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Preschool activities to practice rhyming
It’s Wednesday, and here at Preschool Ponderings, that means time to focus on the standards. Every Wednesday I choose an Early Learning Standard and share a number of activities that can be aligned with that particular standard. Remember, the Standards that I use every day, and am most comfortable with are Ohio’s Early Learning Development Standards – you can review them here, however I’ve found that even if your State’s standards differ, many of these activities can still be aligned similarly. I’ve rounded up some great ideas today! Domain: Language and LiteracyStrand: ReadingTopic: Phonological AwarenessPhonological awareness is all about recognizing the different sounds that make up words, and all of the…
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Preschool activities do to with leaves
One of my favorite fall activities to do with preschoolers is to collect leaves. I give each child a grocery bag and we go on a nice long walk to make sure that we pass a variety of trees and we try to get leaves of all shapes, colors, and sizes. We have some really great conversations during our walk; we try to decide which leaves have fallen from which trees, and we watch squirrels collect acorns and bury them for the winter. After we collect as many leaves as we can we take them back to the classroom we start exploring. Here are some great activities that you can…
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Ideas for Observing Trees with Preschoolers
Trees offer great opportunities for seasonal observations because; They are readily available and can often be observed from inside the classroom simply by looking out the window. They offer obvious visual examples of seasonal changes. They can easily be revisited over an extended period of time. Observing trees is completely free. Start your observations by having your class help choose a tree that they want to make “their tree.” Check on the tree every couple of weeks. During some points throughout the year the changes will happen more rapidly, revisit the tree more often during these periods. As you engage the children in observations, consider doing some of these activities:…
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Friday Freebie: Evidence Checklist
Happy Friday! It’s that time of year when the weather is perfect and the last thing I want to do on the weekend is stay inside, so my goal is to be super productive today so that I can enjoy my weekend! Yesterday I shared some thoughts on informal assessment, and I mention using those observations as evidence for your formal assessments. Here is a freebie checklist to help you keep track of all of the evidence you need to collect – it’s pretty basic, but you can white out the fields if you want to personalize it to your own assessments. Download your copy here and enjoy your weekend…
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Informal assessments: What do your students know?
Before you can start any kind of project or theme exploration it is important to know what your students already understand about that particular topic. You don’t want to teach them things they already know, but you do want to be able to build upon the current knowledge and understanding. So how do you find this information out? There are a number of strategies that you can use, and all are considered informal assessment. Ask them. This seems really simple, but, have you ever gone up to a preschooler and said “What do you know about the farm?” You probably get a blank stare, not because they don’t know anything,…
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Activities for understanding print concepts
It’s Wednesday, and here at Preschool Ponderings, that means time to focus on the standards. Every Wednesday I choose an Early Learning Standard and share a number of activities that can be aligned with that particular standard. Remember, the Standards that I use every day, and am most comfortable with are Ohio’s Early Learning Development Standards – you can review them here, however I’ve found that even if your State’s standards differ, many of these activities can still be aligned similarly. I’ve rounded up some great ideas today! Domain: Language and LiteracyStrand: ReadingTopic: Print conceptsUnderstanding print concepts simply means recognizing that letter make words, and words can be written and then…
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Preschool lesson plan webs
I use webs ALL OF THE TIME. Â Seriously, I’m a very visual person so it always helps when I can organize my ideas on a piece of paper. Once I can see it all in writing it seems to make more sense, and I am more likely to remember my ideas and thoughts. There are so many different ways to use brainstorming webs in the classroom; planning for themes or projects brainstorming activities that meet early learning standards planning for IEP or IFSP goals for specific children organizing ideas for classroom centers brainstorming ideas for special events and family activities The best thing about a web is that it can…
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Making time for conscious observation during the day
Preschool teachers spend all day making observations. We do it so regularly that we might not even realize that we’re taking all of those mental notes. We’ve trained our selves to recognize fine motor milestones, social emotional experiences, and scientific inquiry throughout the day, but do you ever take the time to just sit and watch your students as they play? I mean, without considering assessments and portfolios, just to watch the children as they play? There are so many things that you can observe when you remove yourself from their conversations and interactions. Taking time to sit by yourself and just observe is incredibly valuable. It can give you…
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Friday Freebie – Leaf Patterning
Happy Friday! Somehow it’s already the second week in September, and because of the strange weather we’ve had this summer, our leaves have already started to change. Nothing like messing with my seasons! This freebie is a cute patterning activity that uses different colored leaves. This would be a great center or a fun activity to send home for families to work on together. Download your copy here and enjoy your weekend!
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Great autumn activities for centers
Autumn is a great season to explore in the classroom because there are so many natural materials the you can bring into your environment. This also means that it is really important to have other materials in your centers that are related to those natural materials. Here are some of my favorite autumn centers; Autumn vocabulary cards– These are great for reinforcing the new vocabulary words that students are learning. This set includes the words acorn, apple, leaf, corn, leaves, pumpkin, tree, orchard, squirrel, and turkey and are wonderful for a writing center. Acorn matching set – This set includes letter matching, number matching, and color matching, making it easy for…
