This morning, as I was logging into my Feedly page, I was distracted by my own thoughts of how my classroom set up process was going. I was going through the mental checklist about what still needed to be set up and the materials that I would need to purchase to complete those tasks.
Once Feedly was open, I immediately noticed the Five-Minute Film Festival post by Edutopia. This film festival was all about Classroom Makeovers! In this particular post there were 9 featured Youtube videos that are all nicely grouped for easy viewing. All the videos are related to Classroom Makeovers, but some videos applied more to my needs.
I particularly enjoyed video number three, "How to Organize Your Classroom" from Instructor Magazine! It goes through and shows a few key components of a successful first grade classroom. The teacher in this video, Lindsay Brooks, has a very similar set up to what I have in my classroom! Seeing that Instructor Magazine thought highly enough of her organization to feature it in a short film, made my confidence in my classroom set up soar!
Here is the video!
As teachers are going back to school to get ready for the year,I thought that I would add my two favorite tips for a successful Kindergarten classroom set-up to the list too!
- Always keep centers divided from each other.
- In my classroom I use the furniture in a particular center as a divider. For example, the cabinet that the games and puzzles are kept in, is the divider from the games and puzzles rug and the calendar carpet. The reading and the writing centers are divided by a meeting table where I am usually located during center time to help guide both centers.
- Label materials.
- All of the bins of supplies in my classroom have a label. The teacher area, has a label. The student areas have a label. Book boxes, calendar supplies, desks, chairs, etc. - All have labels! Create a literary rich environment! Teach kids to recognize and spell basic everyday words without trying to hard!
Get those rooms set up and organized! It is almost time to go BACK TO SCHOOL!
Borovoy, Amy Erin (aka VideoAmy). "Five- Minute Film Festival: Classroom Makeovers to Engage Learners". Posted 18 Jul 2014. Accessed 21 Jul 2014. http://www.edutopia.org//blog/film-festival-learning-spaces-classroom-makeovers
Scholastic. "How to Organize Your Classroom, from Instructor Magazine". Posted 23 Sep 2013. Accessed 21 Jul 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdmI4K5wJu4&list=PLvzOwE5lWqhQ8D0m_371INljdki3RcVRb&index=4
No comments:
Post a Comment