Pictures

I promised pictures!  This is a great idea.  Pictures of local buildings were attached to small boxes for use in the block area.  One of them is the High Scope Building!  

This was another exciting area - not sure you can see the rebus schedule of the day on the board.  I noticed two children consulting it to decide what was happening next!  The children used the large number of big building blocks to create a "castle" in the writing area.  Teachers allowed the children to move materials to ALL areas of the room, but children were also VERY involved in the cleanup process.

 

The children entered the classroom, the parents signed them in officially, the children signed themselves in on their sign-ins and then went to the rug where books had been laid out for their use.  Children went to the bookshelf and made their own choices, too.  Many parents sat on the rug with their children and read to them.  If a parent had to leave, their child would slide right over to a parent next to them and the parent would read to both children.  The community created at the center for parents was awesome!  They all interacted and at the end of the first day, many parents remained in the playground area allowing their children to play and they were talking after the teachers had come back into the classroom.  I guess children, parents and teachers were empowered at this center!