Labeling your Preschool Classroom

I don't know why I haven't hit this topic before today. It's not that I assume everyone knows this; because I clearly remember the day my mentor teacher told me this. I see it in many classrooms (preschool and older) done the wrong way. So, here is the one thing that every teacher needs to know and, for some reason, never seems to be brought up in any college classes:

Always label your classroom in lower case letters!

You are teaching children to read. You want them to read successfully. We don't write or read in all capital letters. For the most part, we read in lower case letters. The capital letters are relatively rare to the lower case. We have adopted the practice in our program to introduce only the lower case letters. We will introduce the capital letters as they come up, but we focus on learning to read and write the lower case letters.

When I walked into a classroom the other day, the teacher was so proud that she had just labeled her entire classroom. It took a lot of work. I could tell! However, it was done in all capital letters. When I pointed this out to her, she understood what I was saying but commented that she had never been told otherwise. She has been a teacher for several years.

So, I beg of all of you, please label your classrooms appropriately. On top of that, teach the children to write in lower case letters first. Yes, the capital letters are easier (they are more direct lines and curves); but they need to learn the lower case first.

Do you have any classroom tips that seem like everyone should know, but really no one thinks about until they are told?