If you have looked up when you walk into the room, you may have noticed words hanging from the ceiling. We have been using these words a lot lately to identify places in the classroom. I will often ask the children to name the direction they are facing, tell me something on the east side of the room, or to pass the ball in different directions. 
We started this process with the turtle in the maze. We ran into problems when everyone's interpretation of "this way!" was different. Direction words like "right, left, forward, straight, north, down, east, etc.." are something everyone can understand. We decided to play the turtle-in-the-maze game... with people!
I first took a willing child and had them close their eyes. We hid a stuffed teddy bear in the classroom. When the child opened their eyes, we had them start in the opposite side of the room. I gave them directions (forward, turn east, move straight, stop!) until it was found. We got so good we invited Ms. Keri in the classroom one afternoon and tried it on her, but this time I didn't say a word. The children did all of the work- using the direction words on the ceiling.
We have had so much fun with this and are excited to keep it a part of our classroom learning.
If you are looking for a project to do at home, make the direction words and put them up in your house. This is a great way to take this learning home and extend it further. Talk about it while driving. Take a look at a map (this will be our next step). You might be surprised at how much the children know!
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