Adventures of a Pre-K Teacher

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mpalms — Mon, 14 May 2012 16:44:49 -0400

meaningfulmama: Upper and Lower Case Letter Match - Great for...

mpalms — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 17:35:47 -0400

Upper and Lower Case Letter Match - Great for kids just learning their letters.

I am so insanely happy that I just found this blog. I'm in school earning a degree in child development and I'll be certified in birth through pre-k education and pre-k through k special ed. Sometimes it's hard to find good pre-k ideas and I get kinda bummed out. Finding this blog made my morning :) Thanks for being awesome.

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 16:33:23 -0400

THANKS! i’ve been so busy lately, but nearly half of my school year is up and posted. I hope to get the other stuff up there and keep giving tips and ideas that i use too! if you ever need any help or ideas that you can’t find, feel free to message me any time! I have so much experience with the pk special ed as well. i’d be happy to help :)

cookingloveandlife: I can’t even explain how happy this makes...

mpalms — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 10:36:45 -0500

cookingloveandlife:

I can’t even explain how happy this makes my little kindergarten after school teacher heart. Obsessed. If I don’t get to do this with a group of children, I WILL do this with my kids.

Every year for christmas I print out blank calendars and we do handprint art for each month! Many of these are similar, but some of these are very cute and I might try them out next time!

I’ve used: Snowflake, heart, Leprechaun, umbrella tulips, butterfly, goldfish, sun, apples, pumpkins, turkey, Santa (or dreidel)

shakehandsandshootsmiles: for all you hipsters. Or for...

mpalms — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 12:15:07 -0500

shakehandsandshootsmiles:

for all you hipsters.

Or for teachers who need peanut free snacks!

Going to get these and swap them out for my Steralite Drawers on...

mpalms — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 19:17:53 -0500

Going to get these and swap them out for my Steralite Drawers on my art easel. I will keep 1 drawer set for focus materials…like felt, scraps, etc….It will all be much cuter, I think.

My trays will have:

Tray 1 = Necessities: Scissors, Glue Sticks, Kids Tape, Dry Erase Markers, Glue Bottles, Paint Brushes

Tray 2 = Crayons sorted by color

Tray 3 = Markers sorted by color

teachertoolbox: DIY Water Colours I had posted a recipe for the...

mpalms — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 17:50:01 -0500

teachertoolbox:

DIY Water Colours

I had posted a recipe for the same thing a few months ago and then found this more detailed blog post about how to specifically mix them. Check it out!

ambedu: Another classroom application for paint chips, this...

mpalms — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 22:40:07 -0500

ambedu:

Another classroom application for paint chips, this time with a math emphasis [from Tattling To the Teacher ]. You could use larger paint chips with more variants of colors to convey larger numbers.

exploringthroughplay: Spray painting….great fun (and fab for...

mpalms — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 15:51:23 -0500

exploringthroughplay:

Spray painting….great fun (and fab for strengthening hand/finger muscles :-) ) but think we will be finding paint splattered items for a long time to come lol! All but two of my children chose to come and have a go throughout the day and every picture is different. One child deliberately placed her 3 sprays (each one in a different colour) whilst another sprayed until there was not a speck of white left on the paper :-) love it!

Hi dear :) I was wondering if you know anything about teacher assistants (TA) and what qualifications are? I'm a sophomore P-4 Education Major and didn't know when I could apply. I take the first part of the Praxis in March I think.

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 17:24:41 -0500

hi! I think some of this will depend on the state you are in, and the facility you are looking to TA in. For example, in PA in childcare or private schools, it’s quite likely that you can apply for a TA position or Assistant Group Supervisor positions with your HS Diploma and a copy of your transcripts. You would likely have to provide documentation for 2400 hours worth of direct care with children, and meet a minimum number of credit hours, but we often hire sophomores and juniors to be teachers in our classrooms where I am at. If you are looking into TA-ing in a School District, this might be a little more stringent and you’d have to look in to each as you go. It is possible that some of these jobs would require an associates or bachelors certificate.

Bucket Filler Water Play! What better way to get in a sensory...

mpalms — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 22:09:19 -0500

Bucket Filler Water Play!

What better way to get in a sensory experience than letting children, quite literally, fill buckets and dip in buckets with water and other substances!

For the most part, i stuck with supplying water for each child, however you can have endless possibilities with soapy water, bubbles, and even non-liquid substances that can be dipped and poured!

Patterning Strips One of the PreK pages I use often (Prekinders...

mpalms — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 22:06:54 -0500

Patterning Strips

One of the PreK pages I use often (Prekinders or Prekpages.com) has a printable template for patterning strips that i love to keep handy.

I always have a few strips here for use during Bucket Filling themes so that children can practice patterning with all the bright colors and stars and hearts! For this center, I have a bucket to hold all of the manipulatives, however for this activity, I also included heart and star hole punches and colorful cardstock so that the kids can create and save their own manipulatives!

Fine Motor Sticking with the very very colorful theme… I...

mpalms — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 22:04:38 -0500

Fine Motor

Sticking with the very very colorful theme… I filled up one of our drawers in the art center with curling ribbon and rainbow beads, as well as wooden beads.

The children loved stringing and patterning throughout the week. When the children found something they liked, and tied off the end, I hung it from the ceiling for some great 3D creations!

Bucket Color Sorting I ordered the buckets I used for the...

mpalms — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 22:01:37 -0500

Bucket Color Sorting

I ordered the buckets I used for the Behavior Management from Oriental Trading by the dozen. I ordered an extra dozen just to use around the classroom….to hold manipulatives and to really carry through with the theme.

For this instance, I labelled each bucket with a color word, and with the visual print in that color. On the tray, I placed a ton of colorful and fuzzy manipulatives (pom pomps, feathers, small beads) and left them out for the children to sort.

Bucket Behavior Management In your search for Bucket Filling...

mpalms — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 21:58:27 -0500

Bucket Behavior Management

In your search for Bucket Filling ideas, I’m sure you’ll come across this…and I think you should do it. Because I love it and so do my kids! So do kids not even in my classroom!!!

Each child in my classroom has a bucket. I labelled them with their names, and as part of centers, allow them to decorate them and go crazy. I went out and purchased Command Velcro Strips, as well as a clear shoe organizer and packs of rainbow pom poms. I hang up the organizer on an open wall (I’ve been cutting my shoe organizer in half, and setting them up side by side using the velcro strips securing them to the wall. this ensures that they are at eye level)

Once the buckets are all decorated, each bucket gets a pocket in the shoe organizer, and I use some open pockets to hold all of the pom poms. During the week, I show them that when they do something nice, or give me a hug, or remember the rules, or help a friend, they filled my bucket…and I model putting a colored pom pom in my bucket and in theirs. After a day or so, the kids start doing this on their own, and run over to fill each others buckets. It is an amazing way to bring physicality, and a visual aspect to being respectful to one another and I encourage any teacher of any age to use it.

Manipulatives Here, I just provided the children some shapes to...

mpalms — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 21:51:43 -0500

Manipulatives

Here, I just provided the children some shapes to work with. Maybe they color sorted, maybe they shape sorted…maybe they patterned!

I used the Cricut to cut out the heart and star shapes on colorful papers in rainbow colors. I laminated them and cut them out again and stored them in the pencil pockets (which i store everything like this in. it’s so easy!)

Letter Recognition Grid Game This is a bright and colorful grid...

mpalms — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 21:49:16 -0500

Letter Recognition Grid Game

This is a bright and colorful grid game that is simple letter recognition! This is also great for various skill levels as it is quite adaptable for each child’s needs.

I like to have some children match letters as is. Whatever they can do. Lowercase to uppercase, uppercase to uppercase…you get the picture.

For kids who have mastered most letter recognition, I like to have them try to match lower to uppercase and visa versa!

It’s great practice! And when I’m sitting with them one on one, I like to have them practice letter sounds along with it.

Circle Time Wall For my pocket chart in my circle time area, I...

mpalms — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 21:45:19 -0500

Circle Time Wall

For my pocket chart in my circle time area, I take phrases from one of the bucket filling books and print them out and laminate them. We use them as discussion pieces for group time, and for when we brainstorm ways to fill buckets. Later in the week, we also use them for recognition, matching to illustrations, and story recall!

Lite Brite! I put this out in my math and manipulatives center...

mpalms — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 21:42:36 -0500

Lite Brite!

I put this out in my math and manipulatives center whenever the theme is appropriate, or the mood strikes. I decided to put the lite brite and some blank papers for poking out during Bucket Filling because it is so full of color and life! We also work a lot on patterning (as you will see), so patterning and shape making is so fun with the lite brite!

The kids love poking and creating. I even showed a few how to make their names out of light!

Math Dice Game Bucket Filling is a complex topic, so for most of...

mpalms — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 21:39:23 -0500

Math Dice Game

Bucket Filling is a complex topic, so for most of my focus materials, I make them bucket related, rainbow related, or hearts and stars related (because as you’ll see…there’s always a rainbow of stars and hearts in a full bucket!).

For this math activity, I simply used my word processor to find a nice clip art of a bucket, and used text boxes to fill in numbers from 1-6 multiple times. The children roll the dice, and use one of the provided manipulatives to cover up the number they rolled. Once they filled the bucket, they win!

This dice game helps 1:1 correspondence, numeral recognition, and counting with meaning!