My New Calendar System:
I love the black background and how lovely the board looks with child writing!
Here is a view of my new calendar area. When I changed the board from January to February, I realized I needed to put up a system that would not tear up the bulletin board paper every time and have that sleek look that I admire so much in Reggio.Just like before, the special helper of the day draws a picture for the day that I put on top of the blank card. At the end of the day, the special helper recalls three special things we did that day and I write it on the blank card underneath the drawing.
I love this because we can look back see what we did yesterday, last week – it is a documentation of time. At the Reggio inspired school I visited in my area, they documented with photos. I know I could not keep up with that so I adapted it to drawings.
I strung wire across the board (jewelry wire) and hooked either end on a push pin. What I like about this wire is that it allows me to clip a number of things on the board. And the design can change by sliding the clip.
The index cards are attached with mini-clips. It is so easy to add the top illustration and I can take the cards down and put up the next month in a snap!
New Alphabet Frieze:
In a quest to bring the majority of the print material in my classroom to child-made – I had the children remake my classroom alphabet set.
To do this switch, I gave each child one of the letter posters to write and draw. I am so moved and touched by their beautiful work and it makes our space so beautiful. I am still working on my classroom transformation. More photos are coming. . .
I’m awarding you the stylish blog award! Please go to my blog to follow instructions.
Jenea
http://www.seedsofnoledge.blogspot.com
Thank you so much for this honor! I loved reading about you! How fun! You have a wonderful blog!
you are so welcome! My beta fish does the exact same thing! I never knew a fish could get happy to see you like a puppy! It is true though!
wonderful ideas! thanks for sharing
What a really cute idea!! I just love how you incorporate your kiddo’s art to give them such a great sense of ownership. I’d love it if you’d link up to my new Marvelous Mess link party (begins tonight!!)….. I will be choosing one project to be featured on my sidebar and it’s a great way to get some new traffic.
http://marvelouslymessy.blogspot.com
I can’t begin to tell you how much I’ve been enjoying your blog. It both reminds me of my classroom teaching days and gives me so many great ideas for my homeschool. I love your blog and have given you the Stylish Blogger Award on my site here:
http://ourseasonsofjoy.com/general/im-stylish-whoda-thunk-it/
I love your kid-created Alphabet. I think I am going to try this. 🙂
Check out this post on what I do with my morning meeting everyday:
http://teachinghappilyeverafter.blogspot.com/2011/02/incorporating-time-into-morning-meeting.html
I love this idea, and honestly my calendar has been giving me fits for months. I am going to try this out beginning in March. : ) Also, I spied Tiptoes Lightly in the holder next to your calendar. My daughter and I have just finished reading all 4 books, and I made her a Tiptoes Lightly felt toy set for Christmas. We love that story! I’ll let you know how our calendar turns out.
Karen,
I would love to see your calendar when it is up! I love the Tiptoes Lightly books and well and WOW! love, love, love the idea of a felt set.
Sally
Annette, Thank you so much for your kind words and support! I am such a supporter and believer in the power of homeschooling – it means so much to be touching that community as well. It is really my intention to be inclusive of all teachers – homeschool teachers, public and private teachers, parents as teachers. . . anyway – I appreciate you! I am going to blog to check it out!
Sally
I am inspired to do some of these myself…..love the idea of the images for the calendar and the child-made abc wall…..
Mir
I just love this! I happened to have just enough picture wire (and time) over the long weekend to get this set up, and we started today. It’s so much more meaningful than the standard Kinder calendar.
Your blog is wonderful- I’ve also used your ideas for story stones and alphabet stones (huge hits!) and will be making some of your math games next. Thank you so much!
I hope you don’t mind that I’ve adapted your idea and created a free download for others through my TpT store. All credit has been given to you, along with links to your original post. You can see what I’ve made and how I’m using your idea in my classroom here: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Reggio-Emilia-Inspired-Calendar
I do not mind. I appreciate the link back.
Many Blessings!
I have found this idea from Pinterest and I have to say it may be the best idea I have ever seen! Congrats!
I love Reggio Inspired ideas! Thank you for stopping by! I have more Reggio ideas to post!
Hi Sally! I love your calendar idea. When do you have the special helper draw the picture for the calendar?
Hello – love these ideas and want to incorporate them – I see u wrote snow on some days but there is no pic there ?
This means that was a snow day and we had no school. So I just labeled these as “Snow”.
I love this. What grade is this?