Well, one year into writing my blog I finally have time to put up some current pictures of what is happening around my classroom so you can see what it looks like! This first picture is my students names and letters. They have to add the letter their name begins with and then add their whole name to the photo of themselves. This is what they do right after they hang up their coats and backpacks.
I have a photo of each child and they are hanging their name by it each day. We switch their photos around to challenge them!
After signing in my students have morning reading time while we wait for the all school pledge. I have pictures from around the room that show our table activities and our centers.
My adorable calendar is from Erin at Creating and Teaching! I love her stuff! It is the cutest!!!
This is one of our giant tables! When we moved into a new school, we were given them so I have smaller stations at each instead of one large center. It works well. I am so used to it I would not know how to use the smaller tables any more! This first one is our art table and the side at the top of the photo has sensory and a bingo game for 2! In the background you can see our sand sensory table.
This is the other large table. We put out partner activities or individual station work. As my students complete these activities they raise their hand to show us their work so that we can assess them as they work and play. This table has a variety of writing and fine motor activities as well as math work.
This table is always divided into two parts. The snack table is one side that is not pictured here. The other side is our "books in action" seats that have props from our book program. This sit often has props, costumes, and activities to accompany a book we are teaching. The books all have a social emotional theme. The preschoolers love these spots and they are always full!
Here is the other side of the table where snack happens. In the morning it is self selected. We provide fresh fruits and veggies and use leftover snacks too. The students get to decide if they like the snack and then vote by putting their photo in the thumbs up cup or the thumbs down cup. They really like this and always want to know if others are liking or not liking the snack.
This is the writing table. Each seat has a mat and the alphabet on it. We use thematic cutouts, colored paper to go with the season, sandpaper letters, and lots of fun things to practice writing! It is a very popular seat and is always very messy. I know that the mess usually is a good gauge of how much they wrote and got into their work! I try hard to remember that when continually cleaning it up after children leave and forget their trash or even their creations!
These are the science shelves. The children in my class have to get a small plain rug to roll out to use these on the carpet. They can take those during free choice time. Once they finish these they raise their hand and show me what they accomplished. During assessment on these activities I might ask thought provoking questions or just basic labeling questions to see what animals they can name and what they know about the animal. We have plants in the are to for the children to take care of. books are also found here that go with the topics.
The other shelves in the room have math and language and blocks. This is the language shelf. Normally we have a large alphabet puzzle here too but it is on another spot right now.
This is one example of a seat activity that someone raised their hand to show me. They have word cards for the season that they can use to practice writing. Using the dry erase board is very satisfying because the student can erase and retry as many times as they wish. It has been a very popular activity as many of my students are now turning 5 and love to write!
Right now we are circulating my two favorite "homework" activities. I do not like traditional homework especially for a preschooler. I think pencil and paper homework for a three year old is sort of crazy!!! With that said, I have chosen to find fun ways to get my students excited about doing fun homework. We have a math jar that goes home with everyone. Each night one student takes it. They form a "collection" and then bring it into share, sort, and count.
Here is our most popular homework- Hazel the Hippopotamus! Each child takes her home to take care of her. They love her and all of the students so far have done a great job. This is fun for the whole family and some of my mothers have liked it more than their child!!!
Well, that is it for now! I will post more here again soon. Sorry it took a year! I promise to update it more than once a year from now on!
