back to school
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My lesson plans for the first week of preschool
I’m not in the classroom every day anymore, and one of the things that I miss the most is lesson planning (I know, I’m kind of a nerd), so I thought I’d put together some plans anyway and share them with you! I try to keep things simple for the first week, instead of planned activities we spend a lot of time exploring classroom centers, and I might pull one or two items from each center for the children to explore at the table. I also incorporate classroom routines into activities so that I can give the children more opportunities to practice these throughout the day. Here is my lesson…
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First Day of Preschool Freebie
The first days of school can be a little difficult for everyone. Children are nervous, parents want your attention, and you desperately want to start your routines off right. I’m hoping I’ve got something that will make you end that first day just a little less exhausted! I put together a freebie to help make the first day run a little more smoothly. It is designed so that parents can complete the simple activities with their child, giving them something to do while they wait for an opportunity to talk to you one-on-one. The freebie includes: A sign and keepsake photo mat. Parents can take a photo of their child…
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Back to School Products for the Preschool Classroom
It’s the end of July, I know, how did that happen?! I swear summer gets shorter every year! Many of you are preparing to head back to school (and if you haven’t started prepping, you’ve probably started thinking about it) so I thought I would share some of the things that I’ve created that might help you out this year – make sure to read the entire post because there are freebies throughout! Inspire Emergent Curriculum: This standards-based curriculum is perfect for programs that implement the Reggio Philosophy or the Project Approach. Circle Time Mega Pack: Start the year off right by implementing successful, developmentally appropriate circle time from…
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Friday Freebie – Classroom Planning
Happy Friday! Whether you like it or not, many of you are probably realizing that summer has flown by – we’re halfway through July people! According to my teacher friends and all of the photos on my Instagram feed, many of you are thinking about back to school already, so I thought I’d share a freebie that might help get you back in the game. This classroom planning set is from Teacher Treasure Hunter, who clearly speaks my language (checklists and to-do lists of course). It’s geared towards elementary teachers, but seeing as it’s a freebie preschool teachers won’t mind if they don’t need all of the components – because…
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Back to School Boost
I’m not quite sure what it is this year, but I’m not really feeling like it’s time for Back to School quite yet. Yes, the weather is quite a bit cooler, I’ve definitely picked up a few school supplies (who doesn’t love brand new Sharpies?!), and I’m itching for college football season and some high school football games, but there seems to be something missing. Maybe I’ll get my Back to School boost tomorrow, because Teachers Pay Teachers is having a special one day Back to School sale. This is super special because TPT already had their annual Back to School sale, but being smart like they are, they totally…
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Off to Kindergarten (update)
My big kids are all starting kindergarten this week. These are kiddos that have been in my class since they were 2 years old, so this is a bittersweet week for all of us. I wanted to do something special for them as they started a new chapter, and I shared some of my ideas a couple of weeks ago, but I wanted to take some time to share the final product! This is the cute kit that I put together for each family to use on the first day of kindergarten. Each kit has a small pack of tissues (for Mom and Dad’s tears), chocolate hugs for a little…
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Back to School Tips and Freebies
I know that I generally do freebies on Friday (don’t worry, I’ll have one for you tomorrow!) but this is even more awesome than one freebie, so I thought I’d give it a little extra special attention. I have to tell you about the Back to School Ebook from TPT. This book is jam-packed with tips from seasoned teachers and freebies from their Teacher’s Pay Teacher’s stores. There are a ton of great ideas here (140 pages!) so please take a minute to download the free ebook and click through the links to all of the free resources, I’m sure that you’ll find some great items for your classroom!
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Extending a Portrait Project
Yesterday I shared one of my all-time favorite back to school activities – creating self-portraits. Today, I want to share some ideas for extending the learning that you’ve begun with this activity. If your students really enjoy this activity, pay attention to how they are working, and which aspects of the project seem to draw their attention. If the children are especially interested in inspecting their own features in the mirror, then you might consider taking close up photos of their facial features. You could then print these photos and explore them in a few different ways. First you could encourage the children to figure out which features belong to…
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Preschool Self-Portrait Project
One of my absolute favorite back to school activities to do with my kiddos is to have them create self portraits. I think that encouraging them to take some time to look at themselves, and pay attention to what makes each of them unique, is a great way to help them recognize why they are each an important part of our community. Children learn a number of things from creating their own portraits – They get to practice taking time to focus on an activity, and pay attention to detail. They also begin to compare themselves with other students, and learn to recognize their own unique characteristics, as well as…
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What I’m Buying
There’s a great big sale going on over at Teachers Pay Teachers and I’ve got some shopping to do! Today I wanted to take a minute to share what I’ll be buying during the Back to School Sale. 1. Interchangeable Clipart from Molly Tillyer. This is clipart, but I honestly think that it would make a great pre-k classroom center. The set includes a ton of different people (all skin tones) and then anything that you could possibly need to create thousand of different individuals – hair in different styles and colors, all kinds of facial expressions, and clothes and accessories like you wouldn’t believe. I think that my students would…
