Classroom Reveal 2016

Here we are again! I swear the school year goes by faster and faster every year. It was hard to say goodbye to last years little ones and in preschool it was just yesterday as our school year does not end until Sept.1st. It's certainly a challenge to get the classroom ready for the new students while the other students are still with us but somehow after an 11 hour work day last Thursday I am feeling ready...mostly haha! So without further ado here is my classroom reveal for the 2016-17 school year!

Upon entering the classroom this is certainly the most prominent thing you see! Nice, bright and colorful is our classroom mantel. In the basket in the middle is all of our morning meeting read aloud books. The frame to the left is going to keep track of how many books we read as a class and it's dry erase to make life easy and cut down on our paper use. The frame to the right is our quote of the day board, make sure to check if your child is featured.

 

Here is our classroom birthday board! I have been preaching to my younger coworkers that everything on the wall in the classroom needs to have a purpose. I am not a fan of a birthday board that sits there all year and nothing really happens. To me it needs to be interactive, so on the child's birthday they will get to paint their frame and we will take their picture to put inside. Then on the last day of school they will each be able to bring it home and have a memory of their birthday with their friends. 

A new edition to the classroom this year is the calm down corner. It was a challenge not to add in all my ideas from the start but I know I need to start off the year simply in this area. Right now it has a how do I feel chart and mirror to be self reflective (literally), some sensory bottles and items to squeeze and roll, choice chart, breathing chart, pinwheel to help breathe deep, books about feelings, a self esteem cube and a soft area to relax. This area gives me a place to redirect a child to if they seem to be having a hard time regulating their emotions. During the first few weeks of school we will be adopting a stuffed classroom pet whose home will be in this area. The children will then be asked to take care of the pet to help foster their empathy, compassion and care taking skills.

Here is our classroom writing center. Our writing wall is changed out often and the children are encouraged to directly write around the words on the wall. This area has pencils, rulers, stencils, letter tiles, wooden chalkboard pieces, chalk boards, dry erase boards, clipboards, letter magnets and board, popsicle stick name tags and lots of alphabet and sight word books.

 

Here is our library and literacy center! First off, I am in love with our new rug!!! Yay! : ) This area has our story books, big books, story puzzles, name tags, story wands, song cube, alphabet cards, environmental print, and a felt board with various story pieces which are switched out throughout the year. This area would not be complete without a variety of puppets such as hand puppets, finger puppets and popsicle stick puppets. Also, I just bought a big bad wolf puppet from Ikea that actual swallows the Grandma and I'm a little obsessed haha it's all about the little details! LoL

 

Here is our dramatic play area. This is my favorite area of the classroom and the one that changes the most throughout the year. Right now it is a more traditional house keeping and the children are able to role play different characters or family members. I added a tension rod to our shelf so that the children can work on using a hanger, a basic home skill which can sometimes be a challenge for little hands. Right now this area has all the usual things pretend food, plates, pots and pans, menus and cookbooks, baby dolls, cash register, assorted clothes, jewelry, accessories, cell phones, travel guides and journals to write in. Soon this area will be a pet shop, farm stand, pumpkin patch and many other things.   

Here is our updated art area. I color coded the markers, pencils and crayons adding the paint chips to show how each color has many shades. This is a great way to work not only on colors and sorting but one to one correspondence as well. I need a few more soda bottle tops to complete the yarn above each color but I just adore this idea. This area also has paper, scissors, paper punches, magazines for cutting, and a collage box. I decided to make the file folders from old books and put my stencils into them organized by season. I have had trouble keeping stencils in the past as the little ones love to cut them up so I decided to raise them up so the children will need to ask to use them and I can remind them that stencils are for tracing and not for cutting.

Our easel got a little makeover and is
much cleaner looking now!

 

The front of the easel serves as our

question of the day board. Every morning upon arrival the children will write their name

and answer a yes or no question.

 

 

Here is our science and math center. This area holds all of our manipulatives, science tools, natural materials, scale, binoculars, geo boards, geo safari (which was actually mine when I was a child, did anyone else have one of those? haha) tangram's, unifix cubes, and so much more. This area is all about exploration and we are always adding to it throughout the year.

 

Here is our sensory table! This area is another one which is constantly changing. I want to make sure every child has a great sensory diet and is able to use a multitude of vocabulary related to the senses ex. hot, cold, slimy, soft, hard etc...

 

Let's make some music! This area may be small but there is a good amount of things packed in! We have a basket of music books, boom whackers, rhythm sticks, small instruments (maracas, castanets, hand drums and tambourines) hand bells, movement cards and dancing scarves.

 

 

 

Here is our block and building area. Such a great hands on area complete with blocks in all sorts of shapes and sizes, tunnels, traffic cones, pipe builders, train sets, animals, people, vehicles, road signs, transportation books, multicultural books, a globe, pictures of famous landmarks, hard hats, clipboards for drawing their designs and construction and mechanic costumes just to name a few. On the board on the left is the challenge of the week, this week it asks the children if they can build a school.

Here is our parent wish list. Please take a cookie if you are willing to donate an item to the classroom. We are looking for baby wipes, sharpies, Crayola twistables, scrapbook paper, playdoh, fun looking duct tape and dry erase markers. Thank you!

 

I am looking forward to a great school year and can't wait to meet all the new children!!! : )

 

 

 My little gift for all my co-workers today!

Let's have a great first day!!! : )