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Activities to practice syllable recognition
It’s Wednesday, and here at Preschool Ponderings, that means time to focus on the standards. Every Wednesday I choose an Early Learning Standard and share a number of activities that can be aligned with that particular standard. Remember, the Standards that I use every day, and am most comfortable with are Ohio’s Early Learning Development Standards – you can review them here, however I’ve found that even if your State’s standards differ, many of these activities can still be aligned similarly. I’ve rounded up some great ideas today! Domain: Language and LiteracyStrand: ReadingTopic: Phonological AwarenessPhonological awareness is all about recognizing the different sounds that make up words, and all of the…
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Collecting Assessment Evidence
I’ve been doing a lot of work with assessments lately, and one of the most important aspects of assessment is collecting evidence to support any assessment scores and decisions. Personally, I think the most difficult thing about collecting all of this evidence if finding a way to organize it all and track what I’ve gathered and what I still need. To help myself keep all of that information organized, so I have it when I need it, I put together a evidence collection binder for each student. I bound 8 file folders – one for each domain that I collect evidence on, then I taped the bottom of each folder…
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Early Learning Standards by State
I am constantly referencing my state’s Early Learning Development Standards online because it is so convenient, so I put together a PDF with links to each state’s Early Learning Standards so that you can explore your state’s standards and other related resources. This document is also really helpful if you want to view another state’s standards, I’ve done all of the searching for you, so you can just click the link! Download your copy here! As you explore the links please remember that these documents are regularly updated by state departments of education. If you find a link that is no longer correct please let me know so that I…
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Friday Freebie – Pumpkin seeds
Happy Friday! This week’s posts have all been about bringing autumn into the classroom, and I am loving this season. Today’s freebie fits right in with that theme. Yesterday I shared a list of autumn manipulatives to use in the classroom, here is a fun activity to try with some of your manipulatives, Pumpkin Seed Letters. This super cute freebie is from A Kinder Kindergarten, and is a fun way to practice those fine motor skills while encouraging letter recognition. Make and entire alphabet to display in your classroom all season long, or laminate the mats and use them over and over. Enjoy your weekend!
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Autumn manipulatives for the preschool room
Autumn is my favorite time of year to use seasonal manipulatives because there are so many different options. The items on the list below are great for math games, patterning, sensory tables, tactile language activities, the block area, and fine motor exercises. Some autumn manipulatives you can include in your activities and center include: Leaves Acorns Miniature pumpkins Soy beans Corn kernels Popcorn Sunflower seeds Candy corn Pumpkin seeds Seasonal confetti Seed pods Orange, yellow, and brown gems Apples Apple seeds Pinecones I’d love to know how you use some of these items in your classroom, share your ideas in the comments!
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Preschool activities to practice rhyming
It’s Wednesday, and here at Preschool Ponderings, that means time to focus on the standards. Every Wednesday I choose an Early Learning Standard and share a number of activities that can be aligned with that particular standard. Remember, the Standards that I use every day, and am most comfortable with are Ohio’s Early Learning Development Standards – you can review them here, however I’ve found that even if your State’s standards differ, many of these activities can still be aligned similarly. I’ve rounded up some great ideas today! Domain: Language and LiteracyStrand: ReadingTopic: Phonological AwarenessPhonological awareness is all about recognizing the different sounds that make up words, and all of the…
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Preschool activities do to with leaves
One of my favorite fall activities to do with preschoolers is to collect leaves. I give each child a grocery bag and we go on a nice long walk to make sure that we pass a variety of trees and we try to get leaves of all shapes, colors, and sizes. We have some really great conversations during our walk; we try to decide which leaves have fallen from which trees, and we watch squirrels collect acorns and bury them for the winter. After we collect as many leaves as we can we take them back to the classroom we start exploring. Here are some great activities that you can…
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Ideas for Observing Trees with Preschoolers
Trees offer great opportunities for seasonal observations because; They are readily available and can often be observed from inside the classroom simply by looking out the window. They offer obvious visual examples of seasonal changes. They can easily be revisited over an extended period of time. Observing trees is completely free. Start your observations by having your class help choose a tree that they want to make “their tree.” Check on the tree every couple of weeks. During some points throughout the year the changes will happen more rapidly, revisit the tree more often during these periods. As you engage the children in observations, consider doing some of these activities:…
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Friday Freebie: Evidence Checklist
Happy Friday! It’s that time of year when the weather is perfect and the last thing I want to do on the weekend is stay inside, so my goal is to be super productive today so that I can enjoy my weekend! Yesterday I shared some thoughts on informal assessment, and I mention using those observations as evidence for your formal assessments. Here is a freebie checklist to help you keep track of all of the evidence you need to collect – it’s pretty basic, but you can white out the fields if you want to personalize it to your own assessments. Download your copy here and enjoy your weekend…
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Informal assessments: What do your students know?
Before you can start any kind of project or theme exploration it is important to know what your students already understand about that particular topic. You don’t want to teach them things they already know, but you do want to be able to build upon the current knowledge and understanding. So how do you find this information out? There are a number of strategies that you can use, and all are considered informal assessment. Ask them. This seems really simple, but, have you ever gone up to a preschooler and said “What do you know about the farm?” You probably get a blank stare, not because they don’t know anything,…
