classroom environment
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Cleaning and Sanitizing
So what is the difference between cleaning and sanitizing? Most people use these terms interchangeably, but they aren’t the same thing, and when it comes to preschool germs they can make a huge difference! If you aren’t familiar with the book Caring for Our Children, you’ve got to check it out. This resource is published by the National Resource Center for Health and Safety in Child Care and Early Education, and it gives recommendations for every possible health and safety topic that you could every come across while working in child care. It is an incredible resource to have on hand when you need to look up how to handle…
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Cleaning Routines for the Classroom
This time of the year is perfect for examining your routines – what worked well this past year? What would you like to change? How can you be more efficient? If you’ve got the summer off you can prepare now to put these new routines in place, and if you are in the classroom all summer long then starting new routines now will mean less stress in the fall! One type of routine that I’ve always found helpful for myself is a cleaning routine – or more specifically, a schedule of certain things to clean at certain times, or on certain days. This has always helped me make sure that…
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Friday Freebie – New Year Organization
Happy Friday! If you had to go back to work this week like I did, then congratulations! we made it to the weekend! Today’s freebie is for those of you who’s New Year’s Resolution is to get organized! These classroom labels are one of my most popular freebies, and for good reason. They’re cute, and large enough to read from a pretty good distance. Go download your set and enjoy your weekend!
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Autumn decor for the classroom
My philosophy about the classroom environment is that the classroom should feel like home. We certainly spend an incredible amount of time there, and also, I like my students to be able to interact with the same kinds of things that they come into contact with at their own homes. Since I routinely decorate my own home for different seasons, it feels natural to me to decorate the classroom seasonally too. Over the years I’ve found that if I add a few seasonal pieces to my collection each year, it is more affordable. I also do a lot of DIYing to create decorative elements. Oriental Trading has become my go-to…
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New Stuff!
I just finished putting together two new resources for the classroom and I LOVE them! I’ve been working on these for a while and I am so excited to share them with you because they are going to add value to your classroom centers! One thing that I’ve always struggled with are the wanderers – those children who have a really hard time choosing an activity, so they just kind of wander around. I also have a hard time helping children who don’t understand how to play all by themselves, you know, the kids who need to be told what to do and when to do it. I designed these…
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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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Preschool activity materials at your fingertips
I love to lesson plan (it’s one of those weird teacher obsessions), but for some reason, lesson planning never actually made me feel more organized. Then I realized that just because I had a plan in my head, it didn’t necessarily mean that I was prepared for the activity. The most stressful time of my day was always running around trying to find the supplies and materials that I needed to implement activities. The solution was so easy that I can’t believe it took me so long to figure it out – Every Friday afternoon I would gather all of the materials that I needed for the next week’s activities,…
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Planning your classroom layout
If you’ve spent any amount of time teaching young children there’s a good chance you’ve also spent a little time drooling over a classroom supply catalog. It’s a lot like pouring over the toy ads at Christmas time when you were a little kid. You know there is no way that you’ll get all of the wonderful things that you see on those glossy pages, but that doesn’t mean you can’t dream! I just found a tool from Kaplan that I could spend days playing with. It’s called My Kaplan Floor Planner. You enter the dimensions of your classroom, and then you can create floor plans using items from the…
