1. Math
We decided that we wanted to encourage proper use of these materials and my ECE teaching partner had a wonderful idea to place them in separate containers.
To be honest, this idea was absolutely brilliant!
Students can easily find the connectors and automatically are sorting while cleaning up. We discuss that we are sorting as they work, “What is your sorting rule?” and all of the children can answer. These buckets also take half the space on our shelves to store so if storage space is limited this is an added bonus!
2. Writing
This week we searched for specific examples from children in our classroom for each of the writing goals. Most of them are posted but not all. Once they are we will discuss this together with the class and learn together how we learn how to write!
We recently changed the layout of our classroom and now we have a writing area of our classroom where we can display all of our writing tools permanently close to students individual writing bins. It has been easier for students to reference their personalized writing resources by doing this which we are grateful for.
If you want to see the labels that I used, you can check them out by clicking here or on the second image below this text.
3. Writing
4. Building
I am always amazed how students use materials differently when presented with additional objects to their play.
Here we added a few wood slices to the table with the Lincoln Logs. Many children ignored them but one student in particular found them to be a challenge! They created a “wall” all around the outside of the wood and then added a roof, using another wooden slice, to their building! At clean up time, he wondered how many of the small pieces needed to be removed for the wooden slice to fall down and collapse the building. We used long sticks to do this to prevent pinched fingers! It was a great inquiry!
5. Outdoor Learning
One of our team went to a local phone company and asked for their old, obsolete phones that they do not sell anymore. This is a great way to add to your outdoor learning collection without having to spend any money while making an addition to your dramatic play outdoors!