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Back to reality
I took a little break here for a couple of weeks – it was much needed, even if I didn’t actually slow down. I don’t spend a ton of time talking about my personal life her, but I thought I would jump back in by showing you what I’ve been up to. First and foremost, I spent some serious time taking care of myself. Here are three things that I swear by when it comes to self-care: It’s amazing what a great manicure can do for your self-confidence. My all time favorite polish is Essie’s Treat Love Color collection. (Affiliate link) Yoga always helps me de-stress, I started this 30…
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Spring Break!
I had to laugh when I was typing that title, I haven’t had a spring break since I was in college. But this year I’m giving myself one! I’m going to focus on some much needed self-care, I’m talking yoga, facial masks, and lots of extra sleep. Things will be a little quiet around here this week, but I’ll be back next week and I have a ton of great things planned!
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Friday Freebie – Community Helper Puppet
Happy Friday! I’ve got the perfect freebie to finish out a week about community helpers. It doesn’t get more traditionally preschool than paper bag puppets. This Police Officer Puppet would be the perfect addition to your classroom library, and it might even inspire your students to make their own versions of other occupations. Go download yours from Carrie Lutz and have a wonderful weekend!
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Community Helpers Preschool Activities
I promised yesterday that I would share my favorite activity centers for exploring community helpers, here they are: Community Helper Handprint Wreath – A great visual for all of the places in your community that you would find helpers. Community Helper Occupation Booklet – Explore the tasks of each job and the tools and materials that are associated with it. Community Helper Hats and Badges Freebie – Perfect for your dramatic play area! Community Helper Matching – Great for a language center, encourages children to practice letter and word recognition to match the helper to their title. Community Helper Dances – A little music and movement is always appreciated, and…
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Introducing community helpers
One of the most common topics in the preschool classroom is community helpers. Whether you do a theme week about them, or regularly rotate community helper costumes through your dramatic play area, you’ve probably covered them at some point throughout the year. There’s good reason for this; we want our children to know who they can turn to when they need help, and we want them to recognize that we all play a role in making our community run successfully. My favorite way to introduce this topic to preschoolers is with a discussion. I ask them to name adults that help them, to which they typically reply with family members…
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1,000!
Without even realizing it I crossed the 1,000 post mark! Wow, that’s crazy to me. This blog has been a labor of love. It is an absolute joy that I get to share some of my favorite ideas with you. I started Preschool Ponderings back in July of 2011 when I was transitioning from teaching toddlers to teaching preschoolers. A lot has changed since then and I am so grateful to have a record of my own growth as an educator. For those of you who have been following along for some time, I so appreciate that you spend your precious time reading my blog. For those of you who…
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Friday Freebie – In Like a Lion
Happy Friday! March has definitely come in like a lion in my area – isn’t that a funny saying?! I distinctly remember learning the “In like a lion, out like a lamb” adage when I was in preschool. I know for a fact that we made lion and lamb faces out of paper plates. Isn’t it interesting what our brains chose to remember? Today’s freebie can help you explore this tradition with your own students. This In Like a Lion Out Like a Lamb Calendar and Weather set from Tina O’Block is adorable! Go download yours and have a wonderful weekend!
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10 Tips for Building Relationships with Families
When I started “Family February” I was a little worried that I wouldn’t be able to write that many posts about one topic – I should’ve known better. Not only are families a huge piece of the work that we do – because children’s lives are so highly influenced by the experiences of their families – but I also love love love family engagement. I know it’s technically March, but I want to wrap up my Family February with a little bit of a summary. So here are 10 tips for building those relationships with families: Be available – If a family member needs to talk to you find a…
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Writing letters to parents
At the beginning of the month I shared that one of my favorite ways to get to know children is to ask each parent to write you a letter about their child. I have often ended the school year by writing letters to each of my students, it a wonderful way to let them each know that they have been an important part of my year. I think it would also be a really great tradition to start writing letters to parents. I am constantly reminded that parents do not get enough credit for the wonderful things that they do for their children – if they get any credit at…
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Encouraging family members to visit the classroom
Here’s the dilemma, we want parents to take part in classroom events, but in most cases children are in our care because their parents are working – which means that they are not available to participate in activities. One way to make sure parents feel like they are a part of classroom events is to use technology to share photos and anecdotes – even when parents can’t be present, they will still feel like they know exactly what happened. Another creative solution is to encourage parents to share events with extended family members who may be able to attend. Grandparents might enjoy spending the afternoon with your class, and aunts,…
