Creating Affirming Environments

When walking into the center I think that it would be nice to have family photo collages that children have constructed with their parents next to the parent information board.  I would encourage parents to have pictures of family members that are also on their child's emergency contact sheet, so that there is less confusion when new people are introduced into the room.  For example if some one's grandma is coming to town to visit, we would be able to show all the children her picture from the photo, and explain that she is coming to our class to play with us.  So that when the grandmother comes into the room the children will have already seen her face, and it will not be as overwhelming.

Another idea that I thought would be nice would be to have children's art work framed around the room, to give it the feeling of a home.  Every month artwork can be replaced with newer material and the older ones can be sent home.  This allows every child to feel important and unique for creating something that could be put up around the room. (Keeping in mind that frames would have glass removed, and plexi-glass would be replaced so that there is not a safety hazard).

An idea that I loved from the Laureate Education video was that the owner had a shelf by the front of the room that families were allowed to bring in artifacts from their culture to display on the shelf for the month.  I think that this idea is amazing, because it allows families to decide for themselves what they determine as important instead of others suggesting ideas for them to bring.

In this same sense in reading through Chapter 4 I really liked the idea of families bringing in receptive cards, so that they are able to create traditional dishes and share them with all the children.  I have heard rumors that the program I work for in Kansas City is going to be trying this out next year, and I hope it happens!  This is a great way to introduce the books Everyone Eats Bread, Everyone Eats Bread, and etc. to demonstrate that everyone might eat similar foods, just in a different way.

Last but not least I would love to hang a world map on the wall for families to put a heart as to where their heritage is from.  I think this would lead into large group time about exploring the world around us, and introducing more traditional cultures into the room.  When some ones relative comes to visit the room, we can share the knowledge that we have with them, and they can build upon it.

There are so many more ideas that I could share about how to set up different areas, but I think that these ideas are good for foundation work.  These ideas can be built upon in so many different ways, with the children's guidance.