Category: Our thoughts, plans and ideas
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Magnatiles and Candles
We wanted to make a simple art project today – decorate toilet paper rolls, then glue a cup inside and place a real (electric) tea candle inside – making a decorative candle for the holidays. We painted the rolls but they took forever to dry and kids really wanted to explore the lights themselves. So…
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Dress for Mess
At our school kids get messy. One of the first things we say to new parents is: dress for mess, aprons are optional, we play in mud and we get dirty. Every day. A lot. Every year we have kids that love getting muddy, wet and dirty and kids that don’t. Funny thing is though,…
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The Marble Project
It hasn’t been a week since the school started. Actually, it only was a couple of days and some kids only saw each other once or twice. Yet, they are working together amazingly well. Yesterday they decided to play with marbles. The marble run was their favorite toy these past few days and they were…
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Journaling with Preschoolers
We have decorated our journals with a Henri Matisse inspired collage and now is the time to start filling them in. When my son started going to preschool (a long time ago), his teacher did this amazing thing. Every month she would ask the kids to draw their self-portrait and sign their name. It was…
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Our Mud Hole
Mud. You either love it or hate it. My classroom loved it last year. They loved making mud in all the containers they could find and mixing it in the big hole. They loved experimenting with water, soil, chalk, wood chips, rocks, sand – seeing what makes the best mud. But most of all, they…
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Curriculum – yes or no?
When I started teaching for the first time, the thought of no curriculum seemed scary, overwhelming and honestly, ridiculous. How can I teach when I have no idea what to teach? Would it be any different than just babysitting the kids? How will I explain to the parents what we do all day? It was…
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Our Summer Playdates
We just finished our last playdate for the summer. It was amazing how many families were able to join us and play with us. My own kids are anxious about things they don’t know. They tend to get overwhelmed by new and unexpected, like most people do. So when I was opening the preschool, one of…
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Hello Songs to Start our Day
Every year I try to find the ultimate hello song for my preschool classroom. We tried several ones in the past and this one was the most popular one by far: This year I am trying to find more songs so I can take turns with them – keeping the kids interested and running to…
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Traveling Gnome
I have been going back and forth with the idea of a stuffed animal being sent home with the kids every week, logging its adventures. I know the kids tend to love it. I know the parents sometimes don’t. It can encourage literacy but it can also become a ‘competition. I have been torn on…
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Top 5 Books in our Classroom
Holes in your nose We started our year with many books about ourselves and our bodies and this one – by far – the most favorite one of them all. Who wouldn’t be interested in holes in their nose? Did you know that some animals have just one? Did you know how boogers are made?…
Artree: online preschool 