Ateliers & Learning Environment
When a space is beautiful and inviting, students and teachers grow increasingly engaged with their learning. Going to school isn’t just something they do; it’s a welcome part of who they are.
La Scuola International School campuses are designed intentionally to create this engagement with learning. We carefully curate colors, light, materials, and openness.
Environment, Atelieristi, and the Reggio Emilia Approach
In the Reggio Emilia Approach, the school environment is considered a principal factor in how students learn. We refer to our environment as “the third teacher” alongside faculty and families for the powerful impact it has on education.
Our ateliers — laboratories of learning — provide students with dedicated spaces to develop their ideas, tackle unknowns, and refine their processes. These hubs of self-discovery, each with a different focus, are crafted to be beautiful, engaging environments that nurture a lifelong love of learning.
In each atelier, an atelierista — specialists trained to support students, collaborate with teachers, and provide a curated space for inquiry — plays a key role. They design projects that connect to classroom concepts, carrying themes and ideas through and forward.
For example, the water cycle may be introduced in classroom reading, demonstrated in the garden atelier, illustrated in the art atelier, and then explored in an Italian class essay.
Ateliers at La Scuola International School
Music Atelier
In our music ateliers, students listen, sing, play instruments, and learn to read and compose music. We approach music through the lenses of science, culture, history, math, and more.
Garden & Environmental Studies Atelier
The natural environment is both subject and medium in this atelier. La Scuola students explore hands-on gardening, plant and animal identification, and develop a multi-sensory relationship to the earth and Earth.
Arts Atelier
Here, students engage with visual art, developing an understanding of its role in society as they explore different media and develop their means of self-expression.
