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Storing and Organizing Loose Parts
Organizing all of those loose parts is important because they are usually smaller objects. If you don’t keep on top of that organization you can easily have a great big mess of loose parts. Here are some of the strategies that I’ve used to keep my loose parts organized; Bins with drawers – these are perfect because you can choose the size of drawer that works best for the items you need to store Tubs with lids – when I buy tubs with lids I’m very intentional to purchase the ones that my materials will fit in best. Storage space is a hot commodity and I hate to waste it…
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Where to find loose parts
As preschool teachers, it’s in our nature to hold onto things. We just can’t help it, we might be able to use that for something! I know how deep this runs, I’ve been out of the classroom for almost two years now and I still have a collection of empty containers in one of the cabinets in my office – they might come in handy one day! Collecting loose parts plays to this piece of our “hold onto that” mentality. The most difficult thing about loose parts is that you often need a fair amount of whatever item you want to use. You need enough that the children can actually…
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Loose Parts Inspiration
I am a huge fan of loose parts for a couple of reasons; They encourage creativity – if you give five children a basket of pebbles, a bucket of twigs, and a collection of old keys they will all find different ways to use the items. They are easy to gather – loose parts are usually natural or recycled. They won’t cost you a lot of money and often the children can be involved in collecting them, which motivates them to explore these items after they’ve been gathered. They fit into so many different centers – use your loose parts as counters in your math center, materials for exploring weight/volume/mass…
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Friday Freebie – Open House Signs
Happy Friday! I’m all about natural decor for the classroom, I’ve shared this preference often! There’s one popular material that has made it’s way into my room in more ways that I ever could’ve imagined is burlap. It’s versatile, it’s pretty cheap (especially if you can find it at the home improvement store), and it holds up really well to children who are not always gentle. If you love burlap, and general rustic loveliness, this freebie is for you! These beautiful Open House Signs are from Allyson Sutton. It looks like she’s given you everything you need to organize your welcome back night. Even if you’ve already started school, make…
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Color Palettes
I’ve written a lot about classroom design this week, so I wanted to share one of my favorite sites for inspiration, have you checked out Design Seeds?! Don’t click on that link unless you’ve got time to waste, because I guarantee that it will suck you in! The site is a collection of color schemes inspired by photographs. They are fascinating and I could spend hours exploring the different combinations. My favorite thing about the site is that it will let you choose a color, and then give you all of the different palettes that include that color. This makes it really easy to find color schemes that go with…
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Decor Inspiration
Yesterday I promised to share the classroom photos that I’ve been drooling over. I’ve gathered these from all kinds of different places and I’ve tried my best to find the original sources for all of them, so please click the links to check out other amazing, inspiring decor ideas! I love the use of color and the awesome alphabet on that beautiful green wall! KLA Schools North Bay These bare walls feel anything but institutional – and I have that exact teal cart in my home, but that’s not the point… Kids Collective Preschool This room feels so homey and comfortable! Charlestown Nursery School This is 100% my dream classroom,…
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Classroom Decor
I have honestly gone back and forth on whether or not to publish this post, because I know teachers who feel very strongly about both sides of the issue, but I decided to go for it. My thoughts on the classroom decor debate shouldn’t be a surprise to those of you who have followed Preschool Ponderings for a while. It’s no secret that I am a huge advocate for the Reggio Emilia approach, and my own personal opinions about classroom decor are closely aligned with Reggio teachings about the environment. But as you read this please remember that my opinions are just that – my own personal opinions. This is…
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Psst!
Did you hear?! Teachers Pay Teachers is doing it again – they’re having a second back to school sale! Today you can get special discounts on any of those items that you need to start the school year (or those things that you wish you’d had when you started a couple of weeks ago). Make sure to head over to TPT and make some of those purchases that have been sitting in your wishlist – if you are in need of inspiration, here are some of the posts that I’ve done about items on my own wishlist: Back to School Wish List 2016Back to School Wish List 2015Back to School Wish…
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Friday Freebie – Back to School Teacher Gift
Happy Friday! The week really flies by when I’m as busy as I have been lately, if this whole back to school season has snuck up on you just a little too quickly I have the perfect freebie for you today. The very first product that I ever purchased on Teachers Pay Teachers was an editable planner from A Modern Teacher (it was completely worth it, and if you’re in the market hers are beautiful!), and to this day I still turn to her when I really want to up my game. This gift tag freebie is beautiful, and comes with an easy idea for a teacher gift that is…
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Cleaning tips
I spent most of today cutting out things that had been laminated, and when I was done my scissors were full of sticky lamination adhesive and I could barely use them. Do you want to know my trick for cleaning sticky scissors? Clorox wipes. I’m not joking, if you carefully rub the wipe along the blade of the scissors over and over, all of the sticky stuff will come off. Since I’m sharing that random cleaning tip, here is another post that has even more great cleaning tips for the preschool room: Getting rid of preschool stains What are your secret cleaning tips?
