Welcome to our online prekindergarten classroom information! Here’s some important information about our prekindergarten classroom!

“To be an excellent teacher means creating a caring community of learners...” 

                           (Couple & Bredekamp, 2009)

Community Building….

Social Emotional Development is the driving force of early childhood education. Children need to experience being apart of a group, controlling their emotions, and facing and solving conflict. Through developing these skills the door to cognitive learning is opened. This is why building a community in our classroom is vital to our students. According to Marian Marion (2015)’ “Teachers can create classrooms in which democratic values thrive. This calls for respect for everyone, collaboration, and joint decision making. It requires that communication be open and courteous.” (p.37) A community of learners who work together, encourage each other, and reach goals as a team are what we will strive for in this classroom. This allows students to feel empowered and important. The fuel for positive social emotional development! Parents and Families are an important piece of this community. We hold an open door policy in our school and classroom so parents are welcome anytime. You are your child’s greatest supporter. We want you apart of our community!

Physical Environment…

“Children benefit in many ways when their teachers design developmentally appropriate classrooms. They have lower levels of stress and far fewer discipline problems” (Marion, 2105, p. 98). 

Our classroom is a Reggio inspired model that is designed with simplicity in mind. In our classroom you will find neutral colors, and natural and soft lighting. Most source of light comes from lamps and natural sunlight. This helps create a calm and soothing atmosphere where children can feel relaxed. Children are exposed to everyday natural materials to learn and explore with and play is encouraged. The classroom is organized into separate activity areas that flow throughout the space and sensory-rich areas can be found in many of our centers. Centers are rotated out according to the students interest and needs. All shelves are labeled with words and pictures so children know where to return items after use. We offer a safe place in our room. This is in place for children to visit when emotional regulation is needed or the child just needs time to regroup. 

Approach to Rules

Our main focus is keeping ourself and others safe. In our classroom we set limits that allow us to respect each other and classroom materials. To accomplish this we have one major rule, “You may not hurt.” This applies to physical, emotional, and mentally. In this classroom we believe in choices. We live by choices everyday but there are also things we must not do to keep our classroom safe. Our Rule in our classroom is established to do just that. Sometimes students have a hard time following rules so to make it easier we focus on what to do while enforcing what we may not do because it is not safe. This rule is often phrased as a question when reinforcing it to students. “Are you keeping yourself, the classroom, or your friends safe?” This allows the student to reflect and consider if he is following the classroom rule.  An example of how this implementation works in the classroom... The students are not allowing others a safe place to learn if they are being loud in the hallway while others are in class learning. “You may walk with your finger to your mouth or You may walk while catching a bubble in your mouth. You may not talk while walking in the hallway. “ would be said by the teacher in response to students actions. 

Classroom Expectations 

1.  In our classroom we keep ourselves and others safe.
2. We must be kind to ourselves and others.
3. We must be respectful of others and classroom materials.
4. Always be patient with yourself, others, and your teacher.
5. ALWAYS GIVE YOUR BEST!