Classroom Improvements

As we wait for our environmental center to be renovated, I use a kitchen and back room at the community center to run my programs. The spaces I have (and don't have)  make it challenging, especially because some kids do not come to the after school program necessarily because they want to do environmental activities. I've been trying to build up the self-directed education options in the back room so that kids who aren't interested in taking part in a full lesson (usually in the kitchen) can always wander back here with something new and engaging to see....

That being said, I'm trying to develop a touch table that changes weekly with the theme, or possibly displays items from the week before in order to give the kids that don't come everyday a chance to see some of the things they missed.

Second thing I started is a nature observations bulletin board. The kids are allowed to play outside after snack, depending on weather. For the last few days I've had kids running inside to bring me bird feathers they've found outside. This gave me the motivation to think of a way to acknowledge their discoveries. 

I had already created a general observation sheet when we were doing our bird week. My hope is kids will follow my lead (I already had one child do so) especially as we enter spring and see regrowth of nature!!