It's funny that as you grow older you can look back at your younger self with awe and a little longing for simpler times. I was thinking about this as I prepared watercolors for my class of Prekindergarteners a couple weeks ago. Each time I lift a set of watercolors it takes me back to my first experience with them. I was about to start kindergarten and my mom had bought my first school supplies. I was so excited. One of the items was a long, shiny, black tin of watercolors. I sat on my bed a...| Luv Pre-K
I love March! There are so many cool things that we do in the classroom but one of the most fun is starting the month off with Dr. Seuss. It's a great time to introduce rhyming words if you have not done so already. If you have introduced them then it is a great time to reinforce the concept. Dr. Seuss' birthday is March 2nd and a great opportunity to pay tribute to this man who added so much fun to children's literature. | Luv Pre-K
Last week I posted about our morning circle routine and talked about the jobs that the children have in the morning. Today I'm going to finish that post (which is a week late) and show you the rest of what morning circle holds.| Luv Pre-K
Everyone does circle time a little different but if you're like me it is one of your favorite times of the day. There are opportunities for the children to lead and to follow, to encourage one another with applause and to help one another when an answer is elusive. Circle time is a community meeting where everyone belongs and has a say.| Luv Pre-K
Here are just a few other things to share this week regarding dental health.| Luv Pre-K
I love science in the classroom and always take every opportunity to do fun experiments with the children. Today's 2 experiments have to do with our teeth and how the things we eat and drink affect them. Below are the items we are using for the experiments.| Luv Pre-K
This is a really simple activity that gets the kids thinking about brushing their teeth. I think it originally came from The Mailbox Magazine but it is a simple project that you can make yourself. It would be easy to make the little chart in Word and add a little toothy clipart.| Luv Pre-K
Here is an easy project to do with your class. Make a tooth book. I googled tooth images and found one that I liked for the front of my book. I popped it into power point, made it the size I wanted and then added the title of our book. Each subsequent page has a sentence at the bottom which describes what the child was asked to draw. | Luv Pre-K
Occasionally I will take time to share with you a blog or website that I feel every preschool teacher should use as a resource. There are so many awesome people out there working to help all of us get through out tough days by sharing wonderful activities and ideas that they do in their classrooms. Today we'll be using some activities from PreKinders website. I love this site and know you will too.| Luv Pre-K
Art in the classroom does not mean showing the children a pattern and having them follow it to make a duplicate of the teachers (although there are times when teachers do this as a means to an end like I did with the valentine mail truck).| Luv Pre-K
Every year my class makes this cute mail truck valentine holder for all their valentines and candy. I've been using it so long that I no longer remember where the original pattern came from. It's possibly Mailbox Magazine but I'm not sure. If you know where it came from and are able to send me a link then I'll give credit where credit is due... until then, on to the post.| Luv Pre-K
February is a great time to play post office because it is later in the school year and the children have enough writing under their belt that it is very enjoyable making and writing valentine cards for one another. As I was deciding how I would add a post office to the classroom this year I scrounged around the school to see what I could find. You never know what treasures are awaiting you.| Luv Pre-K
I'm not sure it can be called fingerpainting when it usually involves whole hands and arms up to the elbows. Well, no matter what you call it, it is a lot of fun! But why do we do it? Is there any learning going on while fingerpainting? The answer... of course there is, especially if you help it out a little.| Luv Pre-K
Every year I do silhouettes of my students during the first week of February. It continues our discussion of shadows after Groundhog Day is over. Every year I also get lots of questions about how I make them. Some folks think I'm really talented... I laugh! Anyway, today I'm gonna share the easy way to make a gorgeous silhouette without any talent.| Luv Pre-K
Let me start by saying: "HAPPY GROUNDHOG DAY"... now on to the post!| Luv Pre-K
This is just a follow-up post to the last one. If today was Groundhog Day instead of tomorrow then I would be sad to say that it looks like 6 more weeks of Winter! Aren't our little groundhogs cute? The groundhogs weren't the only ones who enjoyed seeing their shadows today.| Luv Pre-K
February is such a fun month. Groundhog Day which is one of my favorite times of the year in the classroom begins the month. Children love exploring their shadows and the shadows of objects outside. If you lay different shaped objects on dark construction paper outside (easy to do in sunny Florida) and leave it for an hour then you get shadow prints. Letting children pick the object they lay on their paper is fun because afterward they can let the other children guess what their objec...| Luv Pre-K
This blog is under construction as I figure out the ins and outs of setting everything up. Soon it will be a reference for early childhood educators. Check back by.| Luv Pre-K
Teaching four and five year olds is challenging. You have a group of children that run the gamut of cognitive, social and behavioral ideals and you need to meet each of their needs, validate their thoughts and fears and connect to build a loving and nurturing relationship in which the child will feel valued and respected. As you build these relationships and want to help the child progress to the next step developmentally there are often roadblocks in the path. These roadblocks may be as simp...| Luv Pre-K