Whether you call the spaces within your classroom a "STEAM station," "center" or "area," a lot of thought needs to go into preparing your environment for young children. Do you have quiet areas away from areas children would like to do quiet work such as puzzles or read a book? Do you have more than one of the same toy to avoid unnecessary conflicts? How will you keep the children engaged? You will see below how we were intentional in every area of our classroom and hope you find a little inspiration for your learning space. After trying many different options in our small classroom, we decided to combine nature, science and math. This shelf is placed on the same carpet that the block shelf is on. We noticed that children naturally wanted to use items from science, nature and math with the blocks. Children enjoy building houses for bugs or iguanas or using stacking cups as a fence for horses and so on. I like to have a sense of order and to be honest and I got a little anxious when I noticed all of the pieces out and mixed together. I talked through my feelings with my assistants. I knew there were some wonderful things happening when the children were combining materials. Our www.mothergoosetime.com curriculum has marvelous STEAM station ideas in our Teacher Guide each week. The children have been inspired to then replicate a previous STEAM station or expand upon one. Knowing this, I knew there must be a way to make this work. From our discussion, we moved the shelves to the same area and took photos of the items and where they belonged. After we made this change, we brought the children into the discussion and pointed out the photo labels. Initially, we had to assist the children with clean up. We modeled how we were matching a toy to it's photo. They have since become pros at clean up. Another benefit: children are using materials they may not have thought to use otherwise. They are learning seriation and spatial awareness. They are matching. All things that lead up to solving math problems and reading. On the other side of the classroom is our library, puzzle and skill time area. We like to feature books by one author or a collection such as Dr. Seuss books. On our general shelf, we organize books into categories: religious, theme, non-fiction and general. Each month, we receive an "I Can Read" book in our curriculum box that relates to the theme we are working on. The sights words are easy and have picture clues to help the children. We use the books and the suggested activities all month long before sending the books home. The children look forward to seeing what the topic of the day is and often go there when they arrive. The curriculum is prepared and packaged into individual lesson bags, which includes the topic poster, art project and the majority of supplies needed along with skill time games. Before we leave for the day, my afternoon assistant and I prepare the room for the next day's activities. At Opening Circle and Closing Circle, we review our Core Concepts, which are also provided in our curriculum kit. Research has shown that children learn letters best by teaching them in groups of two or three, rather than the letter of the day or teaching in order from A to Z. I saved the Feelings poster from a previous Mother Goose Time curriculum kit and placed it in our Quiet Area. We designate part of a skill time session in the beginning of the year to how and when someone may want to go to the Quiet Area, how to use the materials and behaviors that are acceptable. Other special considerations we made in our classroom: I hope that you have enjoyed a little peak into our learning environment. Please share space with us also: [email protected].
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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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