Play to Learn, Learn to Play

Dramatic play where have you gone??? That is a question that I am sure so many kindergarten teachers have been wondering. Kids are in such need now days to learn to play, take turns, pretend, and defiantly share. This is something that Mrs. Gordon and I really wanted to see in our kindergarten classrooms this year. So we did it. We added a dramatic play center that will change out every two months or so with something else for the kids to play with. We started our year with a grocery store. We got very resourceful and changed our puppet stand into a checkout counter. We added a little paper and transformed it. We kept that up for August and September. For October and November we turned it into a pizza palace. We created a sign, menu, and an order sheet that the students use to help the imagination take off. The kids really are loving this center.

 








The Pizza Palace

Here is a free printable of our menu and the open and closed sign. Stay tuned to our blog and TPT store for more of our Dramatic play units.



Click on picture for the free download







A Peek at Mrs. Gordon's Room

Last year when I accepted a teaching position at my new school I immediately began thinking about my NEW classroom.  I love to decorate and the thought of designing a new theme for a classroom had me giddy.  I spent countless hours on the internet scouring Pinterest classroom ideas not to mention looking at the amazing School Girl Style website.  I stressed over it for weeks and finally decided on a color scheme.  I am very lucky that my school district allowed me to paint my classroom...and pick any color I wanted!  At first our head of maintenance was a little wary of my color choices which were Benjamin Moore's "Sapphire Ice" and "Ladybug Red".  I have to admit I was a tad nervous myself.  I am beyond blessed to have a wonderful mother and mother-in-law that helped me sand off mickey mouse border that had been there for I am guessing at least ten years and paint the entire room.  After getting paint on the walls the room really started to take shape.  I decided on a "Seussy" theme and began adding lots of polka dot and striped fabrics, a bright red rug, pops of turquoise, orange, red, and lime green and these amazing Dr. Seuss quotes I found here.  My ever so talented dad created the frames that were repurposed from old trim removed from my grandparents home.  On meet the teacher night the look on my new K babies faces made all the hard work and countless summer nights worth it!  They were in love!

 

Mrs. Gordon>

Word Work Center

Math Center

Book Ledge in the Reading Center

Guided Reading Area

Student Cubbies