherapy,
play material, playing, and to set this up again the other way
round. In other words, it is play that is the universal, and that belongs
to health: playing facilitates growth and therefore health; playing
leads into group relationships; playing can be a form of communication
in psychotherapy; and, lastly, psychoanalysis has
been developed as a highly specialized form of playing in the
service of communication with oneself and others.

(Winnicott)

Her motive seeking nourishment from below is not for herself but for others — thus, there is good fortune.

Good fortune in turning upside down, seeking nourishment. The one above sheds light.

(I Ching)

Edmund, Aged Two and a Half Years
The mother came to consult me about herself and she brought
Edmund with her. Edmund was in my room while I was talking
to his mother, and I placed among us a table and a little chair
which he could use if he wished to do so. He looked serious but
not frightened or depressed. He said: ‘Where’s toys?’ This is all
he said throughout the hour. Evidently he had been told to
expect toys and I said that there were some to be found at the
other end of the room on the floor under the bookcase.

(Winnicott)

⁷ But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. ⁸ This is why it^[a] says:

“When he ascended on high,
    he took many captives
    and gave gifts to his people.”^[b]

⁹ (What does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions^[c]? ¹⁰ He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.)

(Ephesians 4:7-10)

WORSHIP, make sacrifice; recommend or introduce yourself. The ideogram: leading animals to green pastures.

(I Ching)

After about twenty minutes Edmund began to liven up, and
he went to the other end of the room for a fresh supply of toys.
Out of the muddle there he brought a tangle of string. The
mother (undoubtedly affected by his choice of string, but not
conscious of the symbolism) made the remark: At his most
non-verbal Edmund is most clinging, needing contact with my
actual breast, and needing my actual lap.’

(Winnicott)

The bliss is in the awareness of God, in not shrinking, or in any way turning away from God. All happiness comes from awareness of God. The more we are conscious of God, the deeper the joy. Acceptance of pain, non-resistance, courage and endurance — these open deep and perennial sources of real happiness, true bliss of God.

(Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj)

³² Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

(Ephesians 4:32)

It is good to remember always that playing is itself a therapy.
To arrange for children to be able to play is itself a psychotherapy
that has immediate and universal application, and it includes the
establishment of a positive social attitude towards playing. This
attitude must include recognition that playing is always liable to
become frightening. Games and their organization must be
looked at as part of an attempt to forestall the frightening aspect
of playing. Responsible persons must be available when children
play; but this does not mean that the responsible person need
enter into the children’s playing. When an organizer must be
involved in a managerial position then the implication is that the
child or the children are unable to play in the creative sense of
my meaning in this communication. (Winnicott)

There are many things that are part of a child’s life
just as they are part of an adult’s life. The desire to
do something for someone, for instance. Every adult
has a need to feel that we are seen/observed by
others. (Observing others is also important.) This is
just as true for children as for adults. Therefore, it’s
possible to observe, to receive a lot of pleasure and
satisfaction from observing in many different ways.When the child is observed, the child is happy — it’s
almost an honor that he is observed by an adult. On
the other hand, a good teacher who knows how to
observe feels good about himself because that person
knows that he is able to take something from the
situation, transform it, and understand it in a new
way. (Malaguzzi)

¹ Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children ² and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

(Ephesians 5:1-2)

One who sees inaction in action, and action in inaction, is wise among men, and he is in the transcendental position, although engaged in all sorts of activities.(Bhagavad Gita)

I call this a playground because play starts here. The playground is a potential space between the mother and the baby or joining mother and baby. (Winnicott)

by the grace of God finds the joy of God (Bhagavad Gita 2:55)

Overactivity on the part of the adult is a risk factor. The adult does too much because he cares about the child; but this creates a passive role for the child in her own learning. (Malaguzzi)

¹⁴ This is why it is said:

“Wake up, sleeper,
    rise from the dead,
    and Christ will shine on you.”

Ephesians 5:14)

. Teaching is even more difficult than learning. We
know that; but we rarely think about it. And why is teaching
more difficult than learning? Not because the teacher
must have a larger store of information, and have it always
ready. Teaching is more difficult than learning because
what teaching calls for is this: to let learn. The real teacher,
in fact, lets nothing else be learned than-learning. His conduct,
therefore, often produces the impression that we
properly learn nothing from him, if by “learning” we now
suddenly understand merely the procurement of useful information.
The teacher is ahead of his apprentices in this
alone, that he has still far more to learn than they-he
has to learn to let them learn. The teacher must be capable
of being more teachable than the apprentices.

(Heidegger)

A writing that refers back only to itself carries us
at the same time, indefinitely and systematically, to some other writing. At
the same time: this is what we must account for. A writing that refers only
to itself and a writing that refers indefinitely to some other writing might
appear noncontradictory: the reflecting screen never captures anything but
writing, indefinitely, stopping nowhere, and each reference still confines us
within the element of reflection. Of course. But the difficulty arises in the
relation between the medium of writing and the determination of each
textual unit. It is necessary that while referring each time to another text, to
another determinate system, each organism only refer to itself as a determinate
structure; a structure that is open and closed at the same time.

(Derrida)

¹⁹ speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, ²⁰ always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

(Ephesians 5:19-20)

observe Me in all beings, and also see every being in Me. Indeed, the self-realized man sees Me everywhere
(Bhagavad Gita)

“I Am—the one who speaks with you.” (John 4:26)

A translation would not seek to say this or that, to transport this or that content,to communicate such a charge of meaning, but to re-mark the affinity among the languages, to exhibit its own possibility. And that, which holds for the literary text or the sacred text, perhaps defines the very essence of the literary and the sacred, attheir common root. I said “re-mark” the affinity among the language to name the strangeness of an “expression” C<to express the most intimate relation among the languages”), which is neither a simple “presentation” nor simply anything else. In a
mode that is solely anticipatory, annunciatory, almost prophetic, translation renders present an affinity that is never present in this presentation. One thinks of the
way in which Kant at times defines the relation to the sublime: a presentation inadequate to that which is nevertheless presented.
(Derrida)

As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries, seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven–things into which angels long to look.
(1 Peter 1:10-12)

¹⁸ And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.

(Ephesians 6:18)

But this so-called relative level is not really relative; it
is the borderland between the conscious level and the uncon-
scious. Once this level is touched, one’s ordinary consciousness
becomes infused with the tidings of the unconscious. This is
the moment when the finite mind realizes that it is rooted in
the infinite. In terms of Christianity, this is the time when the
soul hears directly or inwardly the voice of the living God.
The Jewish people may say that Moses was in this state of mind
at Mount Sinai when he heard God announcing his name as
“I am that I am.” (D.T. Suzuki)

they do not ask the question; they stage it or overflow this stage in the direction of that element of the scene which exceeds representation.
(Derrida)

2 “Thus says Adonai the maker,
Adonai who formed [the universe]
so as to keep directing it —
Adonai is his name:
3 ‘Call out to me,
and I will answer you —
I will tell you great things,
hidden things of which you are unaware.

(Jeremiah/Yirmeyah 33:2-3)

²³ Peace to the brothers and sisters,^[c] and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁴ Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love.^[d]

(Ephesian 6:23-24)

Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.
(Mark 3:35)

So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

(Isaiah 41:10)

²⁹ Yeshua answered, “The most important is,

‘Sh’ma Yisra’el, Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai echad [Hear, O Isra’el, the Lord our God, the Lord is one], ³⁰ and you are to love Adonai your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your understanding and with all your strength.’^[d]

(Mark 12:29)

Let the children come to me, don’t stop them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.

(Mark 10:14)

your kingdom come,
your will be done,
    on earth as it is in heaven.

(Mathew 6:10)