Girotondo, pronounced gee-row-ton-doe, or Giro, for friends and families, is the brainchild of Italian-speaking moms who wanted to keep the Italian language alive in their NY-born children and realized there were no Italian immersion programs for infants and young children in the Brooklyn area.

Started as an informal family playgroup ten years ago, it has grown into a licensed home daycare open year-round, with a full-time staff of teachers. In turn, Girotondo’s ever-growing network of families has created a close-knit community for those who love all things Italian and multiculturalism.

These are some of the some of the features that make us a one of a kind daycare:

We are NY State licensed, women-owned and run, open to everyone, located in a unique environment in a Bed-Stuy brownstone that feels like a home, with a generous teacher-to-student ratio, and an old school approach with children from 9 months to 4 years old all equally involved in the daily aspect of the togetherness. At Girotondo, the older kids inspire and challenge the little ones to learn and grow, and the infants nurture a sense of responsibility and leadership in the older kids, who protect and parent them, all under the watchful eye of our loving maestre, the teachers.

The positive impact of bilingualism and multilingualism on young brains is now backed by an infinite amount of research. We witness the miracle of bilingualism every day with the Giro kids. Within the first few weeks, there will be no significant difference in their understanding of directions in Italian and their response, regardless of whether Italian is spoken in the child’s household. Depending on their age, within one to three months, all the children are fully adjusted to a second language and Italian is an integral part of their communication system.

Whether or not your family has a love for the Italian language and is able to speak Italian with the child, will not influence the end result of this wonderful process: the way the child’s brain organizes itself around the new language, creates new neurological pathways that will stay with them for the rest of their lives and will make learning and understanding new languages easier.  The common belief is that if your child learns another language this early, they won’t learn proper English. What we see is the opposite: in the long run, their verbal skills grow stronger, and, compared to monolingual children, they can process more data more easily.

We have the privilege of seeing Girotondo graduates now in 5th grade who can speak up to four languages, fully enjoying the benefits of multilingualism, and being true citizens of the world.

The Reggio Emilia approach focuses on the idea of the child as creative and intelligent, capable of exploring and discovering for themselves, with both the intention and the right to make meaning in many different ways.

This educational philosophy derives from educational pedagogies and philosophies developed since the 1950s within early childhood settings in the town of Reggio Emilia, Northern Italy. This educational project was initiated in the aftermath of World War II and was intended to be progressive, democratic, and liberating.

The Reggio Emilia approach focuses on wondering with children about what they experience, think, and feel and on encouraging children to make sense of their world. Inquiry is therefore flexible and responsive to children’s motivations, interests, and contexts, and what is meaningful for children in their lives.

Teachers in Reggio Emilia seek underlying or overarching ideas in children’s play and inquiry as a basis for projects. Teachers are always prepared to ask children challenging questions. They encourage children to ask questions, form hypotheses and do research. Individual interests are developed into in-depth group experiences and projects. Teachers formulate objectives that are flexible and can be adapted to children’s interests and needs during the project process.