Questions to Ask about Your Environment

What range of activities do children need to experience in this space/time, and what is the range of choices and possibilities available?

To reduce children's stress, how can teachers offer the fewest transitions and the most uninterrupted time?

Different areas of a classroom have different powers of stimulation. How do children use each area? Where do they go? What areas do not entice them?

Where do negative behaviors occur, and how does the environment contribute to these responses in the children? How can teachers change the environment to promote positive interaction?

What would make each area more beautiful and inviting?

What energy do you feel in the environment? What contributes to that energy?

How are local culture and the geographical location of the center reflected in the environment?

In what ways do you see the children, families, and teachers present in the environment?

What do you see if you change your perspective, viewing the room from floor level, child height, from a ladder? What's apparent that you don't see from adult height?

What connections to the environment do the children make? How can they be enriched, along with enriching relationships and attachment to place?