Practicing Teacher Websites for Ideas and Strategies on classroom arrangement, structure, activities, and organization

This blog discusses the results from researching practicing teacher websites for useful ideas and strategies on how to effectively arrange, structure and organize classrooms, as well as fun and exciting activities for teachers to implement in their classroom.  Below, are four websites that have excellent resources for teachers to utilize in order to successfully create an encouraging classroom.   

Website 1:  http://www.prekinders.com/

This is a great site for prekindergarten teachers to utilize, and is founded by Karen Cox, a prekindergarten teacher in the state of Georgia.  This website consist of a variety of thematic lessons, math and literacy ideas, fine motor activities, and classroom management strategies.  Within each theme, there are numerous hands-on activities, books suggestions, free printables, and center ideas, along with actual pictures of children in centers working on the example/idea presented.  There are four main tabs on this website – Learning areas, Themes, Classroom Ideas, and Printables.  The ideas, suggestions, and pictures from this website are truly amazing, helpful, and the activities are developmentally appropriate.  A specific example from this website is center time management.  The example suggest to create eleven centers – dramatic play, block, art, science, sensory, reading, writing, ABC/literacy, math, computer, and music.  Allow one full hour for children to explore and play freely, without limitations, such as setting a restriction to the number of children allowed in a particular center.  This example emphasizes that centers should be child-directed at all times, so that children make plans and choices during this time.  This is an outstanding example of a supportive learning environment for young learners, because it provides a strategy that ensures for child-initiated play, and incorporates a variety of centers that peaks the interest of all students in the classroom.  Free choice centers are such an important part of the classroom, and promote young children’s social and emotional skills along with building children’s confidence and knowledge (Gartrell, 2013).  This site is very easy to navigate and is a wonderful site for teachers to gain information for their own classrooms. 

Website 2:  https://www.teachervision.com/

Teacher vision is an excellent website for teachers to find a variety of resources, ideas, and strategies, ranging from grades prekindergarten through twelfth.  One great aspect of this website is that it allows one to choose a desired grade level, then breaks it down into specific topics to explore ideas, strategies, and activities.  The topics range from specific subjects, themes, printables, lesson plans, and graphic organizers to classroom management tips, techniques, and arrangement.  One example from this website came from choosing the kindergarten grade level, then clicking on the topic “classroom management”, then choosing “the ultimate organized classroom”.  Listed on this page is a five-step guide that instructs teachers how to obtain a well-organized classroom.  Step one explains how to organize resources and materials using a color code system, along with the use of binders, and storing and labeling items in boxes for easy use and storage.  Step two details steps to organize student records.  Step three teaches the importance of training your students by establishing class rules and procedures.  Step four explains how to prepare for field trips, parent, nights, back to school events, etc.  The fifth and final step gives suggestions on how to prepare for unexpected teacher illness/absences.  Classroom organization is a crucial element of the classroom, and can affect students learning and behavior.  A well-organized classroom ensures for student success, because it promotes motivation, learning, and positive behavior (Phillips, 2014). 

Website 3:  http://www.lauracandler.com/

Laura Candler is an elementary educator who created a website of resources for fellow educators to help reduce the long hours and stress that many teachers endure during the work week.  This website offers teachers interactive lessons, engaging activities, and free printables at the click of a button.  While navigating this website, one example given under “cooperative learning resource” found under the “strategies” tab is a way to structure the classroom in order to successfully implement cooperative learning techniques, such as team building and paired student interactions.  It also provides pictures with each structure for easier implementation and understanding.  This example is especially great for teachers in grades first through third.  Cooperative learning builds peer relationships, effective communication and problem solving skills, self-esteem, responsibility, and teaches students to accept and understand the differences of their peers (Slavin & Oickle, 1981).  This site is full of useful information, pictures, videos and step by step instructions of how to utilize the information obtained for a specific topic.  It also provides resources for teachers to buy along with information on professional developments and teacher workshops. 

Website 4: http://www.preschool-plan-it.com/

This website is designed by Cherly Hatch, an early childhood educator/director for over twenty years.  This site is filled with fun and engaging hands-on activities, lesson plans, teaching strategies, and classroom design ideas that support the growth and development of all children in the classroom.  Navigating this site is simple, especially since the layout has picture links that bring you to a particular page of interest, which provides teachers with detailed planning information, suggested materials and activities, and the developmental skills children develop for that particular activity or center.  The site provides great suggestions and examples on classroom arrangement.  Under the classroom tab is where one will find examples on classroom design.  This is a tremendous help for all preschool teachers, because it provides a way to arrange the classroom so that center areas are clearly defined and appropriately placed, decreasing runways, and helping children feel confident, safe, and secure in their learning environment, which encourages learning and positive behavior.  Along with classroom arrangement, this site offers great suggestions of the type of materials that belong in each center.  For example, the math center link suggest to use anything age appropriate that requires children to count, such as games like Candy Land and Chutes and Ladders.  The site suggests to use a muffin tin, write numbers in the bottom, and place items such as pompoms for students to practice one to one correspondence.  Overall, this is truly an excellent website for preschool teachers to explore and find many ideas and strategies for their classroom that will support learning for all students. 

References

Gartrell, D. (2013). A guidance approach for the encouraging classroom (6^th ed.). Belmont, CA:

            Wadsworth (Cengage Learning). ISBN-13: 9781133938934

Phillips, M. (2014, May). A Place for Learning: The Physical Environment of Classrooms |

            Edutopia. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/the-physical-environment-of-

            classrooms-mark-phillips

Slavin, R. E., & Oickle, E.. (1981). Effects of Cooperative Learning Teams on Student

            Achievement and Race Relations: Treatment by Race Interactions. Sociology of

            Education, 54(3), 174–180. http://doi.org/10.2307/2112329