Calling all (Preschool) teachers!

[dreamer423]

Career changer here, and so happy about it.-Will be starting as the lead 2 yr old teacher, after assisting in the 3/4's for a year.

Would love all your tips, tricks, hints for classroom organization, what Extra supplies I meet, what your record keeping is like, how you prep for Parent conferences etc.

How you decorate and how often you change classroom decor., what you use for cubby tags, etc.

BTW-we are the little ladybugs.....

What would be on your wishlist from parents.

thanks so much

 

[bucket o' butter]

Career changer here, and so happy about it.-Will be starting as the lead 2 yr old teacher, after assisting in the 3/4's for a year.

Would love all your tips, tricks, hints for classroom organization, what Extra supplies I meet, what your record keeping is like, how you prep for Parent conferences etc.

How you decorate and how often you change classroom decor., what you use for cubby tags, etc.

BTW-we are the little ladybugs.....

What would be on your wishlist from parents.

thanks so much

I have taught 3/4's for about 12 years. A little older than what you will teaching, but maybe I can offer some advice. Even as a "veteran" teacher I am always looking for new ideas. One that I am planning to use this year is wearing a small apron to carry daily supplies in. I bought some inexpensive ones at Hobby Lobby(the ones that just go around the waist and don't cover your chest) and am going to decorate them with fabric paint. They have pockets that I can keep writing utensils, kleenex, etc in while walking around the classroom. That way I don't have to continuously go back to my desk for things.

The best thing I put on my parent wishlist last year were a box of the Mr. Clean Magic Erasers. They come in so handy in a preschool classroom. Great for getting marker off tables and chalkboards and other lovely messes. Other things to include on your wishlist (not sure what you have at your school) are kleenex, large crayons, drawing paper, paper towel.

Two year olds are a lot different from 3/4's, so there won't be as much writing and letter recognition as I have in my class. I would encourage a lot of play. Two year olds can never play too much. The more hands on things to do, the better. The Leapfrog Fridge phonics is an awesome toy to have in the classroom, even for twos.

As far as parent teacher conferences go, I would keep a portfolio of each child's "work". This might only be scribbles on a piece of paper, but they are worth a million dollars to a parent. Take a lot of pictures too. I make a scrapbook at the end of each year for the parents. It takes a lot of time, but it is well worth it.

If I think of other things that I do that might apply to two year olds, I will let you know. The key is to let them be kids. Do not expect two year olds to sit at a table and work. They will learn as they play.

A great website to go to is http://www.preschooleducation.com. I have used this website since day one! It has great activities to do with the kids and great printable resources for parents.

 

[HaleyB]

If you are allowed to photograph the children a picture a month is a great thing to have in their folders. Parents love getting them. Or even one from first day of school and one towards the last day.

I would request clear contact paper. It is great for art, sensory, and the best way to keep anything on your walls since 2 year olds love to pull things down.

I changed my classroom decoration monthly, but I had to at my school. Look for simple printable coloring pages on line to use for cubby tags, or diecuts. Cheap inflatables from Oriental Trading hung from the ceiling are great decorations (beach balls, dolphins, fish and so on).

If your classroom does not have a good plastic tea set, that would be the first thing I bought.

 

[dreamer423]

those are all great suggestions.

From what I can see (I subbed at camp) there is a decent shared supply of crayons, paper, glue, paint, markers, glitter. But I definitely would like to add some special extras

The room has a little decoration from previous teacher, but i want to make it mine. I'll look again next week.

 

[MSSANDRA]

Preschool teacher/ director for TOO MANY years... You are going to love your new class.

First, stop and think about everything you learned about two year olds and how they think, and learn and function. Set up your room with all that in mind. Too much overwelms little ones. I suggest putting up a lot of your toys to start with and bring then out a few at a time and introduce them and show the children where they are kept.

Be sure to set up your circle time area in the least distracting area, away from doors and toys. Think about how to create each child a "space" of thier own. A laminated picture of them taped on the rug for them to sit on works well as does a small mat of differnt colors.

Keep boards simple too. Have colorful board paper and boarders up but leave most of it blank for thier artwork. Cubbies can have constuction paper cut outs of animals or what ever. Be sure they are all differnt and they will know very quicky who is the cat or whatever. Use their names all over the room to lable cubbies, chairs, cups whatever!

This will be many parents first time to preschool as well. Make them feel at ease with a warm welcome letter. introduce yourself, tell a little about how your class works and what you need from them. Do they bring sippie cups, diapers, snacks? Be warm, inviting but firm in what ever you choose to enforce in your class. It is much easier to enfore for examlpe the "no passie" rule from the beginning. Explain how you wish to handle crying seperations (yep it WILL happen with 2's).

Consider a daily or weekly note home to update parents on classroom happenings.


Supplies for toddlers cana be VERY simple. Lot of finger paints, big sheets of paper, glue paint brushes, good first scissors, lots of scrap materials.


A huge bin of rice or pasta to dig in is a HUGE hit. Remember to tell parents to dress kids to get messy.

Plan your day with lots of small periods of time. Circle time my be 5 minutes at the most to start. Think about safety and do the tolet roll test on every toy in the room. Many times preschools get hand me down stuff that is not safe for kids this age.

Wow so much but maybe this can get ya thinking a little!!

Good luck and have a BLAST!!!

 

[pfp258]

Read a good book about child development and specifically two's. At that age they are very sensory (watch the rice and pasta) Small water tables are great as are most sensory activities. Large beads for lacing, unit blocks and animals are all great. Just remember that children do learn through play and should never be doing worksheets in pre school. (check out the NAEYC website and another good one for fingerplays is drjean.org)