4 and a half years later, it isn't perfect...but it WORKS. The children can independently (and SAFELY! Phew!) access the materials. The key was flexibility, creativity, and simplicity. If you have a small classroom like me, you have to let go of having everything in your classroom all year long. You have to be realistic about which materials you really don't, haven't, and probably will never use. Prioritize which materials are essential to keep in your classroom. Store and rotate the rest. It's better for the kids to have a streamlined, organized learning environment. When you rotate new materials in, they will be elated that they got brand new (or so they think) toys and supplies.
I'm going to be honest with you upfront: you will make...a LOT...of trips to wherever you will store your extra stuff. But it is worth it. So, so worth it.
I hope you find these ideas to fit the many required preschool learning centers into a tiny, little classroom. Our classroom has a sand and water area, sensory table, Science area, writing area, art area, library area, computer area, toy/fine motor/puzzle area, dramatic play area, and an open circle time/music/movement area. Phew!
Today I will focus on the writing area. I will make this a series and publish several more entries in the upcoming weeks, so stay tuned! So without further ado...
The pictures!
Writing Area
Keep in mind that the materials contained in the writing area are switched out as the students' interests and skills change!
Above is our writing area from a faraway view. The little red desk was purchased at a garage sale for $7. The students like sitting there because they feel like "big kids." Now, let's get a closer look at what's inside the area!
Use a dollar store shoe organizer to help you organize classroom materials! I cut out 2 sections of an organizer to hang on the wall with thumbtacks. It currently holds highlighters and colored pencils. I trade out the writing utensils so that the children can experience writing with all different kinds of tools.
I have a personal love for the Handwriting without Tears program. Even though our school doesn't officially use this (amazingly, developmentally appropriate) writing curriculum in lessons, we used to. Therefore, I have all of the materials and I incorporate them throughout the classroom. Above are flip crayons. Did you know that when crayons are small, it is virtually impossible for them to hold them incorrectly? Oh yes, that means that we intentionally break our crayons. Small crayons= correct grip. This is especially true for children with special needs. They need to practice good writing habits from the day you put a writing utensil in their hand, or the bad habits will be extra hard to break.
With that being said, make sure your students are really, really ready to hold writing utensils before you give them the opportunity to use them. I will write a whole blog post about the pre-requisite skills to writing in the near future.
Extra fine motor bonus of flip crayons: practicing the fine motor skills of, well, flipping. And who doesn't like a crayon that has 2 colors?
Another Handwriting without Tears treasure! I found these in a pile of dusty worksheets (gasp! worksheets!). What a wonderful find! These are templates that are used to help students "build" alphabet letters with the wooden lines and curves from the HWT program. I put the templates in paper protectors, and put them in a binder. They can be found in the writing area under a bucket of wooden lines and wooden curves.
If you do not have the HWT materials, you can get paint mixing sticks from your local home improvement store and use those for the wooden lines. You can trace them to make the templates. Only thing is, I am fresh out of ideas about what you could use for wooden curves. Anyone have any ideas? Write them in the comment section!
The laminator is my best friend. So are free printables from my blogger friends. Check out these amazing shape tracing printables from www.3dinosaurs.com! Print, laminate, and put in your writing area! Children can use dry erase markers to trace and draw the shapes.
If you have students with specific needs and the printables you find don't seem to fit their needs- you can create your own tracer sheets! Draw out what you want the kiddos to trace, put a little sticker where they should start (always at the top!) and laminate. Again, they should use dry erase markers to trace.
In the same way I believe that children should practice writing with lots of different writing utensils, they should also write on all kinds of media! We have all kinds of paper, including looseleaf, stationary, notebooks, envelopes, dry erase boards, chalk boards, etc. Rotate these out- too many choices can be overwhelming!
This is a great way to get the kids to learn how to write their name. I use two different colored sentence strips and tape them together. On the top line, I write their name and put stars or stickers where they should start their letters (at the TOP!). They trace on the top, and copy on the bottom, using dry erase markers. My students did this every day from September-December after they unpacked their belongings. Now, we have moved on to writing with paper and pencil because they are ready. These name trace & copy templates got moved to the writing area so they can practice writing their name and their friends' names.
Well, that's all for today.
What are your favorite writing area ideas?
Share them in the comment section!
Until next time...
*Bite Sized Lessons*
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