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Interest areas can be switched in and out daily or for each study. Some interest areas may live in bins that get pulled out for the morning and others for the afternoon. You only need to have 5-6 interest areas out at a time.

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Make your own copy to make changes. Ideally, you are replacing the images with photos of your students in the interest area in action.

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What were the children interested in when you read the story? Did they point to anything in the pictures? What connections or comments did they make? Let these inform how you stock your interest areas

Dramatic Play: Laundry or laundromat*
Sand and water table: Wash rags and soapy water*
Art: provide samples of fabrics with patterns and textures*
Music: Washboard Band

*can be used in a future study!

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Documentation is a great way to learn about a child and strengthen your relationship with them. Documenting a child's learning informs us about the child and helps us to select the right materials, plan appropriate activities, and ask questions that guide the child's learning.

Sometimes our days get busy, and documentation can slip through the cracks, leaving teachers to rush to enter documentation near the end of a checkpoint. But this leaves out many opportunities to collect valuable documentation in your daily interactions. For some, collecting documentation can be especially frustrating if they are not sure of what to observe, how to observe, or why to observe.

The beginning of a new school year or new checkpoint is a great time to reflect on your present system for documenting and entering information. Has it been working? Has it been valuable? Has something kept you from documenting in a timely manner?

As you embark on a new school year, I've compiled three tips to help jumpstart your documentation collection.

Tip #1: Review the items in the Coaching to Fidelity Tool that address assessment.
This will help you self-assess this area before you even begin the new school year. Taking stock of your current practices will support your personal growth in the indicator(s) needing focus.

Tip #2: Connect that teaching and observing are one.
Documenting daily supports your weekly planning and decision-making. When you shift your mindset from seeing documentation as an aspect of "compliance," something you need to do as part of your job but separate from your work of teaching children, you will see how it can help you learn more about the children in your classroom. You will begin to see the wonder and joy in learning more about each child through observation and documentation.

Tip #3: Be intentional about what you are observing and why.
Determine who you want to observe and during what time of day you would like to observe. Remember that even if you have a curricular objective/dimension in mind when you begin observing, a piece of high-quality documentation can often be associated with multiple objectives and/or dimensions. You can provide learning experiences that will authentically rely on skills associated with specific objectives, providing you with opportunities to document children's development in these areas, but you can also be intentional about gathering documentation during child-led experiences. Observing children when they are deeply engaged in learning or pursuing their individual interests will provide great insight into their strengths.

Bonus Tip: Use technology to your advantage.
If you have not used the the Teaching Strategies Teacher app or GOLD Documentation app this might be a great time to start familiarizing yourself with the features of the system. An app can be a great time-saving tool that makes documenting children's skills, abilities, and knowledge easier.

What can you do if you are not ready to use the apps yet? If you prefer to handwrite a note instead of retyping it, why not take a photo of the handwritten note with one of the apps to upload it? This will help you balance your present comfort level with handwritten notes while becoming familiar with the GOLD Documentation or Teaching Strategies Teacher app.

Observing children in their natural environment, with their peers, is a great way to get to know and understand the children in your classroom. Using these three tips to guide your documentation will support your decision-making and planning and strengthen your relationships with the children and their families.

About the Author: Paula Guzman-Bell

Paula began her career as a preschool teacher, working with mixed ages in a Head Start program, the Public School System and for a Private Provider. After 7 years as a teacher, Paula began coaching while working in a New Jersey school district, when she had the opportunity to attend the state's coaching programming. After that, she supported teachers and administrators for many years with the implementation of curriculum and assessment.

In more recent years, she continues to support coaches, teachers, administrators, and directors with curriculum and assessment implementation throughout the country.

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Three Tips to Get a Jumpstart on Documentation Collection - Teaching Strategies

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Documentation is a great way to learn about a child and strengthen your relationship with them. Documenting a child's learning informs us about the child and helps us to select the right materials, plan appropriate activities, and ask questions that guide the child's learning. Sometimes our days get busy, and documentation can slip through the [...]

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https://vimeo.com/842991817

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A Single App for Teachers and Administrators, All Essential Daily Tasks 

The SmartTeach mobile app offers an easy, efficient way to quickly complete essential daily tasks on the fly, online or offline.

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The First Six Weeks is different from other studies. The children, their families, your classroom are the study!
When collecting materials for this period, ask, "Do I have what I need to...."

Print/make labels?

Print and display photos of the children

Define my interest areas?

Display the children's work in a meaningful way?

Organize materials?

To meet the range of needs and developmental stages of my students?

Minimize clutter?

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The Power of Environments - Teaching Strategies

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Have you ever spent time in an arcade? How about in a place of worship or a museum? If your answer is “yes,” chances are your behavior varied between the locations. Chances are also pretty good that someone didn’t need to tell you how to act in either place; the environment itself provided the clues…

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How will you help children and families feel welcome in their new learning community on the first day?

It could be said that love is the launchpad to learning, and that feeling welcome is the fuel that propels the rocket. In my former life as a teacher, the first weeks of school always felt like one endless Sunday night spent on preparations. Now as a coach and mentor, I am supporting teachers with open houses and home visits as we introduce or reintroduce ourselves to children and their families.

One resource I turn to in my coaching/mentoring role is The Creative Curriculum for Preschool. Chapter 4 in "Volume 1: The Foundation" offers excellent guidance for building positive, loving relationships with children and welcoming them into our programs. For example, it emphasizes the value of allowing plenty of time for hellos and goodbyes and of keeping initial group meetings short. In those early days and weeks, some children might participate by watching group meetings from a comfortable distance, so it's important to stay flexible and understand that some children might not yet be ready to participate. Each day is a brand-new day to a 3-year-old, so keep in mind that young children might not retain what you say from day to day or even most of what you say. It helps to get comfortable with feeling-and sounding-like a broken record as you repeat directions and explanations again and again. But take heart: There are ways to get children's attention when it begins to dwindle. I use a signal in the form of a statement: "If you can hear my voice, take a deep breath." When you find yourself in similar circumstances, you can think of your own special statement, song, rhyme, or movement to get children's attention back on track.

Many teachers also seek ideas for making children's families feel welcome from the moment they enter the classroom on the first day of school. Chapter 5 of Volume 1 suggests getting to know families by making your entranceway inviting. I had a big, comfy, adult-sized chair near my sign-in sheet and provided a place for families to hang up their coats so they could stay a while.

Another great resource for teachers starting a new school year is The Hub, an Early Childhood Education Professional Learning Community. The Hub provides a much-needed space for teachers to come together to share ideas and get support from their greatest allies: other teachers. As we prepare to meet new children and families this year, this group provides accountability partners that help everyone put all those tools and resources from Teaching Strategies into use in their classrooms right away.

Teachers on The Hub have recently been discussing their experiences with helping children and families feel welcome in their new learning community on the first day. Today, we are highlighting some of our favorite ideas that our teacher colleagues shared this week. Here are some golden nuggets of knowledge from this week's forums:

Two small things come to mind that can go a long way. Try to find at least one time during the day you can interact with each child individually, talk to them, read to them, show interest in what they are doing. For parents I try to find one positive thing I can tell them about their child at the end of the day. In the beginning I actually wrote it down so I wouldn't forget by the evening, "Susie shared her toy today", "Ben pedaled his bike! Yesterday he was pushing forward with his feet" and so on. This also helps you as the teacher because you are training yourself to look for the positive instead of the negative behaviors.

Day #1 is so important in developing relationships with the children and their families. We have a drop-in day where the caregivers can come with their child to see the classroom prior to the first day. This allows the children to see the environment while having the safety of an adult. My goal is to have them feel safe and to know that I am there to help them with all their needs.

W e encourage families to participate in as many ways as possible, this may include sending in pictures about what the have done at home, having them donate items for the different activities we are doing. For example, the parents were very eager to let us borrow camping supplies and materials. They also are excited to let the class borrow books during the week that align with the study or theme we are using. It keeps the parents involved without having to physically be in the classroom. They love it and so do the children!

"I think the message that I want to send to my children and family is a sense of welcoming, belonging and engaging. I want them to know that our doors are open and as long as everyone is engage in the process, the children will be okay."

Every child and every community are unique, and the ways we make children and families feel welcome may vary from school to school and family to family. No matter how you are doing it, putting the time and effort into building these relationships with families now will benefit you all year long.

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The First Six Weeks of School: Greeting Children & Families - Teaching Strategies

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How will you help children and families feel welcome in their new learning community on the first day? It could be said that love is the launchpad to learning, and that feeling welcome is the fuel that propels the rocket. In my former life as a teacher, the first weeks of school always felt like [...]

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CECE Early Childhood Videos at Eastern CT State U.

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Back to school time... The waxy smell of fresh crayons paired with the dire urge to clean, organize, and purge materials! Oh, the possibilities! Although arranging materials appeals to my Type A personality, fortunately, it also plays a crucial role in establishing a well-designed and inviting physical space.

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Creating Welcoming Environments

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The Teaching Strategies Digital Content Library has letters to families in their Downloadable Resources sections. Letters explain interest area, studies, and other aspects of the curriculum. ASPIRE Educators should use the Guided versions.

You can also copy and paste to make your own version. You know your families best! You can want to present this information in a way that they will receive it and understand it.

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The six focus questions are each of the six weeks. Focus questions are the starting points for structuring your classroom conversations and learning experiences throughout a study.

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1. What names do we need to know at school?

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1. What names do we need to know at school?

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2. What should we do if we feed sad or scared at school?

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2. What should we do if we feed sad or scared at school?

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6. How can we make and keep friends? How can we be part of a group?

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6. How can we make and keep friends? How can we be part of a group?

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There are so many ways to make this story come to life! Here ideas to extend the learning into your classroom.

Dramatic Play

Set up a restaurant or kitchen area where seaweed salads and jelly fish sandwich are for sale. Take as to which one each student would like to try!

Involve the students in creating an under water scene. Listen to what they point out in the pictures of the book. Encourage the students to create what they notice and add it to the scene.

Gary and Harry were certified in turtle rescue. Gather ocean related stuffed animals and create a rescue clinic.

Sensory Area

Spectacular Sea Circus: fill a bin with sand and plastic sea animals and encourage the students to create a performance that is show worthy!

Gather sea shells of all different kinds and encourage the students to make impressions in play dough. You can also offer paint brushes to have them dust away "sand".

Jello-fish! Put several plastic animals in large jello mold along with blue jello (I recommend sugar free). See if students can retrieve the animals!

Discovery Area

Set up bins for recycle and trash. Encourage the students to sort house hold items (don't forget a plastic bag!) with tweezers or tongs.

Encourage the students to sort seashells by size, color, shape--whatever they notice!

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https://www.naeyc.org/resources/blog/process-art

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Head Start preschool educator Amanda Messer offers insight into how young children can demonstrate early learning goals through engagement in process art.

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Additional strategies for communicating with families are in Volume 1, page 204-205.

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For the first six weeks, try to connect your interest areas to some of the books you are reading to the class. This is a great way to bring the stories to life and for the children to make real world connections.