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Friday Freebie – Classroom Labels
Happy Friday! When I looked at the calendar at the beginning of the week, I was in shock. The middle of February already?! I’m itching for spring, and it’s coming quickly (thank goodness). If you’re anything like me, you’re ready to freshen things up a bit, so I’ve got the perfect freebie for you. I recently revamped my classroom label freebie. It was one of the first sets that I ever added to my Teachers Pay Teachers Store, and it needed an upgrade. I’m planning on re-labeling my whole classroom (there’s just something about new labels that gets me excited, and I know I’m not the only one!), so go…
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Kindergarten Readiness
Every year in the spring I am inundated with similar questions – “Do you think my child is ready for Kindergarten?” and “What can I do to make sure my child is ready for Kindergarten?” Unfortunately, these questions can’t be answered easily. There are a number of factors that need to be considered when determining Kindergarten readiness, and on Tuesday I discussed some of the social skills that I generally look for, and I shared some suggestions for parents. Today I’m going to share some of the academic skills that are helpful for children to know before they go to Kindergarten. I have to preface this post by saying that…
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Social Studies Activities for Preschool
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: Social StudiesStrand: EconomicsTopic: Production and ConsumptionThis standard is all about understanding where our resources come from, and how they get to us. It…
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Kindergarten Readiness
Spring is coming, and with it, the flurry of parents signing up for Kindergarten screenings. As a Preschool teacher, this means that part of my job is to encourage that them their children are ready for kindergarten, or in the cases where their children may not be ready, give them the tools to work towards readiness, or make a decision to wait another year. The first thing that I take into consideration when making a recommendation is social skills – here are some things I think about: Can the child complete self-help tasks (hanging up his or her coat, washing hands, etc.)? Does the child interact appropriately with others (exhibits…
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Celebrating Mardi Gras in Preschool
Tomorrow is Fat Tuesday, and every year I celebrate with my students. Exploring Mardi Gras gives my students the opportunity to participate in a holiday that many of them do not celebrate at home, but they can definitely appreciate the basic components of this holiday – sweet treats, parades, masks, and music. I show my students some photos of Mardi Gras celebrations during circle time. You can find a lot of pictures on Google Images, just be sure to preview them first! It helps to search for children’s parades, and my students also love to see pictures from the dog parades, and of the big parade floats. We always start…
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Friday Freebie – President’s Day
Happy Friday! Today is one of my favorite days, I know a lot of teachers don’t like party days, but I love them and Valentine’s Day is my favorite of the entire year. I think it’s because the celebration with my kiddos has always taken the pressure off my husband 🙂 I get all my mushy love from the little ones and all I expect from him is a card. I also have some serious girl time planned for this weekend, an Ikea trip with my best friends from high school, which is definitely a reason to look forward to the weekend! Then, Monday is President’s day. We always have…
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Reggio Inspired Dramatic Play Centers
A couple of weeks ago I gathered photos of some incredible Reggio-inspired Math and Writing centers to share with you. These have been some of the most popular posts that I’ve done, so I thought I would do a few more centers this week. I shared some incredible science centers, today I want to show you some inspiring dramatic play centers. My students favorite materials to use in the dramatic play space are; Any kind of costume Authentic items related to the play topic (old cameras, real stethoscopes, old cell phones, hair dryers, bakery boxes, etc.) Related printables, such as pretend library cards, shopping lists, airline tickets, recipe cards, etc. There are a few…
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Social Studies Activities for Preschool
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: Social StudiesStrand: EconomicsTopic: Scarcity This standard is all about understanding that supplies are limited, and sometimes you have to make choices. When…
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Reggio Inspired Science Centers
A couple of weeks ago I gathered photos of some incredible Reggio-inspired Math and Writing centers to share with you. These have been some of the most popular posts that I’ve done, so I thought I would do a few more centers this week. When it comes to the science center, my students especially love the following science-related materials: Authentic science tools (magnifying glasses, specimen jars, microscopes and slides, etc.) Mirrors and prisms Flashlights Binoculars I also like to include some of the following materials: Clipboards with paper or notebooks where they can record their findings Photographs related to topics of interest (like close ups of snowflakes or photos of…
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Preschool Documentation For Beginners
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Keeping Preschoolers Germ Free
If your classroom is anything like mine, there are a lot of germs floating around it right now. I do my best to teach hand washing routines at the beginning of the school year, but right about now I feel like we need a refresher course in getting rid of some of those germs. I’ve come up with a couple of things that I’m hoping will help my students to A) remember to wash their hands after they blow their noses, and B) remember to wash their hands properly. The first thing I’m doing is making sure to spend some time going over hand washing routines, so I made these…
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Handwashing Routines for Preschool
