It got me thinking about this time of year; going back to school, the beginning of fall, change in the air, kids growing up, and opportunities to do things a new way. Now is the time to make small changes in your classroom that can impact the children in meaningful ways.

My very good friend Alison has an artist’s eye and a great sense of style.  When I last visited her out in California, I fell in love with the way she organized her children’s books.  Rather than sorting them by author or title as most of us usually do, she organizes them by color.

You can see how the books create this rainbow effect on the shelves but more than that, this visual style of sorting is a wonderful way for young children – pre readers- to participate in the upkeep of the classroom library.

Most children are highly visual and remember books by their covers, colors, and pictures.  Most know their colors before they read, and are able to choose favorite books by their look rather than by title or author.  Imagine putting away books at clean up time, and rather than having the books stuffed haphazardly on the shelves, children are able to sort them on their own into their color family.  You can see that it is not an exact science.  The oranges flow into the reds and yellows, but it is not perfect and does not need to be.  In addition, this is a sorting system that supports young children’s early math development by asking them to consider where the books go based on a visual attribute and then sorting them just so.  I love this idea.

So, do they make good sorting materials for toddlers.  Yes – in fact, they do.  I like the sorting box pictured above because it has multiple ways of instructing and informing the child’s efforts.

1.  The boxes themselves are sized so that only the correct number of objects will fit inside each one.  That makes them somewhat self-correcting.

2.  They are color-coded – the number on the side of the box appears in the same color as the objects that belong inside. This provides another message about what belongs in each box.

3.  The boxes themselves are soft, so there are no sharp edges or corners to bump little heads.

4.  The sorting materials are the perfect size for toddler-sized hands.

5.  The boxes close and can be stacked, much like nesting boxes (almost like 2 toys in one).

All in all – this is a nice choice for toddlers.

One day, while still looking for organizing tools, I was browsing in our local Walgreens, I came upon these large pill organizers.  They make them really big now, so that they can be easily opened, labeled, and filled with many pills.  I got to thinking about how these would be interesting as a sorting tool for children.

1.  They are labeled with the days of the week and when put side by side, they create a pattern.

2.  They are large enough that items can be put inside and then closed up. (Beware of small items that may be a choking hazard.)

3.  There are buttons on the side that lock to close, and then release them to open.

What do you think?  Could these pill boxes be used in your classrooms?  How?

I know that this is the reason a lot of teachers only allow certain areas of the room to be open at a time, or why they put baskets of toys up on high shelves.  It is simply too much to clean up every single day with very small children. 

Organizing the classroom manipulatives in ways that boost children’s attempts at cleaning up while supporting the early mathematical concept of sorting and categorizing can also  help you out.  Imagine having bins put together like the ones above so that toddlers can see what toy goes where.  At the bottom of each bin, put a colorful picture of the type of toy that belongs in the bin so even if emptied out, the children can easily see that what each bin is for.

Having baskets with labels on them is also a good idea.

I don’t think you need to frame the pictures (although it is a nice touch) but with a little bit of effort, your camera cell phone and a color printer, you can make labels that clearly let the children know what belongs inside.

I also like these buckets although I would have drawings or pictures of the toys in addition to the words.  They now make chalkboard paint that you can put virtually anywhere.  Once dry, you can write on the surface and erase it just like an old-fashioned chalk board.  Using this method allows for flexibility and multipurpose use of organizing materials. At clean up time, allow the children to sort the toys to the best of their abilities.  They will not always get it right and will still need a lot of adult supervision and intervention, but developing a system that allows the children some autonomy in the efforts is a good thing, for them and for you.

This got me thinking about Spring Cleaning and the opportunity for children to help us sort and pack, as well as clean and organize. Young children have not decided that chores are a drudgery and should be avoided at all costs.  In fact, if presented in the right way, many young children will enjoy these activities as much as an other, as long as they are free to play within them.

Noah could sweep a room all day.  If we gave that boy a broom, a mop, a Swiffer, or a Dustbuster, he could keep himself busy for hours.  Larry and I would sit back and watch him clean.  It was like having our very own Roomba.   Unfortunately, that stage didn’t last as long as I would have liked.  I think that if we had participated with him rather than simply watching him, he would not have realized so quickly that we were using him as unpaid child labor.  Oh well.  He has made up for it in his teenage years by rarely lifting a finger to clean anything.

Spring cleaning means sorting through gloves and mittens, hats and scarves, boots and woolen socks.  Finding pairs is a great game for children.  Have them match up the items that look alike (by color or type) and then find the pairs within the groups.  It is more effective if you ask them to look for one attribute at a time since young children have trouble/cannot think about 2 aspects of a problem simultaneously.  First, have them separate the gloves from the mittens and then find the pairs.  Separate the white socks from the colored socks, and then find the pairs.  You can show the children that shoes, boots, mittens, and gloves are mirror images and even though they look almost the same, they are  not exactly the same.  This will give you an opportunity to talk about symmetry and how the human body is symmetrical, so the clothes that fit them must be as well.  Encourage the children to put a left glove on their right hand to see if it works, or the right shoe on the left foot.  This will reinforce the concept that they are the same but different because they will feel the difference.

This is what was left over at my house at the end of last winter.  Where did all of the matches go?  Another great unsolved mystery!