Pages

Saturday, August 27, 2016

Creating an Environment that Teaches: New Beginnings

I get very excited in August to create a beautiful, homey and inspiring new environment for me and my new kindergartners. Each year I look at my room as a blank slate and wonder, "How can I create an environment that inspire kids to explore, look closer, wonder and learn because they want to. How can I create an environment where they will want to take risks and try something new?" Then I get to work! The creative side of me loves this process! 

Literacy, Math, Science and Social Studies will naturally happen in every area of the room, but this year I have divided the room into specific areas. 

Here is the Art Studio area of our room. Creative Thinking is one of the 21st Century Skills that people need to be successful. This is one of many areas that fosters this along with Critical Thinking, Problem Solving and Collaboration skills! We have easels for painting and other art media such as oil/chalk pastels, charcoal, markers, liquid water color, etc. 


These shelves store materials often used in our art studio. They are easily accessible to both students and me!  As of now they are off limits. I will slowly introduce them to each material and set them out for art provocations at one of our tables or the easel. If kids want to use materials like glitter, feathers, pom poms, and pipe cleaners they can bring me a plan to show me what they need the materials for to get permission to use them. 


Our rolling cart has tempura paint in ketchup/mustard bottles I found at Sam's club on the top. These squeeze the paint out more slowly than the bottles the paint comes in so they can squeeze out only what they need. This will foster independence in the art area. As of now they are off limits until I model and we practice how to squeeze out an appropriate amount. The second shelf has been changed to only have everything they need for watercolor painting including black Sharpie markers, water color pallets brushes and jars for water. 




An area for sculptres is also part of our art studio. Right now we have clay available. Other materials that may be used for sculptures may be wire, playdough, pipe cleaners, or recyclables. The shelves are for displaying their sculptures. Creating sculptures is also a great way to work those finger muscles to develop the fine motor skills needed for writing.


A loom is also available to create art. We will be working those fingers muscles as we weave items from nature and materials we find in our room to create something beautiful!


Extra easels that can be moved to a table top if needed for a provocation or observational drawings/paintings. 


Here is the science area of our room. Right now I have loose parts on one side but as kids bring things to our room from outside or home for us to explore and look closer at. This table will be dedicated to those interests. 


On the other side I have an invitation for kids to look closer and explore. Since I do not know their interests yet, I set out rocks and crystals since they usually love all things colorful and sparkly! If they show major interest and start wondering about this, then we will dig deeper and start an inquiry. If not, I will set out something else to see if it will grab their interest. 


Here is our Literacy Area. We have materials for reading, writing and exploring literacy concepts. 


In the library they will be able to explore stories and non fiction. Writing materials, paper and clip boards are available if they want to write about their favorite parts of stories, their own stories, or something they thought was interesting from an informational book! Later writing paper and blank booklets will be added. 



This table is for exploring literacy concepts. Right now it is set up to explore alphabet books, letters and the lines that create letters. After letters this could change to exploring names, or sight words, word families, etc.  This is taking the place of my old literacy trays.


Here is our building/engineering area. On this side of the shelves we have building blocks and loose parts.  Clipboards with paper for plans are available to incorporate writing or stories about their creations. Many, many math and science concepts are explored in this area!


Books about building and Archetecture are also here for inspiration.


Here are skills they use in our building area that I posted on he wall.


On the other side of our shelves is where our engineers like to hang out. Right now it only has Legos. As they get better at working together, getting along, problem solving, and handling disappointment as a friend has something they want or need, other materials will be added such as K'Nex, Magnetix, and marble runs. 



Books about engineering and creating are also here for inspiration. 


Here are some skills they learn in the Engineering Area that I posted on the wall.


Here is our Math Area.



These shelves hold our math manipulatives and some loose parts such as shells, buttons and glass beads. This was purposely put by our meeting area so kids could have plenty of floor space when exploring these materials. 


This table will have math provocations for kids to explore different math concepts. Right now it has materials to explore measurement.  


We also have a Dramatic Play Area. Right now it is a kitchen, but this is an area that encourages some pretty great projects! 21st Century Skills, along with writing, reading,many math skills are often used as we change this space into something else. It has been a bakery, space station, beauty shop, Docters office, animal hospital and a haunted house! I can't wait to see what hey turn this area into! 


Here are skills they learn and use in this area that I posted. 


Our last area of our room is our Craft/Engineering Area. This used to be a writing area but all they have ever wanted to do here were crafts and engineering style creations. If you can't beat them, join them, right? Here they will use writing to create plans to get approval to use certain materials like paper tubes, feathers, pipe cleaners, tooth picks, cotton, cotton swabs, boxes, construction paper and any other recyclables that come our way! The materials are all visable and easily accessible. 



Here is the room as a whole!



Tools are at each of the tables also. At some point, the different areas of our room will grow to include these tables for invitations to learn and explore!


Now that the room is finished, we will see how the students respond to it! That will be in the next post about how we begin our year. Stay tuned!

29 comments:

  1. Darla, this is beautiful ... It has been an inspiration to see how your room has evolved from year to year. Thank you for sharing in such detail! It has given me several good ideas for tweaking my own environment! Something I'm struggling with at the moment is wanting to have an open space for circle/meetings and still having enough room for all the interactive materials areas. Your round tables for 6 are fabulous! Keep sharing! I can't wait to visit sometime soon! :) Ana

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Ana! My meeting space is smaller this year. I think I am going to try to let some kids sit at the two tables closest to the meeting area. If it doesn't work, I will have to push those tables back and closer together which will be a bit squishy!

      Delete
  2. Amazing!!!! :) I love the details and thought behind every area!

    ReplyDelete
  3. You are inspiring!!! Just found your Blog this summer and I am loving your room and posts. Where did you get the What We Learn posters? Would love to share with parents and have displayed in my room. You are amazing!!!! Thanks. Cathy

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks for being a constant source of inspiration!! Also wondering if you created the "What We Learn..." posters or if you could provide me the source? I would love to share with families, admin., and other visitors!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Darla your space is SO inspiring as usual! I'm going to refer back to it often I'm sure as I set up my space this coming week! Thank you so much for sharing!

    Yukari
    A Pinch of Kinder

    ReplyDelete
  6. Your space is so inspiring!! Thank you for sharing :) I am wondering if you open all of the centres to the students right away or if you open them slowly over time and teach about each area before the kids play there. I am always interested in how other teachers start their year!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Sarah! Thank you so much! I open each area but have the kids rotate through them for the first couple weeks and limit the materials as they get use to taking care of the areas and cleaning them up. Each area will only have a few materials for them to play with and as they take care of them and show responsibility, I add more.

      Delete
  7. Clip boards for planning how to use the resources...writing and thinking and visualizing...I am in awe! I want to share with you in return! Gratitude! Have you come across this book? "A Place for Wonder" It makes me think of your spaces. https://www.stenhouse.com/content/place-wonder Thanks for all you share. You must be so proud and so excited for those little ones to join you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you so much for all of your kind words! I will have to check out "A Place for Wonder." Have a wonderful year!
      Sincerely,
      Darla Myers

      Delete
  8. Oh how I look forward to your posts, Darla.
    Fabulous as ever - I would love to be a child in your class!

    - Rachel (",)
    http://stimulatinglearning.co.uk/

    ReplyDelete
  9. I just adore your classroom, thank you so much for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  10. How did you make your rotatable crayon holders?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I got the "lazy susan's" from IKEA and used a permanent adhesive from Lowes or Home Depot to glue glass jars to it. I just put the other baskets and cups in the middle and they stay since the jars won't move! They work great!
      Sincerely,
      Darla Myers

      Delete
  11. Wow! You are such an inspiration! I found your blog this spring when I decided to switch to K and I love everything you post! Thank you so much and I can't wait to see more (and try some myself!)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you so much for your kind words! Good luck this year!
      Sincerely,
      Darla Myers

      Delete
  12. I would love to do this but with three kids with moderate to severe autism and two with ADHD this room would be destroyed in minutes so I have barely any materials or visuals out

    ReplyDelete
  13. I would love to do this but with three kids with moderate to severe autism and two with ADHD this room would be destroyed in minutes so I have barely any materials or visuals out

    ReplyDelete
  14. You have a wonderful classroom, Darla! Do you every do any presenting? I am on a Kindergarten Board and we are planning an upcoming conference. Your ideas would fit in perfectly. Email me if you would like more information! Thanks! -Katie katiezuehlke@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  15. Hi Darla,

    I would love to ask you a few questions about your daily schedule. I have been struggling to create a schedule that allows for planning and thinking time as well as open exploration with all of the other activities (library, music etc.) that can interrupt our learning time. If you can share any of your scheduling ideas or your schedules, please email me at rachmontague@hotmail.com Thank you so much! You continue to inspire and push me each time I come across something new on your blog :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Rachel! I will email you some of my schedules!
      Sincerely,
      Darla Myers

      Delete
  16. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Hi Darla-thank you for all your inspirations! I was just wondering about snack and lunch times; do you have a self-selected snack set-up and do your kids eat lunch in your room? I like to set up lots of provocations, but also have to be able to tuck them away easily so our tables can be made available for snack and lunch; how do you manage the whole "eating" part in your classroom? Thanks! Debbie

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We don't have snack time because we can't store food in our rooms due to mice! Our lunch in in a cafeteria, but we do have breakfast in our room. I am lucky that I have a huge room so I have tables that we use for eating and writing, and I still have lots of tables and spaces for invitations and provocations. Sometimes, I do have things set up on the tables, but they are in the middle or in front of a seat that no one sits at. I have a lot of shelves also that hold materials they can take to the tables. I have seen rolling carts at IKEA that could hold materials next to the table that might work for you also! Good luck!
      Sincerely,
      Darla Myers

      Delete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.