I can spend far too much money at my favourite book store, Kidsbooks.  And I often do.  As the teacher who usually gets to do story siesta (the story time before siesta, for the 2, 3, and 4 year olds), I have been doing oral stories with Waldorf wooden figurines most days, and recently some National Geographic picture-looking, and then a book.

Ah, but what book?  I have a very large picture book collection for someone who doesn’t have a baby (but, since I do have a creative writing degree, I suppose it is understandable) and while many of the books are fun to read to myself, or to one child, there are very few books that are enjoyable to read aloud over and over and over – or that can hold the attention of 25 children all at once.  My personal favourites that I simply couldn’t live through a school year without and that every household should own?

I’m coming to get you (Tony Ross)

The Little Hummingbird (Michael Yahjulanaas)

The Wrong Book (Nick Bland)

One Duck Stuck (Phyllis Root)

Lost and Found (Oliver Jeffers)

Grumpy Bird (Jeremy Tankard)

There are more, so many more, but in a pinch, these books all offer easy read-aloud-ness, they aren’t too long (but you can ask a lot of reading comprehension questions as you go to fill up more time if needed) and the children love them.  Every time.  Even in June.  Sometimes you don’t need a lot of books, just a few good ones…

Looking for resources on the best of the best picture books?  Try any of these links…

Blogs:

Picture Book of the Day

The Picture Book Junkies

And award lists:

Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards

New York Public LIbrary 100 Picture Books

Best Picture Books 2010

Newbery Medal Winners

Our writing area was moved after winter break, to a new location.  This USED to be the  block area.  I loved this area as the block area – and so did everyone else!  It was the only  area  in the school that hasn’t ever been moved around (although the materials in it often  change).  However, the dungeon and castle have taken up a large amount of the classroom,  and so in  order to get other work spaces, we had to be flexible.

I must admit, I love this space – it is the light.  Three large windows and the light changes  throughout the day.

The mailboxes were built by a friend three years ago, and are a way to encourage “note  writing”.  By Valentine’s Day, letter and note writing is usually full force, and by spring  break our four year olds will be so intensely involved with this (overall) that theirpenmanship will begin to be quite remarkable!  It’s no wonder that Reggio Emilia schools all have a message centre!  I’m looking for creative things to add in to change it up, other than the various  pens, pencils, and paper types.  Stickers don’t seem to encourage  writing…maybe labels with pre-printed words in lieu of stickers?

Over winter break, Miss Maryam and I spent a full day agonizing over how to set up the little classroom once the floors were refinished.  A pile of furniture in the corner isn’t a very inspiring start (although the shiney new floors were nice).

Going online, I was dismayed at the lack of inside-environmental photos of classrooms.  Lots of Montessori (not a good fit for the type of work we are doing) and lots of waldorf (a great fit, but unfortunately, I couldn’t find anything for toddlers – just preschool and kindergarten).  And as my computer crashed this past fall, I lost all my photos from the various schools I have toured in the past 4 years.  What is a teacher supposed to do for inspiration?

Well, we went over our observations.  Seeds of interest in the overhead projector, but we need a wall space to work with light.  Lots of interest in the rocks in the sensory room, but the teachers often struggle to keep the room open.  The lunch space was just dead space other than at lunch time.  As the last older-toddler is moving up this month, it is a class of 12 young toddlers, so we need a lot of gross-motor room.

Here’s what we came up with:

Here is our light exploration area.  There is a large white wall that we can project light onto (and eventually, we can hang a light screen here to, so children can explore either side of a shadow).  We added some saris to make it cozy.  Hanging fabric from the ceiling is always tricky, but we have some ceiling hooks from Ikea that go straight into the studs and can hold a large amount of weight, so any amount of tugging on these scarves should be safe!

The gross motor play area didn’t change much (yet) but we made a larger space for it.  The square and triangle boxes were built by a parent last year; the “soft” treehouse is an Ikea bunkbed slightly modified; and the swing comes from Ikea as well. My favourite is the soft play space under the terarium. The children have spent so much time hiding in there; it should be exciting having it be the first thing in eye’s view when they walk into the room!

I like the idea of expanding this area – maybe have “bridges” with board and tires, or combing more soft play – more pillows and blankets.  We’ve had success bringing in a lot of boxes, and that might be a good option for this area as well.  What is important to me is that gross motor development continues to be challenged inside and outside.  I’ll need to think about how to bring in climbing equipment…anyone know of any good ideas?

Finally, our sensory area.  This used to be in the water room – which we turned into the lunch room.  Not sure if this will work – but it seems having a separate room for sensory play is great for clean up, but not great for the children spontaneously beginning play…perhaps out of sight, out of mind?

The sensory play right now is focusing on rocks – little ones (that will be pooped out if swallowed) and big ones (that will not fit into mouth and throats even if they try).  While water play is still going strong, the cold weather combined with the need to continually change wet clothing has turned teachers off of water for now – it will remerge in a warmer month soon…in the meantime, we have done flour and cornstarch with some interest, but not the type of excitement water brought.  We will try various things in the upcoming month…and track it’s success.  I think the children are interested in the physical sensation of the materials, but then why not the flour?  Maybe it’s the sound of things as they pour and fall, and the flour / cornstarch was too quiet?

This year, our classes in the big class all seem to avoid construction.  It has taken an incredible amount of work to inspire building – unlike last year, when we couldn’t STOP the children from building.

Last year, forts were all the rage…and this year the Muddy Buddy class has had to construct a few forts – in the woods and in the dark room – for various reasons.  I love the inspiration in this post about cushion architecture.  After all, when children DO build, they need to incorporate sophisticated concepts of spatial understandings, weights and measures, balance, and material.

It is that time of year again…open house time.  We are only holding three this winter and spring, but I have already begun to field application phone calls.  One of the biggest questions / comments I get when touring interested families is about our outdoor space. And I never really know what to say when I get comments like these:

1. Where are the swings?

2. Where is the playground?

3. There is nothing for the children to do outside.

We have decided to remove our slide because, while we are grandfathered into playground standards, GRASS is no longer considered a safe fall space, and so a slide that is higher than 3 feet (ours is 38 inches) requires resilient surfacing.  Ironically, studies have shown that resilient surfacing (the foamy black or orange stuff in so many playgrounds) actually leads to INCREASED serious injuries such as fractures and breaks.  And round pebbles, the other option, leads to more crashing and collisions, due to digging below playground equipment.  So, in the interest of always complying with current guidelines, we are removing our slide.  I anticipate yet even more parent comments about the playscape.

Every study I have been able to find about outdoor play patterns in young children indicates that a) children need long periods of time outside in all weather; b) children enter into deeper play when they are not using ‘playground’ equipment and c) time spent in outdoor play areas actually shows that most of children’s time outside is not spent on the play equipment.

I found these wonderful blogs on playscapes that is inspiring, and I just needed to share. Click here and here.

Inspired by a posting on Baker and Astronauts, where lines and shapes were drawn in chalk on the floor, the two year old class is playing with shapes on the floor.  We have done a triangle, square, rainbow, spiral, and most recently….a door.

Interestingly, the children’s group behavior – where they sit, how they walk and run in the space – is all affected by these shapes.