I was at Barnes & Noble recently browsing the shelves for good read alouds for preschoolers. One of the first books I saw when I entered the children’s section was If I Were a Lion by Sarah Weeks. If you teach preschool or kindergarten or you have a child between […]

I will slowly start posting pictures from my new model classroom here. Above is the writing center, you can read detailed explanations for each item on my Writing Center page. Above you can see the Dramatic Play center, I LOVE the compact kitchen unit instead of all the big pieces. […]

I just read a new book titled I Love Letters!: More Than 200 Quick & Easy Activities to Introduce Young Children to Letters and Literacy by Dr. Jean Feldman. I Love Letters!is a literacy goldmine for pre-k and kindergarten teachers! It’s chock-full of fun, simple ideas to teach literacy that […]

The following pages have been updated: Ocean: Added new ocean syllable mats and counting mats Farm: Added new Where is the Cow? positional word book Thanksgiving: Added new Where is the Turkey? positional word book I will be adding more positional word books, syllable mats, and counting mats to other […]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGGbgQ7ehlw] I recently had the opportunity to listen to the new Little Songs for Language Arts CD from HeidiSongs and I was so impressed I just had to share my observations with you! What I like best about this CD is that there is a nice mix of songs that […]

I have a long-standing love hate relationship with the Lakeshore store. If you’ve never been to Lakeshore it’s the Mecca for early childhood teachers everywhere. Their never-ending aisles of high-quality (and high-priced) toys and manipulatives draw teachers like moths to a flame. The smell of lamination in the air is […]

There are so many ways to use Vista Print products in the classroom I don’t even know where to start. For those of you that are Vista Print newbies allow me to explain, Vista Print is a website where you can order personalized items for FREE plus the cost of […]

It.s about this time each summer that you begin to smell the panic of teachers everywhere in the air. Veteran teachers don.t want to go back to school and new teachers are terrified of the unknown. Experienced teachers know what to expect and how to prepare for that dreaded first […]

I have used many different methods of teaching letters and letter sounds over the years, some approaches have been more effective than others. Our pre-k program didn’t begin teaching letter sounds until 2002 and the state of TX didn’t even address teaching letter sounds in pre-k until just last year. […]

I thought I would share with you some tips for managing your “Summer Stress”. Summer Stress is something many teachers suffer from every year around this time. Often, we find ourselves busier in the summer than we were during the school year. I know you’re thinking “how can that be […]

I started my summer “to-do” list yesterday- don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about! All teachers have a list of “school stuff” they want to accomplish during the summer. One of the items on my list was to update some info on my classroom library page. One of […]

I recently discovered a fabulous new place in cyberspace called Etsy (thanks Michaele!). There I discovered a new trend called “altered art”, which is basically different ways to use scrapbook paper and supplies to create unique items like clipboards, paint cans, banners etc. At first I bought a few pieces […]

Announcing the Pre-K Pages Conference for Early Childhood Educators! July 15th, Plano TX Sign-up now, limited space available! I know many of you are now on summer vacation but it’s never too late to start planning for next year 🙂 The following pages have been updated with new literacy and […]

I stumbled across this fantastic book recently: No Limits to Literacy for Preschool English Learners by Theresa A. Roberts. I have always been passionate about two things, teaching young children and working with English language learners so this book really jumped out at me. I thought I would share some […]

I did it, I finally did it! I added the new writing page to the website this weekend. I took down the old journals page last summer and I’ve been receiving inquiries about when the new page will be up ever since 🙂 So without further ado here is the […]

RtI stands for Response to Intervention and is a very hot topic in the education field right now. RtI is defined in Federal regulations as part of the recently reauthorized IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act). Response to Intervention (RTI) is a multi-tiered approach to help struggling learners. Students’ progress […]

Yes, it.s true, the years spent slinging hash in my youth have helped me tremendously in my career as an educator. Kill .em with kindness: The meaner the customer/parent/colleague the nicer you should be, take the high road and let karma sort them out! Never let them see you sweat: […]

Because I have an unbelievable amount of school work and reading to do tonight I decided to procrastinate and join in the Bucket Contest. Colleen from Teaching Heart Mom tagged me in this contest and how could I say “no” to Teaching Heart? The blogs that I like to read […]

I finished adding new printables to the following pages: Farm Transportation Easter The printables are located at the bottom of every theme page. I’m currently working on adding new math and literacy ideas to the Insect and Plants/Seeds pages. Please share your activity ideas in the comments section, I would […]