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Family Photo Paper Bag Albums
When I was in the classroom, family photos were a huge part of our classroom decor. I wanted my students to be able to share them with each other, and use them to help transition in the morning. I also love that they make the children feel like their families are always a part of the classroom, and are welcome at school anytime. This is an easy (and economical) photo album project that you can send home at the beginning of the year. Each family can help their child put the album together and then you can do a special show and tell so that the children can share them with…
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Building Relationships with your Students Families
Communicating with parents and families is always easier when you've built a relationship with those families. This can be really hard if you rarely. See them - whether you have student who ride the bus to and from school every day, or you aren't the teacher in charge when your students are dropped off or picked up, there are a million reasons that you might not get as much time with parents as you would like.You can still build relationships with families that will make them feel like they are involved in the activities and events that take place in the classroom. Here are some ideas: Invite parents to participate.…
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Sharing Positive Messages with Families
Kids do great things during the day - they share, they tell funny stories, they help without being asked, they melt our hearts with their sweet comments. In an effort to share these great moment with parents I created Happy Notes, which you can download for free! I really need to be better about sharing great stories with parents, so the idea behind Happy Notes is that you can write down something great right when it happens, then share the note with the child, and they can take it home and share it with mom and dad. These are a great way to reinforce positive behavior, and a perfect way to let…
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The Best Way to Communicate with Parents
That’s a pretty intriguing title isn’t it – what is the best way to communicate with parents? Unfortunately, you’re probably not going to like my answer; there isn’t one best way to communicate with parents. What worked for you last year might not work this year and that’s because each group of parents is very different. That doesn't mean that you have to use your precious time covering all of the possible means of communication. When I realized how much time I was spending on parent communication (newsletters, notes home, emails, phone calls, and posted messages in the classroom) I started something that made my job a million times easier…
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Friday Freebie – Reading Logs
Happy Friday! Many of you are in full back to school mode, so I wanted to share a great idea for keeping track of all if the books little ones read. I am all about encouraging readers, I created this reading log last year, when the children I was working with were participating in our local library's summer reading program. Don't get me wrong, I love any program that promotes reading, but keeping track of all of the books they read was not fun. This log is one that even preschoolers can complete independently - they just color in one of the pictures each time they finish a book.August is…
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Encouraging Preschoolers to Read Aloud
One of my favorite things to do with preschoolers is to have them read to me, and by read I mean look at the illustrations in a book and make up the story to go with them. It's fun to see which part of the story they remember, and what kinds of things they come up with to fill in the gaps. I also love to see how they interpret the illustrations. I've noticed that toddlers and young preschoolers are happy to read to me, but as those same children get older, they become more reluctant. They understand that the words have meaning, and they know that they can't read those…
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Conversations with Preschoolers about Current Events
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Tips for reading wordless books
Some of my favorite books to read have no words, on the other hand, some of my least favorite books to read have no words. The illustrations in a wordless book make all of the difference, and my personal comfort level with the book helps too. If I know that I’m going to read a book with no words to the class, there are a couple of things that I like to do to prepare; Flip through the book and familiarize myself with it. I pay attention to the sequence of events, the characters, and the ending. This way, I will be able to use my verbal and nonverbal communication…
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Dealing with difficult behaviors during read alouds
Preschoolers are smart! They know that when you are sitting in front of the group reading a story, you are less likely to stop what you’re doing to address their ridiculous behavior. Every group usually has at least one who will take advantage of this, and that can make any teacher dread read alouds. I’ve been there. You desperately want to ignore the behavior, you try, but it gets worse and then the other children are beginning to notice, and all of a sudden no one is paying attention to the story anymore. So I thought I’d share some behavior management ideas that have worked for me, hopefully these will…
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Read Alouds that keep them interested
I have always loved to read stories to children, I can capture their attention and keep it for twenty minutes or more just by using a few very easy strategies. These strategies have nothing to do with cute props, or even the story itself, they are all about how I read the book. Know the story – I don’t just mean “oh yeah, I’ve read that book before” it is so helpful to know the story inside and out. You want to know what is on the next page before you turn to it. It’s also helpful to be familiar with the rhythm of the story, this will carry the…
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August Currently!
It’s August, can you believe it – I’m still in denial – but it’s here, so I’m linking up with Farley over at Oh Boy 4th Grade to let you in on what I’m up to. Listening: I’m desperately trying to finish my laundry so I can pack for our week at the Fair, my house is completely silent so that I can hear the alarm the minute it goes off. Loving: My new job has me doing a lot of driving and I have been loving driving around in the sunshine with the windows down, it finally feels like summer (now that it’s almost over). Thinking: This is my favorite…
