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Return to the Helpful Hints Homepage
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Helpful Hints: Creating Interest Areas
Setting up interest areas with in the classroom is important for
the making of a classroom that promotes the growth and development for a child.
Here are areas that are typically in an early childhood classroom:
• Blocks (unit blocks, people and transportation)
• Dramatic Play (kitchen set, dress-up clothes & dolls)
• Fine Motor or Manipulative (tables, puzzles, pegs & beads)
• Art (easels, paint, crayons & paper)
• Sand & Water (sand and water table, funnels, measuring cups & sponges)
• Library (book display, books & soft cushions)
• Music and Movement (dance/prop storage, musical instruments/players)
• Storage for Personal Belongings (lockers, storage bins, etc.)
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Helpful Hints: Evaluating your Environment
Do the children within your classroom also seem to be in confrontations?
Does the flow of the classroom just not work? Are you constantly spending less and less time
interacting with the children and more time performing custodial care?
Do you want to change of all this, but you just do not know where to start?
Try to evaluate your environment (physical, scheduling, activities, etc.)
to determine where the problems lay within the classroom.
By evaluating your classroom, you are given the opportunity to step back
and look at the situation in an objective manner. Using various evaluation tools,
a teacher may be able to recognize that using a WD16033 36" High Cubby Storage Cabinet
in a toddler classroom is not allowing the children to properly reach their materials,
therefore, it may not be very developmentally appropriate.
He or she may be able to notice that the unit would be better used in a 3 to 5 year old classroom.
A teacher might also notice that the reason the children are having a difficult time
reaching the sink to wash their hands, which in turn leads to improper sanitary conditions.
Using a WD21200 Step-Up-N-Wash will help the children better reach the sink.
The following are various tools that you can use to evaluate your program:
Environment Rating Scales
Evaluates the classroom using a tiered rating scale and addresses all aspects
of the classroom from child-teacher interactions to room arrangement to program structure.
• ECERS-R (Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale-Revised)
For classrooms with children between the ages of 2 1/2 years to 4 years
• ITERS (Infant/Toddler Environment Rating Scale)
For classrooms with children between the ages of 6 weeks to 2 1/2 years
• FDCRS (Family Day Care Environment Rating Scale)
For family child care providers
• SACERS (School-Age Care Environment Rating Scale)
For classrooms with school-age children
Keeping Journals
• Anecdotal Records on each child
Documenting the children's reactions within the classroom.
• Videotaping the classroom (Get parent's permission before taping the classroom)
Gives the perspectives of the classroom that would be hard to see by just an evaluation.
Now keep in mind that when using these evaluation tools, a teacher discovers that he or she
themselves have been the cause for the environment not functioning up to it's best potential.
Not to worry, this is only a sign that you care about what you do and that you only want
the best for the children in your care. The problem only comes into play if you acknowledge
the problem and do nothing about changing the situation.
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The aforementioned are professional opinions. All of these are the sole property of WDM, Inc.
Any use of the contents, above statements, or ideas requires the written permission of WDM, Inc. Violators will be prosecuted.
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Helpful Hint of the Month...
The Infant Pull Up Storage (WD40400)
is a great product to use in the infant room
to protect the non-mobile infants from the mobile infants.
Just place two Infant Pull Up Storage shelves
in an "L" shape and place the needed material
for the non-mobile infants within the sectioned off area.
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Shown above:
WD40400 Infant Pull Up Storage
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Check us out in this article on the web...
The Ultimate Early Ed Blueprint
Creating an ideal early childhood education space in your school district is a no-brainer,
once you understand how to see and think like a tot.
By Julie Sturgeon, DistrictAdministration.com, May 2004
http://www.districtadministration.com/page.cfm?p=734
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Teacher Resources: Helpful Hints Archive
Our past Helpful Hints articles, organized & archived
for your convenience in setting-up your own classroom.
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Enhance interest areas by providing enough shelving & storage bins
for the amount of materials provided in the classroom.
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