Losing my favorite teacher store:(

I was so sad to hear that United Art and Education in Strongsville was going out of business. It seems hard to believe since they are the only teacher store around anymore! I went yesterday because everything was 30% off. I got some games for tutoring, a tablet of chart paper, and a recycling bulletin board set with new border. After I paid, and asked for lamination, they were out and not getting anymore. So, I'm looking for a cheap place to laminate, if anyone knows of a place. Otherwise, I will just use contact paper, which is what I use on all of my file folder games.

Are ALL preschools crushing kids?

     A teacher friend on Facebook posted this article, The New Preschool is Crushing Kids, and I read it out of curiosity. I was initially surprised at the suggestion that preschool is too much these days. However, I do know that some classes are developmentally inappropriate. I became introspective of my Head Start class and the Teaching Strategies curriculum, and overwhelmingly feel that this is not the case. We learn through play, although we do have daily small group "work". Our work consists of writing our names, gluing, cutting, counting, and making art, versus worksheets. We have lots of language constantly, and something that makes Head Start different is our family style meals and tooth brushing. My classroom is very warm and loving to all and we practice conflict resolution by using our words and problem solving.
     Now don't get me wrong, lots of learning is taking place through explicit teaching. We interact with the students and play games one on one or groups of 2-3 to individualize. We have letter show-and-tell so that they have the fun experience of bringing things to school, but we get to isolate that to beginning sounds. Students get practice with public speaking from the age of 3. We learn about shapes through play (see pizza math blog entry), but then make art like these super cute circle collages. Everyone's collage is completely different, yet still all circles.

Students get choice time to play on their own in the classroom, as well as either outside or in the gym. This free play is still within the bounds of the learning environment I have set up. There are many types of blocks, writing materials, dress up, painting, music, and pretending (just to name a few!).

     Now, this article also suggests that students who attend preschool have not only an advantage in later grades, but in fact a disadvantage, and I find that scary. My students love coming to school and hate to leave! My biggest goal each year is to have students love school and form a positive association that will last through the upper grades. Quality teaching is imperative. Some people think that teaching preschool is easy and that there is no skill involved, but I will argue that point every time! Every action and word is intentional and thought out! I love preschool:)

Pizza Parlor Math

     I was very excited to finally get everything ready for the Pizza Parlor in Dramatic Play! The best part is, the kids loved it when I introduced it. It is a way to change up "House Area" to make it more exciting, but it is a way to incorporate LOTS of math into play:) There is geometry, symbolism, sorting, counting, and reading involved in this pretend play experience.
     I used paper plates as pizza crust, large red circles for sauce, yellow triangles for cheese, small orange circles for pepperoni, brown squares for mushrooms, green rectangles for peppers, and black ovals for olives. Each "topping" is sorted into bowls and students will have to resort every time they disassemble a pizza.

I created menus with the symbols for each topping and laminated them (I tried really hard to upload the pdf for download, but couldn't figure out how to do it!). The "server" will use a dry erase marker to check the boxes of each topping the customer wants before giving the order to the cook. When the pizza is made, the server and customer check the order form to ensure the order is correct. After the customer "pays", the menu is easily erased to be used again!