Search results matching tags 'teacher', 'pre-k', 'resources', and 'preschool'

Stepping Stones Together Review

Anonymous — Mon, 02 May 2011 22:00:17 GMT

As a classroom teacher I feel just as much responsibility for my students learning during the summer months as I do during the school year. I want them to have a balanced summer filled with fun and learning support at home so they can begin the next school year right where they left off in my classroom. Unfortunately, research shows that children can experience significant learning loss during the summer months. Imagine if an athlete stopped training, he or she would see a significant decline in performance. The human brain is no different; it needs daily exercise to maintain learning.

In an attempt to prevent learning loss during the summer I provide parents with a calendar listing free or low-cost local activities such as library story times, public pool information, and discount days at the zoo or aquarium. I also send home a folder filled with educational activities for parents to do with their children. However, one skill that I am not able to fully support during the summer is reading. Many parents read to their children but when it comes to helping their children learn how to read parents want to help but often don’t know how.

I was recently introduced to Stepping Stones Together; an online program for parents who want to support their child’s reading abilities at home. I am not a fan of any pre-packaged curricula or “teach your baby to read” programs so you can be assured that Stepping Stones Together does not fall into either of these categories.

The philosophy of the Stepping Stones Together program is research based and focuses on fostering a love of reading in young children ages 3-7 while providing a positive bonding experience between parent and child. The program takes only 15-20 minutes per day so there is still pelnty of time for summer fun. This is not a program where the child sits in front of the computer while mom makes dinner; this is a fully interactive program that provides busy parents with the tools they need to take an active role in their child’s beginning reading skills.

Developed by Dr. Erika Burton, the Stepping Stones Together program provides simple, step-by-step directions that parents can easily follow. The program consists of the following components:

90 High-interest printable books on popular topics such as superheroes, princesses, sports, fairies and more
Printable incentive chart
Daily writing practice
Printable instructions explaining how to introduce the books
High-frequency word games
Printable certificates of completion for each level completed
Printable flash cards to introduce and review high frequency words in each book

While the program is designed with parents in mind, after careful review I believe it can be easily used by classroom teachers. Many teachers are required to teach their students to read but are not provided with all of the tools necessary to do so. Stepping Stones Together offers everything, including the books for a very affordable price. Classroom teachers can also send home the Stepping Stones URL in their summer educational packets for parents who are interested.

Here’s the good news, Stepping Stones Together is offering readers of Pre-K Pages a special one day only discount. This discount allows you to access to the complete program for one year for only $19.99, use discount the code Pre-K Pages If you missed the first day special you can still receive a 5% discount on the program using the same code.

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Don’t Let the Pigeon Play

Anonymous — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 21:31:39 GMT

There’s nothing a teacher dreads more than being absent and having to prepare for a substitute. In addition to the preparations you have to make in advance, often while you’re sick, there’s always the fear that your students will go bonkers in your absence. I’m sure this has never happened to you, when you’re absent your little cherubs sit still and blink their wide, innocent eyes at the substitute teacher while patiently awaiting your return. If you are in the minority like me and your students need a little reminder of how to behave in your absence I made a special PowerPoint just for you. I was inspired by my friend Karen of Prekinders; her recently released Pigeon packet hooked me on the popular Mo Willems books.

This is how it works, just click on the picture above to download the PowerPoint and insert your students’ pictures in the empty boxes. Click on the talk bubbles to change the text. I gave you just a few examples to get you started, but having the students actually come up with the ideas for the text will be more meaningful. Insert duplicate slides and change text and pictures to create as many pages of the book as you will need. You can show the PowerPoint to the class or you can print the slides, insert the pages in page protectors, and place them in a binder to create a book that you can include in your classroom library and leave for your substitute.

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Student Picture Games

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 11:00:41 GMT

If you are looking for an activity that will engage your students and keep them on task then look no further. The secret is to use pictures of the students; they love to look at pictures of themselves and their friends. This activity can be done several different ways to allow for differentiation.

In the picture above you can see the sight word version of this activity. To prepare the activity take pictures of your students holding letters to spell sight words. Print the pictures on cardstock, laminate, cut, and then place on binder rings. I use the Rainbow Words program; this particular activity focused on the six words we were learning at the time. The students turn the cards and spell the words on their cookie trays using magnetic letters. I added a thematic picture to the cookie tray to make it fit with our theme. This activity is one of the all-time favorites in my classroom!

Using student pictures you can create activities to meet your students’ needs all year long:

Student Names: Take pictures of the students spelling their names. Students can then make their names and their friend’s names on cookie sheets using magnetic letters.
Upper to Lowercase Match: Take pictures of the students holding upper and lowercase letters and turn the pictures into cards. Have students match the upper to lowercase letters.
Alphabet in Order: Take a picture of each student holding one letter. If you have fewer than 26 students (and I hope you do!) then give some students an extra turn. Turn each letter into a card and have students practice putting the cards in order from A-Z. You can do this for both upper and lowercase letters. You can also use an alphabet strip and have students match the pictures to the strip.
Numbers in Order: Same idea as above only take pictures of the students holding numbers. Place Velcro on the back of each number card, laminate sentence strips, place Velcro on the strips and have students attach the numbers to the strip in order.
Power Points: You can use any of the ideas above and create Power Point presentations to show your students- fun!

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Spring Break Giveaway Winner

Anonymous — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 12:11:25 GMT

The winner of Karen’s Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus packet is Karen B! The winner was selected using an on-line random number generator. Thank you to everybody who entered, we had 228 entries. Stay tuned for another contest that is going to knock your socks off!

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Magnetic Valentine Sight Words

Anonymous — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 11:00:31 GMT

This Valentine themed activity for practicing sight words is super simple yet still tons of fun for little ones. You will need one magnetic cookie tray or other magnetic surface per child, paper Valentine hearts, tape, sight word cards, and magnetic letters. You could also have the students match upper to lowercase letters on the trays. The cookie trays in the picture above are from the Dollar Tree and the hearts are pages from a notepad. First, tape the hearts to the cookie trays, I laminated mine first for durability. Next, make one individual sight word ring per child with the words they are learning, details can be found on the sight word page. Finally, place the letters that correspond to the words in a small Ziploc bag, one bag per child. Each child at the table gets one magnetic cookie tray, a ring of sight words, and a bag of magnetic letters. Students will spell the sight words from the rings on their cookie tray.

In case you are wondering how I can find so many magnetic letters without going crazy I’ve included a picture of my magnetic letter storage container for you above; it’s a nuts and bolts container from Wal-Mart. Each drawer is assigned a different letter; using this storage container I can find the letters I need quickly.

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Valentine Card Sight Words

Anonymous — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 11:00:48 GMT

This is a highly engaging and fun activity to help your students practice their sight words during your Valentine’s Day unit. To create this game you will need several different types of student Valentine cards, a marker, envelopes, laminating film, and mini mailboxes or other containers. First, write one sight word on the back of each student Valentine card with your marker. I used white labels on the back of the cards because there were already words like “to” and “from” and I didn’t want the kids to get confused about which words they were looking for. Next, seal, laminate, and cut regular sized envelopes in half and write the same words on the front of each envelope half. Give each student in your small group a mini mailbox or container to hold their cards. Students will match their Valentine cards to the correct envelopes and place the matched pairs in their container.

I use the Rainbow Words program so the six words pictured above are our first six purple words. I also used five different types of Valentine cards and grouped them by set, the reason I did this was so that each child in the small group would have a different set of cards and they wouldn’t get them mixed up. For example, I placed six Spiderman cards in a Ziploc, six Strawberry Shortcake cards in another Ziploc etc. Each set of cards has the same six words on the back. Also, if they finish with their set they can trade with a friend for another set- they loved this idea; they wanted to keep playing until they had a turn to match all five of the sets.

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Valentine Syllables

Anonymous — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 11:00:54 GMT

This fun syllable game is always big hit with preschoolers and kindergarteners alike around Valentine’s Day. To create this activity you will need three Valentine mailboxes, a marker, construction paper hearts, a glue stick, and the 1, 2, and 3 syllable cards. I found the Valentine mailboxes pictured above at the Target Dollar Spot. First, write one number on each mailbox with your marker. Next, cut out one construction paper heart for each syllable picture. Cut and glue the syllable pictures to the hearts, then laminate for durability. Students will take turns selecting a card, identifying the picture and number of syllables in the word, then placing the card in the corresponding mailbox.

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Valentine Beginning Sounds

Anonymous — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 15:55:28 GMT

This is a fun activity to practice beginning sounds during your Valentine’s Day unit. To create this activity you will need Valentine containers, objects that begin with sounds your students are learning to identify, a marker, index cards, tape, and a paper bag. I found the Valentine buckets at the Target Dollar Spot. The objects pictured above are from the Lakeshore Letter Sound tubs. Select objects that begin with three different sounds and place them in a brown paper bag. Write the corresponding letters on index cards and tape to the front of the containers as pictured above. Students will take turns selecting objects from the paper bag, identifying the beginning sound, and placing the object in the correct container.

You could also use white paper bags with die-cut hearts attached to the front for containers.

If you have students who are second language learners make sure to introduce and name all the objects before playing the game.

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Flower Pot Displays

Anonymous — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 18:13:58 GMT

In addition to a garden themed classroom library and flower pot birthday board I was looking for a way to display student pictures using clay flower pots. When I stumbled across these foam flower shapes at the Dollar Tree I knew I was on to something. This project is not actually finished yet but I couldn’t wait to share it with you because it turned out so cute!

To create the display pictured above I used the following materials:

Craft sticks
Foam flower shapes
Glue
Picture of each student
Circle cutter
Ribbon
Florist foam
Flower pot

Because I am not very good at cutting freehand I used a half-off coupon to my local craft store to purchase the circle cutter. To make this display you will need to print one enlarged picture of each student and cut the pictures in circles. Next, glue each picture to the foam flower and glue the craft stick to the back of the flower. When the flowers and sticks are dry tie a piece of ribbon around each stick. Finally, add florist foam to your flower pot and start placing your flowers inside.

The additions I plan to make are:

Wide, green ribbon around the top of the flower pot
Shredded green paper on top for grass
Write “Watch us grow!” on the body of the pot with Sharpie paint markers

Don’t forget to sign-up for the Pre-K Pages newsletter. Subscribers receive early childhood teaching tips in their inbox each week. This week’s newsletter featured a printable note to parents explaining syllables.

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Birthday Can

Anonymous — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 12:00:22 GMT

I recently created a birthday can to replace my birthday box. I used the box pictured above for many years to store classroom birthday supplies like books, stickers, and pencils. The box worked well but I have limited storage space so I started looking for something smaller. The box was also too tempting for little hands; I would always find somebody trying to pick off the paper even though they knew it wasn’t a real present. I tried using a gift bag but it kept tipping over and spilling the supplies.

After weighing my options I decided on a birthday can. I used a clear paint container from Michael’s, but you could easily use a regular paint can from your home improvement store. I cut some birthday wrapping paper and placed it inside the can along with some matching tissue paper. I keep birthday pencils, cards, and our birthday vest inside the can for quick access. If you use a regular paint can you can easily attach the wrapping paper to the outside of the can with tape.

What are some creative ways you have saved space in your classroom?

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