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Circle Time Seating Solutions
I’ve observed a ton of circle time routines in many many different classrooms. I can definitively say that there is one thing that the best circle times have in common. It isn’t the content, the strategies used to engage the children, or even the time of day that it is held. No, the one thing that the most successful circle time routines have in common is a successful strategy for identifying each child’s seat. Little ones love boundaries (really, they do – that’s why they test them so often). So giving them a clearly defined place to sit helps them to focus more successfully. The visual reminder helps them learn…
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Friday Freebie – Character Education Parent Letters
Happy Friday! This week I’ve reflected on my resolution to choose joy and how the idea can be used in the classroom. Today’s freebie will be super helpful as you consider other character traits and emotions that you want to explore in the classroom. My favorite thing about these Character Trait Parent Letters is that they offer simple activities that families can do to work on these traits at home. Go download your set from Counselor Chelsey and have a great weekend!
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Joy in Everyday – Standards
This week’s posts (here and here) have been all about my experience focusing on joy, and how that can be incorporated in the classroom. Here are some of the standards that are being explored when you help your students focus on joy: Social Emotional Awareness and Expression of Emotions Self-Regulation Attachment Approaches Toward Learning Planning, Action, and Reflection Attention Cognition and General Knowledge Memory Reasoning and Problem Solving Historical Thinking Language and Literacy Receptive Language and Comprehension Expressive Language Social Communication Writing For more information about the Early Learning Development standards check out this document.
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Joy in Everyday – For the Classroom
In Monday’s post I promised to share some ideas to incorporate my Joy in Everyday routine into the classroom. Well, here they are! When I started putting this together I had a couple of ideas, but as I worked I came up with a few more. I’m really excited about what I have to share with you! So check this out – you can find this entire set in my TPT store! This set includes monthly calendars, weekly calendars, and list sheets so that you and your students can track your everyday joys in whichever way works best for you. It also has a simple mini book that is designed…
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Joy in Everyday Check-In
Remember this post from a couple of weeks ago? I shared that my resolution for this year is to recognize at least one thing every single day that has brought me joy. I thought I would take a minute to check in a share how it’s going. So far I’ve been really good about taking time to write something down for every single day. I don’t always remember to do it every day, but I do sit down and add to the list every couple of days so it is easy to remember what my favorite moments were. The best part is the smile that those moments bring to my…
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Friday Freebie – Fitness fun
Happy Friday! I am so excited about the freebie that I have to share with you today. I’ve been sharing fun fitness ideas all week, and this freebie is an awesome addition to your movement activities. You have to go check out these Fitness Blast Mini Workouts from Cap’n Pete’s Power PE. They look like so much fun and I know my students would appreciate something a little different for our movement activities. Download your set and have a wonderful weekend!
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Fitness in the classroom – Water Challenge
You can’t talk about fitness without talking about water intake. Did you know that the average preschooler should drink 40-50 ounces of water every day? There’s a good chance that most of your students aren’t drinking this much water, but this little challenge set will help. The large water cup tracker sheet can be laminated so that children can use it daily. Students can use the water drop sheet to track how many week days each month they meet their water goals by coloring in a water drop each day that they meet their goal. Download your set here – its FREE!
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Fitness in the classroom – Balance Beam
A balance beam is a simple piece of equipment that can help preschoolers build and perfect a number of different skills – everything from basic balance, to core muscle strength, to patience, and coordination. A balance beam can easily be used indoors or outdoors, and the best part is that they are really easy to make. In Lieu of Preschool has a great tutorial for a simple balance beam, go check it out and have fun with your new classroom balance beam!
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Fitness in the Classroom – Using a Stability Ball
I truly believe that preschool is a time to introduce children to new concepts and experiences. I’m not necessarily looking for skill mastery, my goal is exposure. That goes for fitness activities too. I know that preschoolers may not be able to use a stability ball the way that it was developed to be used – simply because they are too small and haven’t refined their own balance and coordination. That doesn’t mean they can’t still have fun with it. In fact, can you picture what your students would do if you brought a stability ball into the classroom tomorrow, they would probably go crazy over it. An ideal space…
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Fitness in the classroom – Dancing
Getting healthy is the most popular new year’s resolution, whether you’ve given up on your resolutions already or not, it’s never too early to help children learn to enjoy physical activity. One of my favorite movement activities to do in the classroom is dancing. They are so many different ways to engage children in this particular activity, from the type of music you choose to the props that you have available. Even the most timid children can enjoy dancing with the group. Here are some ideas to make dancing interesting: Dance with colored scarves Make ribbon rings to dance with Give each child a carpet square to designate their dancing…
