My goal is to never be so far removed from the classroom that I forget what it’s like to be a teacher.  Over the last few weeks while I’ve been adjusting to my job and new responsibilities, I’ve been running from meeting to meeting, a million miles a minute, task after task, running out of time before I realized time had passed. I needed a quick ...

How do you facilitate learning in your classroom?  Is work done in desks, tables, up moving around, in bean bag chairs, on the floor, at the board, or in explorations?  The space in which a child learns is important.  If a school gets it wrong, learning can be constrained or even completely stifled.  Some learning rooms are unique learning spaces ...

While I was at ASCD, I had the opportunity to hear Todd Whitaker speak. Some of the thoughts that he expressed have really been rolling around in my brain lately. His advice is plain old common sense, but like one of students said, ''You know, common sense isn't so common.'' Sometimes, we may need reminding of these things to give us some ...

Welcome to the Literacy Beginnings book study blog party! Today I am covering the introduction “Living and Learning in the Pre-Kindergarten Classroom” as well as the first chapter, “Growing Up Literate: PreKindergarten for the Future Generation“. I hope you will join in the conversation by leaving a comment below or posting reflections on ...

This June, you can join Kabongo in a month long celebration of Father’s Day. To make this celebration extra special, Kabongo is giving away a Flip Video camera worth over $100 in their Kabongo Loves Dads Sweepstakes! To enter, go to Kabongo’s Facebook page and click on the Sweepstakes button. Fill in your name and address, and you’re done – ...

I remember when the iPod was first introduced, I had one of those “why wasn’t this invented sooner” moments. I thought about all the time I wasted over the years fast forwarding and rewinding my cassette tapes and loading CD’s into my gigantic boom box. I had one of those moments again recently when I was introduced to PreschoolBuddy, an ...

Many teachers face a dilemma when it comes to Father’s Day. The reason for the dilemma is twofold, first, many schools are already on summer vacation by the time Father’s Day arrives and second, some children don’t have fathers in their lives. While I can’t control when school gets out, I can provide ideas for Father’s Day that are ...

Spring fever is in full-swing and both teachers and students alike are looking forward to summer vacation. Its times like these that call for a little something new to shake things up and keep everybody going for another month (or two). A few weeks ago I stumbled across a site called Kabongo that will help put an end to spring fever in your ...

A flannel or felt board is an important part of any early childhood classroom. One of the biggest benefits of having and using a flannel board is the opportunities it creates for oral language development. At the flannel board students can re-tell nursery rhymes, fairy tales, and other popular stories. Flannel boards come in a variety of ...

The three lucky winners of the Jack Hartmann gift certificates are as follows: 1st place winner of a $50 gift certificate: Hope D. 2nd place winner of a $30 gift certificate: Sue H. 3rd place winner of a $15 gift certificate: K.R. All winners have been notified via e-mail and will have seven days to claim their gift certificates. The ...