We Didn't Have Two Coins To Rub Together....But We Had A Crayon Rub!

Money Madness! Some days i feel useless to try and teach my pre-schoolers about money because i can almost guarantee all they'll have to do when they are of money earning age is swipe a card and enter a pin. however, just because they don't require kids to write cursive anymore, doesn't meant it isn't still a useful skill...so, i press on.
i have a few money games i have been playing with them to learn the names of the coins. they're REALLY good with knowing what the big bills are, so the coins are what we have been working on. the first day teaching them, i just had a big bag of coins and was pulling random coins out telling them what coin was what. before i knew it, they were twisting around on the floor, staring at the walls and writhing in their skin. it was not effective...however, glue some of those coins on popsicle sticks (aka my little miracles), and viola! you've got a lesson. i was so proud today when they asked to play the money game.
all you do is glue em on sticks, stick them in a cup and have them pull them out and name them. then, i let them pass the stick around the circle, look at it and repeat what coin it is.... repetition, repetition, repetition. :)

sorry my camera is so bad...i had to use my phone on account of my REAL
camera is broken...you get the idea, though. :) 

then for some FUN i glued some coins (heads sides and tails sides) on a laminated cardstock paper and they did a crayon rub over it. it took up fifteen minutes and they were BEGGING To take them home. :)
some days i have very proud moments. when something so simple steals their little hearts...i can remember why i do what i do. :)
i love pre-school!

happy teaching!

ABC, Really Easy As 123?

recently at our pre-school, we have expanded MWF classes, and opened T/TH as well. since there are only ten kids on T/TH, i teach all three subjects that our pre-school has to offer. We took these children on at mid year and adapted to their previous teachers curriculum as it was different from ours. When assessing their current knowledge, i discovered that they caught on a LOT quicker to numbers as apposed to learning their letters.
so in an attempt to overcome that, i have been racking my brain to try and figure out what would be the best way to get the alphabet to stick. simply enough, i have decided that kids need repetition through variety.
now that that is clear as mud, i will give an example.
every single one of my kids was able to sing their ABC's...that is GREAT that it is all familiar to them, however...when it came to word recognition, they had no idea what the difference was between Z and U. So, i have devised a few *very* simple activities to help them start to remember.

activity 1:

materials:
       26 popcicle sticks
       Sharpie
       cup, can, jar, decorated or not. :)

excuse the fact that they are backward. :) I'm a lefty so as i wrote, i slid
to the right...hence, a be-jumbled alphabet. :)

all i did was write the alphabet all caps on one side of the stick and in all lowercase on the other side of the stick.

then, i threw them in the cup/jar/vase/ box etc. and we passed it around in a circle.

my munchkins took turns pulling out different the letters, telling the class what letter it was, and then each child would pass around the stick and look at the letters and say it to themselves.

suprisingly, it showed results with such a simple project and they stayed entertained!

Activity 2:

Materials needed:
      26 laminated multi-color papers
      marker
      dancing music

(refer to previous post on instructions...this one kept them busy a LONG TIME)

just a couple of my little twinkle toes playing this letter
recognition game. :) 

these are the only two projects i have come up with thus far...i have only been brain storming for a couple days so when i know, you'll know and i'll post. :) the prep time on these activities did not do justice for the things we learned. who knew it didn't take six up all nights and two migranes later to get the curriculum to stick!

happy teaching!!

Pre-School Power

I am overwhelmed with the blogoshpere and all of its GREAT ideas when it comes to early education. :) i use ideas from blogs all over the country and sometimes those ideas supplement my own. :) HOWEVER i am not a TOTAL mooch, i do have a few ideas of my own. i don't think it would be fair for me to use all of these ingenious ideas without contributing some of my own at the same time. :) it may be a molasses on a winter day kind of process actually adding things...my blonde may be slightly fake, but it does sometimes slow down my thought process. ;)

i work at a pre-school in Pleasant Grove, Ut. it is called Stepping Stones and is a pre-school for the arts. i have never enjoyed working so much in my life! we have three different classes that we teach. Letters and numbers; this prepares the kids for kindergarten and is taught by Ms. Valorie. She's an all star and the kids love her. she has so many great different ways to make letters and numbers entertaining. next we teach an art class. most of you are probably thinking...."art...big whoop. kids paint in pre-school all the time." well, i guarantee kids haven't painted like this. Ms. Jeri, the art teacher, doesn't just paint. she teaches about VanGogh, art in literature, picaso, and much more! these kids are learning things that most kids don't learn about until junior high, but the way Jeri teaches it make it fun and interesting. and lastly, the performing arts class, which is what i teach. :) this includes singing, acting, dancing puppets, musical theory, stage presentation etc. this is different than anything i have ever done when it has come to teaching...but it has been great. :) i have a vast background in performing arts between dance, a few school plays, drama classes, and such...but teaching it is totally different. 

because pre-school is to prep kids for elementary school, i wanted to reiterate what Ms. Valorie teaches in her class while still sticking to a fun, musical back ground. so, without further ado, i creates this music game. 

Musical Alphabet: all this game is, is home made flash cards. there's an upper case on one side and a lower case on the other side. i laminated them and put them VERY scattered on the floor. i turned on the kids favorite songs and let them dance.

when the music stopped, they had to find a letter quickly. i then picked a FEW kids (they lost attention when i tried to ask all of them) what their letter was, which one was capital and which one was lowercase, what color the letter was printed on and what sound it made. i started with just the letter and the sound and when they caught on better, i added all of the others. this kept them entertained for a VERY long tine. i was well pleased that such a little thing made them so happy. :) 

more "little things" to come. :) 

happy teaching!!