My classroom environment is truly a labor of love for my kids. I love how the amazing and inspiring Opal School in Oregon describes their e...
Click to read this blog post and be inspired to set up your own Reggio inspired classroom.
My school is using the Art and Science of Teaching framework by Marzano to ensure quality teaching across the school. One of the aspects I have found particular important is goal setting, both professionally and for my students! I have found the framework and design questions very interesting but sometimes struggle to bring the concepts […]
My classroom environment is truly a labor of love for my kids. I love how the amazing and inspiring Opal School in Oregon describes their e...
Classroom Display Inspiration Share your amazing classroom displays on social media and have them magically appear below!Regularly add your photos to this
Phew!! It has been a summer and a half, which is why more poor poor blog has been so neglected!! Let me fill you in before I give you a room tour! I went away to Italy, Germany and Austria.. which was an absolutely beautiful holiday (where I consumed far too much pizza, pasta, ice cream and prosecco!!) Then I eventually completed (and passed, hurrah!!) my Master's Degree!! ...THEN I went to Hong Kong for a couple of weeks, where I spent far too much money on stationery!!! We even went to HK Disneyland and met a few characters! Right - now for my room tour for my 2013/14 room..... This is my door, with my cute little sign that a kiddo gave me as a leaving present; Our topic this half term is 'Into the Woods' which is why you may notice lots of forest themes! This is the view as you walk in to my room.... My role play area - with a small world table, complete with gorgeous smelling coloured/scented rice - my room smells of cinnamon and nutmeg, it is to die for!! Complete with a Gruffalo Café ... I even got to meet The Gruffalo himself!!! On each table I have a cute little photo frame with the table name (sight words to help kids with their recognition) and a writing checklist so the kiddies can use this during literacy; This is my reading area, which I added this year; You can now purchase the check list from here These are my beanie baby reading strategy posters which I am going to use this year in Guided Reading, I'll add them to my store this weekend; I also made a cute bunting using the children's favourite book covers!! I plan to add to this throughout the year as we read more books together! This is my art area, with a little Art Gallery for the kiddies work; And finally, my displays!! I've been doing a lot of reading about maths and this was inspired by a pinterest find on subatising; This is my blooms display to encourage higher order thinking and questioning - if you like it you can buy a copy here from my Teachers Pay Teachers store.. I LOVE this display and it's so useful to have up and pick questions to ask the kiddies from! I bought this brilliant pack from TpT and put a copy in each of the kiddies drawers for early finishers; This is my number bond display (again, another pinterest find!) That I absolutely love!! Our school have introduced Spanish this year, so this is my little homage to our Spanish lessons! This is my 'How are we learning?' poster so the kiddies know the noise level etc. This is my interactive numeracy table - I'll do a blog post on this soon! And finally, my literacy working wall ... I hope you like it as much as I do!! :) My resolution for this teaching year is to blog more, so hopefully I'll be keeping on top of my blog a lot more now my Master's is out the way! Finally here are a few of my 'made it's' that I'm proud of; I started collecting pringle tubs, and bought loads of washi tape out in HK to make these cute storage cans; And I also decorated this tired looking table to go in my reading area (it's not the handiest of DIY work but it will do!) ....and very lastly I'll leave you with one of my phonics 'made it's' that I love (and I didn't make most of it!!) The kiddies loved building words today!! They could not resist learning :p Dani x
Goup Boxes and Labels in the classroom
All about teaching preschool! Great ideas for preschool activities, standards-based curriculum, preschool assessments, and documentation.
Need to get kids focused and ready for the day? Set-up a DIY Question of the Day board with a drip pan and a few simple materials. Kids love reading the different questions posted each school day!
Simple to set up Maths Centre activity for home or the classroom to teach doubling ideal for use with Foundation Stage or Kindergarten.
Those who are familiar with the Reggio Emilia philosophy of education know the emphasis it puts on the physical environment of the classroom. The classroom is thought of as the third teacher, the first being the teacher and the second being their peers. I spent a lot of time thinking about the layout of my classroom and reflecting on how it worked out last year and how I could improve it. One thing that I remembered was that a lot of learning took place in our building and engineering areas! In these areas the kids learn the important life skills of planning, learning from mistakes, problem solving, collaborating, team work, creativity, dealing with disappointment, persistence, listening to others, respect, and responsibility! A lot of reading, writing and math skills are also used in these areas! Some problems we ran into last year was that there wasn't enough room, their creations kept getting knocked down, and there was no place for works in progress. With this in mind, I created larger areas for building and engineering in protected areas with no traffic. I made our library more cozy where they could relax with a good book! They will also have a listening station and big books will fill the basket in this area later. Here they will read for both pleasure and purpose. They will learn about story sequence, sight words, phonics and phonemic awareness skills! They will research and write about what they read. We have an Art Studio in our room that fosters spacial sense and 21st Century Skills needed to be successful adults such as creativity, problem solving skills, planning skills, and collaboration. They will explore many different mediums in this area. I have made art materials readily available and sorted by color. Clay is also available in our art studio area to encourage creativity and build fine motor skills. There is also a space for transient art in our art area! For now they can create using buttons. The home living area for now can be a house or a restaurant. The children will change this area according to their interests! In the past it has been a bakery, wedding cake shop, airport, veterinarian office, pet store and doctor's office. They do the creating when it changes and a lot of reading, writing and math skills are used when they do so. When they play in this area, they are role playing future jobs, collaborating and learning how to get along, share, problem solve, negotiate, and handle disappointment... all important life skills! This is our "Look Closer" area. Here the kids will see, think, and wonder! They will learn to slow down, look closer and document what they notice using writing and observational drawings and using different art mediums. For now we have rocks, shells, and things that come from trees that they are looking closer at. I have an area set up to invite the kids to explore measurement and record what they notice. Shelves have trays with many opportunities to explore math concepts... and Literacy concepts. Writing and craft materials are also available. This area is where I pull small groups and do project work with the kids. Here is our classroom where they will build their minds, muscles and imaginations and work on 21st Century Learning Skills on a daily basis! I am excited for you to see how these areas evolve based on the kids interests and needs all year long! The environment truly will be the third teacher for these kids and for me! Stay tuned for my next post about how we do things during the first week of school!
Create a classroom timeline of events! I’ve tried scrapbooks, etc., but they’re often difficult to maintain. This is a great solution ...
