What are your plans for the first five days of kindergarten? I begin with a clean room, pops of nature, large and small spaces and a welcoming smile. My goals for the first week are to ensure that the children feel welcome, qnd that kindergarten is a fun and safe place. I make sure that they enjoy free play every day for increasing amounts of time. We go on a school tour visiting the library, gym, office, washrooms and the kindergarten playground. We set up a family photo wall. I take photos of the children and make sure they are on the classroom wall when they come back for the second day. I don't have everything on the shelves., this helps them to make a decision. The children choose a table invitation already set up or something from the shelves. They can play alone, with a friend or altogether. I make sure that the centres include construction, art, drama, literacy and math. We tidy up together. The book shelf and small world play table have familiar stories they might have had...

The environment that educators create for children reflects the image that they have about the children - Loris Malaguzzi September is around the corner and teachers are heading back to the classroom to unpack and organize for the first week of school. As a Reggio Inspired educator I have designed the classroom environment as a space for children to work and play through easy access to materials. This means that I curate the work and play materials in the classroom.  In our district the children come for short blocks of time over the first 5 school days. This transition helps them to become used to school, routines and expectations. Here are a few ideas which are research based and have worked for me for many years. Declutter A new school year is an excleent time to chose to declutter the classroom by removing materials that are ineffective or not being used by the children at this time. Remove any bins or tubs of teacheer materials.Try to keep the tops of shelves and windowsills clear...

    Mama bird is flying home to feed her babies. She has lots of babies and is really tired! She does not like the clouds and the wind. She is flying from the apple tree where she found worms to her nesting tree.   R. age 3.8 This week I have been working with prekindergarten children on creating stories.  I wondered what would happen if we co-created the materials for a picture story together: would it include richer details? We were building on their recent interest in birds and bird families and after lots of read alouds, discussions and plenty of time using loose parts I wanted to try this approach for storytelling.  Materials: glue stick scissors paint colour samples white paper Method: 1:1 with a educator The child is sharing story ideas, with the educator scaffolding the child. The child is making all of the decisions, adding the glue and placing the details onto the paper.  Steps: Using paint colour samples cut out elements for their story such as a bird or bird family and then...