Four-year-olds in Englewood's public prekindergarten program, Jr. Academy@ Englewood, strolled the city with their teachers last year. "What happens if we get lost?" the kids asked. "How can I show other people how to get to my favorite places?" The teachers' response: They helped the children study, create and read maps, and learn about their community.

The educational approach that underpins Englewood's pre-K program, housed at the Bergen Family Center at 44 Armory St., combines child-initiated learning with teacher-directed activities, almost always involving art. It's also an import. The Reggio Emilia philosophy was developed in the Italian city by that name as it recovered from the devastation of World War II. In 1991, Newsweek described Reggio Emilia's preschools as the world's best. And in 2001, the city of Englewood adopted its method for its new, full-day prekindergarten program.

Englewood is not alone in choosing Reggio Emilia. "The approach is spreading like wildfire in the United States," said Rebecca S. New, professor of child development at Tufts University.

Reggio Emilia works, says Barbara Berger, director of the Jr. Academy @ Englewood, because it sees children as capable and intelligent, involves teachers as co-learners and includes the parents in their children's education. "School is life," is how Berger sums up Reggio Emilia-based education.

Erin Thomas's daughter, Nia, attended the Jr. Academy @ Englewood last year. "I would never have expected all I saw her learn in the first year of school," Thomas marvels. "I hope every child gets to experience something like that."

Nia and her preschool classmates delved into Englewood. They planted in the community garden, mixed paints and experimented with colors at Eagle Paint & Wallpaper, counted chairs, tables and windows at Starbucks and made pottery tiles at All Fired Up Pottery. They also took field trips to Flat Rock Brook Nature Center, Van Saun County Park and Liberty Science Center.

"The whole environment makes the children well prepared to enter kindergarten and first grade," said John Grieco, Englewood's superintendent of schools.

By the end of their pre-K school year, the children have enhanced their social skills and learned the alphabet and numbers up to 10 through collaborative projects. The program,serving 120 children this year, also offers a flexible, dual-language program that integrates Spanish-speaking children with children who speak only English.

"National studies show that prekindergarten graduates do better in school all the way," says Grieco.

For more information about Englewood's public pre-K, call Barbara Berger, 201-568-0817.