Yes, I did actually start teaching full-time this year!

So, of course I got all excited about my new full-time teaching job and set up a blog to share with you all the details.  THEN........I didn't blog.  For a long time.  Because, life happens.  I am realizing it is a very busy transition to go from staying home full-time to working full-time.  And in addition to doing that, I am currently rehearsing for a play that I will be performing in October along with four other lovely ladies and also taking a graduate class.

I am not sure where to start with sharing everything I want to share.  It may end up being a really random string of posts that seem disjointed.  But, since I'm the blogger, I can be random if I want.  haha

I guess I'll start this back-to-school post by sharing some photos of my classroom.  It took many, many hours and a lot of rearranging to get it where I wanted it.  However, I am pleased with the result.  As I may have mentioned before in an earlier post, we follow the Creative Curriculum.  So, I am required to have certain interest areas available in my classroom.

The photo below shows my dramatic play area.  I have a play kitchen that I made this summer out of an entertainment center.  The second photo shows it better.  It turned out really cute.  The littles play with it every single day.  

The tall doors on the left open to shelves with play food, dishes, etc.

These two shelves and the bead table are part of the Toys & Games area.  The table at the very edge of the photo is actually slid back to right between those shelves in the open area.  I just moved it for the photo.

I wanted a lot of space for children to build so my Block area is right next to where we meet for group.  You can't see it in the photo, but there is another shelf full of wooden unit blocks.

Sand and water play is a required part of our classroom.  Right now I just have garden sand in the table.  It is kind of a pain to change it out, so we will probably have it out for most of the year.  The littles love it.

This is my Library area.  I will write another post about the couches and chair.  I slip-covered them because the ones I inherited were all torn up and did not fit into my color aesthetic for the classroom. ;-)

Art Shelf---------A beginning

Sorry for being absent around these parts for so long.  I have now finished all the enrichment camps that I held at my home this summer.  I have also finished my graduate class.  YAY!!  So I will hopefully have a bit more time to post about the progress I've been making.

I did work in my classroom today and made a lot of progress (the custodian finally moved out all the stuff I wanted out!!!) but forgot to bring my camera.  DOH!

So........I'll share a couple of photos of the art shelf I set up last week.  It's a work in progress.  I prefer a different kind of shelf, but I am grateful for getting this one and am determined to make it work.  It came with some different white baskets that completely filled the openings.  I prefer to have all the materials easy for the children to view and access, so I replaced those baskets with smaller ones and some wooden bowls I've thrifted.  I do think this looks so lovely.  I had a lot of inspiration from my new favorite blog, Fairy Dust Teaching.  You HAVE to go check it out.  Such loveliness!

The empty spaces are for glue and possibly some other things I haven't decided yet.  I really love having all the open baskets for collage materials.  And the jars of crayons and markers sorted by color on top I love too!  I like the idea that this will require the children to sort by color every time they return crayons or markers to the shelf.  I haven't ever displayed the colors like this, so I'm excited to see how it works out.

Another afternoon in the classroom

Well, I spent another afternoon in the classroom today.  I did not take any new photos of the room layout because it doesn't look a whole lot different than the last ones I posted.  I did rearrange things a bit, though.

I got good news from my new principal that I can store some of the items I don't want in the room elsewhere in the building.  I was VERY happy about this and hope that they are all moved out by the time I get back there on Monday.  That will really help me start to visualize the space a lot better.

I organized the office supplies in my desk and was thus able to empty a few more boxes, so that was good. There are just so many various boxes and so much visual clutter in the classroom that it's overwhelming.  I find it difficult to focus with so much disorganization.  I am certain that the same can be said for children in many of today's elementary classrooms that are plastered with materials, posters, and other visual clutter.  I am actually doing my final project for my college class this summer on that very topic.  I am very passionate about classroom design and hope that my vision for this new space can be actualized.

I did snap a few photos of a bead-stringing activity just to illustrate a bit of what I think about when displaying materials on a shelf.  So, here you go..........

This first photo shows how materials are typically displayed in an early childhood setting.  There is not anything inherently wrong about this.  The storage container is neatly labeled with a photo and nicely contains the materials.  

The photo below shows how I prefer to display materials.  Do you notice that the materials themselves (in this case the colored wooden beads) compete with the bright yellow of the tub for visual attention?  In the wicker basket, the colors of the lovely beads themselves draw your eye to the materials, making you want to explore further. 

Another thing to note here is that oftentimes it seems that way too much of a given material is displayed at a time.  The tub shown above was nearly half full of beads and had about 10 tangled bead strings lying on top in addition to a rubber-banded batch of pattern cards.  This can make for an overwhelming activity for the child who takes the beads off the shelf.

In contrast, the wicker basket holds fewer beads and has two bead strings.  At the beginning of the year, I wouldn't even add the pattern cards to the basket.  I like to have a variation of bead-stringing out on my classroom shelves all year round.  I change the beads out to reflect seasonal or holiday themes and colors.  I also start the year with larger beads, and swap them out for smaller ones later in the year when the children's fine-motor skills are more refined. I would then also add the pattern cards later in the year.