Happy New Year!

Ah, September. I love you.

As a teacher, my "new year" begins in September. September is the time for turning over a new leaf, cleaning the slate, and making New Year's resolutions. In September, the year is full of promise - and the excitement of trying new things, meeting new children and families, and greeting returning children and families is at it's height.

One of my first resolutions of the new school year is to tackle cubby clutter while simultaneously encouraging children to take responsibility for their own belongings (coats, backpacks, lunches, artwork) and feel a sense of ownership over this personal classroom space. Hopefully these handy labels will help lead the way!

change is good: new play spaces

in between rediscovering the charms and wonders of our school's neighborhood and rearranging our classroom, we found an exciting alternative to our local playground.

(our local playground):


within easy walking distance of our school we discovered structures and sites in which the children could climb, run, hide, and engage in dramatic play as far as their imaginations could stretch.

behold, the log ramps at the IKEA river walk:

the children love to run, climb, and jump across these log covered ramps. it's great exercise, but even greater fodder for the imagination.

adjacent to the ramps is this highly intriguing structure:

a ship's engine? a cannon? a battleship? though this particular structure isn't for climbing it serves as excellent inspiration for dramatic play.

this old pier, while also not suitable for climbing, running or even walking on, is nonetheless an intriguing backdrop to any game, as is the surrounding harbor:


adding to the charm of this play space are these abandoned warehouses, water taxis, and the not-too-distant statue of liberty:


finally, just across the river walk path we have an expansive field of grass upon which the children can run, hide, tumble, wrestle, roll, jump and, well.... play!

change is good: rearrangements

many times during a school year, i get the urge to make a series of changes to my classroom. these changes can take many forms. they can be simple changes, such as a slight change in schedule, a rearrangement of a couple of areas in the classroom, or the addition of some new work to the shelves. they could be mid-level changes, such as changing the morning routine, adding a new shelf to the classroom, or introducing a new rule, such as "you can't say you can't play". or they could be more major changes, like altering the daily schedule, rearranging the classroom, or introducing a new area of the curriculum.

children are sensitive to change, and disrupting the daily routines they have so carefully cultivated at school can throw off the equilibrium of the classroom. it's important to make sure that any change to the classroom environment, curriculum, or daily routine suit the childrens' needs at the time.

our neighborhood walk provided the boost of energy and inspiration i needed to get started on the classroom rearrangements i had in mind. i'd been so pleased with the initial arrangement of my classroom that, for the first time in several years, i hadn't felt the need to make any changes since september. by late april, however, it was clear that the children had grown too accustomed to the arrangement of shelves, tables, and chairs. instead of steadily climbing and changing, their work seemed a bit stuck in place. it was time to shake things up.

i'll refer to the first routine i wanted to change as the "art clump". the children had taken to gathering around the art shelf at the beginning of morning work time, positioning themselves at the largest table in the classroom (also at the center of the classroom) , and camping out for an entire work period. what was once a site of fresh and imaginative work had now grown into more of a social gathering area. as art work and social interaction are both very important elements of the preschool curriculum, my goal was not to put an end to this part of the children's day but to alter it so as to challenge and extend these experiences.

the other goal of the rearrangement was to encourage more language work. this had been an all too often overlooked area of the classroom, perhaps in part due to the language shelf's location on the outskirts of the room. thus, the necessary rearrangement was apparent - switch the language shelf with the art shelf. putting art on the outskirts wouldn't be a problem, because children would flock to it anywhere. placing the language shelf squarely in the center of the room made it more visible, more cozily situated, and more social. voila!

the new art space:

the new language space:

not only did the changes work - the children's art flourished and changed, and language work began in earnest - but the classroom felt larger and more open.

a breath of fresh air:

change is good: first steps

with the arrival of spring, i felt it was time to make some big changes to our classroom. after a long winter i found that the children, as well as myself, had become a bit stuck in our routines. i had a lot of changes in mind but was somewhat daunted by my growing list of ideas. what would be the first step?

it turns out the answer was simple, and presented itself organically. on a gray, rainy-ish, april morning we decided to take the kids out for a walk around the neighborhood. our first stop was our community farm, where we may soon be able to plant some seedlings in a shared "ed bed" for schools in the neighborhood:

it was locked! but we still got to take a peek inside. we also noticed the plants and flowers that were growing just outside of the farm's gates...

next stop, the IKEA park:
we passed by this crane, which provided excellent fodder for the imaginative minds of my three, four, and five year olds. what could it be? if only they could climb it...

the tracks were particularly intriguing...

on our way back to school we took some time to admire the spring colors in the neighborhood:

this tree is a block from our school. we admired it's white blossoms and bright green leaves.

we were also enchanted by the way the bus stop sign was shrouded by the branches, blossoms, and leaves of the tree:

and we loved the way the green and white blossoms mixed with the purple and pink blossoms on these trees. just a few blocks down from this corner is the waterfront. i can't imagine a more well-situated school, to be located within close walking distance of a community farm, a waterfront, and urban green spaces:


our walk gave me the burst of energy and inspiration i needed to embark on my series of spring changes. it was wonderful to take a fresh look at the neighborhood i've come to know so well, and be reminded of all it has to offer.