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The Guide to Pre-Reading Skills in Early Childhood lesson planning

Preparing students to read doesn't start in kindergarten.  There are many skills needed for students to start on the reading path.  We can help our children gain some of these pre-reading skills starting as infants!  If our children have these pre-reading skills before...

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Quick and Easy Preschool Circle Time Games circle time

Raise your hand if you struggle to ‘fit it all in’.

Yep, me too. I was finding that relying on small group time to fit in all the things that preschoolers need to know just wasn’t cutting it.

The problem was… since we have small group time during free play, there are...

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10 Ways to Boost Attention Spans teacher tips

Have you ever been here…. you get out a floor puzzle for a child that requests it and as you and the child are working together to assemble the puzzle, the child abruptly leaves, moving onto to something else. The child lost interest in putting together the puzzle, their attention was...

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Helping our Preschoolers with Reading Readiness - Checklist Included literacy

Helping our preschoolers get ready to read isn’t just about knowing letters and letter sounds.

There is so much more to reading readiness than the alphabet! Setting our children up to be successful readers means laying a solid foundation rooted in print awareness, narrative skills,...

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Beware of Classroom Rewards classroom management

Deciding whether or not to implement a classroom rewards system is a decision worth putting some thought into.

Scroll through Pinterest and you can find all kinds of reward systems: sticker charts, brag tags, token economies, dojos, punch cards, candy rewards and coupons. The ideas are truly...

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Gross Motor Development Cheat Sheet assessment gross motor

Watching a child makes it obvious that the development of his mind comes through his movements - Maria Montessori

Children love to move. Sadly though, Gross Motor Development in the preschool years is often over looked in classrooms. Many teachers think outside play is enough to develop any...

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The Honest Truth about Behavior Charts classroom management

Behavior charts in schools are a hot topic. Many preschool teachers use them. But, are they harmful to young children? Here is my take…

This is a story all about how my mindset got flipped-turned upside down! (Thank ya Mr. Will Smith)

So.. About 12 years ago I was fresh out of college....

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Going Beyond Managing Behaviors classroom management

Are you a teacher or a manager?

I don’t know about you, but I refer to myself as a Preschool Teacher, not a Preschool Manager.

So, why when it comes to behaviors in the classroom, we feel that they need to be managed? Why not taught?

I didn’t sign up to be a manager. I signed up to...

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