My plan is to bring a wide variety of things for Adam to choose what HE wants to do that day, rather than what I think we should do.
The picture above is of my home made light box! I'll be adding another light I believe, but this will work for now. Light boxes are AWESOME for exploring the world around an active toddler or child. The lights allow the child to see the difference between clear and solid objects, as well as making some really neat colors glow! I got this idea from another blog, I took a clear plastic box, bought a little push LED light from Lowe's, put a piece of paper beneath the clear box so as not to destroy the child's eyes with the LED, and voila! I have a light box! I spelled "neat" above with the little glass beads. ^.^
These are Dollar Tree foam pages that we can use for activities, or our Mandala's. Each of the colors came in sets of two, so we can use one full piece of an activity and the scraps from the Mandala, for other activities. ^.^
Teachers LOVE mixed media! I am one of them! This is my box of somewhat mixed media. I chose to put blue and green clear rock ornaments, and I chose rough multi-sized river or stream rocks. I'll likely add to this as well, but we take what we can get!
This is another basket that WILL be added to! I'm trying to work TO Adam's interests, and he LOVES dinosaurs, lizards, and frogs, he's a total boy. I chose these for use with our Mandala's, play in general, or our light box. ^.^
Cups! What good classroom is complete without a set of cups? These are for measuring, scooping, pouring, and understanding how much can go into an object before overflowing, offering LOTS of exploration!
This is ANOTHER super fantastic idea I got from a blog! They used a sand/magnet board for theirs, but I chose a white board as it was less expensive, and easier to use. The game is simple, spot the difference. I used this with Adam yesterday and he LOVED it!
My survival pack!
Two reed baskets for our Mandala/mixed media play, and our light box!
My basket of treasures! Inside are the foam pages, white board, sidewalk chalk, mixed media items, and cups.
Mandala's have traditionally been a religious item, but as another fantastic blogger pointed out, these little circles foster not only religious meditation, but learning. By picking a color mat, and placing whatever the child wants on it, this allows the child to be creative and unique, as well as help to relax and concentrate them.
Floor view of my own Mandala. ^.^
Above is the board I put together for Adam! I made this, and took it to the house, back in September. The blank area below weather is where I put the kids birthday announcement cards at the beginning of their birthday month.
I ain't gonna lie...Not a big fan of this guy, BUT as a teacher I think it is INCREDIBLY valuable for a child to be able to identify their president, I also believe it is important to have a picture of the president in the classroom.
I believe EVERY classroom in America needs an American flag. This is our American flag. ^.^
This is the weather section. Adam checks to see what the weather is like, and picks the proper weather icon to place on the board.
This is the calendar. I put this together so Adam could be included. I put Velcro tabs on the board so the numbers can be easily removed and reused, plus Adam can put them on which is important. ^.^
These are the envelopes that hold the date numbers, months, weather icons, and birthday cards.
Here are our weather icons. Rainy.
Snowy.
Windy.
Sunny.
Again, not an artist! I have different month slips for each month, this allows us to change the month and stay accurate!
This board is partly my idea, partly from the preschool I did my clinical at, and partly from a blog! Adam enjoys being able to add the days, and the weather. I believe it is valuable to allow the child to be involved in classroom duties. Some may not believe it, but kids are SO eager to help adults, and to feel needed, these are easy tasks that he can do. He LOVE pushing the pins down in, I place the pin so it doesn't fall, and he gives it a list little push to keep it in place.
Hope EVERYONE enjoyed!
Love,
Christina
