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Welcome to My Blog!

Welcome to My Blog!

If there is one thing that I am passionate about, It is learning through play. Whether at home with my grandchildren or in the classroom, I am always paying attention to how young children learn best to navigate and understand new concepts in their world. Hands down, play always wins!

I have been in the field of early childhood education for over 30 years. I own my own small private preschool called The Children’s Studio for children ages three to five years old. My preschool is my place to observe, document, and study early learning in action. I share my observations and reflections on early childhood education with others all around the world right here on my Teach Preschool Blog.

If you want to learn more about my background in early childhood education, I invite you to scroll through the different topics I have put together below. 

If you want to learn more about how to teach young children through play and exploration, then head on over to my blog, subscribe to my emails, and follow along as I love to share the real life experiences I observe in my own preschool and pre-kindergarten age classrooms. 

Thank you so much for stopping by and please keep coming back!

My very best,

Deborah J. Stewart, M.Ed.

Credentials

Deborah holds an associate degree and a master degree in Early Childhood Education. She has been a member of NAEYC for over 20 years and has spoken at both the National Association of Education for Young Children conference and at the local AEYC conferences in Indiana, Florida, and Ohio. Deborah has also spoken in conferences for Family Home Childcare Providers across the US including South Dakota, Illinois, Missouri, Indiana. Deborah is scheduled to speak at several of the PreKindergarten Conferences held by Staff Development Educators (SDE) over the next several months. Deborah is often a guest moderator of The Bam Radio show and is the Early Learning Expert for Indiana Fox 59 Morning News.

Experience

Deborah has served in a broad range of roles in early childhood education over her 30 years including teaching in the classroom, serving as School Director, Curriculum Development, Professional Development Training, and Musical Director.

Online Accomplishments

Deborah’s Teach Preschool blog began in 2009 and currently reaches over 1.4 million followers on Facebook; over 100,000 followers on Pinterest, and over 100,000 followers on Instagram. She can also be found on Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn. The blog is updated each week during the school year to share current events, reflections, and photos from Deborah’s own teaching experiences and classrooms.

Other Accomplishments

Deborah is the author of the book “Ready for Kindergarten” which can be viewed on Amazon and has published over 50 simple songs for young children which are available on her Teach Preschool Blog.

At Home

Deborah often writes about the early learning experiences she has at home with her five grandchildren. Being a grandparent has given Deborah a new window to the world of child development that she has fully embraced and observed. Until a recent move ten hours away, Deborah’s grandchildren lived just down the road from her and attended her preschool. Now her experiences with the grandchildren have taken on a new look as she navigates grand parenting from a distance. Whether near or far, Deborah’s grandchildren continuously inspire her and teach her about the daily ins and outs of early childhood development and education.

Philosophy

Deborah firmly believes that young children learn and develop best through play. It is through play that young children experience their world, work out their social and emotional well-being, develop and master life-long skills, and build a confident sense of self, school, learning, and life.

After years of experience in the classroom and teaching in a broad range of early childhood classrooms, Deborah has been inspired by many different kinds of teaching philosophies and methods. Evidence of the differing philosophies are evident in her classroom as well as the writings Deborah shares on her Teach Preschool blog. Above all, Deborah embraces early childhood teaching methods that consider the best interests of the child through a play-based, child-led, hands-on teaching approach.

Deborah’s Classroom

My preschool is not in my home but it is in a building just across the driveway of my home. I have three classrooms; two in the main building and an outdoor classroom which in in a screened in porch behind my house. My classroom is small in size but huge in heart!

I have anywhere between 8 to 24 students depending on the day or the year of enrollment.  Building a sense of community is very important to me and, I believe, to the success of my students. We combine all of our students for most of our day creating a mixed-age group environment. 

Our playscape is simple as it is all about nature. Behind our house is our “forest” (a small set of woods) that that the children love to explore. 

You can learn more about my preschool by clicking here: The Children’s Studio

Thank you for all you do for young children. You are making a difference!