My New Calendar System:

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Before

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After

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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. . .