teaching tips
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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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Great Gadgets for Teachers
Since I shared how wonderful and amazing my sewing machine has been for the classroom in yesterdays post, today I wanted to share a post that I originally wrote for the blog two years ago about some of my favorite gadgets for the classroom. I still love love love all of these items so I’m sharing this post from July of 2014 below: There are a few tools that I have collected over the years that have made my job a million times easier. Now is the perfect time to share my list of awesome tools because you still have time to splurge on a couple of these before school…
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Ideas for classroom centers
Are you setting up your activity centers and interest areas for a new group of kiddos? Here are some great ideas from previous posts; Reggio Inspired Dramatic Play Centers Reggio Inspired Science Centers Reggio Inspired Writing Centers Reggio Inspired Math Centers For more great ideas, check out my Preschool Pin Boards!
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Developmentally appropriate ways to teach time
Teaching time is complicated and confusing – how can a number mean one thing when a long hand is on it, but something entirely different when a short hand is pointing to it? It just doesn’t make sense, especially not to preschoolers who don’t really understand symbolic thinking. That doesn’t mean that you can’t use the clock in your classroom. I am always an advocate for exposing children to concepts so that they feel comfortable with them when it comes time to learn more. Here are some developmentally appropriate ways to use the clock in your preschool classroom; Arrange your daily schedule as if it were on a clock –…
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Back to school, back to a routine!
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Discussing Routines with Preschoolers
Every year my back to school activities include experiences that are designed to help my kiddos get used to our daily routine. One of the activities that I do with them s to discuss routines, and help them put this idea into perspective by considering the routines that they follow at home. I give them each the opportunity to tell me what they do when they wake up in the morning – the kinds of things they have to do to get ready for school. This takes some prompting at first, but after they get going they have pretty good memories, and it’s fun to see what their priorities are…
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Scheduling your preschool day
As a preschool teacher, one of the most important things that I had to consider each year was my daily schedule. I am the kind of person who follows a schedule closely – there are always exceptions, but most days the schedule kept the day from dragging o, and ensured that I was able to get everything done. My kiddos needed that schedule too. After the first couple of weeks they were able to anticipate what was coming next, and when certain important activities (like lunch, nap, and outside time) were. While preschool teachers everywhere recognize that having a schedule is important, making your schedule is not necessarily easy.…
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Building Relationships with your Students Families
Communicating with parents and families is always easier when you've built a relationship with those families. This can be really hard if you rarely. See them - whether you have student who ride the bus to and from school every day, or you aren't the teacher in charge when your students are dropped off or picked up, there are a million reasons that you might not get as much time with parents as you would like.You can still build relationships with families that will make them feel like they are involved in the activities and events that take place in the classroom. Here are some ideas: Invite parents to participate.…
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The Best Way to Communicate with Parents
That’s a pretty intriguing title isn’t it – what is the best way to communicate with parents? Unfortunately, you’re probably not going to like my answer; there isn’t one best way to communicate with parents. What worked for you last year might not work this year and that’s because each group of parents is very different. That doesn't mean that you have to use your precious time covering all of the possible means of communication. When I realized how much time I was spending on parent communication (newsletters, notes home, emails, phone calls, and posted messages in the classroom) I started something that made my job a million times easier…
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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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Great games to play at circle time
I love to play games during circle time because they keep the children’s interest, but I still get to teach specific concepts through the games. It’s a great way to make sure that I am getting time to do large group instruction, but the children think it’s a ton of fun. Here are some of the games that I love to play, these can all be differentiated so that everyone gets to be challenged, but still successful; Letter games – I use letter cards to play a ton of games, I usually start the year with capital letter cards, and as we explore letters and the children become comfortable with…
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Conversations with Preschoolers about Current Events
