Things You'll Need:
- Calendar
- Weather board
- Attendance board
- Carpet squares
- Comfortable seating
- Lamps
- Assorted books and magazines
- Easels
- Art supplies
- Musical instruments
- Tapes and CDs
- Science books
- Human models
- Magnifying glass and goggles
- Birds nest
- Classroom pets
- Telescope
- Tornado tube
- Sand and water table
- Costumes
- Assorted plastic kitchen toys
- Baby dolls
- Writing material
- Math manipulative
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Step 1
Create a morning group/circle time area. This is where you will greet the children and begin the day. The circle time area should be a large enough space for the entire class to sit comfortably on the floor. This area should include your calendar, weather board, an attendance board to record the student’s daily attendance and carpet squares for the children to sit on.
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Step 2
Build a language arts/reading center. Here the students start developing skills that assist them in reading comprehension. A reading center needs to include comfortable over-sized pillows and chairs, small reading lamps that the students can easily operate, a word wall, the alphabet displayed at the student’s eye level, and an abundance of colorful books and children’s magazines.
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Step 3
The creative arts center should be set up so that the children feel free to express themselves. Place numerous easels around the center for the children and provide a wide variety of paints, brushes, chalk and watercolors. The creative arts center should also include musical instruments, tapes, CDs and plenty of room for music and movement.
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Step 4
Create a science center. This is the area of the classroom where the children will learn to explore their immediate environment as well as the world around them. The science center should include science books, models of the human body, magnifying glasses, goggles, bird nests, a classroom pet, such as a fish or hamster, telescopes, tornado tubes, and a sand and water table. You can also include soil and seeds so children can grow their own plants.
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Step 5
Build a dramatic play area. This is where the kindergarten student’s imagination can really soar, which will lead to a positive self-concept as well as improved confidence. The dramatic play center should include brightly colored clothing and costumes for playing dress-up, child-sized appliances, empty food containers and boxes, suitcases, plastic food and dishes, baby dolls and plastic cars.
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Step 6
In the writing center kindergarten students can practice free writing. The writing center should include materials that make children excited about letter recognition and writing. Colored pens, note pads, adding machine tape, ink pads, rubber stamps in assorted shapes, staplers, envelopes, stickers, letter stencils and assorted cards are essential to your writing center.
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Step 7
Create a math/manipulative center. This is the area of the classroom where the students will learn to sort, sequence and classify objects through hands-on experience and discovery. The math center should include materials such as cereal, pebbles, shells and egg cartons to play sorting games, pegs and peg boards, large numbered cards for counting and matching. The math center should also include colored pasta and lacing beads to aid in teaching the students to recreate patterns.
