Kindergarten Kindergarten

Crafty Fun: ABC Sorting Box

A little crafty project to share on a Sunday afternoon. Crafts make me happy! I made an ABC Sorting Box from materials I got at Hobby Lobby. I'm going to have the kids sort different pictures and small objects by their beginning sounds.

  

Here's how I did it:

 
I found these cardboard Advent calendars in the Christmas Craft aisle at Hobby Lobby. They are $12.99--but 40% off. Never pay full price for anything at Hobby Lobby! It will go on sale eventually.I also used some cheapie craft paint and paper scraps. 
First I painted the box.

 
I did not paint the insides. I quickly painted along the edges. I did not worry too much about being perfect. I wanted it to have a time-worn look like kids have been playing with it for years--so the more messed up, the better!

 
I covered my drawers with scrapbook paper, but you could just as easily paint them. I cut my paper into 2 X 2.5" pieces (the drawers are roughly 2x2", so that gave me a little to wrap around the sides.)

 
I used a 1" hole punch to punch out the little notch. If you don't have one, you could use an exacto knife (but I highly recommend getting one. I use it SO much in my classroom).

 
I glued the paper on with my favorite glue: Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive. I trimmed up any extra paper with an exacto knife. I also used an emery board to sand them a little (a paper crafting trick but completely unnecessary!)

 
I used puffy letters from the scrapbook section for the drawers.

Yes...they're a little wonky! The M's barely fit and I could only fit the uppercase W. And because it's an advent calendar, there are only 25 drawers. So X and Y have to share. But it's still pretty darn cute. So, now I'm on a mission to find little trinkets. I have a few--there's a bucket, bird, bottle and balloon.

I also found some on ETSY:

Grab Bag of charms, trinkets, nic-nacs, doodads, beads (50)

I also found these on Etsy and now I want to make some of these, too!

I Spy Bags 

Somebody stop me now...

Developmental Centers

Since I will not have my room set up for a few more weeks, I'm pulling out some old pictures! These pictures are of the developmental centers I had at my old school. I did them all around a community theme. It's like our room was a little city!

Here's a shot of the home center. It's dressed up for the Lunar New Year. Our centers often changed throughout the year. Notice all of the environmental print I have up. Although these centers were fun, fun, fun...I wanted them to be rich in language and vocabulary!

Here I just stuck empty boxes up on the windows.

 

Here are some pictures of common kitchen tools. I taught a large number of ESL students. It is important that they have exposure to English vocabulary whenever possible.

Here is our grocery store. The kids would often make grocery lists, practicing their writing skills.

 

We also had lots of money. Notice that the children would make their own money sometimes.

 

Setting up a table as a restaurant was also a popular choice. The kids would practice writing when they took orders. They also liked to make their own menus.

 

We had to have a bank to get all that money from! This is just a tri-fold science fair board that I covered with paper. I'm still not sure the kids understood that money just doesn't magically appear out of ATM machines!

The vet center was also popular. We kept our doctoring strictly to animals! The labcoats were the smallest scrubs I could find at Walmart--and I think they were pretty cheap!

   Of course, the boys loved the transportation center. Many stories were inspired by their adventures in the transportation center! (Notice how they are using the environmental print in their writing!)
 
 

The construction center was also very popular. You can see more environmental print!

You can get a glimpse of the way we organized the blocks--paper cutouts that showed exactly where each shape of block went. Thank-you to whoever thought of that!

Probably the most beloved center was the fire station. Do you see the cardboard fire? The kids would take that all over the room and set the other centers "on fire" so they could go put the fires out. (Hopefully not a sign of things to come!)

 
 I loved these centers and I loved that room! I am at a new school now, and sadly, developmental centers for kindergartners are not allowed. I honestly don't even know where we would find the time, and my kids get to do plenty of fun things everyday. But I do miss those centers. Although many consider it strictly play, they have been shown time and time again to enrich oral language, develop vocabulary and increase social skills--especially among ESL and low SES students. So I'm not getting rid of my stuff yet--it will sit tucked away, nice and safe until I'm ready to pull it out again.

What about you? Do you have developmental centers in your kindergarten classroom? I'd love to hear about how different principals and districts across the country view them. Leave a comment below and let me know!