teacher tips
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Creating a Parent Donation List that gets noticed!
Whether I need specific materials for a class project or there are items that I always need for the classroom (Kleenex anyone?!) Parents and families are always the first people that I ask for help. Over the years I’ve come up with some tips for putting together donation lists that get results. First and foremost you need parents to notice that you are asking for something. Let them know where they can look for these kinds of messages, and make sure that you always put them in the same spot so that family members don’t have to search for them. Use bright colors and graphics that will grab their attention.…
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Organizing all that paperwork!
If you’ve spent any time in a licensed child care program, you’ve seen all the required paperwork – lesson plans, daily communication sheets, medication forms, permission slips, pick-up lists, the forms are never ending. If you’ve ever been a program administrator then you’ve felt the crush of the paperwork avalanche – add all those licensing forms to invoices, bills, staff forms, and all that mail! If you’re like me you’re probably feeling your blood pressure rise just thinking about it, but I’ve got a few tips to help you handle all that paperwork. Whether you’re a classroom teacher or an administrator, I hope that some of these tips will be…
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Cleaning tips
I spent most of today cutting out things that had been laminated, and when I was done my scissors were full of sticky lamination adhesive and I could barely use them. Do you want to know my trick for cleaning sticky scissors? Clorox wipes. I’m not joking, if you carefully rub the wipe along the blade of the scissors over and over, all of the sticky stuff will come off. Since I’m sharing that random cleaning tip, here is another post that has even more great cleaning tips for the preschool room: Getting rid of preschool stains What are your secret cleaning tips?
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What’s in my desk
When I got the job that I have right now and realized that I would have a desk for the first time in my working life I was excited to fill it up with stuff! I read tons of blog posts about great things to keep in your desk, some of which were helpful, and some of which were a little weird. Since I’ve been using many of these items regularly for the last year I thought I would share what I’ve love having at my fingertips. One of the first things that I did was to find an organizer that would fit really well in my desk drawer. I…
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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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Re-Thinking Transitions
I’ve been all about routines this week, probably because I’ve been super-conscious of my own personal routines for whatever reason. I can’t talk about routines in the preschool room without devoting some time to transitions. Transitions, that’s one of those buzz words that we use a lot in early childhood. Do you ever stop and really think about that word? To transition means to change from one thing to the next, when we use the word transition in the context of early childhood education we are usually talking about helping children move from one activity to the next. Some transitions are very natural, like singing a clean up song when…
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Routines to help your day run smoother
Have you ever noticed how quickly three day weekends go by? I always feel like I need a weekend to recuperate from my three day weekend. I was thinking about all of this as I got ready for work this morning. I was totally on autopilot, just going through the motions without really thinking about them and appreciating the fact that I had picked out an outfit and packed my lunch the night before. These evening routines were making my morning so much easier, which in turn made the rest of my day much less stressful! The more I thought about it, the more I realized that I have end…
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Teaching when you’re sick
I would get sick in the middle of May – it never fails, whenever I happen to be busiest, Mother Nature gets me. It doesn’t help that the weather has taken a sudden turn back to winter and it is cold cold cold. All I want to do is curl up under a blanket and spend the day on the couch. Luckily, I’ve come up with some pretty good strategies for teaching when I’m not feeling my best. Those can be the longest days! Of course, if you’re really really sick – and contagious – stay home! But if you’re just uncomfortable, here are somethings that will help you out:…
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Make your summer goals… and keep them!
This time of year is all about finishing up all of those end of the year projects, and I’m not sure if it’s the weather or just knowing that other projects are winding down, but it seems to be the time that I started dreaming big dreams of everything that I’m going to accomplish over the summer. Those dreams are usually lofty, and then all of a sudden it’s September and nothing got done. So this year I’m going to do what I do best, make a list. I’m planning on writing down all of my goals, so that I can really determine which ones are realist and which ones…
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How to keep from getting sick when you’re a teacher
Yuck! There is a really nasty bug going around, I can’t tell you how many adults and kids I know who have the flue right now. This is always my least favorite thing about spending the day with little ones, you just can’t avoid the germs. When things get really bad there are a few strategies I turn to; Clorox wipes. If you just can’t go around spraying everything with bleach all day, then these are the next best thing. I love how easy they are to use, and they give me so much peace of mind. Don’t forget to wipe down the door knobs, light switches, faucet handles, and…
