SEPTERMBER! SWEET SEPTERMBER!!
This can only mean one thing: school.
As we begin a whole new year, we aspire to our very best.
One goal on behalf of every child?
Strengthening their independence.
One step in the direction of greater independence?
Learning responsibility: as in, cleaning up after yourself.
One mark of a well run classroom?
"A place for everything and everything in its place."
Today I have a collection of photographs from my travels as music-lady, author-illustrator woman, from my visits to classrooms for young children across the country. The set of photos I've gathered up today are on the theme of visually labeling of shelves for materials. The time is spent on this effort in preparing a classroom so that children know where to return the materials of their exploration when they are finished using them.
This is a brilliant idea for all children.
Many of these photos come from classrooms that serve young children with special needs. A sense of order and expectation is especially helpful in such a setting. Having clear expectations of where things belong is optimal for any class where children are expected to know how to clean up after themselves.
The younger the children -- the more visual labeling will communicate where things belong -- and assist in the fostering of independence.
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| Objects to Look at with Magnifying Glass |
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I am especially fond of the crayon containers above. If you look carefully you will realize that they are 'up-cycled' containers that once held commercial icing. They have been wrapped quite simple with construction paper and then labeled with the appropriate word for the color of crayons to be housed inside. The shelves are then labeled with the spot for the crayons to be returned to when the coloring is complete. WOW. Simple really works well.
You will notice in these examples that sometimes a photo is taken of the exact basket, filled with the specific materials. Another approach is to label the shelf with a photo from a catalog with the corresponding object -- as in the 'glue' example below.
Earlier this year I had an entire article detailing the most 'organized' and labeled play kitchen that I'd ever seen in a preschool. Here's the link to that article.
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| Kitchen Center in Preschool with Visual Labels for Shelves |
Over at my blog, RainbowsWithinReach, I've had these articles in the last month, that I think would be of support as you begin your new school year. Here's a whole RoundUP of Handprint projects + poems.
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| Handprint Art Projects, Rhymes + Poems |
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| Self-Portraits: All About Me |
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| Science RoundUP |
- This is a RoundUP of Simple Science ideas suitable for both Preschool and Kindergarten aged children.
- Here's the RoundUP I created of all sorts of uses of a child's "NAME" from centers assignments and job choices to a variety of Art experiences and letter recognition projects.
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| RoundUP: 'Name' Activities + Projects |
- I'm crazy, wild about these Kinetic + Mobile Art projects gathered here in this RoundUP. It's full of three dimensional responses to Art ideas.
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| Art in Three Dimensions for Young Children |
As you may have suspected by now, I am a visual learner. I am such a HUGE fan of Pinterest and now have over 47,978 Visual Learners following my Pinterest collections.
Last month I had the idea to gather up like-minded pinners into directories for ease of locating each other. Here's the link to the directory specific to Early Childhood Education. Currently we have 241 links in this directory.
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| Pinterest ECE Directory |
Then I followed up the ECE Pinterest Directory with one specific to Kinder-Pinners. Just click here to find over 160 fellow pinners who pin from a Kindergarten perspective. By all means please add yourself to either or both of the above directories and then make your life easier and 'follow' your peers!
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| Pinterest Kinder-Pinners |
Here's to the very best year for every student!
Check back here all month as our authors shower you with ideas to get your year humming along.
-- Debbie --
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| Debbie Clement's Picture Book Collection |
Debbie Clement has written + recorded over 100 original songs for children.
She has turned 3 of her songs into traditional hard back picture books with CD inserts.
Most recently she has opened a "Teachers Pay Teachers" store in an effort to provide immediate digital downloads of her materials.
"Red, White and Blue" is now available in a 'zip file' with Mp3 versions of the song + instrumental, sign language chart and music notation with chords.
It is suitable for your patriotic observations of 9-11 through out the month of September.
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