This student independently drew a picture of his neighbourhood when we were writing in our journals.  He carefully selected shapes that are parts of a building, told me about the buildings-some stores and houses and added stairs that go to the bed on the top floor (blueprints show stairs!).

This great line….

•  The classroom should be warm and inviting to students, and the Reggio Emilia approach is to have the classroom serve as a “third teacher”. 
• the environment reflects our values as teachers, and informs and shapes the kind of learning that will happen
• consider positioning of centres (loud vs quiet), flow
• include natural materials as much as possible-in my science centre I have pine cones, rocks, twigs, leaves just a few to start off and then the children will be responsible to help build this centre
• think about large and small groupings-tables in my classroom  are incorporated into centres as well as for snack.  This way they have a multi-purpose and it reduces the amount of large furniture.  I also have no desk, but I have 2 filing cabinets one for my daybook and supplies and the other for files.
• p. 15-17 poses some reflective questions to consider in classroom set-up
• starting on p.32 some recommended learning centres are listed discussing there purpose, observation pts, material lists, furniture, and a suggestion for location.

In our classroom, my ECE partner and myself think about making it a “home like” environment where the walls have little commercial bought products, but picture frames handing where we will eventually display children’s art work.  I purchased a few plants, we are going to add some lamps to create a cozy feeling in our reading corner, and last year we had some birch branches cemented into flower pots and strung with white Christmas lights to add that outdoor feel to our science centre.  In the first few weeks we have just enough materials out, so that we can observe, establish routines in the classroom, get to know the children and their strengths, and to see what they need to develop their learning.  Some centres are permanent like building, but the items within it will change.

Once each child was done, I met with them individually to assess their knowledge of what the survey meant.  I asked them to tell me something about the survey using the word “more” and something using the word “yes”.  Almost every child told me which column had more, and which had less, using complete sentences.  I think this knowledge comes from the graph we do every morning.

Now that I know the children are capable of interpreting surveys and graphs, I decided to use a different survey.  In the Nelson Mathematics book, there is a survey that you can reproduce that says “Do you like ___ more than ___”.  I photocopied this survey and used “apple” and “banana” for the blanks.  I used stickers for those that can’t read the words.

The first group of children today enjoyed this survey too.  I left additional copies in our math centre, and a few of the children chose to do the survey during play time.

We let the bears sit on the carpet for large group instruction.  We read “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” to them.  We sounded out the word bear, focusing on the “b” sound. 

Just before our lunch time, we got each child to get one snack out of their bags.  We all sat in a large circle on the floor and had a Teddy Bear picnic.  The kids thought it was great!  While we had snack, we thought of names that started with b, sang the Teddy Bear Picnic song, and had enough time left before the bell rang to play “I Spy” for letter b’s in our room.

It was a really fun way to reinforce this letter!

On Monday, we put sand molds that are shapes into our sand table.  We had to start a list of names of the children who wanted a turn to play in it!  Their enthusiasm lasted all through Tuesday.  It remained the most popular centre in the room. 

On Wednesday, we put a turtle matching game in the water centre.  The turtles’ backs are shapes and the shape on their shells are cut out.  The children have to match the shapes to fit the shells onto the turtle.  The children loved this activity too.  Today they asked if we could take the water centre outside for recess so they could continue to play in it.  Luckily, it was a beautiful day so we could!

Tomorrow, I am going to have a “Shape Hunt”.  I cut out enough shapes for each student.  While they are outside for recess, I will hide them around the classroom so we can go on a hunt for them once we are back inside.

Today, it was a beautiful Fall day.  So, we decided to dedicate our free play time this afternoon to the great outdoors.  We headed outside with pails, shovels, balls, scoops, skipping ropes, and cars for over an hour.  I hope we have more beautiful days like this to enjoy, and to give the children the time outdoors they need.

When the morning bell rang, my teaching partner and I were already outside.  We went onto the playground early to welcome the children as they got to school, as well as speak to some of the parents.  When the bell rang, and we tried to show them where to line up to go inside. I am not sure if we had more children or parents who began to shed some tears!  It was a proud moment for those parents, but it was a scary moment for those children (and some of the parents too!).  We tried to reassure everyone that it was going to be a great new adventure, and headed inside.  A few of the children were still teary, but we were lucky….our principal came into our classroom and he assisted us in comforting the new children.  He stayed in our room until all of the children had settled in.

The rest of the day went by quickly, but by the end, we were proud of all of students.  Our Senior Kindergarten children helped the new students throughout the day with routines, and the “rules” of the room.  Our new students, once settled, became excited about being at school and enjoyed their first day of school with us.  We gave them large blocks of time to play so they could learn about our classroom.  This also gave them time to meet and interact with the other children in a non-structured, non-threatening way.

I am looking forward to tomorrow!

For the rest of the day, I tried to pay close attention to the students and how they interacted with each other.  Many of them had turned 5 years old over the summer.  I wanted to see if they come into the room with confidence and excitement, or if they would possibly be shy and quiet.  As most 5 year olds I know, they came in confident and excited.  They were happy to see the friends they had missed over the summer.  They fell back into play together as if no time had passed at all.  So, we gave them the entire day to play and reconnect with their friends. 

I think tomorrow we will give them the same opportunity.

Throughout the summer, I had picked up little things here and there.  I had collected flower petals, leaves, art supplies, books, etc…I had thought about our first week of school and what we do.

My teaching partner and I arranged to meet today.  We first discussed what we wanted our first week of school to be like for our students.  Since we became partners, we gave each other respect, and listened to one another’s thoughts and ideas.  We have had been able to do our planning together and work collaboratively for the best interest of our students.  Today, we both had the same thought…lots of play.  This would give us time to interact with all of the children, and to start to get to know them.  It was also give the new students an opportunity to feel more comfortable and secure during their first week at school.

We set up our sand table, and buried crabs with letters on them for the children to search for.  We filled our book centre with stories and picture books about school, being yourself and friendship.  Our math centre has simple math manipulatives, especially lots of blocks in it.  Our art centre has several containers filled with things children can create whatever they want to with.  The dramatic play centre is set up as a house.  On the shelves around our large carpet, we have put toys that can promote fine motor skills, as well as encourage the children’s imaginations.  We have a gas station, trucks, maps, puppets, puzzles, Lego, and other toys for the children to explore.  We will also set up our paint easel before the day begins.

After spending the day at school, I am not only ready for Tuesday, but I am genuinely excited for school to begin!