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My favorite teaching products
I’ve done a number of posts on products that I absolutely love and use everyday in the classroom (like this one, this one, and this one) but I love a lot of stuff, so here’s one that’s specifically geared towards back to school! (All links are affiliates) I’m never without a legal pad – meetings, professional development, planning, I always have one with me. A padfolio like this one is a great way to look professional without taking myself too seriously! Flair pens are my favorite because they make color coding easier and my notes so much more fun to review. I just restocked my collection with a new pack of…
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Friday Freebie – Reflection Checklist
Happy Friday! I’ve shared a lot of information and ideas relating to documentation this week, and today’s freebie fits right in. This Reflection Checklist is one of my favorite products that I’ve ever made for the classroom. It has been helpful in so many ways. It makes it easy to collect your thoughts at the end of the day, while continuing to track any patterns and make sure that you are taking note of important events. Not only does it help you document what happened that day, but it gives you a couple of minutes dedicated to really reflecting on what all of it means. Download your copy and print a…
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Google Drive Student Portfolios
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Documentation round up
Are you planning for next year yet?! Here are some great posts on documentation – if you start planning for it now and get all of your systems in place it will take a lot less time to create when you sit down to get down to it; Documentation in the preschool classroom Types of documentation Classroom documentation – know your audience How to create a documentation panel Creative ways to display work Enjoy your prep time and check back tomorrow for a documentation freebie!
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Google Drive Student Portfolios
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Creative ways to display work
Preschoolers are prolific – they create a ton of work and every single piece is the most important! This is great for making sure that there is always enough work to display in the classroom, but when you don’t have a ton of wall space it can make life really difficult. So what do you do with all of that work that you want to display and just can’t find room for? It’s time to get creative. Some of my favorite solutions include hanging work from the ceiling, using it to create suncatchers in the windows, and stands made from unexpected items. Here are some inspiring photos that I’ve collected…
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Reggio Classroom Decor
My favorite thing about back to school is drooling over all of the amazing classroom decor that I see in all of the best teacher blogs. This fun stuff doesn’t really fit in my Reggio-inspired room, which is probably a good thing because I would spend way too much money on all of it! But that doesn’t mean that a Reggio classroom has to be boring – far from it in fact. I have a ton of great tips for decorating a Reggio-inspired classroom; 1, Have the children help you create artwork for the room. These masterpieces can be incredibly artistic and meaningful at the same time. The act…
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Friday Freebie – Anecdotal Notes
Happy Friday! I’ve noticed that summer weeks seem to fly by a lot faster than the rest of the weeks throughout the year. Today’s freebie is for those of you who’ve already begun to think about next year’s assessment systems. I’ve been talking about this subject all week so I wanted to share my anecdotal notes freebie with you. This is an easy way to track and organize your anecdotal notes and other important information. Check it out before enjoying your weekend!
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Assessment strategies for preschool
My first “real” job was teaching toddlers at a NAEYC accredited child care center, so I jumped right into a position that required teachers to complete assessments for every child, I’ve never NOT done assessment. So over the years I’ve come up with some strategies that have helped me keep track of all of the evidence and data. Within the last couple of years I’ve turned some of those strategies into really great products that you can get from my TPT store, so you don’t have to reinvent the wheel, or use your valuable time developing these things on your own! Here are my favorites: If you’re looking for a complete…
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What does preschool assessment look like?
Yesterday I shared some thoughts on how to talk to families about assessment, but part of explaining assessment is talking about what it looks like in the preschool classroom, and that can be really difficult. It’s so hard because there isn’t a right or wrong way to do it. That’s the beauty of preschool assessment, it can’t always be scheduled – you certainly can’t sit down and say “I’m going to observe Kate’s positive social skills today” but that gives you freedom to make it work for you. You might collect work samples from your writing activity on Tuesday, jot down a couple of anecdotal notes on Wednesday, and take…
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Explaining assessment to families
Assessment in preschool is definitely a thing – it’s a huge part of what early childhood educators do every day, but most casual observers would never know that. This is because it’s not obvious. As teachers it important to be able to explain this unique assessment process to parents and family members so that they have a clear understanding of how we know what skills and concepts their child has mastered. There are two things that make preschool assessments just a little different; First, preschool assessments should be formative assessments. This simply means that you are using the results of any assessment to plan further activities and learning experiences. These…
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Helping your child get ready for preschool
As a preschool teacher I spend a ton of time making sure that children are prepared to start kindergarten, but I don’t always think about helping children prepare for preschool. Maybe that’s because there’s so much that I can do to help once they start, but I don’t often get to work with families before they start attending. If you know any children who will be starting preschool this fall, whether they’re your own children, new students that will be in your class, or even just friends’ children, here are a few things that parents can do to help little ones prepare for those first few days: Talk about it…
