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Friday Freebie
Happy Friday! It’s even happier because it is a long weekend, thank goodness! I am excited to just ENJOY this weekend. A Friday evening to myself (shopping anyone?!), getting away for an out of town wedding on Saturday, back home for one of my favorite local fairs on Sunday and beautifully nothing to do all day Monday. I hope that your weekend is just as relaxing! I’ve spent a lot of time this week talking about dressing and behaving professionally. I always feel more professional when I am able to be prepared and communicate clearly, so I wanted to share something that I made to help you do both. This…
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Recycled loose parts
I’m used to using loose parts in the classroom, I love them. I’m known for using recycled materials in the classroom, really, what preschool teacher isn’t? Another thing that I just might be notorious for – I cannot throw away craft materials, I just can’t do it. These facts make the project that I’m currently working on the ideal project for me. I had a ton of strips of scrapbook paper left from another project, and I had pinned this photo awhile back: What an awesome idea! I thought that I could roll up the paper and my students could create with it. I started rolling, taping each new addition…
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Practicing Professionalism
How many times have you heard “Oh, your job is so fun, you get to play with little kids all day!” Yeah, and can you still manage to keep from rolling your eyes? I’ve found that the more professionally I behave, the more that my job, and the challenges it presents, are taken seriously. I’ve always worked at lab schools (with ECE students from local colleges and universities), and I’ve often had students who don’t take my work seriously because I am young, and in some cases, younger than they are. So over the years I’ve come up with some tried and true methods for being taken seriously, which has…
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Preschool Stains
It is impossible (seriously IMPOSSIBLE) to go a single day in a preschool classroom without getting a stain on something. It could be the carpet, a child’s clothing, the teacher’s clothing, dress-up clothes, a nap blanket, or a lunchbox. If it’s in a preschool room, it has the potential to get a little messy. This is for two reasons; Small children do not comprehend the word “careful”. No matter how hard they try, they are not completely steady on their feet, and with a lack of balance comes a general unsteadiness that makes carrying things incredibly difficult. This being said, children need to have these experiences. In my classroom, students…
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The best clothes for preschool teachers
Teaching preschool is not an easy job. While I absolutely love my students, they can drain me emotionally and physically, and they wreak havoc on my wardrobe! Washable paint is not always washable, and more often than not, I really have no idea where that stain came from or what it is – and sometimes it’s better not to know. I’m really lucky because I’m allowed to wear jeans to work – we’re expected to be participating in activities with the children, which often means on the floor, or outside making messes, so it is expected that we will get dirty. Thank goodness that this is understood, but this means…
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Preschool Teacher Wardrobe – Summer Edition
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Friday Freebie
It’s Friday, which means it’s time for a freebie! This one is a great idea from Courtney Keimer. It’s a sensory alphabet book, each page has an upper and lowercase letter outline, along with a sensory material that begins with that particular letter. Students use glue and the suggested material to fill in each letter outline. I love this because it gives children a concrete example for each letter sound. Instead of drawing a picture, writing a word, or gluing in a magazine clipping, children actually get to handle the object that is associated with the letter sound, giving them a tangible example. I think that this is an awesome…
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Easy Alphabet Match Activity
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The ultimate list of tools for the sensory bin
Yesterday I shared my huge list of sensory bin ideas (see the list here). Today I’m going to give you a list of all of the awesome tools that I like to add to the sensory bin alongside these materials. Kids love to explore with their hands, but introducing additional tools can add to the learning and help children make meaningful connections, especially when they use the same tools with different materials. This helps children to learn basic scientific concepts like texture, states and properties of matter, making and testing hypotheses, and mass and weight. Again, it is important to remember that sensory play should be supervised to ensure that…
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Ultimate list of sensory materials
I have a love/hate relationship with the sensory table. I fully appreciate the awesome educational opportunities that sensory play encourages, and I love that children will spend FOREVER exploring these materials. On the other hand, there’s the mess. It doesn’t matter how deep the bucket is, somehow, whatever is on the table will end up on the floor. In the end, the mess is always worth it. Exploration and discovery always win. I like to switch out the materials in the sensory table often Sometimes I change the actual sensory materials, and sometimes a remove the tools and put in a different kind of tool to see how the children…
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Back to School Boost
I’m not quite sure what it is this year, but I’m not really feeling like it’s time for Back to School quite yet. Yes, the weather is quite a bit cooler, I’ve definitely picked up a few school supplies (who doesn’t love brand new Sharpies?!), and I’m itching for college football season and some high school football games, but there seems to be something missing. Maybe I’ll get my Back to School boost tomorrow, because Teachers Pay Teachers is having a special one day Back to School sale. This is super special because TPT already had their annual Back to School sale, but being smart like they are, they totally…
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Off to Kindergarten (update)
My big kids are all starting kindergarten this week. These are kiddos that have been in my class since they were 2 years old, so this is a bittersweet week for all of us. I wanted to do something special for them as they started a new chapter, and I shared some of my ideas a couple of weeks ago, but I wanted to take some time to share the final product! This is the cute kit that I put together for each family to use on the first day of kindergarten. Each kit has a small pack of tissues (for Mom and Dad’s tears), chocolate hugs for a little…
