“….many features of the adults’ behavior convey to the children that all aspects of their work are taken seriously. This message is not communicated directly by pronouncement or announcement; it permeates the environment indirectly through a variety of actions, provisions, and strategies.” - [excerpt from The 100 Languages of Children, 2nd Ed., p.44] “……implicit modeling takes place when the processes or ideas being modeled occur as a part of an experience….this has the advantage of always being in the context of the actual process.” [excerpt from Literacy: Helping Children Construct Meaning, 5th Ed., pp. 294-295] The two statements above exemplify the crux of our vision statement at the Grand Rapids Child Discovery Center. That is: “…. to base all decisions on the principles of Reggio-Emilia incorporating current research on learning as well as developmentally appropriate practice.” Whenever I give a tour, or meet someone in the community who wants to know more about us, who we are, what we do, etc. I often explain our practice and programming as a perfect marriage of a progressive approach to education [Reggio-Emilia] within a traditional system [free and public education]. The way we accomplish this is by using the Principles of the Approach to guide us through implementation grounded in empirical research which is then differentiated for each child based upon their development. Simply stated, we know our approach to education is grounded in best-practices, and we use this knowledge to accommodate the needs of our individual students at the different stages of growth and learning. Every day, we see or hear incredible milestones being reached and new learning being constructed, not only on the part of our students, but also in our professional practice. Children are constantly giving us insight and perspectives that we as adults are either incapable of seeing, or unwilling to notice. Some of this is physical – the world looks very different when you are 3 feet tall as opposed to 6 feet. Some of this is cognitive – when we read books as adults, we have a lifetime of experiences, literary, social, and professional, that contribute to our understanding and comprehension of what we read. For example, when I read a novel that makes a reference to Shakespeare, J.D. Salinger, or even Carlos Casteneda, I can seamlessly and simultaneously incorporate that into my comprehension of what I am reading. Children build this prior knowledge, or schema, over time, based upon their experiences and learning. The comparison and contrast of these two stages of life help explain the basis of social constructivism and activity theory, the underlying theories that guide our work and learning.