This document discusses considerations for arranging physical spaces in early childhood education. It emphasizes that the environment influences child development and learning. Key points include: - The physical environment should be safe, developmentally appropriate, and stimulating for children. It should meet their changing needs over time. - Learning centers allow for both independent and small group activities. Centers should be clearly delineated and equipped with materials to promote self-learning. - Factors like traffic flow, storage, equipment, group sizes, and labeling should be considered for effective classroom management and use of space. The environment can promote language, literacy, and other skills.

1. Physical Arrangements
of Spaces

2. • A good teacher carefully plans the
– Physical arrangements of the room &
– The routines for using it
• Researchers are interested in relationships
between environment constructs and multiple
outcomes, including
– learning,
– engagement,
– motivation,
– social relationships, and
– group dynamics.
Physical arrangements of Spaces

3. • A ready school provides a physical setting
that is
– Safe & appropriate for children’s level of
development
– Ensure the children’s physical & emotional
security
– Providing a psychological safety
– Stimulating their imaginations & intellects
– Meeting their changing needs over time
Conti……

4. • The specific environment that children
experience influence their behavior &
their development
• It is a critical variable in effecting student
morale and learning.
• Students' involvement in the process of
creating their environment can
– empower them,
– develop community &
– increase motivation.
Conti……

5. • Preschoolers are full of energy, enthusiasm, and
determination to explore and learn,
• Hence the environment that we provide for them
should be
– challenging,
– interesting, and
– foster independence and creativity among the
children.
• It should be set up in such a way that promotes
self-learning and direction by the children.
• This will free up the teacher to have more quality
one-on-one time with the children.
Conti……

6. Setting up Physical Spaces
• Teachers must consider a number of
factors & components of physical space
when setting up the class room
– Traffic pattern
– Material placed
– Organized the storage
– Adequate equipments & supplies
– Clearly delineated areas
– Coordinated placements of centers
– Small group & large group areas

7. Traffic pattern
• Furniture & play center arrangements
Should consider
– Which area child used more often
– Which areas should be located close
• to door
• To sink
• To teachers desk
• So that Child should be able to move
freely from one area to another

8. Material placed at children’s level
• Things the children use should be
put where they can reach them
• When children can access needed
material without asking teacher to
get them
– They become more independent
– Activities proceeds more quickly

9. Organized Storage
• The old adage, “A place for everything &
everything in its place” applies
• Material should organize in a reasonable
fashion
• If you give permanent storage place to a
material,
– then it is good & helpful to reach the things
– Avoid chaos, confusion & messy room

10. Conti…..
• When children help to organize their
world, they learn
– Classification skills
– Sense of satisfaction from being independent
– Self-sufficient
• All material should be labeled to assist
with org. & promote the literacy skills

11. Adequate equipments & supplies
• Centre should have certain basic
equipments &
• An ever-changing variety of materials
• The equipments should be
• Instruction able
• Durable
• Multiuse
• Cheap
• Safe to use

12. Clearly delineated areas
• Each area should have low & well-
defined boundaries
• Low boundaries allow the teacher
– An unobstructed view of children
– Give room a more open
– Interactive feel

13. • Each center should distinct from other
• Teacher should separate noisy area
from quit area
• Arrange area in a way that traffic
pattern would not be disturb
• Interrelated areas should place near
each other e.g. dress up & kitchen
area
Coordinated placement of centre

14. Environmental Preferences
• Other important environmental features include
– temperature,
– lighting, and
– noise level
• These factors affect students in different ways
and are directly related to individual learning
styles.
• Studies suggest that when teachers adjust the
environment to students' preferences, the
students perform better academically and are
better behaved.

15. Small Group Areas
• When learning environment support
problem solving through play Children
receive stimulation
• Therefore, separate learning is important
for self-directed but teacher –guided
hands on activities
• In small group, child interact with other
children on more personal basis

16. Large Group Areas
• It is large enough to accommodate all the
children at one time for whole group
meetings
• Specific consideration include
– Whether the children sit comfortably
– Performed large muscle movements without
feeling crowded
– Making the area free of distraction
– Focus on large-group activities

17. Using physical space to promote
language & literacy
• Creating a classroom that promotes
children’s language & literacy
developments
• Focus that language & literacy material
present through out the class
• E.g. books, writing utensils, prints etc
• Techniques e.g. dramatic play activities
promote oral language & literature rich
environment

18. Classroom Management
(Organization & Routine of Activities)
• Key to management is a set of routine
• Children feel more secure when there is a
structure
• A well planned day _critical to
– build child behavior
– Well-being
– Receptiveness to learning

19. Conti…
• Overall structure/environment In
which learning take place
• Should be dynamic & changing but
• Predictable & comprehensible
• It provide children to have 1st
hand,
meaningful experiences

20. Management charts
• Use of chart can help with classroom
management
• Some examples of possible charts are
– Rules chart
– Helpers chart
– Attendance chart
– Daily schedule chart
– Learning area chart

21. Rules charts
• Teachers should use strategies to
ensure that children understand
about
–Classroom rules
–Activities
–Directions

22. Helpers chart
• It provide opportunity for
children to help with task
• To encourage children to
• read the chart
• Enlist the possible jobs &
change them frequently
• Children should involve in
thinking up the jobs

23. Attendance chart
• Another mean of teaching
independence &
responsibilities
• During large-group time,
the attendance helper
count the no. present &
absent

24. Daily schedule chart
• It give children a visual plan of what
their routine will be on any given
day
• The teacher can explain the chart
• Point out the words
• Matching icon/picture of activity
• So that children can associate the
action with the printed word

25. Learning area Planning Chart
• Planning chart have word & pictures to
show the purpose of each learning area
– The charts provide an opportunity to make
choices
– To actively participate in their own learning
• Each planning chart include
– Name of learning area
– An icon represent it
– No. of child use an area at one time

26. Classroom Activity Planning
• Developmental early childhood education built on two
believes
• Each Child’s unique development require a flexible
program
– Each child has an individual pattern
– Timing of growth
– Individual personality
– Temperament
– Learning style
– Experiential & family background
• Therefore, decision about curriculum should be
individualize as possible

27. Conti…..
• Child’s ability to adapt & function successfully
in a classroom setting is a key component in
ECE
• Preschool education program include
opportunity for both
– Individual
– Group activities
• To allow independence exploration asa well as
socialization

28. Large Group Instruction
• Large group session should occur 2-3
times per day in a full-day program
• Once in a half-day program (last 20 mint)
• During this teacher can
– Deliver a morning message
– Go over the schedule for the day
– Conduct a read-aloud

29. Conti….
• Allow the children to share news
• Engage the child in a language or
– phonological awareness activity
• Announce a special person of the
week or Birthday
• Lead the child in musical activity
e.g. song
• Introduce an instructional theme

30. Small Group (individual learning area)
• Children work best when working in
separate bcz of hands-on experience
• Learning area should have
– Fun & purposeful activity
– A literacy connection
– Writing materials &
– Opportunity for conservation

31. Conti…
• It provide opportunity to for children to broaden
& deepen their knowledge
• They provide a variety of experiences
• Help children acquire symbolical knowledge by
representing them in a variety of media
– Drawing
– Painting
– Dramatic play
– Verbal & written descriptions

32. Learning Centers:
• The learning centers are areas in classroom
around which the curriculum primarily depends
on.
• It is these centers that invite the children to
explore and learn.
• They are known by several names ie., interest
centers, discovery stations, learning areas, and
learning stations.
• The number of learning centers that you can
have depends on the philosophy of your
program, space, and number of children in your
classroom.

33. Types of centers
• Some of the large learning centers are:
– Block building
– Library
– Dramatic play
– Creative arts/crafts
– Manipulative/math
– Large/gross motor
– Music
• Some of the smaller centers are:
– Computer
– Writing
– Listening
– Science
– Cooking
– Sand/water table

34. Equipping the Learning Centers
• Children are constantly learning through
play.
• So it becomes important to equip your
learning materials not with just toys, but
with materials that will promote self-
learning among the children.
• Given below are some of the materials
you might consider equipping each of
your learning centers with.

35. Arts and Crafts
• Easels, tables and chairs, drying rack, low
shelves to store child accessible art supplies,
like different sizes of papers, crayons, markers,
glue, collage materials, stencils, stamps,
scissors, play dough, yarn and fabrics, and
smocks.
• Shelves at a higher level to store adult
accessible art supplies like paints, water colors,
pastels, craypas, brushes, paint containers,
chalk, glue, material for sponge and block
painting, and other types of paint applicators

36. Block center
• Hollow wooden blocks of different shapes and
sizes, cardboard blocks, accessories and props
to go with block construction (cars, airplanes,
trains, people figures, traffic signs, miniature
household articles),
• open space to conducive to construction,
• low level shelves to store blocks (these must be
labeled),
• appropriately labeled storage containers to store
the props.

37. Dramatic play
• Appropriate household equipment, and
furniture, (i.e., miniature pretend cooking
range, sink, washer and dryer, cupboards
etc.)
• selection of men’s and women’s clothes,
full length mirror, telephones, dolls of
different ethnicity, sizes and colors,
pretend food, and produce, cooking and
eating utensils.
• You can section off a portion of the
dramatic play area and display thematic
prop boxes to go with the theme.

38. Library area
• Book shelves at the children’s eye level
(be sure to display the books with the
front of the book jacket facing the
children),
• variety of books (books about other
ethnicities, diverse families),
• puppets and book extension activities,
• comfortable seating arrangement and
pillows.

39. Manipulative/Math center
• Tables and chairs
• low shelves with containers of labeled
manipulative
• puzzles
• counting
• sorting and
• classifying games
• counters

40. Music Center
• Musical instruments and appropriate
storage area
• record player
• tape recorder and
• CD player (depending on which audio
visual aids you frequently use),
• headsets, records, tapes, and CDs
• props to go with the music and adequate
storage area for the same.

41. Science Center
• Magnifying glass
• Microscope
• Balance
• Magnets
• Pets
• Books related to the current theme
• Plants &
• areas for children to display their collection

42. Large motor center
• Try to have only one large motor
equipment,
– either a climbing
– balancing or
– lifting materials
• If you decide to have a climbing
equipment make sure you have adequate
support around the equipment to prevent
injuries due to fall.

43. Writing center
• Tables and chairs
• stationary and
• writing tools
• Stencils
• Stamps
• type writer
• computer

44. While physical room set up is an important
part of positive child outcomes