It is one of my favorite times of the year. Back-to-School time! I love a fresh start, and back-to-school time provides just that. The curriculum that we use makes it easy to prepare for the first week and beyond. Let me walk you through our room. Our enrollment DOUBLED from last year! God is amazing. Not only did he bring us through COVID-19 scares, regulations, virtual learning-hybrid learning, and so on, he helped us THRIVE and double in size. Wow. This summer, two members of our Parish volunteered to paint our classroom. They are not retired, either. They have careers and a growing family. We are so very thankful that they shared their time and talents with us. To prepare for painting, we had to move everything to the center of the classroom. Then our carpets were steam cleaned, so that meant we had to relocate everything to the linoleum. With a fresh "new" classroom on the horizon, I began to think of how we would work, play, sleep and eat in this space, especially since we had twice the amount of students we had last year. I also thought about what bugged me about last year's classroom design. Children meet in this area upon arrival for a table activity (usually handwriting), then the Pre-K group meets here for skill time in the morning and afternoon. The Preschool group meets across the room. There are eight language and literacy skills and 14 goals; embedded in the curriculum. Experience Curriculum provides the lessons, materials, and assessment tools for us each month, so no more lesson planning on the weekends! Experience Early Learning is influenced by the best educational philosophies in the world, one of which is Reggio Emilia. Our art experiences very much reflect the Reggio way of inviting children to the art table and the process that ensues from there. Watch for a post of this soon! I prefer to sort our materials according to color in glass jars as I have done in the past, "COVID" requirements have changed that. The children are learning responsibility and name recognition (not just their own!), so not all bad has resulted from the change. Most of our furniture is pushed against the wall this year, and it seemed to work during the first week of school. Our science, nature, and health area are in one section, leading up to the teacher chair and concept wall. Children had more space to make their own on the carpet, and we could spread out for dancing and singing during Circle Time. I cannot wait to highlight our STEAM stations in future posts! Experience Early Learning provides a source of deep, meaningful learning, across all domains. We alternate movement and sitting down activities at Circle Time to increase the oxygen flow to the brain and lengthen attention spans. The block area is on the same carpet area as many other centers. The new classroom layout has allowed children to spread out and play on the floor without being too crowded. The newer organization of this area has made it easy for the children to use. It flows nicely into our "Jesus Time" area also. We listen to Bible stories, sing Christian songs as we gather around the crucifix and fireplace. Our monthly curriculum arrives separated into a Teacher Bag, Circle Time bag, and daily lessons. We place the lesson bags into the labeled drawers, post the weekly lesson plan and monthly curriculum map and hang up our new concept posters. I hope you liked this quick classroom tour! Watch for more posts on specific themes and activities.
Resources: Paint: Inspired by Magnolia Paint (It is Well) Learning posters: Experience Early Learning Decorations: Schoolgirl Style's Woodland Whimsy Hobby Lobby: backgrounds, lanterns Dollar Tree: Butterflies, tissue poms
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AuthorSheila Anderson has over 25 years experience in the Early Childhood Field and still loves going to "school" everyday. Archives
January 2022
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