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Sending love to all teachers
I had a different post planned for today, but it didn’t feel right to talk about building positivity in the classroom after the news of this week. Another shooting, at another elementary school. This should never happen, but nothing is changing and it’s easy to feel powerless. Right now I’m sending love and solidarity. Teachers can truly make anything happen if we do it together. Here are some organizations to explore and support in this effort: Sandy Hook Promise Protect Our Schools Everytown I’ve always believed that the world would be a much better place if we all followed the same lessons that I teach my preschoolers – be kind…
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Topics to Explore in Spring
Spring offers so many relevant topics to explore, so I wanted to put together a list with some old favorites and some new ideas – we all need to shake things up every now and then. Doesn’t looking at this graphic just give you ALL the spring feels?! This also gave me a ton of new ideas, I’ve got some work to do! Here’s the full list of 30 different themes, the ones that I currently have resources available for are linked. 1. Rain 2. Gardening 3. Seeds 4. Flowers 5. St. Patricks day 6. Easter 7. Weather gear 8. Bugs 9. Wind 10. Plants 11. Water cycle 12. Recycling…
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Shop the Sale!
March is always the hardest month for me – I want it to be spring, but it’s definitely not, we’re still dealing with lots of cloudy days, and we’ve been stuck inside with each other all winter – so it feels right to celebrate the end of this long month with a sale! TPT is hosting a sitewide sale on the 28th and 29th (tomorrow!) so you can join me in a little retail therapy. Here’s what I suggest taking a look at to help you prep for the next couple of months: Happy shopping, go find some amazing deals!
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Kids Road Trip Entertainment
When it comes to road tripping with kids, prepping items that will actually keep them entertained is VITAL. This is always where I put the majority of my energy while packing because I know that it’ll set the tone for the entire trip for everyone involved. If my daughter isn’t occupied then I’ll spend all of my time entertaining her and answering the “are we there yet” question. I have a tendency to overpack in the this area, but I’ve never regretted it! Here are the toys for travel that we packed for my 5 year old daughter on our most recent trip: Here are the specifics (I’m including affiliate…
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Road Trip Must-haves, and a way to organize them!
As teachers, we all bring our own skills into the classroom – for me, that includes high levels of organization. It makes sense that this would also play a role in other parts of my life. I’ve learned to make organization work for me, and that was definitely true when prepping for our latest road trip. I had to share a genius road trip hack that was such a lifesaver! When we take a road trip I like to make sure we have a stash of all the things that you don’t know you need until you REALLY need them. In the past I’ve thrown these all in a pouch…
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Introducing CVC Words in Preschool – Resources
There are SO MANY different activities that you can do with CVC words – just do a quick Pinterest search, it’s a little overwhelming! After trying a ton of these in the classroom, I realized that I really needed some activities that could be used any time of year, and that were easy to store. Here are the resources I’ve created and use regularly for practicing CVC words: CVC Ring Books – These are the best because the pieces are all self-contained, and they’re really easy for children to use independently. The large colored strip has the word family ending, and the smaller white boxes have a variety of letters…
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Teaching CVC Words in Preschool
Earlier this week I shared my thoughts on reading instruction and it’s place in the preschool classroom. One of the strategies that I’m a huge fan of is introducing CVC words. So let’s go back to basics for a minute and explore what CVC words actually are. These are words that follow a consonant-vowel-consonant pattern (hence the CVC abbreviation). These words fall into “word families” with words in the same family ending with the same vowel and consonant. For example, the -at family includes the words bat, cat, hat, and rat. CVC word families are generally introduced by consonant sound, with short a words first. Before children are ready for…
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Should Learning to Read Happen in Preschool?
Most early childhood educators would agree that learning about language is a lifelong process – we begin hearing and decoding words at birth, and continuous growth happens from that moment! But when you specifically ask if preschoolers should be taught to read, you’ll get a wide variety of different answers. The truth is that preschoolers are already learning to read – whether we intentionally introduce activities that support this or not – they notice letters, the ways that these are oriented on the page, how combining them creates words, and that letters can be strung together and used to share information. These are foundational pieces for sure! My answer to…
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Holidays in the classroom; What to do when you can’t celebrate
I’m the first person to say that I love celebrating holidays – in my personal life that’s definitely something that I’m known for, and it feels natural for me to incorporate that into the classroom. While it is something that I love, there are a variety of reasons that holidays might not be appropriate for the preschool classroom. Some programs don’t allow teachers and students to celebrate in order to create a space where all of the families that they serve feel welcome. Others have specific funding streams that require no holidays be acknowledged, and still others will eliminate these to support specific families and staff. These are all completely…
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Travel Products for Kids
When I was sharing all of my travel tips earlier this week, it occurred to me that I should give you a peek into the items that I always make sure to have with us when we head out on a road trip. These are all affiliate links and I may receive a portion of the sales. Here are my recommendations for kid’s road trip must-haves: This unicorn travel pillow is one of my all-time favorite Amazon purchases. It’s adorable and SO soft. The cover zips off so it can be washed, and the mask and little ear plugs are included. It comes vacuum sealed in this tiny little bag,…
