reflections of an early childhood teacher

Katy Smith- 2011 MN Teacher of the Year... I really do love her!

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Kelly) — Sat, 29 Mar 2014 14:58:00 +0000

If you ever have the opportunity to hear Katy Smith speak you MUST take it! Katy is a parent educator in MN and was selected as MN Teacher of the Year in 2011. She has been traveling the state sharing her knowledge, passion, and humor with MN educators, parents, and policy makers.

We we blessed to have Katy present to our PLC group on Friday. What an incredible experience it was!

She empowers people who care about children to TAKE ACTION!

She validates what we all know is truly DAP in early childhood!

She makes you LAUGH!

Summer Book Study- The Read-Aloud Handbook! by Jim Trelease

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Kelly) — Fri, 19 Jul 2013 19:22:00 +0000

I started loving this book right from the very beginning!
You can read all about my thoughts and reflections at my other blog 2care2teach4kids!

Join the study at PreK-Pages
Enjoy!

School Bears! Oh My!

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Kelly) — Sun, 13 Jan 2013 15:21:00 +0000

So things don't always go as planned in preschool... Most teachers have experienced this in one way or another. So what do you do??? Improv right?

We had a visitor from a zoo planned to visit our preschool classroom before winter break. She however, had a last minute job interview out of state so had to cancel at the last minute. This left us wondering what will we do? My partner in crime Miss Anna (who teaches preschool next door) said how about we dress up in the costumes she had sent and we will just be silly School Bears... Ok why not, I said... So we did. Miss Anna and I went to the "office" and left the students with our assistants. We did a quick change and came back into the classroom. We named ourselves School Bears and told the kids we were visiting children in schools because we liked to read with them and that we had heard that they were learning to read books. We asked them to help us read. I being the brown bear, read Brown Bear Brown Bear of course. Miss Anna read Polar Bear Polar Bear. Then for sure we had to go on a BEAR HUNT! We laughed and laughed and the kids had a blast. Some were unsure about us, some thought we were really School Bears, and some couldn't be fooled at all! One little girl told me "Miss Kelly, I know that was you because that bear had the same shoes on as you do." lol :)

You gotta love this job!

Enjoy!

The Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Kelly) — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 05:36:00 +0000

I just finished reading the book The Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller and basically… I was SO inspired by Donalyn Miller’s passion for authentic, thoughtful, intentional teaching and her commitment to teaching in a way that brings about real, life changing, learning for her students. Ms. Miller shows us how she brings about genuine learning that becomes internalized, as opposed to the kind of temporary superficial learning that is often the result of unexamined teaching practices ( “unexamined wallpaper”) or practices is which the main objective is to produce an acceptable score on a standardized test. She demonstrates the motivational power of tapping into children’s interests and building honest, respectful, trusting relationships with students.

Here are a couple of my favorite quotes:

When people criticize or question how she is preparing her students for the negative experiences they will no doubt face as they move on to other grade levels she writes…

“Why should I subject students to negative experiences now in order to prepare them for negative experiences later?”

She also says, “The purpose of school should not be to prepare students for more school. We should be seeking to have fully engaged students now.”

AMEN!

This is often the frustration we feel in early childhood education when there is pressure to be teaching preschoolers as if they were kindergarteners or first graders, all of which is developmentally inappropriate. What results is most children feeling frustrated and they fail to see themselves as learners. I think we are doing children a terrible disservice if children leave our classrooms feeling school is a negative thing.

I appreciate her stand on standardized tests. “I have no issue with standardized testing per se; I believe that students who cannot pass the minimal expectations set by these tests are not good readers. What I have grown to mistrust is how the high-stakes nature of these tests has disrupted quality reading instruction.”

I agree that accountability is necessary in this day and age. However, when good teaching practices are being jeopardized in order to guarantee high test scores, I think teachers and administration have a responsibility to reevaluate those teaching practices and ask what is best for the students “real” learning… Not just how do we get them to pass this test… Miller has shown that with authentic, intentional, instruction, students will pass those tests, no need to “teach to the test.”

I love that she addresses the use of promotional programs that give out rewards…

And I love that she addresses practices that are left unevaluated because they are “… so entrenched in school culture or a teacher’s paradigm that their ability to affect student learning is never probed.” She goes on to ask, “Are the activities and assessments we use accomplishing our intended instructional goals, or are them simply what we have always done?”

Miller offers a priceless insight into her very successful Language Arts program but more than that she gives us a glimpse into a reflective teachers mind, helping us as teachers rethink not just how we teach children about just one subject like “reading” but how we teach everything!

LOVE THIS BOOK!

Move over Target Dollar Spot... Walmart Wow!

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Kelly) — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 17:51:00 +0000

Wow! Look at all the fun things I found at Walmart the other day! They have a great new bunch of products in their School Supply section! Best part is they are all only $.88... At least at my Walmart they are. I am excited to hang the owl welcome banner over my door. I am going to use the pencil note paper for name practice tags, and I will probably make some counting games with the little erasers!

American Idol Here We Come?

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Kelly) — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 20:48:00 +0000

We always end our school year with a little "End of the Year Program" at preschool. The program is very child friendly and very parent pleasing! The children practice several songs and sing them on stage for parents, grandparents, and other family members. Then we pass out participation certificates and the children go sit with their parents. We finish with a slide show of pictures from throughout the year. The children do not wear caps or gowns or anything special (although some dress up and it is fun to see). We let families know that no one is forced to participate; we want it to be a positive experience for everyone. I have struggled in the past with the appropriateness of this program. It is clearly something we do for parents. (We are a tuition based school so sometimes this is a business thing...) However, I have found the children are really excited to perform for their parents. Maybe it is the American Idol age we live in??? We practice our songs for several weeks before the program and we have a rehearsal on stage so the children are well prepared and know what to expect. I think I am finally ready to cast away any doubts I have had about the appropriateness of the program after what one of my little friends said during practice. We were all sitting on the risers talking about how bright the lights would be and other details about the program and one of my boys is looking around the stage and he says to his fellow classmates... "This is going to be Epic!" I tried so hard not to laugh, but how cool is that? Clearly they are excited to be a part of this program!
BTW:
We always sing great songs like The Hip Hop Tooty Ta! by Jack Hartman. This song always gets our audience laughing! We also perfom Five Little Monkeys by Dr. Jean. We do several finger plays like Five Little Hot Dogs, Tiny Tim, and of course we sing the ABC's!

I Mustache You a Question...

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Kelly) — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 16:10:00 +0000

Do you love your job? I am sorry if you don't because I have the best job in the whole world! Some of the kids were taping their mouths shut with scotch tape today and I was like “hey, you want me to draw a mustache on that?” and they were like yeah. So I did... pretty soon everyone wanted a tape mustache. So we all had tape mustaches on all afternoon! Hilarious!!! One little girl added tape to her chin too and asked if she could have a beard!!! LOL

Kiss starts with K

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Kelly) — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 02:02:00 +0000

One of our weekly literacy activities is to have our Star Student look through the "Letter Bucket". During our Morning Meeting they take out the items in the letter bucket. The kids all say what they are and then they have a chance to name words that start with the letter. We write the words on our Smartboard. Lots of times the items in the letter bucket are renamed, but often the students come up with original words.

Today our letter was "K". So the kids are saying words like kangaroo, kitten, etc. One of the girls raises her hand and says, "I know Miss Kelly, kiss starts with K." I said, "Yes it does!" To which she informed me... "I know that because I saw it on my TV they always say... Every kiss begins with K." As she repeats the catchy jingle for Kay Jewelers! Too cute!

The Joy of Oobleck! Integrated Learning at its Best!

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Kelly) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 01:09:00 +0000

Today we filled the sensory table with corn starch and water, a.k.a. Oobleck! The kids just love this stuff. I love the Integrated Learning that happens. The children are using descriptive vocabulary, making scientific predictions and observations, experiencing cause and effect, experimenting with volume and measurement, exercising their large and small muscles while refining their hand eye coordination as they scoop and pour... and practicing important social skills as they negotiate over different containers and role play with their peers.

I must say at one point during our free choice time I looked over and the sensory table was surrounded entirely by girls as five boys sat at the art table making bead necklaces! Got to love it!
We love to read Bartholomew and the Oobleck by Dr. Seuss to compliment this activity. Check out the book by Jennifer Williams too for more great activities to go with other concoction inspired stories!
Enjoy!

Promoting Physical Activity/Set the Foundation- Meeting Dan Gartrell

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Kelly) — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 15:35:00 +0000

I recently had the wonderful opportunity to attend a workshop hosted by the iconic Dan Gartrell. His books have been integral to the development of my guidance techniques and philosophies. So as one might expect he is a celebrity in my world of early childhood education. He ranks right up with Dr. Jean (Whom I have also met and even had my picture taken with her... "nerd" I know!) What a delightful man I might add! I absolutely fell in love with his contagious laugh!
Mr. Gartrell talked about the importance of being responsive to the activity levels of the children in your classroom, especially the boys. He discussed how classrooms are failing to help boys succeed because often the expectations are not developmental appropriate for young children.
Many times there is not enough active learning and physical activity happening in classrooms. This puts the very active learners, many of whom tend to be boys, at a disadvantage. Dan proposes that teachers take a closer look at the structure of their schedule and the expectations of their classroom to determine if they can better support the learning for all students. He suggests that promoting physical activity is proactive guidance. This seems like common sense when you think about it... But then there is always the question, "Yes, we understand that, but how do we address those who are telling us get them ready for kindergarten...") And by that they often mean teach them to sit and listen....
Dan's answer was welcomed by everyone in the workshop. His response was this...
He talked about setting the "foundation for learning" and how when we teach children the skills they need in developmental appropriate ways, those skills will not be lost or unlearned when they move on to classrooms that might not be as developmentally appropriate. This fundamental statement brought a nod of agreement from our workshop group, as well as, much needed reassurance for many of us to continue to focus on creating developmentally appropriate classrooms without guilt! Thanks Dan, for a great learning experience!

This is Dan's book which I think is essential reading material concerning guidance and creating responsive, respectful, learning communities.

And here are a couple more of his books...
Enjoy!

Apple Basket Counting Activity ~ Free Printable

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Kelly) — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 17:35:00 +0000

We spent a lot of time exploring apples in our preschool classroom this fall. My students needed practice with using a one-to-one correspondence when counting and also with recognizing numbers. I created this simple Apple Basket Counting Sheet to introduce the concepts of matching numbers and quantities. It was a good first number matching activity. Now we are ready to move into doing numbers 1-10! I had the children glue small die cut apples into the baskets, however, small apple stickers would work too. The children could also draw their apples in their baskets. You can see more pictures and read more about our apple activities on my website on our Apple Theme page. You can also find more printables on the www.2care2teach4kids.com website in the Teacher's Files section!

Fall Fun~ A Slide Show

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Kelly) — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 19:58:00 +0000

Check out all the fun things we have been doing this Fall in Preschool!

Wishes really do come true!

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Kelly) — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 00:43:00 +0000

One of my preschoolers brought in one of the most interesting looking squashes this year. It's called a snake squash. The best was the his comment about it. I asked him were he got it and he told me... "I planted the seeds at my grandma Barb's garden and then I wished for them to grow big...and they did!" How awesome is that? Some wishes really do come true!

Enjoy!

Brown Bear Brown Bear Patterning

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Kelly) — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 03:01:00 +0000

Everyone loves the classic children's story Brown Bear Brown Bear written by Bill Martin Jr and illustrated by Eric Carle. We read it every year in preschool and the children love the repetitive text of the story. This leads us into a discussion of patterning and how patterns repeat. I created some fun patterning activities based on the endearing and colorful Brown Bear characters from this beloved book.

My new Brown Bear Brown Bear Activity Pack is available in my Teachers Pay Teachers store.

Enjoy!

Brown Bear Brown Bear~ A Free Take Home Activity

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Kelly) — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 02:10:00 +0000

Just posted a new activity to the www.2care2teach4kids.com website!

Brown Bear Brown Bear~ A Take Home Activity- Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? My First Reader is a classic children's story. The repetitive and predictable text makes it a perfect story to read to young children. This take home activity is great for making a school to home connection and extend the learning at home. This is a FREE download! Enjoy!
P.S. The AWESOME graphics are from KPM Doodles! Check her art out!

New Newsletter Templates

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Kelly) — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 14:52:00 +0000

I have just added some new Newsletter Templates to the website www.2care2teach4kids.com. They are free for you to download. They are also available on my Teachers Pay Teachers store. There is also a Holiday Newsletter Theme Pack available as well.

Science Explorers

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Kelly) — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 14:46:00 +0000

It's Science Week at TBA, so I thought I would post a link to my Science Explorers Guide. It is a 41 page PDF document full of simple science activities. Best yet... it's free!! You can find more science freebies at my website www.2care2teach4kids.com in the Teacher's Files section, Science and Discovery. Enjoy!

Take-A-Break~ Free Printable Cue Sheet

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Kelly) — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 16:15:00 +0000

In our class we promote pro-social behavior based on the Responsive Classroom philosophies. We spend a lot of time creating positive rules for our class, building community, and creating an environment where children can be successful. Most of the time things run very smoothly in our room. However, there can be times when an individual, or a group of individuals, struggles with self control and making the right choices at school. Sometimes redirection and reminders just aren't enough to help a child, or children, regain their self control. Sometimes kids just need a chance to Take-A-Break and get themselves under control.

In our class we have a specific chair where children can go to Take-A-Break. We introduced the Take-A-Break spot this week, our second week of school. We talk about why someone might need to Take-A-Break and then my assistant models for the children what it should look like when you sit in the Take-A-Break chair. We all practice calming breathing, which is something we do a lot in preschool. (Breath in your nose and blow it out your mouth!) We also introduce the children to Be Calm Bunny, who will sit on your lap and you can pet him when you Take-A-Break. (Be Calm Bunny comes from the Second Step Curriculum.)

The GOAL of the Take-A-Break chair is to help children build self control NOT to be a punishment. Often children who are upset about something during choice time will go sit in the Take-A-Break chair on their own to help themselves calm down. Bonus! The children are learning that they are responsible for their own behavior. Of course, when negative behaviors persist we have to get curious as teachers and investigate and try to get to the source of the issue. Take-A-Break is not meant to replace working on specific issues with specific children, but often in the case of many preschool children they just need practice with self control. The Take-A-Break chair helps them do just that.

Preschool is all about learning how to get along and be a part of a community. The Take-A-Break spot helps children learn these important skills.

We use a cue chart to help the children remember how to "Take-A-Break".

Take-A-Break - Free PDF cue chart you can print!

Read more about Take-A-Break on my www.2care2teach4kids.com website.

"Just make an arrow...." - Kids are so SMART!

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Kelly) — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 23:49:00 +0000

This was our first week of preschool and it is always interesting! I am continually amazed at how smart the little preschoolers are right from the beginning! So I am telling all the kids about their new folders and teaching them how to put their papers in them. We talked about what will happen if you carry your folder upside down... The kids all accurately chime in, "your papers will fall out." Then one of my little preschoolers comes up to me (and points to the folder I was holding for demonstration purposes) and says, "Miss Kelly, why don't you just make an arrow pointing up on the folder, so you know which way to hold it." Wow!!! I just looked at my assistant and I know we both were thinking, yeah kids are so much smarter than we give them credit for aren't they! Plus, what a great idea!
Hope this story makes you smile!

Hand Washing Resources - Printable

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Kelly) — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 23:26:00 +0000

It's the start of the school year and the germs are already everywhere... making kids sick. Proper hand washing procedure is one of the first things we teach in my preschool class! I have created some Hand Washing Resources to help teach this important procedure! They are available on my website for you to download for free!!! Read more about my Hand Washing Resources at www.2care2teach4kids.com.

Free Activity~All About Me!

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Kelly) — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 02:30:00 +0000

I always do an All About Me theme at the beginning of the school year. This year my theme is "We are WILD about Preschool!" thanks to my new classroom mascot. So I have a new "Getting To Know You" activity sheet I am having parent's fill out with their kids during Open House. This "Look Whooo Comes to Preschool" pack is available at my TpT store. It features a cute Scrappin Doodles clip art owl! (It also comes in a generic "school" version.)

I also have a generic All About Me Activity Form on my website! www.2care2teach4kids.com It is a FREE download. It features DJInkers graphics. These graphics were used with permission from www.DJInkers.com Check it out if you like.

Enjoy!

Alphabet Block Match - Thanks Target Dollar Spot!

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Kelly) — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 00:02:00 +0000

So I was totally inspired by a post at Teach Preschool, in which Deborah mas making ink stamps with these foam blocks she found at Target in the Dollar Spot. I had bought them too but wasn't sure what I would do with them yet. I liked her idea to add the foam pictures to make stamps. I switched it up a bit and made mine into simple alphabet blocks I will use for letter recognition in my Language and Literacy Center. I created some letter matching mats to go with them. There are three mats, one is just the alphabet in order to help children with recognition and discrimination, one is a mixed up alphabet for more advanced recognition, and one has lowercase letters. If you would like a copy you can download the Alphabet Block Match Game- PDF documents (in a zip file) from my website www.2care2teach4kids.com for free!
HINT: The letters are placed on specific colors to help children with beginning letter recognition skills.
Enjoy!

More SmartBoard Activities

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Kelly) — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 16:46:00 +0000

Just added another SmartBoard activity to my TpT store. I love creating these but boy do they take a lot of time! This one is for older preK and Kindergarten as it focuses on matching upper and lowercase letters. This is a self checking activity as children will "see" if they "picked" the correct apple.

Check it out Apple Alphabet A to Z.

P.S. I think this will go nicely with my Apple Theme from my website www.2care2teach4kids.com .

Enjoy!

Uppercase Alphabet Tracing Cards

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Kelly) — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 22:26:00 +0000

So, I spent last weekend in Alexandria, MN with one of my college girlfriends. We had a blast! She is a third grade teacher, so we just get crazy when we are together and talk "teacher stuff" the whole time! We even went shopping to a cool teacher store. It was so much fun. I found a couple of fun new things for my classroom, but I was also inspired to CREATE some new things too. I found some alphabet tracing cards there that I liked, but I thought the printing was a little to small and they were very busy... So, I created my own. Check them out if you like, I have them available on my TpT store.

Alphabet Tracing Cards @ Teachers Pay Teachers

I can't wait to get back to school!!! I can't believe all the ~~crap~~ good stuff I bought at the dollar spot at Target too!!! I will post pictures soon!
Enjoy!

New Smartboard Activities

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Kelly) — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 05:10:00 +0000

I have just added two new Smartboard activities to my TpT store.

Visit my TPT store and download a free preview!

Enjoy!