The Walls

It's a personal choice of mine, not to have pre-made, pre-cut scholastic like displays in my classroom. I like to think of the classroom as a second home. Would I want to live in a home where every inch of space was covered with cartoon characters, words and bright vibrant colours? Nope.

Just for the sake of comparison. Here are two photos of my classroom (2013-2014).

Here are photos from my very first kindergarten classroom (before I began to learn from others and seek out new ways of teaching).

It doesn't mean that there is nothing on my walls on the first day of school. It just looks different from what other kindergarten rooms might look like. 

There are photographs of last years JKs on our classroom door at student height. To welcome back everyone, and as a way to visually show the new students and parents some of what we did the previous year. 

As soon as the children begin to draw and write. If they don't want to take it home, it goes up on the wall on the first day. They immediately have ownership of their space.

We have a classroom schedule displayed near the meeting area. We use a combination of visuals and words (it's made with a program called Board Maker) that are common throughout the entire school.

I might have one or two songs/poems written out on chart paper. I hang my charts low so the students can use them during the day. I use these clothes hangers from IKEA to hold the charts. I usually stick a 3M hooks on the wall or cabinets.

Stephanie.

Room Layout

When I think about my classroom set up I always start with the physical layout of the room. Where will the furniture and carpets go? Thankfully I've been in my room for a year already so when I go back in this time it won't take too long to figure it out.

Here is what I consider important with room layout...

-traffic flow of children

-sight lines (for children and adults...I always end up sitting down on the floor to check this out for the children)

-definition of space

Let me expand on definition of space. I want to have areas that are open enough for movement, but contained at the same time so that children don't interrupt or disturb one another during their learning-play. I often use the back of furniture to help create this. 

My goal is to have a room that is spacious and airy, but when you walk in you know exactly what every area of the room is used for.

Areas I'm considering having for the first month of school...

-meeting area

-quiet book area

-sand play

-water play

-big blocks

-small blocks

-art studio

-light table

-writing area

-math area

-loose parts investigation

-free flow snack table

-nature area (discovery table)

-dramatic play


When I have them set up. I'll take photographs of each space and explain my choice of materials and organization.

Stephanie

August

It's that time of year when I start to think about the first month of school. Suddenly when I'm in stores...I'm finding materials that would be great for the classroom. My car trunk is already full of materials to bring back with me.


What have I picked up so far...
-river rocks
-fallen acorns
-sparkles, sequins and stickers
-coloured plastic ice cubes (for use at the light table)
-craft paper
-clear containers for display
-small plastic animals

My favourite stores to find hidden treasures...

Value Village
Good Will
Dollorama
Dollar Tree
Target (especially things in the clearance section)
Home Depot (if you want larger river rocks...you can buy a bag there)
Home Sense
Winners

Stephanie.

Materials

When we put out new materials at learning centres, we pay attention to how we display them. We think about the materials as provocations for learning. We observe how the children interact with the materials. How do they return them? How do they use them? Is there enough to sustain learning? What do we need to change or add?

Here are some snap shots of 3 learning centres from December 2013. The dramatic play centre. The loose parts table. The big blocks centre.

Big Blocks

Loose Parts

Dramatic Play

When I started...

Here are a few snap-shots of the learning space I have for Kindergarten. This is what it looked like on the first day the teachers were let into the building the summer of 2013.

It is a full-day program with 26 kindergarten students.

We get a lot of natural light. We are on the second floor with floor to ceiling windows. The colour scheme of the entire school is very neutral.

Complexity at Learning Centres

This week, I started a new process with my classroom. I told the children, that we would be having a specific time each morning in the week where they would chose a center. The difference was that once they chose that learning centre, they were to remain there for the 20 - 30 mins that I put on our class timer. (Again this emerged from a conversation I had with another Kindergarten teacher at the Documentation as Relationship conference). I was worried that both myself and the ECE I work with would spend our time policing the children. Was I ever surprised! They were entirely capable of maintaining their engagement at the centres. 

What was really made clear to me was this....

for sustained learning, there must be layers of complexity at the learning centres

Now I have heard of this concept many times when reading and listening to other educators speak. BUT, I understood it finally by watching our children interact with the centres. I noticed that one centre (the mirror area) did not have enough to deepen the experience. So I responded by moving the centre next to the light table. The next day, not a problem with sustained learning. I noticed that we made sure at each learning area there were writing tools and books. (I thought there was literacy imbedded throughout each centre, but suddenly, we could pinpoint what TYPE of literacy was needed at the different learning areas).

Our snack is free-flow and happens at a table near the classroom sink. I told the children, that if they needed a break from their learning, they could always have a drink or eat something at the snack table before returning to their learning area of choice.

I also noticed that this limited children interrupting each others learning through play. Both myself and the ECE I work with were interrupted less during this time. Our next step, will be to work with small groups at learning areas for documentation purposes or to work with individual children on classroom inquiries.

Stephanie.

Relationships

This year I attended the conference Documentation as Relationships, hosted by the Ontario Reggio Association and held at the Bishop Stachan Private School. It was a remarkable time! What I took away were many thoughts. The one most forefront in my mind is how I forget to document the relationship between student and teacher. When I grab my i-pad or camera, I'm documenting a relationship that is child to child, or child to material. I rarely document the moments of interactions between the teachers and child. Yet, it is that involvement as facilitator in children's meaning-making that is of great value to the child.

Stephanie.