Our 3/4 classroom promotes positive interactions between teacher/child, a sense of belonging to a community, and a love of learning. Children are encouraged to socialize with their peers and play with a purpose. Each one of our preschooler’s curiosity is different and so are their developmental levels, so our goal is to arrange our room, our lessons and our activities in such a way that each child develops at their own rate.
Here’s a peek into our room:
Quiet Corner
The Quiet Corner is an area where our children can go on their own to change their inner state from upset to composed in order to strengthen learning and self-regulation.
Meeting
We provide meetings throughout each day to help set the tone for respectful learning. These meetings establish a climate of trust, motivate students to feel significant, create empathy and encourage collaboration all while supporting social, emotional, and academic learning.
Art and Writing
We plan creative activities with your child’s overall development in mind. Here are some ways that our art activities help support our 3/4’s development. We provide various materials to support large and small muscle development, as well as eye-hand coordination. Crayons, markers, and paintbrushes help children practice the fine motor control they will need for writing. This area allows the children’s active imaginations to take form and invent new ways to create.
Library Center:
Our library area is for taking a “picture walk” through the books, learning that letters make up words and for using context clues to determine what the story is about. Often in this area, we hear our students retelling stories that they have heard at home and in class.
Manipulative Center and Table Work
When our students are engaging in table work or at our manipulative center, they are building fine motor skills such as: grasping, twisting pieces together, and pulling pieces apart. This aides in the development of hand-eye coordination and hand strength. The manipulative area also encourages self-talk, discussion, and language development. Children who are allowed to work independently often engage in self-talk, which promotes self-regulation skills and can help gradually lengthen a child’s attention span.
Science and Sensory
Providing such activities for our preschoolers allows for them to process and respond to all sensory stimulation such as: sight, taste, touch, sound and smell. We help facilitate such exploration and naturally encourage children to use scientific processes while they play,create, investigate and explore. Providing sensory activities such as these allows children to process different sensory information, to create stronger connections and respond to the information learned. Exploring in the science area helps develop a child’s resourcefulness, particularly their skills at goal-setting, planning, and problem-solving. It also nurtures intellectual curiosity, helping children acquire new ways of asking questions and understanding the world.
Blocks and Building
Playing with blocks helps children develop their vocabulary, improves math skills, and even teaches them about gravity, balance, and geometry. While building, children are utilizing size, shape, weight, leverage, and balance concepts. As our children explore the blocks and building area, their play will become more and more complex.
Home Living/Dramatic Play
Our students engage in pretend play to help develop many skills. When they engage in pretend (or dramatic) play, they are actively experimenting with the social and emotional roles of life. Through cooperative and imaginative play, they learn how to take turns, share responsibility, and creatively solve problems.