The power of imagination

I have been taking pictures of my class and my kids.  I have been meaning to take pictures of my class part by part or center by center.  For all my homeschooling friends viewing pleasure. You wanna steal some ideas?  Steal away!!

This is the vie as you enter the door. The Lockers are to your left and they double as my posted ensentive system.  A sticker on your grid for every HW and project turned in. :o) that table is my assistants 'desk'.

This is right by the door to your imidiate left.  This is the place for the kids sleeping mats.  I labeled the wall directly behind it so that they themselves put them in two distinct stacks: with pillow cases, without pillow cases.  This way it is organized from the get go.  And none of which I do.  The chart to the far left, explains the nap time routine in words (eng/sp) and pics.  No confusion.  My kids are trained to where this whole transition almost runs itself.

The long red pocket charts there after the lockers is the mail boxes system I created.  No more 'passing out 'papers to each person all over the room; i put their work in their mailbox throughout the day (or get them to do it) and then they are responsible for cleaning it all out at the end of the day and puttin git all in their folders and putting it in their backpacks.  Took me about 2 weeks to get them real good at it.  They have to ID their name and picture on the outside of the pocket and rememebr that their mailbox is BEHIND their face.  

This is my 'toosmall' library center.  That is a cute Bear I got for Christmas two years ago from a little girl.  As you know I couldn't keep it at home, its image, but it works wonders in the library center.  He is the Reading Bear.  You can read to him when you are in that center. The green box there is where I keep paper, pencil and crayons for them to respond to the books they read.

This is the ABC Center.  True to it's name it's all about gettig them to explore letters and sounds. THe Birthday chart has their names on little cakes so they can 'read' that, and the environmental print posters I created are on the wall beneath the board.  They can also 'read' that since it is things they know and use at home.  The Center Signs are in both langauges and the cute little gingerbread men tell them how many can be there at a time. Practice self regualting behavior.

This is also the ABC Center.  Here are more thigns to do: make a letter book, read it, name puzzles, magnetic letters to make your name, crayons, pencils, paper, abc puzzles etc... This is back to back to the Science Center, hence the 5 senses chart.

This is where we have Circle Time.  The red easle where I do the calendar, on the back.  On the wall beind the rocking chair from left to right: Class rules, Center procedure chart, Read Aloud Pocket Chart, Alphabet writing chart.  The writing center is to the right of the rocking chair. (trying to see how to make that center bigger.) above all that is my picture schedule.  Plus the spanish alphabet above that.  The cart to the left of the rocking chair is where I keep the things I need in on hand as I do Circle Time. (books, lesson plans, teacher books for letter of the week and song book, transition ideas, cheers, etc..)

Sorry this is side ways.  It's part of the Pretend and Learn Center.  It's a Walmart at the tme of the pic. Now it is a hospital. 



Walmart again.  They absolutely love the cashier and the play money I put in it. :o)

That is basically it, minus a few other centers I can put up later on.  Tell me what you think. :o)

Tylenol PM kicking in, need to head to bed.

Take Care!
Mitch