Im finally getting my own classroom...i need ideas.....?

Yippee! What an exciting time for you. I remember my first "classroom". A lot more responsibility but I loved it!

My personal opinion about "decorations" in a preK classroom...use their work and rotate often. I usually have an alphabet (upper/lower), number, shape, and color display up that I interact with on a daily basis and rotate at minimum every 2 weeks. When I change the displays (rotate them) the kids stay interested. I've been in some classrooms where the teacher's put up their displays at the beginning of the year and within the first month...the kids don't even think about them. I laminate everything I can so that the kids can touch them and I can even write on them with dry erase marker.

Do you have access to The Mailbox Preschool Magazine? They have very easy to implement activities for all those areas...art, science, literacy, holiday activities, cooking. A well worth expense. One of my most used resources. The day care/Preschool can claim it on their taxes. Ask them if they'll do it for you. If not, it's something worth doing for yourself and then you have all those back issues for future classes! You may wish to check your local library to see if they carry back issues so you can get the Feb/March ideas. :P

Q-Arts

Quarter Q’s: Make rubbings of quarters on a white paper Q. I've also taped them into a Q q shape onto cardboard and use regular computer paper to rub over top of.

Glue with q-tips… question marks cut out of magazines onto their letter. Paint with q-tips.

Q is for Quilt: Give each child a nine-inch square of paper that has been creased diagonally both ways. Set out diamond shapes cut from aluminum foil and color paper scraps. Let the children glue the diamond shapes on their squares in patterns using the creases on their squares as guidelines. Arrange squares together and display.

*Quality Quilt: Provide 12”x12” fabric or felt squares and fabric markers/crayons. Have each child create a self-portrait, explaining that this means to draw a picture of their own face. Sew all the squares together onto a large sheet of fabric.

* Name quilt: have each child decorate a square with their name on it. Punch along the edges with a hole puncher and use yarn to tie the name squares together to make a quilt.

Quilted Q: Cut fabric scraps into small squares. Help the children glue the small squares of fabric onto a large letter Q to create a patchwork quilted letter.

Quill Painting: Write the word “quill” on a sentence strip. Explain to the children that a feather is also called a quill and that it starts with the letter Q. Explain that long time ago, before we had ballpoint pens, people used quills to write. Demonstrate how to write with a quill by dipping it into paint and drawing squiggles all over a letter Q. Then, demonstrate how to dip the feathery end into the paint and create a different design. Allow to dry.

Q-science

Examine quarters with magnifying glass. Use an eyedropper...how many drops of water will fit on a quarter? On a penny? Which holds more?

Science: Introduce pictures of and discuss what a "quail" is.

Song:

I Like Q- Tune: Twinkle, Twinkle

Q is for queen with a crown on her head,

Q is for quilt that covers my bed.

Q is for questions I like asking,

Q is for ducklings’ quack-quack-quacking.

Q is for quarter and quick and quill,

I like Q and I always will.

Elizabeth McKinnon

I use a letter song like this and print onto a piece of cardstock with clipart to go along with the song. I laminate and we use it to find the Qq's, use for work/letter substitution, word chunks (syllables), etc.

Make a Display Box: quail, Quaker Oats box, quarter, queen, question mark, quill, quilt, q-tips,e tc

Literacy and Writing:

Quill Pens: Explain to the children that people long ago wrote with quill pens, which they made from feathers. They sharpened the ends of the feathers into points and then dipped them in ink. Print Q’s on pieces of paper and stem out long feathers. Let the children hold the feathers like quill pens, pretend to dip them in ink and then practice tracing over the q’s. May wish to dip their ends into diluted food coloring “ink”.

The nursery rhyme "Queen Of Hearts" provides an opportunity to review Qq.

Trace a quarter and then add a line to make it into a Q.

Small Group/Transition activity:

Find the Queen: Collect the tens, jacks, kings, and queens from a deck of playing cards. Shuffle the cards and place them in a stack face down. Have players take turns pulling cards. When a player pulls a queen, he writes down a Q. The person with the most Q’s when the stack is turned over wins.

Snacks:

Cut apples, oranges or round pie shapes into quarters. (One of our preschool goals is to recognize whole and parts....so I do this type of activity often at snack or lunch time)

Other activities:

Quack specific numbers of times as number cards are flashed.

Q Quarter Toss: Make large Q letter cards and see if the children can toss the quarter into the center of the Qq.

goodness - that's a lot of questions! We make a quilt on Q day and have the kids glue small square or fabric on a piece of construction paper. we have also invited the high school Quartet to visit on Q day - that has always been a big hit!

Simple ways to decorate would be hanging the children's own artwork -the children love to see their projects hanging on the wall!

Valentine's day - make a Clifford - a huge red heart, a skinnier pink heart cut in half for ears, two white heart eyes and one black heart nose.

Art - foldover hearts - cut out a white heart, fold in half, kids paint on half of the heart, fold it over and press down,. Open it up for a beauiful creation.

Cooking - hmmm - we don't cook - too many allergies

Science - we do a lot of magnets at our science center (I need ideas for that area too!)

My favorite and most-used resource is Mailbox magazine; this magazine would give you ideas on everything you asked about, and they also have an online "extra" department for subscribers. They have a specific magazine geared for Preschool that would give you a wealth of info. Their website is listed below, and it is well worth the subscription price! Seriously, I have years and years of their publications on my shelf, and use the ideas ALL the time. Centers, bulletin boards, great kid cooking ideas, phonemic awareness, etc. etc. etc.

I've also attached a fun website that has good seasonal ideas for you, too!

Oh -- use the kids' art for the bulletin boards -- takes up a lot of space, is visually pleasing, moms love it, and it doesn't take a lot of work for you! Add a caption, and you're done!

Have fun -- you gotta love those four-year-olds!

There are fonts online that turn the alphabet into different animals. Those are fun. You can blow them up and color them or get one of your creative friends to redraw them (if you dont draw). You can post them around the room.