About

Leila is a Roosevelt Island resident since 2007 and a managing principal of a Manhattan architectural firm. Applying her profession, architecture, as a teaching tool, she engaged in work with NYC students through the Center for Architecture Foundation, where she served on the Board of Directors for eight years. Following this experience, she completed a Master’s Program at NYU Gallatin School of Individualized Study pursuing progressive early childhood education. Her interest in development of young minds and fascination with the Roosevelt Island’s unique environment and the strong community led to a vision of Roosevelt Island Explorers, an early childhood program inspired by the well-known Reggio Emilia educational approach. In 2012, she initiated creation of the Children’s Garden at 455 Main Street, which serves as an outdoor classroom for children and a gathering place for their parents.

Leila is joined by enthusiastic early childhood educators familiar with the core principles of the Reggio approach, and a growing number of parents who recognize the value of free explorations for the natural development of their children.

Rebecca S. Light’s passion for educating young children blossomed when she was a pre-school teacher in St. Louis. She has since moved on to earn her PhD in early childhood education and currently works with aspiring early childhood teachers at the university level.  Rebecca has a particular interest in finding innovative ways to connect children with nature in urban environments.

Sara Hardin has enjoyed working with children for more than 22 years as a teacher of 3’s, 4’s and Kindergartners in NYC. She is an advocate for educational practices that honor the integrity, intelligence and competence of young children. Sara has a Master’s degree in Early Childhood Education and has also taught at the graduate level.

Anna Ivanova moved to Roosevelt Island when she got married in 2006. She has a Ph. D. in biology, and worked for 10 years in experimental biophysics, biochemistry, and molecular and cell biology. Anna took a break from her scientific career when her daughter was born in 2009.  Anna has always enjoyed being around children, and she rediscovered this passion on a new level when she became a parent.  Anna strongly believes that every child is born with unique talents that need to be discovered and nurtured, and that children are smart and creative. As such, she is a dedicated advocate of Roosevelt Island Explorers’ (RiEx) educational philosophy. She thinks that Roosevelt Island’s unique environment and tight-knit community are a perfect match for RiEx.

Cecilia Chen is a computer engineer and has lived on Roosevelt Island with her husband and children since 2009. She has had a love for children all her life, and this love motivated her to gain an understanding of young children and question what would be the best environment for them to truly blossom during childhood. She discovered Roosevelt Island Explorers (RiEx) in 2013 and immediately connected to this approach — to let children interact with nature and explore and create freely. She saw that this is the perfect fit for children on Roosevelt Island. Since then, Cecilia has been helping RiEx with website management and communications, as well as supporting RiEx projects.

Lauren Blankstein has lived on Roosevelt Island with her husband and two children since 2005. She is a writer, yoga instructor and collage artist. Lauren is deeply committed to progressive education reform and works tirelessly to support her children’s school (The Ella Baker School) through fundraising and volunteering. Lauren joined the Roosevelt Island Explorers (RiEx) team because she believes in children’s innate intelligence and creativity. She is also committed to her community, Roosevelt Island, which has a rich history of grassroots community building. Lauren believes RiEx makes an important contribution to the lives of Island children and their families.

We believe that children are born with the abilities we look for in responsible adults:

• Readiness to learn (reasoning skills, curiosity and creativity), 
• Sensitivity towards others (compassion),
• Honesty,
• Desire to collaborate.

We believe that learning is a collaborative process through which knowledge is constructed. The shared meanings gained through this process create a community that is respectful of children, adults and the environment.

We believe that learning is what brings us together. By nurturing open minds of life-long learners, we create possibilities for dealing with problems, local and global, in more constructive ways.

This summer, we plan to conduct series of outdoor workshops with children and their parents exploring Roosevelt Island through the eyes of children. Following children’s inquiries, we shall initiate projects that will deepen their understanding of the world around them. Whenever possible, children’s work will be shared with the community.

Our goal is to introduce Roosevelt Island Explorers and to initiate a conversation with parents and the Roosevelt Island community about educational opportunities for young children afforded by the unique Roosevelt Island environment.

Our long-term goal is to develop Roosevelt Island Explorers into an early childhood program on Roosevelt Island that comes as a result of this conversation. We hope to engage all who care about children on Roosevelt Island.

RiEx pedagogical philosophy follows Reggio Emilia educational approach, developed in Italy after WWII. While recognizing universality of children’s potential, Reggio approach acknowledges individual, contextual and cultural differences. It is based in the following key principles:

Children are naturally responsive to the possibilities their environment affords them and easily develop relationships with everything and everybody around them. They are perfectly capable of figuring out the world around them and creating meaning out of their life experiences.

This is a Reggio metaphor for multiple ways in which young children express themselves – words are often not enough. Learning languages of different materials gives voice to children’s expressivity and enables them to communicate their thoughts to others. This is the foundation of their thought system.

Teachers are not instructors; they are provocateurs. Their primary role is to create and maintain a safe and stimulating environment in which children explore freely. They respect children’s interests and balance their response between taking the lead and holding back. To make learning visible, teachers document children’s exploratory processes facilitating communication with parents.

Reggio educators believe in the teaching power of the environment. Spaces are provocative and used creatively. Openness and transparency facilitate interactions and maintain communication with the outside community making transition from home to school seamless. Atelier (Studio/Project Room/Workshop) is a dedicated space for projects filled with myriad of carefully sorted materials assessable to children. This is the place where creativity and cognition come together with assistance of teachers trained in visual arts.

Reggio Emilia children are active members of the community. They interact and build relationships with everything and everybody around them and in turn are cared for by the entire community. Their work is shared with the community and inspired by it. By creating an atmosphere of respect and support, an environment is provided developmentally appropriate for both children and adults.