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Islands of Possibility

Islands of Possibility. Learning Environment Ideas Update from Cynthia Wheeler’s classroom at Arcola Lake Elementary November 2007. New Spa area materials.

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Islands of Possibility

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  1. Islands of Possibility Learning Environment Ideas Update from Cynthia Wheeler’s classroom at Arcola Lake Elementary November 2007

  2. New Spa area materials Cynthia has added new materials to her Spa area. Here, one of her students uses a switch to turn on the lights. These lights and the stop light are activated with a switch plugged into a PowerLink control unit.

  3. Light display The display is made with a silver reflective plate (from the dollar store!) overlaid with a light tube (usually available at drug stores around the fall holidays. The lights are fully enveloped by the plastic tubing so curious little hands and mouths are protected. The whole set is mounted on the side of an educube chair vertically.

  4. Recycled water table This recycled water table is full of surprises. The first is that these moving, switch activated toys won’t fall off. They are secured in place by a PVC frame that blocks their forward motion and send them in a new direction before they walk off the edge of the table! The PVC frame is anchored with plastic tie wraps through holes drilled into the water table cover.

  5. Switch mounting Cynthia attaches her homemade PVC switch mounts to the table with velcro strips (available at fabric or craft stores). These strips are hook on one side and loop on the other so they hold tight to themselves when wrapped around an object.

  6. Shhhh... Take a peek under the cover: all cords, plugs, and switch latch and timers are threaded through holes in the water table cover and stored out of reach underneath.

  7. And finally... A voice output device (Twin Talk seen here) is mounted as well so a child standing at the table can make a verbal choice of a toy or make comments/sound effects during play.

  8. Grasping adaptations Cynthia’s students love to touch and shake the pom poms during their favorite Greeting Time songs, but many of them are unable to grasp independently

  9. Some stretchy fabric and velcro wrapped around the objects and the child’s palm make a comfortable and functional gripper.

  10. Want a ready to go activity? Try these plastic cutting boards - again found at the dollar store. Then use tie wraps to secure a single message device (BigMack seen here) and some simple materials like a bottle of bubbles.

  11. Store and go! Clip the whole works in a handy spot. Cynthia hangs them near her Gathering Place for easy access at Greeting Time.

  12. Another idea... The cutting boards also make a sturdy, portable surface for toys and stories. This one holds a farm display with pull off objects (animals) and the repeated line for Old MacDonald’s Farm.

  13. Container lids With Cynthia’s imagination, any flat sturdy surface becomes a mount. These commercially available toys are velcro strapped to ordinary storage container lids which have holes pre-drilled around the edges to use in stabilizing to a chair/stander tray. No more toys batted over the edge!

  14. For any class... Any class with a telephone toy could use this idea. A simple soft fabric strap connects the phone to the base and a spot of sticky back velcro helps the children hang it up in place.

  15. No space is wasted Every surface in Cynthia’s classroom is used wisely. This dry erase board (available at home improvement stores, and cut to size if you ask nicely!) attached to the water table serves as an enclosure for the Island area. But it can be used with dry erase markers by the adults and children playing in the Island.

  16. Old favorites These homemade PVC mounts can be adjusted for angle and item size for voice output devices or books. With PVC, velcro straps and sticky back velcro, neither of these mounts costs more than a dollar. Compare that to commercially available mounts!

  17. More old favorites A bunjee cord strung through rolling toys and secured at either side of a tray makes picking up dropped toys a thing of the past.

  18. Adapted Little Tykes equipment Cynthia is famous for her garage sale bicycle seat adaptation to the Little Tykes fish rocker.

  19. It works like a charm It gives the sitting stability some children need in order to rock independently.

  20. Another garage sale bicycle seat Add one to an educube chair and a child with minimal sitting stability gets closer to his/her peers at group time than he/she would in a fully adapted chair with a tray.

  21. Multisensory toys With PVC, empty juice jugs, bangles and beads, you too can create multisensory toys that sell for up to $100.00 from commercial catalogs. This toy cost approximately $2.00.

  22. Thank you Cynthia It really is difficult to grasp the depth and simplicity of Cynthia’s classroom engineering from a set of photos. If you have the chance, visit the classroom at Arcola Lake Elementary.

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