I must admit. I am sooooo lucky. I work in a school where my colleagues are striving to bring amazing educational environments. Jennifer Dean, a kindergarten teacher, has created pure magic in her classroom. I just had to share! Let's go take a peek. . .
Loose parts in the Math Center — I love how beautifully Jennifer presented these.
Here is a view of the math center and the table with the loose parts.
A math activity tray. Weight.
Jen did the coolest thing with her light table. You can't see it in this photo – but hold on – I am going to show you!
She has cups with a-z letter tiles.
She has a ring of sight words on the light table.
And the children use the tiles to create the sight words. So smart!
See the light table in the back of this photo? And check out the mason jar that is hanging in the foreground. It has a fish. So beautiful!
This is one of the art shelves. Notice the foil sculpture on top of the shelf?
What a great idea – the children can wrap nature items in foil and create sculptures.
Construction Center. Love all of the different natural logs.
Lovely invitation to study these bugs. . .
Look at all of those wonderful cylinders for blocks!! Love.
It is clear the classroom agreements have an important role in the classroom.
Thank you Jennifer for sharing this amazing room!
Part Two coming soon!
Looks absolutely amazing, a very inspiring space for children to explore and create. I run a family day care and am always looking for new ideas to inspire me and this is fabulous! Thank you 🙂
MORE photos PULLLLLLEESE!!!!!!!!!! what an inspirational environment! I would love to see everything going on in that classroom!
very inspiring, I just love the idea of foil wrapped natural objects. Cant wait to try this out.
Omgosh, I LOVE it!! Where did she get those cinder blocks? My favorite part is that building center with all the natural wood. I wanna jump in there and start playing! Thank you for posting!
What a beautiful, thoughtful space. I agree that the natural foil sculptures look really engaging, definitely something I’ll be introducing after spring break. During which I’ll be making more branch bundles 😉
I love the idea of the hanging mason jar! So cool!
I would like to know what kind of material that is covering the lights above the classroom. I like the way it diffuses the florescent lights! Thank you.
How do the children engage with the big cylinders? I have gathered film cylinders from Walgreens and we are going to mod podge the children’s photos on each one and add them to our block area.
I run a licensed family childcare in my home. Love this teacher’s ideas. Just curious- there isn’t much color on the wall, is that intentional? I have lots of oak cupboards, white walls, and blue carpet and furniture, and not much room for stuff on the walls- so I don’t have much color on my walls either. I also have a 17 x 17.5 sunroom, which has vinyl decals on the windows, white shades, and either tumbling mats on the floor, or two area rugs over vinyl which looks like wood floor.
Creative working space for kids and staff! Are you still offering the best kept secrets courses? I tried the register link but its not working. Great resources you provide : ) : )
I am a parent and a Para at this school, we are very fortunate to have a blend of both Reggio inspired and traditional classrooms. My children benefit greatly from both styles of teaching and never before did I think it was possible to see developmentally appropriate practices in the public school setting. Thank you to all of our amazing teachers!!! You inspire the best in us all.
As a long-time “Montessorian” I discovered Reggio in the 1990’s and always strived to bring that magic beauty of Reggio into my Montessori classroom…Jennifer has done it! So very inviting. I can’t wait for the workshop. Thanks!
Such an inviting and provocative classroom! Love all the beautiful natural materials. Can’t wait to make foil sculptures. I also really like the display of the “classroom agreements” as a constant reminder to children, teachers, and parents.
Where did she get or how did she make the scrabble like tiles?
Hi Jeslyn! Great question. These are actually letter tiles. You can purchase them on Amazon 🙂