Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/makeover-your-classroom-storage-and-materials/5026738/
*Photos can be found in the pdf version of this article.
A settled classroom is a place where children engage in joyful and meaningful experiences. During a consult, a new teacher remarked, “I am beginning to see that there is a connection between the prepared environment and the prepared adult.” As the teacher talked more about her experience with her disorganized classroom, she explained that she felt “unsettled” and “not ready to teach.” She described overflowing shelves for the children and cluttered storage for herself that left her feeling unhappy and unprepared. But there is a solution—teachers can have a tremendous impact on children’s experiences when they intentionally prepare the environment for children,and for themselves.
How we set up our classrooms, from furnishings and materials to wall decorations and floor coverings, influences how children feel, how they interact with each other and materials, and how they behave. This is also true for how we organize the materials we want to easily access when we make a new activity or get something for children.
Many of us are overwhelmed by setting up storage systems, uncertain about how to clean, refresh, and identify what is worth keeping and what needs to ...