A preschool teaching blog about preschool activities. My hands on activities can be used for 3-5 year olds ina preschool classroom.
It's time for some truth telling.
Beliefs about lesson planning can feel like a tug of war. We want to plan ahead so we don’t have to stress-plan the night before.
Brilliant ideas from brilliant teachers like you.
'The one exclusive sign of knowledge is thorough teaching.' Aristotle Teaching strategies are hit or miss, but these seven teaching strategies are tried and true and pretty easy to practice. These seven teaching habits of an excellent teacher are seven down-and-dirty tips for teaching college students. They are based on Chickering's and Gamson's 'Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education.' Whether you're a college professor or a high school teacher, there are teaching strategies every college professor can work on as you reach your mid-semester stride. Encourage Student/Professor Contact Encourage Student Teamwork Encourage Active Learning Provide Prompt Feedback Emphasize
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Past, present, and future.
In a self-paced classroom, each student is given an appropriate level of challenge and grows at a steady pace throughout the school year. Here's how it works.
Managing homework can be quite challenging, especially when students aren't motivated to complete it. Here are 10 tips that I've found to work well in my classroom.
Emery just started preschool this week! Having her in school has me thinking back to my years as a teacher and I'm so excited to be on this side now! Parents can make or break a school year and I always said I would be a great parent to teachers once I had a child in school! 😂 One of the things the PTO always did at the school I taught at was have all the teachers fill out a questionnaire with our favorite things. They would send it home with all the parents of students in our class and the parents could use it as a guide when they wanted to send us something. I loved this idea and knew that I would do something like it once Emery started school. I'm going to send this to her teachers so I know all their favorites when I'm buying gifts for them. It will also be nice to know their favorite candy or Starbucks drink when I want to just brighten a random morning! 😊 Click on the picture to view a larger version, then right click to download and save!
This year Kaleb and I have been wandering around the world via books, Little Passports, and various other things we come across in our
School fight teacher also involved and got punched 😭
Happy Summer! Welcome back to the Crazy Critter Café! So I've been thinking about how I'd like to use my Class Dojo reward system and here's the latest...Numbered Tubs to match the Class Dojo "point clubs". I used this idea toward the end of the school year and it seemed to work well. Students gave input on what they'd like to have in the tubs (thus, the 2 levels of sweet treats!) My goal was to have a daily Dojo time, but due to our hectic afternoon schedule, that couldn't always be done, so I'd find time during the week for our class Dojo time (or every 2 weeks if I felt more time was needed for students to reach certain Dojo Point Clubs). I had a checklist and whenever we had Dojo time, I would write the point club for each student so I would know which reward tubs they've picked from during that particular Dojo time. At a designated date, all Class Dojo points would reset and students would start over. I bought 2 plastic organizers to help keep the rewards separate. All I have to do when we have Dojo time is snap apart the 5-15 trays and pull out the 20-30 point drawers for easy distribution of rewards! I'm sure there are tons of ways to use Class Dojo in the classroom. I found that starting simple was more effective. I didn't get overwhelmed with keeping up with rewards and trying to grab my iPad to give Dojo points every second of the day. I used it mostly during transition, independent work, and center times. Make it work for you and your class! I'll switch out rewards periodically so students don't get bored with these. I'd love to hear how you use Class Dojo in your class. Please add a comment below! :-) Thanks for stopping by the café!
Objective: Students will be able to make text-to-world connects through painting and experimenting with movement! Vocabulary: movement, variety, action painting Time: Approximately 1.5 hours. Diffi…
What they don't teach us in education courses is just how freaking much students talk, and how hard it can be to quiet them down. Help is on the way.
"Look inside your fridge" is an engaging and creative way to learn food vocabulary. No more boring vocabulary lists! :)You can choose whether the students
Whew! Has this been a crazy weekend! On Friday night it was super cold and our heating system ended up going out, so we have been dealing with that all weekend. Also we decorated for Christmas! This is our last week before the kids are on break, and then we have two teacher work days, so […]
Pronouns make life easier for readers and writers. As a replacement for nouns, the pronoun can simplify sentences within a text and cuts down on redundancy. Pronouns are easy...wait didn't I say that?
First Week Must Dos 4 comments Back to School, Freebies, Popular Posts There are so many things that teachers must do the first week of school. Do these sound familiar? All of these things (and probably a few others that I missed) must be taught, discussed, and practiced (repeatedly) if you want your classroom to run smoothly all year long. See the last item on that list? That's my favorite 'must do.' In my eyes, all the items in the list are equal in ranking when it comes to importance, but I truly enjoy teaching my kiddos good work habits from the start. Good work habits, in my classroom, include: We all want our students to be neat, to pay attention to detail, to follow directions, to take pride in their work, and to pace themselves when working. When I say "pace themselves" I'm talking about not rushing. I want my students to focus on the task at hand and thoughtfully complete that task. Rushing rarely yields stellar results. Our students don't always come to us doing all of these things. And, that's OK, they are little kids. They aren't born knowing the skills that make up good work habits. They learn these skills. My favorite way to teach these important habits is in context. What I mean by that is, I use back to school activities, projects, and assignments that I have planned for the first week to introduce and reinforce these skills. I usually start teaching these skills on day one. I like to start with neatness. Of course, being neat also entails paying attention to detail, and not rushing through a task. My favorite project to use on day one is a class book. We talk about what a class book is and who will be reading it. When kids know that other kids will be reading their work, they are typically motivated to do their best. They want their peers to love what they have contributed to the special book. This makes the class book perfect for encouraging students to take pride in their work. You can cover so many work habits with one simple project! Once we talk about the class book and its audience, I show them an example of neat work (see below). I point out that I colored in the lines (yes, accidents happen, and that's OK). I also point out that I used colors that make sense (I don't have purple hair, so I didn't color myself with purple hair). A page like this is perfect for focusing on those coloring skills. The next day, we make another class book. One that includes more writing, so that we can focus on neatness as it pertains to handwriting. I review the skills we talked about the day before, and I remind the students of who will be reading this book. Then, I show an example and point out the use of neat handwriting (Do you like my typical second grader response? Hehe). When I say neat handwriting, I simply mean that the words can be easily read. Over the course of the week, we end up making several class books, which gives the students several opportunities to practice using neat handwriting and coloring, paying attention to detail, pacing themselves (not rushing), and taking pride in their work. It's easy to get student buy-in when focusing on these skills in this capacity because they want to make a really awesome page for that special class book! Class books are one of my go to projects that help reinforce notions of neatness, attention to detail, pacing, and taking pride in one's work, but I love to do craftivity projects too! Craft projects are perfect for teaching all these same work habits, but are also great for reinforcing the important skill of following directions! You're probably thinking, crafts during the first week? Really? Yes! I'm not talking about hard core, super involved projects here. It is the first week of school, so keep it simple! You can still teach your students to be neat, to pay attention to detail, to follow directions, and to take pride in their work with simple activities. Take this project for example. It's a writing project disguised as a craft. More specifically, it's a first week journal. Each day, the students write about that day. With this kind of project, you can model neat coloring and handwriting, attention to detail, and pacing (remember, when I say pacing, I mean not rushing through the work). Then, they can practice those skills. Whether you have students cut and assemble the book before they begin writing, or after they finish writing on all of the pages, you can use that portion of the project as a means to reinforce following directions and paying attention to detail. If you walk into my classroom the first week, you'll likely see my second graders completing a craft like this. Well, actually, this exact craft. Hehe. I like to get student work up on the board ASAP, and this is a quick and easy project for that. It's simple enough and provides great practice with attention to detail and following directions. I typically pass out all the templates that the students need. Then, I model how to cut out each piece. Once I cut a piece, the students cut that same piece. As I model, I talk about what I'm doing. I point out that when cutting rounded or circular shaped pieces, I really need to slow down and carefully follow my cutting line. I even teach them where to set their cut pieces so they don't misplace them. This reinforces the notion of neatness beyond writing and coloring. Then, I repeat this process with the gluing phase of the project. I display the craft on the board so they can see it and attend to detail and follow directions more easily. Breaking it down step by step makes it easy for them to follow directions. It also puts them at ease because they can easily see what is expected, and ultimately they end up feeling successful at the end of the project. While there are so many things we must do that first week of school, remember to take time to make sure that good work habits are on your list of must dos. Focusing on these habits from the get go will pay off in the long run. The activities pictured above can all be found in my Return of the Nerds Back to School Activities pack. You can check it out here on TPT. One last thing before you go. I'd love for you to use this class book to help teach your students some great work habits this coming school year. You can download it for free by clicking here. Enjoy! Thanks for stopping by today! DON'T FORGET IT: PIN IT! Share It:
This project is relatively simple and takes learning about lines into the third dimension. I posted about this project back in 2013 and it was one of my most popular blog posts. I usually do a line painting project with the kindergartners. This is a great way to learn about types of lines, practice painting with a paintbrush and develop all those great fine motor skills you want the little ones to learn such as gluing and coloring. 1. The … Read more... →
Explore lines, one of the element of art with your kids through this fun art. Create a crazy hair day portrait using different kind of lines. Find out more!
This model and template will help college, high school, and middle school teachers put together a syllabus that sets you and your students up for a great year.
“It’s them not me.” “Kids today don’t care.” “I’m not their tour guide, I’m their teacher.” There are so many things wrong with the above statements that it would be a whole other post to explain i…
Had to share a quick picture of a text I recieved from a parent (who is also a co-worker). It made my day as I so respect this teacher and love the child. Since my student's mother is a 7th grade language arts teacher at my school, I assumed that my student would want to be in her mother's room. I guess once again I understand what happens when one assumes (but this time it was a good lesson to learn). I also received a large bag of white chocolate popcorn from this students as well - her mother knows it is a favorite of mine!
Sometimes it feels crazy overwhelming to keep assessing students and know exactly what they do/don’t understand. That’s where these quick and easy formative assessment ideas comes in! M…
Cute free dinosaur printables for your upcoming dinosaur theme. These dinosaur preschool worksheets include lots of activities for kids.
Podcasts in the classroom are so fun and engaging! Have you jumped on the podcast train yet?! I have a great system for using podcasts in the classroom...
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Do you look on Pinterest for Anchor Chart ideas and give up at the thought that your Anchor Chart could never look that amazing? It actually doesn’t have to be that difficult to make an amazi…
Score a discounted membership and the cheapest teacher lunch in town.
Relationship building is key to good teaching. This system will help you quickly get to know students and benefit from those connections all year long.
I know I have said it before but...... Making Memories Month by Month is one of my favorite books published by Creative Teaching Press. T...
A lesson plan! A lesson plan! My kingdom for a lesson plan!
Name posters are an easy art project for the first day of school and also double as classroom decor!
Got lots of newspaper piling up on a corner? In this post, you'll learn how to create this eye-catching collage pop art piece using old newspaper, some Elmer's glue, and a touch of acrylic paint. This is a great way to recycle and turn boring white canvas into something you would be proud to hang up (or even sell!).
Animals Movements: run, swim, fly, hop, slither What do you get? 20 editable and PDF versions of the worksheets. Thank you for your download. Please do not forget to leave your FEEDBACK! :) Check my store: Miss Marwa Tarek for more resources.
