Discussion: Classroom Themes

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Discussion: Classroom Themes

5/12/2019

Share a theme you have had in your classroom. What activities did you present at the different learning centers that related to this theme?

25 Comments

Roslyn

5/14/2019 02:14:31 pm

When learning about animals, we had a literacy center complete with animal books, a science center that had a class pet, and at the blocks area students were requested to construct a zoo.

PatriciaSteeber

8/29/2019 12:14:16 pm

We had the same but added a veterinary center where the children were allowed to take care of the animals. It made for great dramatic playtime as well as lifeskill.

Andrea

5/14/2019 02:15:25 pm

We had a sensory theme, where the infants could learn and touch the different textures and understand that everything doesn’t feel the same. This activity helps supports language development, cognitive growth, fine and gross motor skills, problem solving skills, and social interaction. We also encouraged parents to make one for home.

Amber Taylor

5/14/2019 02:16:14 pm

A Theme we have had in our class recently is Dr. Seuss Week. We had Ooblek in our sensory tub, we had paper hats with paint doters and stickers on one table for create and fish bowl pictures with different colored fish to glue on to the picture and crayons. We had colored gold fish for snack time to go with One Fish Two Fish book. We also had a fishing game and colored block play. Our bookshelf had a variety of Dr. Seuss books available too.

Rebecca

5/14/2019 02:17:01 pm

Well I work with infants so we don't centers, but sometimes when there is a theme like learning about a cow, I would read them a book about cows, showing them pictures of cows and sounding out how the sound, and would sing a song related to cows "Oh Mcdonald had a farm"

James Deweese

5/14/2019 02:17:45 pm

We have a rainbow themed classroom right now and one learning center that we made to relate to this is Fun Rainbow Color Sorting Sensory Bin!

When I searched for materials while putting together this preschool rainbow activity, I wanted different textures. I added feathers, pom poms, buttons, and matching cups to compare hard and soft.

I also added tweezers to transfer the materials for a fine motor challenge.

Sandra

5/14/2019 02:18:24 pm

Right now we are doing lessons on bugs and insects. Our sensory bin is full of sand and lots of plastic bugs and insects. The kids love to pretend that they are real.

We also have an ant farm.

Paige

5/14/2019 02:19:04 pm

Right now with our weather changing we are in a transition into spring themes room we are just now pulling out our stuff. but we do some activities about babies we are by a lake and have ducks hatch on our play ground every year so we have a whole thing based around that, we make flowers for for room and do a spring cleaning together as well.

Andrea

5/14/2019 02:20:04 pm

Right now our theme is clothing. We have a laundromat in our dramatic play center. We are washing babies in the sensory bin that then get dressed in baby doll clothes. We have dress up clothes in our block center that they dress up in and have been building stages out of blocks to preform on. We have been doing button sorting in math and exploring textures of clothing in science. For an art activity, we had parents bring in old clothes and drew life sized people then cut up the clothing and had the kids dress the "dolls".

Natalia

5/14/2019 02:20:48 pm

Recently we learned about the Solar System, and we read a couple of stories related to the Space and Solar System, also we made all the planets and learn a song about how the planets go around the sun, their order, size, and colors, in the dramatic area the children dressed as astronauts and made with boxes a spaceship pretending they were on the space, and at the end of the week we prepared a snack like a rocket. We involved all the centers on the theme.

Louise

5/14/2019 02:21:29 pm

In the fall we used outside time to look at the leaves the colors the textures. We brought our leaves into the classroom and talked about seasons. we came up with ideas as to what to o with our leaves. some glued them to paper . others decided to add more color to their leaves so they painted them. Some of the children decided to paint a tree and glue leaves on. The children had a lot of ideas. We noted weather changing and talked again about seasons .

Hannah

5/14/2019 02:22:06 pm

One of my favorite themes each year is the theme of fall and autumn. In the dramatic play center at this time of year, I like to provide puppets of woodland animals and decorations like little pumpkins or jackolanterns or fake bushes and trees. At the reading center, I provide all kinds of books about fall. At the art center, I provide leaves for the children to make leaf rubbings of, and tissue paper for the children to make "fallen leaf collages". At the science center children can learn about the seasons and how they change, and what defines each season.

LaPrecious

5/14/2019 02:22:43 pm

in my classroom we are learning and talking about the different farm animals so this pass week everyday we have changing our dramatic play into a farm

India

5/14/2019 02:24:11 pm

One theme that we have done in a classroom is, Plants/Growing. For activities we Plant our our garden. In the sensory table we use soil and seeds with artificial flowers. The science table had live plants with magnifying glasses. the library was full of gardening books with our main book being, "the carrot seed." In the art center we had cut outs to make our own flowers. and our dramatic play center was a flower shop, where the children could sell and package flowers.

Brittney Andrade, BS ECE

5/14/2019 02:25:50 pm

Hello India,

I wanted to reach out to you and let you know how wonderful your response was! I absolutely love all of your ideas and I think that's a great way to engage the children in all areas of the classroom and theme! Awesome job!

Alexandra Ferwerda

12/22/2019 05:05:13 pm

Thank you India for sharing your ideas on your theme on Plants/Growing .
I have used some of your similar ideas but I will definitely add your flower shop idea to our dramatic play for next year.

Tamika

6/14/2019 09:41:44 am

We are doing Zoo Animals right now. We have incorporated books about different zoo animals, sensory play with zoo animals and water, and art projects

Margaret

6/14/2019 09:42:31 am

Recently our theme was butterflies. In the Reading center, we had both fiction and nonfiction books about butterflies. In the science center, we learned about life cycles by examining live caterpillars. We watched them make a chrysalis and observed the butterfly emerge. In the math area we discussed symmetry based on the butterfly's symmetrical patterns. In the art area we created butterflies with paint and buttons. In the dramatic play area, we provided safari outfits, magnifying glasses, butterfly nets, fake insects, and collection jars. In the Writing/Literacy Center, we provided butterfly stickers and stencils of butterflies.

In the sensory bin, we dumped different shaped colored pasta that represented a life cycle of the butterfly. Small Pasta shell= chrysalis, Rotini noodles=caterpillar, Bowtie = butterfly. The kids sorted pasted in buckets or dumped them from bucket to bucket.

Linnea

6/14/2019 09:43:16 am

A theme used in my classroom is "A for Ark". During that week we discuss not only animals but sink and float concepts. We use a water table or water bins and children can "test" what objects they think will sink or float. I love watching them think and experiment.

Brittany

6/14/2019 09:43:48 am

My classroom is a Montessori room, we recently added a farm material to our literacy area where they can label and write the diffrent nouns in a farm.

Shelb

8/7/2019 12:30:10 pm

Hi I'm Shelby and I'm excited to learn about art for children.

Heidi

8/7/2019 12:31:28 pm

I love that there is a way to learn this way!

KADAMBINI DHARAP

12/10/2019 07:54:24 am

As this is the holiday season, we recently did a theme about holiday festivals celebrated around the world. We read books about Hanukkah, Christmas, Diwali; solved crosswords and word searches related to the festivals and did a craft activity related to those festivals. These activities were for the after school care program for elementary students.

Tamera Wason

12/12/2019 01:38:13 pm

At the beginning of the year in the classroom we set up the different centers and interest areas with the theme of getting to know self and others in our school. We put mirrors in the quite/safe space were children can go to have time for just themselves. This space is designed for children to opt out of busier areas or activities that might be too much for them at any time. There are hand held mirrors to look at themselves and stuffed animals to snuggle, pillows and soft places to just sit and observe the classroom. Books about feelings and the school/home connection wall with pictures of everybody’s families. The math center has a check in board with paper student that have the picture of each child’s face on them. The children are invited to move their paper student person from the At Home to At School attendance graph. The dramatic play area is set up with stuffed animals/pets and stuff they would find around their homes this help student’s share about themselves, their pets and their families. Science area we have magnifying glasses and books about animals, bugs, pictures of eyes, hands and feet from around the world. The play dough is multi-color skin tones with tools and a collage of stuff to make people and pets. Every area has something to promote exploration of self and others.

Alexandra Ferwerda link

12/22/2019 04:59:41 pm

One of the themes I use in January is about Winter Weather.
We add a variety of books on Snowmen stories,Winter books such as Snowmen at night ,Stranger in the woods,Snow party and The first day of Winter to our library.
We create a sparkly Winter painting using glitter and glue and different shades of blue paints and white paint for art.
In math and science we talk about animals and their habitat and create a graph about what animals like snow and what animals don't like snow.
For sensory we make arctic slime and in the sensory table we work with ice,salt and water and create ice sculptures.

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