Step by step...drooling included

I've spent the past four months or so drooling over pictures of Reggio Emilia-inspired classrooms.  I've been pulled into international blogging community of people who are totally passionate about giving children the best early education possible--whether at home or in a center.  The blog list on the side bar are the ones I follow most closely though there are scads of others out there as one discovers when reading these blogs. 
Our pastor once said that our passion is tied in with a sense of duty. While this is not the way we usually think about passions, I have understood this to be true when it comes to this job and to the classroom space.  I thoroughly enjoy my job and have deep interest in many, many aspects of early childhood education, and particularly in making the environment a third teacher. My passion goes beyond just what is enjoyable though to the point where the I feel bound to this space, wanting it to truly be all that it can be--yet bound by lack of time and resources, and my own inability to make ideas become reality.  They're so easy to have, ideas.  I feel like I'm just getting the sense of what Reggio Emilia schools mean by having the environment as a teacher--but am far from putting this into practice.  However, step by step I think we'll get somewhere. 
Our teaching team spent hours over this spring break making changes to the room--some huge and some small tweaks. 

We brought in a tree that the children's theater has used in several plays! Yea! It's as cool as it looks, we're hoping to use it for puppetry as you can climb in it and stick puppets out the hole. Meanwhile, our class mascot, Mr. Funnyguy is hanging out in the hole.

Doreen made these ingenious book slings. Just get a double curtain rod bracket, pick our favorite fabric, sew a hem and slide a dowel through.

Really any time you have Doreen around to paint a monster you can't go wrong in making the space more playable. We got a bunny cage too and Jaime has agreed to let us borrow the bunnies she bought at the livestock auction until the one my brother offered us is weaned.

The space under the piano got way more attractive when we added a few pillows and rugs. I'd love to had a few more soft things here and all around the room.