Thoughtful Thursday

Back to School: 10 Things to Consider

1. You need to know where your children are coming from, and where they are going, from a developmental standpoint. A developmental checklist used throughout the year is a great way to keep track of your students' development. You can create your own or use a commercial made checklist like Work Sampling System of Teaching Strategies GOLD.

2. You’ve heard the old phrase, “Start with the end in mind”. That’s just what you’ll be doing as you do some backwards planning, and create a yearly map. Consider where you want your children to be at the end of the year (your standards) and then work from there. How will you get them there? What activities and experiences will you plan?

3. Take a look at your room. Have you organized your learning areas? Use your interest areas to get the most from your room and give the most to your children.

4. Literacy is a major component of early education. What is your plan for language and literacy? Read to find out what research says about letter learning and language development. Consider how you will make literacy meaningful and relevant.

5. Consider how you plan to teach numeracy. There are plenty of ways to work it in throughout your classroom and curriculum naturally, not just through teacher directed activities.

6. It seems like a no-brainer. The children will arrive and they will eventually leave. But have you given much thought to the procedure? Establishing well-thought out arrival/departure procedures can make or break your day.

7. Establish as part of your daily procedures a sign in procedure. Children will improve in name recognition and writing, as well as recognizing others’ names and finding shared letters. It’s a fantastic tool for teaching writing and letter recognition while taking attendance at the same time!

8. Communication between parents and teachers is critical. Consider ways to make sure information gets to where it’s supposed to go, i.e folders, journals, agendas, etc!

9. Have a Parent Meeting to get your parents on board! Share your curriculum and philosphy of teaching and learning. Answer those questions up front for an easy transition.

10. And saving the best for last, make sure you take the time to get to know your children and develop those important routines and procedures. Taking the time at the beginning will pay off in the end! And also take time for yourself and your family!!

Workshop Wednesday

Name Game

Play this little concentration game to help your children recognize their own name and the names of their classmates.

Directions:

1. Print each child’s name (upper and lower case) on a two separate sentence strips.
2. Cut one name apart leaving one letter of each child’s name on a card.
3. Mix all the letter cards of each child’s name that is participating.
4. Turn all the letter cards over in the center of the table.
5. Have the children place their name card in front of them.
6. Each child takes a turn drawing a card.
7. If the card they turn over is a letter in his or her name then they keep the card and put it on or under their name card.
8. Keep playing until everyone has found the letters in their name.

Taken from Teach Preschool

Transition Tuesday

It's the beginning of the year and you are probably spending every minute of every day teaching routines and procedures. One routine is that of transitions. Transitioning from one activity to another is very difficult for young children. They need help making transitions. You can teach simple signals, songs, games, etc. to help the transition process. Below is a song to teach children when you want them to sit on the carpet or rug for group time.

 

Have a Seat 

(tune of “Shortnin’ Bread”)

Everybody have a seat, have a seat, have a seat.

Everybody have a seat on the floor.

Not on the ceiling, not on the door.

Everybody have a seat on the floor!

 

Taken form Dr. Jean

Make & Take Monday

Welcome Back!

It's beginning to look a lot like SCHOOL. It is hard to believe another school year has started. Time flies. Our first make & take is a great sensory idea (wouldn't you know it!) It is a back-to-school tub. Hope your kids enjoy!

Materials:
:: Shredded notebook paper (or shredded construction paper)
:: Pencil case (one with a zipper will encourage fine motor development)
:: Crayons (homemade crayons would be fun too):: Pencils
:: Erasers (which can be added to the pencil tops for a fine motor activity)
:: Pencil sharpener (to be used with the pencils, of course)
:: Scissors (children can further cut the shredded paper)
:: Paper clips (these can be used to make chains, patterns, counting, etc.)
:: Wooden alphabet tiles

Taken from Counting Coconuts

:: Number beads, 0-10 (can be laced)
:: Tiny wooden apples

:: Colorful shapes 
:: Mini homemade notebooks

:: Small alphabet book
:: School bus calendar cards
:: Back to school novelty buttons

Make & Take Monday

I apologize for not posting last week - - - technical difficulties. This will be my last week until after the summer. I am ready for a much needed vacation. Hope you enjoy your summer too!

SUMMER WRITING (OR READING) KIT

A personalized writing or reading kit will keep supplies in one place and inspire kids to write and read wherever summer adventures take them!

Materials: favorite fun reading and writing materials like:

• markers, crayons, pens,
• paper
• stickers
• envelopes
• post-it notes, tiny note pads (or small stapled booklets of blank paper)
• mini-flashlights
• clipboard
• cereal box decorated with catalogue/magazine clippings

Directions:

1. Cut the cereal box at an angle and then decorate it with clippings from catalogues and magazines.
2. Add an assortment of reading and writing materials.
3. For the container, use: a giant Ziploc bag, cloth bags, blank aluminum lunchboxes, a pencil box 
4. For the writing kit, use: ‘special’ summer writing paper, various sizes of  paper, colorful post-its, glittery pencils and pens, postcards, poetry objects, etc.
5. For the reading kit, use: books written by the child, special book marks with reading reminders.



Taken from Tiny Reader



   



Thoughtful Thursday

Positive Reinforcement: What's the Real Story?

Applying positive reinforcement is more than just telling a child “good job” or “I like your painting.”  Instead effective positive reinforcement is sharing a genuine interest in a child’s efforts as he or she is engaged in a specific process.

For some, the ability to focus a genuine interest on a child’s efforts comes naturally. For others, like me, it requires a little more thought. I naturally want to say to children, “I love this” because I do – or – “you make me so proud” – because they do – or – “your dress is so pretty” – because I think it is – or “you did this so fast, you must be a genius!” – because I am genuinely amazed. Although this isn’t necessarily bad, it isn’t what is meant by focusing on a child’s efforts. It isn’t what is meant by effectively and productively providing positive reinforcement.

Ellen Galinsky illustrates the value of positive reinforcement in her book “Mind In the Making: The Seven Essential Life Skills Every Child Needs.” An example is a research study of children being given a challenge to solve a puzzle.  To very briefly summarize the research, some of the children were praised for their effort as they worked on the puzzle and others were praised for how smart they were. Both types of praise sounded genuine and thoughtful but when the children were asked if they would like to solve a more difficult puzzle, only those who were praised on their effort chose to work on the more difficult puzzles. Those who were praised for how smart they were chose to stick with the more simple puzzles.

What I gleaned from this was to start by focusing on what a child is doing rather than how you feel about what the child is doing. For example, The next time a child shows you a painting he or she just painted – instead of saying  ”Your painting is so pretty” try saying “Wow, I see you chose to use red, blue and yellow paint!” The second statement may not seem like a compliment but positive reinforcement isn’t necessarily complimenting children – it is instead the building of a child’s confidence, understanding, and interest in what he or she is doing. It is focusing the child’s attention back on his or her own choices and efforts as he or she participates in or completes a task.

You try it. How would you respond to this child's creation?



Taken from Deborah Stewart and Bam Radio Show with Rae Pica, Ellen Ava Sigler, Ed.D.,  and Margaret Berry Wilson. The topic was titled, “Creating Praise Junkies: Are You Giving Children Too Much “Positive” Reinforcement?”

Transition Tuesday

Try this fingerplay to get the wiggles out.

Animals and Insects

Here is an ostrich straight and tall

(Arms above head with wrist bent forward for ostrich’s head)

Nodding her head above us all.

Here is a bull snake on the ground,

(Move hand back and forth)

Wiggling around with a hissing sound.

Here is an eagle flying high.

(Spread arms and move like wings.)

And spreading his wings across the sky.

Here is a porcupine with quills on back.

(Spread five fingers behind fist on other hand.)

Each quill is sharper than a sharp tack.

Here is a spider upon the gate.

I counted its legs and there were eight.

(Hold up eight fingers.)

Here is an owl with great round eyes

(Circle eyes with fingers.)

And here are some flickering fireflies.

(Wiggle fingers.)