How children learn here.
Two frameworks shape every day at Give Me A Break: the Province of Ontario's pedagogical guide, and the Reggio Emilia approach. One is required of every licensed daycare. The other is how we choose to bring it to life.
How Does Learning Happen? Ontario's framework for early learning.
How Does Learning Happen? is the Province of Ontario's pedagogical framework for licensed early learning and child care programs. It's not a curriculum. It's a way of thinking about children, families, and educators built around four foundations:
- Belonging, every child feels they are part of a community
- Well-being, every child's physical and mental health is supported
- Engagement, every child is curious, focused, and learning through play
- Expression, every child communicates ideas in their own way
Every Ontario daycare is required to work within this framework. At GMAB, it's the bedrock, the standard we meet before we add anything of our own.
Give Me A Break is an early learning program inspired by the Ministry of Education's How Does Learning Happen? framework, delivered through the Reggio Emilia approach.
Why Reggio Emilia, on top of the Ministry framework.
HDLH tells us what matters. It sets the foundations every Ontario daycare is required to meet: belonging, well-being, engagement, expression. But the framework is intentionally flexible. It doesn't say how to bring those foundations to life day-to-day. That part is up to each program.
We chose Reggio Emilia because it's the most child-respecting answer we've found to that question. Born in postwar northern Italy, the approach treats children as competent learners with, in the words of educator Loris Malaguzzi, "a hundred languages" for showing what they know. Educators don't deliver a curriculum. They observe what genuinely catches a child's attention, then build the day around it.
The Reggio lens is how HDLH stops being a document on a shelf and starts being a way of running rooms. Seven principles guide how it shows up at GMAB.
Our program philosophy
What does it mean to be Reggio Emilia inspired?
Reggio Emilia began in a small town in northern Italy after WWII, built on the belief that children learn best when they are seen as active participants in their own education. Here is how those ideas show up in our program.
The image of the child
We see every child as strong, capable, curious, and full of ideas. Our job is to support their thinking, not direct it.
Emergent curriculum
We watch, listen, and document what children are drawn to. The curriculum grows from their questions and interests, not a fixed schedule.
The role of the environment
The space itself is a teacher. Classrooms and outdoor spaces are designed to be thoughtful, inviting, and full of natural materials that spark exploration.
The role of the teacher
Educators are partners in learning, not lecturers. By listening and observing closely, they help children build knowledge alongside them.
Parental involvement
Families are part of the daily life of the program. We share what we observe, invite parents into projects, and treat the parent-educator relationship as central to a child's growth.
Project work
Children explore ideas in depth through projects that span days or weeks. Educators introduce art, music, language, math, and nature in support of what kids are working on.
Documentation
We capture children's work through photos, writing, and displays. Each child has a portfolio that tells the story of their growth, their ideas, and the questions they explored.
How it shows up in a typical day.
Four come from the Ministry. Two are ours. Together they're how we run.
Every child is seen, every day
Belonging comes before learning. Before a child can be curious, they need to know they're safe, named, and welcomed. We greet each child by name at the door and learn their rhythms within the first week.
Bodies and minds at home
Well-being means a child's whole self feels comfortable here. Predictable routines. Foods they recognize. Naps when they need them. Skills they're proud of. The work of childhood is hard, and well-rested children do it best.
Wonder is the curriculum
Children are scientists, artists, and storytellers from the start. We build environments rich with materials and time, then follow what genuinely catches them. The best lessons rarely come from a plan.
A hundred languages
Some children show what they know with words. Others with drawings, music, building, movement, or quiet. Reggio Emilia called this "the hundred languages of childhood." We listen for all of them.
Care that bends with real life
This one isn't in the Ministry framework. It's ours. Family life isn't tidy. We make space for evening shifts, surprise appointments, and the moments parents need just for themselves.
Outdoors, hands-on, child-led
Play isn't a break from learning. It is the learning. Time outside, open-ended materials, and child-led discovery are how every belief above actually shows up in a typical day.
Ready to see this in practice?
Our space is still being prepared, so in-person visits aren't available yet. A virtual tour is coming soon. Join the waitlist and we'll keep you posted.
Join the waitlistOr call us at 437-448-GMAB