Room Arrangement Suggestions...

I'm a couple weeks into the school year & still trying to figure out the best way to set up our room. I was satisfied with the set up for the first week or so, but now am trying to think of more effective ways to manage things! This is long, as usual... Pictures of my intial set up are available here: http://picasaweb.google.com/preschoolteacher/20082009PreschoolSetUp My major questions.... Any suggestions on how to minimize the dumping? My morning class, made up of mostly new 3's, has, for the most part, done fine. However--my afternoon class with older children already familiar with the program, can thrash the room by dumping out EVERY bin in the course of 5 minutes. I want to put out my light table, but can't decide where it should go. I'm open to any ideas. It seems to work better on the floor than on a table, at least it did last year. Entry Way: I love our entry way! We made a coat rack that I think is just wonderful, and I found affordable tote bags at KMart for each of the children (as a bonus, they are organic). I'm trying to decide how best to use the bulletin board in the hall--right now it has pictures & the names of each of the children. I'm not sure whether I'll use it as a documentation panel, art display, or keep their pictures up awhile longer? The parent's board (pink rim) gets a bit cluttered with the items I am required by licensing to post (curriculum outlines, menu, exclusion policies, etc) but is functional. I want to get a calendar with the children's photos instead of the one I have up right now. Still working on that. I do have a door there in the hallway where I have posted our first documentation panel of the year. Still takes a lot of effort to get parents to stop and look at it. Writing Center: This area has actually worked out better than I anticipated. I ended up moving the brown shelf out to open up the classroom more, this helped a lot! The banker boxes have actually been quite sufficent as cubbies, if the children have larger items they simply keep them in their bags. I plan to start on the children's portfolios tomorrow. Blocks area: I only put half my unit blocks out to start with, and ended up taking nearly half of those out within the first week. I probably have about 50-60 blocks out now, and that seems to be plenty for 3-4 children (combined with the other available materials). After the first day I turned the blocks shelf sideways to keep the area seperate from dramatic play more than it was because the children were running wild between the two areas & blocks were getting tossed around without much intentional play. I also moved the tree house into the blocks area since it was getting a lot of use, but kept getting knocked over in the dramatic play area. I also moved our crabs from the science area to the top of the blocks shelf to make the science shelf easier to move for group time. That was, perhaps, one of the best unintentional moves I could make! This triggered the interest in making block cages for the crabs, which grew into garages and castles for the snails & caterpillars. One of my new little ones is also an avid tower builder. My goal for this week is to post pictures of the various structures they have created so they can revisit their work. Dramatic Play: I made a few adjustments to this area before the first day of school. When two of my returning children came for their play group (I hosted an hour-long group with 3-4 children from each class the week before school started) it was apparent their interest in playing "puppies" had carried over from the year before. So I added stuffed dogs & items from the pet store to the pillows in this area. Initially, they were very interested in this "dog bed", but now they seem to be more interested in hiding the dogs under the tables, so it may be time to re-consider the use of this area. They love the play kichen, this is easily one of the most used items in the classroom. However, they are still into dumping & the three baskets of food and dishes end up getting everywhere! I took about half the food out last night, we'll see if that makes a difference. The top of the table is also where I put our parent sign in sheets & notes, which isn't ideal, but I haven't come up with a better idea yet. Science Area: My goal with the science area this year was to position it in a way that it encouraged use of the materials throughout the other centers (particularly blocks and dramatic play). To achieve this, I think I need to add more natural materials for open ended use. We're going on a nature field trip next month & I'm hoping the children can collect materials for this area. Recently we had the chance to shuck corn & we found several corn caterpillars. The children have LOVED these caterpillars (to death, with some of them!) far more than the painted lady caterpillars we had last year (which grew to maturity in a sanitary cup). Literacy Center: I feel like our literacy area is working fine. After trying several arrangements I finally satisfied myself with a nook by the piano. Instead of having the materials against the back wall (where the kids had to pull them out to use them) I replaced these bins with a media shelf full of our lending library materials (my only complaint is the parent's lending library materials are not closer to the door and so far none of the parents have shown interest). I moved the bins to where the book rack is shown now, and added books to the pockets on top. I've tried to incorporate literacy throughout the classroom, of course, but I specifically wanted this to be a cozy area where one or two children could read together or play quietly. I moved the book standto the other side of the area near our open group space, so there is room for more than a couple of children to read. I would like to add a couple child-sized chairs to this area (I love the IKEA child-sized chairs, one of these days...) Art Center: As planned, initially I put out a very simple art area with materials for coloring, cutting, and pasting. The children have shown little to no interest in this area. They love painting, but for the most part are not yet ready for this as an independent activity. I do set up a paint table at least once a week, and any time they request it. I want to set up an easel--but like last year am not sure where to put it. With the drop cloth & all it just takes up so much space! Last week I did a semi-structured collage activity--the children glued tissue paper on tinfoil. They enjoyed this activity & one of the children asked to repeat it. I'm trying to offer one new art experience each week (guided by The Language of Art), but want to see them using this center as a way to communicate meaning more than just a place to color. Any suggestions?