We have been talking about quilts in our class and part of our continuing discussion was on how the quilted pieces of fabric were sewn together.  One of the quilt books I shared with the children was a book titled “You’re Wonderful” by Debbie Clement. This book is a sing-along-book that comes with a CD of the song in the back of the book.  Each page of the book is a picture of a real quilt and we talked about what story we thought each quilted square might be telling us. We listen to the song and sang along with it while we worked and played all week long…

To expand on the sewing aspect of quilts, I wanted to share a sewing activity with the children so I created two sewing frames based on this wonderful idea I found for creating a tapestry table over at Kleas. It was a perfect way to give the children a little “real” sewing practice…

To create my sewing frames, I used two wooden picture frames (without the glass) and stapled some strips of burlap to the frames for our sewing canvas…

When the children first started sewing, they would stick the needle into the burlap and then stretch the yarn across the board to make a second stitch leaving no yarn left for a third stitch…

So to help make the process a little more productive, I sat at the table with the children and modeled how to push the Plastic Sewing Needles up and down through the burlap material and gradually work their way across the material like an inchworm would do…

I also took the time to show the children how they needed to pull the yarn all the way through the burlap before they started their next stitch. The children did a great job at working through each of the different steps they needed to remember…

Push the needle in and right back up then pull the yarn all the way until it stops.

Now move your needle over just a little bit and do it again!

Some of the children stayed with the sewing for a long time and even worked on threading their own needles. Other children sewed until their original piece of yarn ran out and then moved on to do something else…

Other than giving the children a few instructions on the sewing process, I didn’t worry about which way they chose to sew on the sewing frame…

The children started to really get the hang of it – it just takes a little practice. We had some great fine motor skill development going on in the process…

After the children finished sewing for the day, I hung the two sewing frames up on the wall. I might keep letting the children practice sewing on these same two sewing frames for awhile or I might replace the burlap and let them start with a blank sewing frame again. I haven’t decided yet…

I do love having the sewing frames up on our wall!

You can purchase plastic sewing needles from Amazon…

Order Deborah's Children's CD today!

www.teachpreschool.org

Copyright 2011 © Deborah J. Stewart

All Rights Reserved!

Contact Deborah for permission to sell, post, publish, or distribute all or any part of this article!

I was invited to participate in the Bam Radio show, along with Rae Pica and Dr. Rebecca Isbell, titled “How Classroom Setup and Clutter Affect Learning and Behavior.”

“Classroom setup and structure are critical elements in teaching and controlling behavior and student interactions. What do you need to know? What are the best practices? How might rearranging your classroom help you?” (From the Bam Radio Show)

Take a minute and listen to the radio show by clicking here or here!

Rae Pica with Dr. Rebecca Isbell Ph.D. and Deborah J. Stewart, M.Ed.

Classroom Setup

Setting up a preschool classroom is a topic that makes up enough material for an entire book by itself! I have invested a tremendous amount of thought and time into my classroom setup. Having a rather small space to work with, like my preschool classroom, brings its own challenges but whether your classroom space is small or large, the way you setup, care for, and maintain it has a real and tangible affect on classroom management, child behavior, and child engagement in the learning process…

One important part of classroom set up is the issue of clutter. Clutter, clutter, clutter, clutter! Clutter is like chatter – a lot of noise going on all around you all the time and you can never shut it off. Clutter is distracting, stressful, demotivating, and can make a group of children go bonkers…

Where does clutter lurk?

Most classrooms usually don’t start out at the beginning of the year being cluttered but clutter sort of sneaks up on you. I find clutter building up in my classroom all the time. I literally do a daily search around my room before going home to make sure everything has been put back in its place and I am constantly amazed at how quickly things can start to fall apart and the clutter can start to build up.

Keeping clutter under control takes energy, time, effort, skill and a realization that if you don’t manage the clutter – it will absolutely-without-question negatively impact your classroom environment!

Clutter on counter tops…

Sometimes (well most of the time) it is my fault when my classroom starts to look cluttered. My teacher area (aka the counter top) is the number one place that starts to get cluttered in my classroom. I will set papers, cups, games, glue, paint, pencils, bags, books, and you name it on the counter thinking I will need it soon and the next thing you know I am adding dishes, measuring spoons, snack items, and more right on top of what is already there…

When my counter top gets cluttered, I start to feel unorganized. Well, it is more than a feeling, I actually am unorganized. I knock things over and it takes me twice as long to find something when I need it in a hurry. Clutter complicates teaching – it is a time waster and it adds stress to the day.

So at the end of every week, I wade through the piles of clutter on my counter top and unclutter all the clutter. I make sure that when I leave, the countertop looks clean, inviting, attractive, and organized. I get rid of anything that I don’t have to have off the counter top. I find that if I wait and come back to the clutter later, I feel stressed the minute I walk in the classroom so I have gotten into the habit of making sure I unclutter before I head home for the weekend.

Cubby Clutter

The next area that I have to keep an eye on is our cubby area. Our cubbies are composed of hooks for each child on the wall with a basket on the floor underneath each hook. When I visit a preschool or childcare center, one of the first places I can usually find clutter is either in or on top of the cubbies.

A cluttered cubby area does nothing to promote or teach children about organization, care of their personal space or things, or care for the classroom environment. My cubbies look pretty good in these photos but by then end of a week or two – our cubbies can look like a big rock, mitten, pebble, acorn, stick, toy, and paper collection! When the cubbies get too cluttered, the children have a hard time taking care of their things so we purge the cubbies regularly to help the children feel more in control of their personal space and belongings…

Classroom shelves and baskets and toys

Like most preschool teachers, I like to add new toys and activities to my classroom but there comes a time when you have to know enough is enough.  Having too many shelves, baskets, and toys is just begging for trouble in the preschool classroom (having too few can be a problem too but today we are focusing on the too many)…

Having a small classroom, I really have to be selective in what stays out all the time and what needs to be rotated so that the children can easily find and independently take part in caring for our classroom. The more you have the more there is to take care of and for young children, too many toys with no specific and clear place for where things belong can be overwhelming…

After awhile, it can seem like the children just don’t seem to care about where things belong. When I start finding plastic fruit in the postcard mailbox and toy cars in the bookshelf, I know it is time to declutter and make sure that I have classroom setup manageable and that it makes sense to the children. Once I declutter, I sit down with the children and we have a little reminder session on where things go and how we all need to step up and start putting things away in their propper place.

Observing and reflecting on clutter

Your classroom may not look cluttered at first glance. Things may look neat and tidy but be sure to be an observer of your own classroom environment. Take time to observe the children at play and see where things tend to fall apart and what needs to be done to improve the situation. Be reflective and responsive to the children’s needs in the process. For example, in the photo below, you will see my students playing on top of the puzzles. The children have been playing on top of these puzzles for weeks now. They are not playing with the puzzles, they are playing on top of the puzzles….

In the process of their play, the puzzles keep getting shoved aside. Everyday, I find the puzzles set on the floor or on a table. I find them anywhere but on that shelf. These puzzles have been out for quite awhile now and clearly my students would like to use the top of this shelf for their own play but I haven’t been responsive. I really like these puzzles on my shelf. They look so pretty there but for the children, they are in the way of their play. They are actually just clutter.

So today, when half of the puzzles came tumbling down on the floor in a loud crash, I knew that I should have moved those puzzles over a week ago. So now I have them all stacked up on the counter with all the pieces (that fell out earlier in the day) sitting in a basket.  I will take all the puzzles and store them in a box in my garage for awhile and let the children have the top of that book shelf for their play. The puzzles can come out on another day but right now, the children need that space for their own purposes. I could tell the children that they are not allowed to play there because they are messing up my puzzles – but really, does that make any sense?

Classroom setup matters and clutter control is an important part of maintaining a positive classroom environment so if you haven’t been on clutter patrol in awhile – its time to start!  Don’t forget, if you would like to hear what the experts have to say about classroom setup and the impact it has on young children, head on over to Bam Radio and take a listen! Click here or here for today’s broadcast on classroom setup!

Order Deborah's Children's CD today!

www.teachpreschool.org

Copyright 2011 © Deborah J. Stewart

All Rights Reserved!

Contact Deborah for permission to sell, post, publish, or distribute all or any part of this article!

We have been doing a little “quilting” in preschool. We started out our day by reading the book titled, “The Quilt” by Ann Jonas. Each patch on the quilt has meaning to the child and leads to dreams of villages and flowers while on a search for Sally, the stuffed dog…

Then we spent time feeling this patchwork quilted pillow case I brought from home. We explored the texture, designs, and colors on the pillow case. Like the book, we talked about what each quilt square or pattern might remind the children of…

For example, the yellow quilted squares reminded the children of sunshine and the dark blue quilted squares reminded the children of flower gardens. We discovered that each quilted square was like a story in itself…

After reading the book and exploring the quilt, I shared with the children some paper shapes and demonstrated how I might use them to make my own patterns on a square of white paper…

Then the children were invited to make their own paper quilt squares by selecting shapes and creating a quilt design on their own white square of paper…

On the table, the children found precut paper shapes and glue. Some of the children selected the shapes they wished to use and set them out before gluing. Other children just started gluing the shapes on the paper without seeming to have a plan in mind…

Each of the children interpreted my modeling of the process in their own unique way…

Its always interesting to watch how each child organizes or approaches the processes I share….

Each child added their own name to their quilted square..

And we hung them all up together on our black construction paper background. Simply beautiful!

Order Deborah's Children's CD today!

www.teachpreschool.org

Copyright 2011 © Deborah J. Stewart

All Rights Reserved!

Contact Deborah for permission to sell, post, publish, or distribute all or any part of this article!

I previously shared how I made my own textured pizza box puzzles and during that same DIY game making spree, I also created these super fun craft stick magnets for our large magnetic board…

I purchased colored craft sticks for this process but you could certainly paint your own set of craft sticks. On both ends of each craft stick, I hot glued a magnet…

I also hot glued some of the craft sticks together to make shapes and added the magnets on the shapes…

Today was the first day I set out the craft stick magnets and the children explored the craft stick magnets on our large magnetic board…

Immediately, I could hear the children naming the shapes of the different magnets and deciding how they could make their own shapes…

This is easily an open ended DIY activity as we will be able to use the magnetic craft sticks to explore patterns, shapes, counting, colors, and more…

Super fun and super easy to make…

Links to Grow On..

Magnetic marble tubes from Teach Preschool

Magnetic play set for preschool from Teach Preschool

More pizza box games from Teach Preschool

Rainbow craft stick puzzles from Teach Preschool

More fun ideas for Craft Sticks on Pinterest!

Order Deborah's Children's CD today!

www.teachpreschool.org

Copyright 2011 © Deborah J. Stewart

All Rights Reserved!

Contact Deborah for permission to sell, post, publish, or distribute all or any part of this article!

Paint rubbings is a process my students love to do over and over again. A paint rubbing is generally adding paint to a sheet of folded paper, closing the paper, rubbing the outside of the folded paper, then opening the paper up to view the results…

We always use this process as a follow-up to the book titled “It Looked Like Spilt Milk” By Charles G. Shaw…

However, because paint rubbings are so interesting to my students, they also tend to go through a lot of paper and a lot of paint during the process…

So when my students asked if they could make paint rubbings again, I added another step to the paint rubbing process by having the children make several folds to their paper before adding their paint…

Folding paper is good practice in eye hand coordination and fine motor skills. We worked, as a large group, on folding our paper in half first, then folding our paper again to meet in the middle creating four folded lines on our paper in the end…

Once the children had folded their paper, then we invited them to start adding paint. Some of the children placed the paint in the fold of their paper and others added paint to the center of the folded lines…

Once the children had added their paint, they refolded the paper and opened it back up to see their designs…

A fairly simple process with an added step!

Order Deborah's Children's CD today!

www.teachpreschool.org

Copyright 2011 © Deborah J. Stewart

All Rights Reserved!

Contact Deborah for permission to sell, post, publish, or distribute all or any part of this article!