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preschool

We are learning about the Five Senses and I decided that this week, we should focus on one sense each day.  Today was Smell Day.  Last night I put various food items with distinctive scents into little plastic tubs, and today I sat at the science center at centers time and the kids stopped by to check out the smells. Lemon was popular, as were ...

So Pumpkin walks in the room and says to me, with a devilish grin on his face, “Bagina!” Um. While I tried to figure out how to respond, he said it again.  “Bagina!”  And he giggled. “Pumpkin, honey,” I said in a quiet voice.  “That’s a private parts word.  It’s not a school word.” “Blagina!”  He said, and pointed at the boy next to him. Um, ...

When I greeted the children this morning, I was wearing paper glasses in the shape of a “100,” and a crown that said “Happy 100th Day of School.”  Pumpkin couldn’t stop pointing and giggling.  We had two parent helpers, so were able to have a center for making 100 necklaces (string 100 Froot Loops on a piece of yarn), a center for making 100 ...

Today was our 100th day of school. For those of you who do not teach young children, let me tell you - this is a BIG deal! We've been counting every day of school since our very first day together. It is a favorite part of Circle Time. The ''counters'' helper for the day will help count the craft sticks: first we count the ones, and when we ...

Amazing the difference drugs can make! Slept in a little this morning (had tons of snow yesterday so did not have to teach today) but came downstairs at a reasonable time. For some reason I put off taking my meds, so the need to sleep soon overwhelmed me and I crept back upstairs to take a nap. I finally got up (okay, with a LOT of prodding from ...

Last night as I shed my clothes and crawled into bed, feeling the warmth of the down comforter and my sleeping husband soon envelope me, I gave a huge sigh of relief to finally be in bed and at the same time began cursing myself for once again staying up way too late. It doesn't matter what I tell myself; I do this every night. It's a really ...

I picked up some empty cardboard wine boxes when I stocked up on wine last time, and today Miss Slinger and I turned them into mailboxes.  The class went wild.  It was the most high-energy centers time we’ve had in long time.  At the art center and the writing center, lots of children were making valentines and writing notes, and then delivering ...

At centers time today a little boy who frequently has to go to the office with me to talk to our Spanish translator, S. (“your teacher says please pee IN the toilet; your teacher wants you to stop talking to your friends at morning meeting; your teacher says don’t forget to wear your boots to school when it is snowing” etc.) built a lego ...

Just when you want to get good and grumpy, some preschooler goes and cheers you up. Apple is a cute, chubby, quiet little girl in my class.  She speaks no English, and isn’t all that coherent in Spanish, either.  (She may be heading for a special ed evaluation, because she hasn’t learned much so far this year in terms of basic skills.  She has, ...

A recent Education Week article pointed out the fact that experts are recommending an earlier start to teaching science. Most preschool and kindergarten teachers I know wouldn't argue with this suggestion; in fact, these same teachers encourage their students to interact in a truly hands-on way. After all, when you teach three, four, five, and ...