Language Rich Environment

All children learn language in a language-rich environment.  In thinking about what you have learned about language so far, how will you design the physical space of your classroom to allow for language opportunities?  You will need to think about the type of communication and interactions that you would like to see take place throughout your classroom.

For example, you might place drawing paper and clipboards in the block area to help foster communication so that children can draw their block creations on paper and share them with other children.  Having a large open space in the block area invites cooperation so children can verbally communicate and work together on large building structures.  You also might have the block shelf labeled for children to be able to see and provide books of shapes and building for children to explore.

For this assignment, you will create a floor plan of your classroom that fosters language development. Your classroom design should have a minimum of three physical areas of the classroom detailed including an explanation of how the design supports language acquisition.  You can use web resources such as Classroom Architect or Gliffy to design your classrooms or you may use Microsoft Word to draw your design using shapes and the textbox feature.  If you choose to use Classroom Architect or Gliffy, you will need to download your design as a PDF file or JPG file and insert the image into a Word document before uploading your final assignment.

For each area (minimum of three) that you define in your classroom floor plan, you must include the following:

1. Explain how the area is set up
2. Explain how specifically the area supports language development
3. Describe the activity or experience that the children can specifically be engaged in
4. Explain what the role of the teacher will be 
5. How you will assess the effectiveness of this area on language development

This assignment should be completed in a two- to three-page paper (in addition to the title page and reference page) that accompanies your visual floor plan.  Your project should be written in APA format as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center, and include at least two scholarly resources in addition to the course text.  Please remember to provide evidence from the textbook to support your design features.  You must also provide a reference citation in APA format at the bottom of your floor plan.