If you follow my blog regularly, then you know that I have been off for a few days.
This was our first week in preschool and there was much to be done but now that school has started, I have SO much I want to share with you! Over the next few days, I will try to get caught up on all my blogging obligations and also start sharing the happenings in my preschool classroom. For this post, I want to simply share a few photos of my classroom setup in hopes that when I talk about what we are doing, you will have some sense of what the environment is like.
To begin with, it is important to remember that I have two classrooms. The photo above is my indoor classroom and the photo below is my outdoor classroom. Today, I will highlight the centers in my indoor classroom then moving on to the outdoor classroom in my next post.
The Indoor Classroom
Be sure to keep in mind that our space is very limited so I have to try and include as many different kinds of learning centers in the classroom while at the same time, keep an adequate amount of the space for the children to comfortably work within.
The Multi-Sensory Center
This is small space that has a combination of tools and supplies which I will change up periodically.
For now, we have items in the center to promote play involving magnets, lights, and felt.
Lots of small pieces in this center for the light and magnet board but my students are old enough to explore them safely.
Writing Center
I have the writing center stocked with common tools the children would explore that promotes creativity, drawing, cutting, book-making, and pre-writing skills.
Block Center
Our block center is filled with a variety of different types of blocks, cars, people, animals, and accessories.
I am still adding to the block center so some of the baskets are sitting empty but the kids haven’t been worried about it because there are plenty of materials to keep them busy for now.
There have been times when it seems the majority of my class has decided to join in on block play so it is for this reason that I set the block center up near our large carpet where we also have circle time.
Reading Center
Our primary reading center is a combination of books, puzzles, and games set up on a four sided library or bookshelf available at Guidecraft.
I like that the bookshelf has a variety of spaces to display books or other items so that I am not limited in how I use the shelf and that the shelf has wheels so I can move it easily to a new spot if I have the need.
Play House Center
The play house has a collection of really unusual dolls (donated by my mom), blocks, and fabric squares for the children to build their own furniture and set up spaces inside the house.
During our first week, I have sat with the children on occasion to show them how they can use the materials to set up their house.
But the children have had lots of their own ideas too and sometimes like to add their own dolls so I am mostly just observing the play that takes place in order to see what changes might need to be made.
This is the basic lay out of my indoor classroom. In addition to the centers, Mr. Hayden (my teaching assistant) and I provide additional materials for the children to explore at our tables each day.
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