Last year I felt frustrated about my low increase in scores on vocabulary, so I started making vocabulary cards, using Google Images.  (I make two for each word, so that they get used to seeing different images of the same thing for each word.)  So far this year we have introduced one vocabulary word each day.  Some of our words so far:  dolphin, ...

Today for small groups, we had two independent reading stations, an ABC station, a rhyming station, and a vocabulary station.  I was in charge of vocabulary, and decided to use some picture cards that have four pictures on each, with the question, which one doesn’t belong?  For example, there were four pictures of ice cream, but three were on ...

Wow, yesterday’s post certainly touched a nerve.  That was the most hits I ever got on my blog, and the most comments.  So thank you, everyone, for being part of the conversation. So the question is, how do preschool teachers strike a balance between helping their disadvantaged students get a great education and a leg up, and remaining true to ...

So I’ve got two students receiving special education services, one of whom also receives speech.  I’ve got another student who is about to start receiving special education services, and she also receives counseling (we have an on-site counseling center).  I’ve got a fourth student who will be referred for special ed soon, and who will probably ...

I suppose I could have titled this post everyone has different strengths (and weaknesses), or maybe nobody can do it all (but we should die trying). But right now I just feel like a failure.  I went through our portfolios to see how the kids are doing with colors, shapes, recognizing numbers, counting to ten with one-to-one correspondence, ...

Apple is the sweet baby of our class.  She spoke no English at the beginning of the year, and was barely comprehensible in Spanish, either.  She knew no colors or numbers or shapes or letters in either language.  She said nothing, but just smiled a lot.  She had coping skills, and was always in the right place at the right time, gamely trying to ...

At the end of the year I returned to the children’s assessment portfolios, and once again asked them questions about letters, sounds, numbers, colors, shapes, etc.  Miss Slinger did her final assessment measuring vocabulary, rhyming, and alliteration.  And then I looked at all the results and thought about them. You know, when it’s ...

Princess, on arriving at school:  Mrs. X, I have a mole in my tummy! Teacher:  A mole?  Is it a mole ON your tummy? Princess:  Yeah!  I have a mole on my tummy! Teacher:  That’s okay.  I have moles, too. Princess:  There’s a mole in my tummy, and it hurts! Teacher:  Sweetie, do you have an owie on your tummy? Princess:  Yeah!  ...

I am back from a long vacation, the first part of which was spent at the beach with my husband’s family, and the second part of which was in a big city with my sister and her family.  I had the opportunity first to observe my sister-in-law talking with my one-year-old niece, and then later my [...]