Book holder

Thank you Pinterest for the super easy way to showcase books :)

What Chaos!!! not really.......

I am posting this to show how crazy our room can look when the children are in the middle of playing. Sometimes we walk through and pick up so they don't fall on things...but mostly this is what it looks like during the day. So here is what is going on. If you look at the posts that follow this one, you will see what they are doing up close. The children are usually in thier own little worlds doing their own little things. For the sole reason of blocks...they were all migrating to this part of the room. So, the two in boxes are 'floating' around in boats, and watching along with the one in the jacket. The rest are busy building a large block creation that they started. There are a few behind me in the other room....but I am always amazed, every day, that there can be 9 (there is one on the other side of the blocks) in this one small space and everyone is getting along brilliantly!! This is my testiment to the fact if given time...lots of time...kids will be more patient and more willing to sit and watch and wait and get along with each other. Their imagination will sprout much larger if given the time to do so. We play....all day. The children choose what they want to do....I love my job....I love, love, love it!

Room arrangement

I am going back to school to finish my ECE. I have already taken most of the classes needed but am about 6 classes shy of having that degree. I started last Tuesday but signed up late so had already missed 2 classes, and I have been trying to make that up. One of the books we are working out of is an awesome book! I will give you the name in my next post. It is about room arrangement. I have always had 'learning areas' in my room, but have always thought something missing. I re-arrange my room sometimes monthly trying to find the 'perfect' way. I think I have stumbled upon it with the help of this book. So far I have changed 2 areas, the book area and the science area. I will post the book area first and then I will post the science area in a bit. Our teachers exampl of what NOT to do, was put the the reading area next to a doorway and to have it open...becuase then it is too noisy and traffic will distract. Hmm....Mine is open and next to the door. My room is small. I thought about moving the reading area somewhere else, but I love how much light comes in at this spot. This is where we used to do circle time and never really thought it that bad of a spot....until now. Try not to look at the mess....but wow! What a difference!

Just adding curtains and a few plants transformed this little area into a haven! The children LOVED it! All morning they hung out in there and read!!

I also added some new pillows. The board you see in the background has the childrens pictures, their names and birthdates, and pictures of their homes. (Some haven't brought in pictures.) I covered it with plexi glass so it wouldn't get ruined. Our little 9 month old Campbell loves to go look at her parents. The other day she was kissing her dad!!!

Flowers/Mothers Day week.......Flower smashing

Here is a flower print we made by hammering flowers and leaves.First pick the flowers you would like. We had purple and red flowers and some green leaves.Lay the flowers down on a peice of paper, then place the fabric on top, then hammer away! A fun little project...."Flowers are juicy, colorful, different colors, pretty, smashing, slimey, sticky and hammery"