Room Pictures

The bare minimum in our centers room at the beginning of the school year. With our recent discussion on aesthetics and color in the classroom I have to say I absolutely love the colors of the wall! It's a natural enough color that it isn't overwhelming, yet I feel it is more appealing than plain white or beige. And of course I love the natural lighting!

Transformed into the dramatic play center now. The play kitchen I selected specifically for its lighter colors, and the coordinating table I just happened to stumble across at DIs. We use my (gasps of horror!) primary colored red chairs at the table, which ties in nicely with the red burners on the stove. Last year I added a red rug (IKEA, of course) and we had a very nice, homey, and certainly not overwhelming color scheme. But the kids in my class last year made hot chocolate on the rug (literally) & it hasn't been the same since... in the picture below you can see our attempt at a KWL chart on the walls.
I finally got around to posting the resulting leaf collages from our light table experience. I get an A+ on our utilizing nature in the classroom assignment (I now have natural elements in every classroom). I put the leaf color sorting activity we'd done out, but the kids had less interest in sorting the leaves & more interest in crumbling them...and besides, they needed the table to eat on. So that didn't last long.

Our blocks center--I swear that nook was made for my shelf!
I try to always have at least one set of unit blocks out (either regular blocks or hollow blocks), along with a few manipulatives selections, props (cars/trucks/animals/people/etc), and a game or two. But it varies from day to day. I also try to use different building surfaces for the blocks area (see my previous posts for pictures).

The bright blue primary table & chairs in my art studio. As one parent said, "It looks like they were made for each other!". The table was the one piece of furniture original to the classroom (the bookshelves was there too--but it the teacher in the primary class wants them eventually) & the chairs were mine. They came from a surplus sale the BYU Child Development Lab School had when they replaced all their old chairs & tables with Community Playthings furnishings, if I had a huge grant I'd do the same. Or, maybe I would. Remember I sold all my lovely natural wooden tables and the beautiful, custom-built matching chairs since they wouldn't hold up to PAINT??? So far this table and chairs have survived just about everything, and I no longer cringe when they spill liquid watercolors. Function and cost wins out over aesthetics in this case. Of course, I haven't seen the Community Playthings furniture put to the test yet since the kids don't usually dump liquid watercolor all over the table in their theoretically "hands on" program (it is DAP, just not as much focus on creative exploration--but then I don't know of any other program aside from Bev's that shares my focus on creative exploration, which is easy to understand when I spend an hour cleaning up flour and there is still more to mop up the next day....but that's an entirely different topic altogether). When we finally get around to moving the bookshelves (sometime in the next century!) I want to use that corner for self-serve snack, I think...

Shots of the art center in our studio room, along with the "autumn colors" documentation board and my planning board (not an ideal location, but functional). This is before our new art shelf, hence the clutter on the make-shift desk shelves. I love the lighter color in this room, since it makes the children's work stand out more and I don't know how I survived without wooden floors before! It makes clean up so much easier (OK, to be totally and completely honest in some cases it makes clean up possible).

A bigger shot of our Autum Colors documentation board. I know...horror of all horrors...primary colored scalloped borders. Does it really detract from the children's work? Be honest folks, I'm open to feedback here--and ideas! I like this approach to displays vs. display panels because I can simply stick the pages in the children's portfolios when I switch out the board....but I suppose I should try some documentation panels as well. I did try to get all the "mandated" aspects of a panel in (children's photos, transcrips of conversations, and work samples--am I missing anything?). You have no idea how I stressed over the angled wording on some of those pages. Repeat after me---"It needs to be present, not perfect"...

This is our new art shelf, in it's mostly-organized state. The bins hold paint brushes & paint supplies, scissors & markers, work trays, glue, collage materials, and woodworking materials (I am working on labeling them). The kids really *really* wanted to paint this shelf, I was torn between letting them express their creativity & loving the natural wood. The love for the natural wood won out. I think this is one example of the dilemma created between desire for aesthetics vs. encouragement of creativity--was it worth maintaining the neutral colors in lieu of letting the children contribute to "finishing" the shelf? After all, in putting it together I did give them a sense of ownership. I guarentee if the shelf was painted it would include primary colors, along with bright hues of pink and orange, with the only earthy tones being the brown resulting from several children working on the same area with different colors. Maybe I'll buy the less expensive particle board shelf ($40) for them to paint & use in the light room next time I have extra funds sitting around waiting to be used.

This is one of our "exploration station" tables in the art studio, hosting the sand table in this picture. I love the frame (IKEA again...) but keep forgetting to buy 5x7 photo paper so I actually have pictures to put in it!

This shelf is loosely used as our math center, though it tends to be multi-functional. We did try to use the naturalistic materials for counting & sorting, but they didn't really take to this activity. I have, however, been surprised at the use the color boxes have had--not just for sorting and color identification, there have also been fantastic social engagements as children negotiate use of the objects inside. Perhaps because it's the only form of "commercialism" I allow in the classroom (many of the figurines are from popular, non-violent cartoons).

I've got more photos....but it's after 9 PM & I'm supposed to eliminate all blue light exposure...no computer, no TV, not even a cell phone--pure torture! The idea is it is actually supposed to make me sleep at night. Which, in theory, means I should have more energy during the day. Too bad I still won't be able to match the energy level of 6 children! I enjoy trying though!

Comments, feedback, and constructive critisism is welcome. I don't particularly mind non-constructive criticism either....I'll take whatever I can get at this point!