lesson planning
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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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President’s Day with Preschoolers
President’s day can pose a challenge for preschool teachers because so many of the concepts that we connect with commemorating this day are extremely abstract for young children. They don’t understand history, what it means to live in a certain country, or the job of a president. In many cases, not only are these concepts difficult for children to grasp, they also aren’t relevant to their day to day experiences. There are still some great ways to acknowledge President’s day and help children make connections that increase their understanding – here are my favorite President’s day lessons. I’ve created a couple of vocabulary sets that help children have the words…
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Making the most of planning time
Has it hit you yet? You know, the end-of-the-school-year-don’t-want-to-do-anything mood? Planning is always the hardest for me at the end of the year, my mind wanders, there are about a million things to do, and I really just want to spend the entire day outside. This is the point in the year where I lean heavily on my planning systems to use my time as effectively as possible. Here are some of the things that always help: Recipes for the Classroom – All kinds of dough, sand, bubble, and paint recipes! Seasonal Party Sign-ups and Reminders – to help get me through the final events of the year A Year…
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Friday Freebie – Lesson Planning
Happy Friday! We’ve officially made it through the first week of 2018, maybe by the end of next week I’ll remember to write 2018 instead of 2017. Today’s freebie is a set of lesson plan formats for the preschool classroom. I am a huge advocate for making your lesson plan work for you, and I think that you should set in up in a way that is actually helpful, or else you’ll find yourself doing extra work. This set has a variety of templates so that you can select the one that fits your class structure the best. For more on using these different templates be sure to check out…
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Lesson Planning Supplies
Raise your hand if your new years resolution had something to do with making sure your lesson plans get done sooner – this was always me. I felt like I knew what I wanted to do the upcoming week, but actually sitting down and planning it all out was the one task that got pushed off all week. Then, when I did get time to put my lesson plans together I would find that I really didn’t have enough ideas, or all of my ideas needed a ton of prep work – prep work that I didn’t have time for. I’m here to give you a couple of suggestions so…
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Using assessment results for planning
Preschool assessments are becoming the new norm, and there are a couple of reasons for this; Quality rating systems require programs to use them. Parents want to see that their children are learning and that they will be prepared for kindergarten. Beyond these main reasons, assessments can also be valuable tools for teachers to use when planning learning experiences for the children in their classes. Assessments tell you which areas children are excelling in, and where they need continued improvement. You can use this information to select and develop activities that allow children to be successful while still working on necessary skills. For example, if your assessment results indicate…
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Friday Freebie – Teacher Planning Pages
Happy Friday! This summer has flown by! This week is a double freebie week. On Tuesday I shared an awesome list of ideas for your monthly newsletters (download that here) and today I have a freebie for those of you who have started thinking about next year – or for those of you who know you probably should, and will eventually! I love, love, love these teacher planning pages. They have helped me stay organized for years and include 6 different idea trackers and lists to keep you on your toes. Go download your set and have a wonderful weekend!
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Ways to make lesson planning easier!
I’m one of those weird teachers – you know, the ones who love lesson planning. I love every part of it – analyzing what my student needs, finding new ideas, writing the plans, prepping materials – I love it! I’ve also come up with a number of ways to make lesson planning easier. Since many of you have probably begin to think about your first few weeks of the school year, and the rest of you are probably preparing to do things a little differently in the fall, I want to share some of the things that have been most helpful for me. The one thing that has been the…
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Re-establishing Classroom Routines after the Holidays
I may have gone back to work last week, but last week was all about survival. This week, on the other hand, is about getting back into routine and evaluating those routines as I think about the rest of the year. That means making sure that I’m planning ahead, following the schedule, and setting up systems that are helpful – not ones that create more work for myself! If you’re thinking about some of those same goals, here are some of my favorite tools for re-establishing routines and organizing all of my plans: Picture schedule cards are perfect for this time of year. They help the entire class get back…
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A little reflection
I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, I know I’m taking some much needed time to relax (and do lots of shopping)! The end of the year is the perfect time to think about what went well this year, and goals that we have going forward. If you’re thinking about the rest of the year in your classroom and what it might look like I want to share some inspiration that might be helpful. Here are the top five posts from Preschool Ponderings this year: 1. Make your lesson plans work for you – This post has quickly become one of my most popular of all time because it includes…
