Join me at Teach Preschool!

Click here to see fingerplays and songs by Deborah! »

The Latest on Teach Preschool!

Monday, June 8, 2009

A Clean and Organized Classroom

When your preschool students walk into your classroom what do they see? Try standing on your knees at the door of your classroom and see if your classroom looks inviting, warm, clean, fun, and organized or does your classroom look cluttered, dirty, and chaotic?

Here are some important reasons for keeping your classroom clean:

Health: A clean classroom helps children stay healthy and fights against the spread of germs. A dirty classroom leads to illness and fussy children.

Care: A clean classroom tells your students that you care about their classroom and teaches them to care too. A dirty classroom leads to laziness and a lack of concern for the classroom environment, toys, and equipment.

Mood: A clean classroom simply makes everyone feel better which leads to more positive experience. A dirty classroom leaves everyone feeling frustrated and unhappy.

Impression: A clean classroom makes a good impression about you as a professional. A dirty classroom gives the impression that you may be nice but not very professional.


Here are some important reasons for keeping your classroom organized:

Independence: An organized environment helps children to be more independent. When they know where things belong, they are more able to do things all by themselves.

Behavior: An organized environment helps keep expectations about where to play, rest, put papers away, eat, and so forth which leads to more positive student behavior.

Attention: An organized environment helps teachers spend more time on their students rather than worrying over where things are and where things belong.

Education: An organized environment creates greater opportunities for student learning.

Be sure and Follow My Blog!
How can you help build a child's vocabulary?
Copyright ©2009 Deborah J. Stewart; All Rights Reserved!

4 comments:

Little Nutmeg said...

On this topic, what do you think about wall decor? When I work in my son's Kindergarten class, I leave feeling exhausted! In addition to being around all that 5 year old energy :) I think it may just be the overstimulation as every inch of wall space in his classroom is decorated with posters, art, flashcards, etc. Maybe it's just me, but I feel like it's dizzying and distracting--but I am a parent, maybe the kids don't mind it? Or learn to tune it out? What do you think?

Deborah Stewart said...

It is possible to over-do-it a bit on classroom walls. Too much can overstimulate students (and parents :).

The important thing for teachers to think about when putting pictures and artwork on the wall is whether or not the displays will bring value to the learning environment.

Wall displays that are used to teach or reinforce learning concepts, promote self-esteem, highlight student accomplishments, and give the room a happy feeling all bring value but teachers should make sure that they are selective and that their message isn't lost due to too many displays.

Perhaps the children are used to all of the displays on their classroom wall, but again, the question is - do the displays bring value to their learning environment?

Little Nutmeg said...

I think his teacher has done a wonderful job doing all the things you mention--reinforce learning concepts, promote self-esteem, highlight student accomplishments, and give the room a happy feeling.

This topic got me thinking, I wonder how different classrooms look as you travel the globe? So I visited Flickr and created a gallery. While not all are #ece it's an interesting mix nonetheless! http://ow.ly/zCA7

Deborah Stewart said...

That should be interesing - I will be sure to check it out!

Related Posts with Thumbnails