January 2011

Exploring groundhog day in preschool

We made a few work boxes for Groundhog Day that we are planning to use tomorrow. But since there is a snowstorm going on right now, it looks like we may not have school tomorrow… This first work box is to work on a little eye-hand coordination and some pretend play. The clothespins are our [...]

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O is for Octopus in preschool

A drawback to being an administrator in a preschool program is that often times I have to actually “administrate” and when I do, it pulls me away from the classroom. So when this happens, I often only get to see what the children made after they are finished rather than while they are in the process. I [...]

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N is for newspaper in preschool

This week, we used the newspaper in a variety of ways to help us explore the letter N… The newspaper is a great way to explore letters and numbers and other language and literacy concepts. We laminated one large page from the newspaper to search for letters and numbers… We searched for titles and talked [...]

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Activities to promote development and Deborah in the News

I had the opportunity to be on Fox 59 Morning News! I was pretty nervous and we had to move so fast that I couldn’t remember what I wanted to say! LOL!  I wasn’t able to actually get a copy of the video so I taped it from my daughter’s television so I could share [...]

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Fun with colorful bubble science in kindergarten

As I have mentioned many times before, I love all the ideas you can find on other blogs but there are times that I will read an idea but not really give it a chance. Sometimes, it isn’t that the children aren’t ready to try something new or different – the problem is that we [...]

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Add the picture after you frame it up in preschool

Today, the kindergarten class tried out our new window markers…. Only we didn’t use them on the windows  - instead we used them on the glass cover of a picture frame… In some of the picture frames, we inserted pre-drawn shapes like circles or dots or even a house and the children drew over the [...]

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Really cute but not so fun in preschool

Last week, I visited a class that was making doves as part of their study of peace and MLK. As I observed this class, it was clear to both the teacher and I that this project was a cute idea on paper but pretty worthless when it came to process… That’s the tricky thing about [...]

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Using trays in the preschool classroom

In some of our classes, the teachers like to use trays to help with classroom management or organization… Trays can provide children with their own work space… Trays can help contain lots of pieces… Trays can be set up to invite different kinds of play, exploration, or creativity… Often times, teachers will use a tray [...]

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Labeling your baskets and shelves in preschool

Part of setting up a child-centered classroom is taking the time to organize materials so that children can easily find where they belong. One way to help keep the classroom organized is to add labels to the baskets. Adding labels with the words clearly printed on them also helps to promote the print-rich environment. Where [...]

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Parent involvement in early literacy is the key to academic success

Parent involvement in early literacy is the key to academic success by Dr. Erika Burton of Stepping Stones Together Early childhood education sets the stage for future academic achievement. Whether you choose a pre-school setting, home school your child, or a combination of both exposure and parent modeling of literacy skills before, during and after the [...]

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Learning about Martin Luther King Jr. in preschool

Today was Martin Luther King Day and we took the opportunity to explore concepts such as kindness, peace, speeches, and dreams. I had the opportunity to go to several of our classes today and share this video with the children. I liked how the video talked about MLK in a very simple way. It shares [...]

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At play with baby: bouncing balls

A big ball, medium ball, and a small ball too… A red ball, yellow ball, and one the color blue… What can Clara do with three balls on the ground? She can push them, and follow them, and roll them around! The small ball is soft… The red ball is bumpy… The blue ball is [...]

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Making colorful and scented rice for preschool

When I get started on something – I just keep going until I have exhausted all the ideas I can come up with or until all my dishes are dirty or until I run out of supplies – which ever comes first. This week, I worked on making colored rice to use for a variety [...]

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Messing around with the color brown in preschool

As part of our color review week, the children tried out a little brown finger painting but instead of using brown paint, they used chocolate pudding. After mixing up a bowl of chocolate pudding, they dipped their fingers in the pudding and began making brown pudding prints on a piece of paper… To this point [...]

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Ice play in preschool

Today, we enjoyed a little ice play. Sometimes the simplest of ideas can be the most enjoyable for young children. The teacher in this class set out a bowl of ice with some cups, smaller bowls, and spoons… The children scooped the ice from one container to the other… And some children used their hands [...]

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The things that go on in our preschool classroom

Because most of my articles only focus on one activity at a time, it may look like there is nothing else going on in the classroom. So today, I wanted to show you how there are lots of things going on all at the same time… Each day, our teachers follow a lesson plan that [...]

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