Math Area

At this point in the year, I set out an assortment of materials that will invite students to explore the math area. They are free to take the materials to the table or the small carpet.

I took the doors off the play kitchen set fridge and use it as shelf storage for the math area.

I consider durability when putting out my first type of loose parts at the math area. 

These wooden numbers were picked up from a Farmers Market by a colleague of mine a few years ago. Again, there are no explicit instructions to the students at this point about how to use the materials. It is an invitation to show their thinking.

Literacy

Here are some photographs that show the literacy areas in the classroom (not all of them).

The writing area. Here there are clipboards, dictionaries, pencil crayons, alphabet magnets, letter puzzles, letter builder sticks, sight-word/ABC signs and paper. Eventually, this is where the SK independent reader books are kept as well as JK/SK writing folders. (There is a fine motor task box on the far left with plastic shapes and clothes pins)

These are the Independent reading bins levels 1 - 8. Below is the pocket chart that in September we use for poems and/or "The Special Helper is...." with name cards. Eventually it's where students will place their name cards.

At the start of the year we have name tags with clips for the students to wear at entry time. The SKs are encouraged to write their name on a large chart paper (it's behind the easel). 

This is where we store the Borrow-A-Books. It's also the storage for the Thursday Folders, extra notes, name tags and (eventual) name cards.

Here is my 'under-construction' book area. This is a "problem" that I will be asking the students to help co-create with me. (i.e., "What do you think of the book area? What else should we put there?"). The frog and snake are weighted toys to support self-regulation.

Light Table

Here are the materials I've put out for initial exploration at the light table. Storage for this light table has always been a bit tricky for me. This year I'm trying out this Ikea tray divided into compartments with Dollorama clear containers. We'll see how this goes.

Art Studio

Here is how I've set up the Art Studio for students this year. The wonderful thing about having returning students (this years SKs) is that they already know the expectations and routines around the learning areas. To establish continuity from last year to this year, the Art Studio resembles the layout it had close to the end of the last year. There are fewer choices of materials available, and it will grow and change as the students use the space and as I learn what they need/want to expand their creativity.

Many of the containers are from Ikea and Dollorama. 

The puck paints are placed inside metal muffin tin containers.

The liquid paint and glue on the top shelf are not accessible to the students (they ask for this).

All other materials in the Art Studio are accessible to the students.

The glass jars on top are loose parts that are displayed (not accessible to students).

Stephanie.

September Start Up

I finally remembered to take photographs of my classroom when it's set up for the first day of school. I've divided the photographs into posts by learning areas of the classroom.


There are some areas of the classroom where I set up 'teacher materials' I thought I'd share. In my school we have access to Board Maker, a great program that helps supports all learners.

I don't have a traditional desk in my room. Instead I have a storage cart (originally called an art cart I think) that I use, tucked in behind the math area.

This is the Meeting Area in my classroom. On the left you can see the daily schedule, it also uses the Board Maker picture symbols. I divide it between morning and afternoon. The green disk on the carpet is a sitting cushion for students who need sensory feedback.

Finally, here is the view of my classroom from the entrance. 

Stephanie.

Crafts Vs. Open Studio

For the past few years, the Art area in my Kindergarten classroom has been designed with the students in the classroom. There are some basic materials out in the first few weeks, but then I choose to ask the students what materials they need. This honours what they are interested in. It gives them ownership over the materials and the space. It takes away the "pain" of having to clean up the area at the end of each day because every student knows where each material goes.

I make sure to spend time talking about the tools and the materials at the Art Studio. We do have times where I have a lesson to explain an Art technique or an important new tool. Once explained, the students are free to access them independently. For example, paint is always available (I prefer to to use puck paint water colours). The students know how to use the brushes, how to get the water/change water, and how to clean up when finished.

Here are some photographs of the children exploring with paint independently in September. I plan to take some photographs of how I have the Art area set up for each week in September, to see the transition and how it will change based on what students I have in my classroom.

I am okay with a little chaos in their creation!

Stephanie.

Clean Up

"Can we leave the learning area like this for tomorrow?"

This is the question that one student asked that began an entire classroom discussion around our learning areas this past year. When I asked them why they wanted to leave it, they said that they didn't want to forget what they had been doing. Made sense to me and so I agreed but told the student that they would have to share their idea with everyone else during our end of day sharing circle.

Here's where it got interesting. Many students were excited to hear they could keep their work at a learning area. However, on their own they came to the conclusion that it wouldn't work for all learning areas in the classroom.

The playdough and art studio would always need to be cleaned up.

The drama area, math area and discovery areas didn't necessarily need to be cleaned up.

But what did 'clean up' mean?

I challenged the students to think critically about how they would leave their work at a learning area.

Could all the materials be left out?

No, the children concluded, because then the next person wouldn't know where to start. You have to leave it with materials ready for someone else to join in, or for you to continue the next day. A consensus had been made, and next day we tried it out.

Suddenly, students began to write signs to explain what they wanted to leave at a learning area for the following day. They talked amongst themselves during clean up time, making decisions over what needed to be put away and what could be left out. It began an entirely new level of negotiation that did not require adults.

It was very interesting to watch some students adjust easily to this new idea and other students struggle with it. There were a few students who prided themselves as being 'good cleaners' who always went to different learning areas and cleaned them up. Suddenly, they couldn't do that anymore...they had to listen to others and negotiate where they could help instead of simply coming in and "cleaning up".

Here are some photographs of how the learning areas were left by students under this new idea of cleaning up our classroom.

Stephanie.

The Drama Area

The Light Table

The students had created their own learning invitations.