Classroom Set Up Large Group Meeting Area

Classroom Set Up 2014 continues…Large Group Area. I’m sure we all have a large group area. I’m going to share a few tips that Megan and I use to make the most of that area and the things that occur there…

First of all, we love these foam squares! Take about easy to clean up. No more “smells”! We assign each child a square. We want to be sure that each child has that special place that is just theirs. A place so that they know they don’t have to knock people over trying to get to the carpet. A place where they won’t be distracted by those sitting around them. A place where I can be sure I can give them just the right amount of help. Get the picture? The children that we could put in a china shop, the ones that we are pretty sure are going to stay on task no matter what, sit the furthest away from us. Right up close…those that are going to need our every attention for one reason or another. Bless their hearts!

We don’t really love the GIANT easel. It takes up way too much room, but will have to do until we can find another one in the school or we can convince someone to make her a new one! If you look closely in the picture you will see a green clip on the back. That green clip is holding a baby shoe hanging bag that we picked up at the dollar store. It is perfect for holding teacher supplies such as pens, markers, glue, tape, etc. Think of all the supplies that you might need and put them there!
Now what about that shelf? It is our PANIC shelf! Or our “we don’t need to panic” shelf. This shelf holds everything we need to teach our large group.
What do we keep there:
*Calendar Supplies
*Ipod for music
*Show and Tell (kids know they have to put their show and tell in the bucket on their day)
*Birthday Supplies so you are always ready
*Transitional Activities such as puppets that relate to our unit
*Our Class Happy Rocks for Compliments
*Standards
*Any items that we are going to use that day during large group
*A set of magnetic letters arranged in abc order on a cookie sheet (with extra vowels)
*Our new sight word apron that we got in Vegas! Love it!

Right now our calendar bulletin board is basic. Instead of having everything on it right from the beginning, we only put up the parts we have introduced. Then, as we introduce more parts of the calendar, we add them. Our kids use a student calendar notebook and we just love them. Talk about active engagement! They keep their notebooks in their carpet bags.
The bulletin board has:
*A place to hang the standards for each of our mini lessons.
*A place to hang the standards for our 5 centers for literacy and math.
*The sight word parking lot. This is where we put our new words on Monday. Then on Friday we move them to the word wall.
(Those three items are in Megan’s classroom décor pack.)
*The calendar grid.
*A place to keep up with how many days we have been in school so far.
Pretty simple set up for an area where so much occurs! We do most of our teaching from the rug. We like to be able to see what everyone is doing. It keeps the pace of the lesson moving along quickly. It builds a sense of community.