ABCs

My co-teacher Miss Susan incorporated a line leader game as a part of the everyday morning routine at our circle time. It resembles the hangman game: teacher picks a child who will be the line leader but doesn't reveal the child's name. Teacher then writes the appropriate number of lines to fit the student's name (for example if the name is Anna there are four lines) and children take turns guessing the letters and trying to figure out the name of the classmate who will be the line leader that day. Children point to the letter on the alphabet chart and name the letter (if they don't know the letter, the teacher names it). When a child guesses a letter, the teacher circles it on the alphabet chart and writes on the board on the appropriate line.  If the letter is not in the person's name then the letter is crossed off. 

 The purpose of the game is for children to learn and recognize the letters and their names, and it has been a huge success! Children love the line leader game and often play it during the free play! It is so great to see them pick the letters and name the letters, correct each other in case their friend names the wrong one. Some children even started to write the first letter or letters of their names!

Based on the children's interest in letters and their names I included stone letters in the writing center. I wrote the alphabet on gemstones and names of the children on the cards to create matching game: children match the stone letters to their names. Again, children practice the name recognition and letters through play!

Calming Corner

We needed a place in the classroom where children could go to calm down, remove themselves from the group when needed, or just spend sometime alone if they wanted to. There are moments throughout the day when someone is being disruptive and needs to be removed from the group activity, or sometimes a child chooses not to participate in the group discussion or story time, or is having a hard time missing mom or dad, or just feeling sad. When that happens the calming corner is the place to go to.

We wanted the place to be cozy with a calming vibe. The calming corner is a safe place, when a chid is there it is never a punishment. With that in mind, we came up with a solution. We suspended a hula hop from the ceiling and attached soft fabric to create a tent. On the floor we have fabric and pillows for a child to get cozy and comfortable, on the wall we have peaceful images: beautiful places and yoga poses, and there is a basket with a set of activities that helps children calm down and relax. At the moment there are books about feelings, bottles with glitter glue that has animals in them (child can shake the bottle then watch the glitter go down to the bottom of the bottle and search for the little farm animal that is hiding inside). There is also cup of mardi gras beads to cut, and a soft scarf to cuddle with.