At our school we have a Professional Development Objective report we fill out. It outlines how we expect to grow professionally as a teacher this year; identifying 3 objectives, how we will get there, and how to identify if we achieved it. In a nutshell, here are the things I will be working on: 15 ‘tip […]
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Author Archives: Matt
Sand Area Shelves Idea
When the playground was redone, we invested in these great big wooden boxes. We had the kids put their sand toys in them but there were a few issues. First, the hinges often broke and then soon became rusted. Second, they kept getting filled up with sand. Third, I noticed the kids kept tossing in […]
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Shadow Puppets
Seeing how this is the first Thursday of 2018, I thought it would be neat to start doing Throwback Thursday posts! This first post is all about the old time tradition of shadow puppets! I remember as a kid watching the classic Sesame Street video of various shadow puppets with accompanying sounds. I remember one […]
Continue ReadingNAEYC Conference 2017
I attended my first NAEYC conference last year and I was blown away by the fantastic workshops and events! I’ve uploaded my journals and notes and you can read them all here. [Note- I’ve backdated them so they have the date of when I originally typed them up] In 10 days I’ll be leaving for the […]
Continue ReadingImportance of signage
When I read that we needed to have signs for all of our areas I immediately saw the benefits. The kids would see words outdoors and begin to associate the letters to the words. However, I also discovered that it was a great way to retain consistent language among adults. Suddenly everyone was referring to […]
Continue ReadingWhat is an Outdoor Classroom?
An outdoor classroom is an enriched space outside at a preschool that provides amazing opportunities for learning! The best resources for an explanations of these concepts can be found at: outdoorclassroomproject.org or natureexplore.org The Outdoor Classroom where I work has several Areas.
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Mind map
Back in college, I learned the ‘mind map‘ technique for brainstorming. I think the context then was to gather all the interests of the children and map out different avenues of thought. I used SimpleMind Lite to create the following map of ideas for the Preschool Outdoor Classroom. This is just a small sampling […]
Continue ReadingThe Stick Issue
When I attended various sessions at NAEYC, the stick issue would come up. (see my notes) For such a simple open-ended toy, there are a lot of concerns that come up if you try to include it around kids. “What if a kid swings it around or runs with a sharp stick and gets hurt?” […]
Continue ReadingFrom preschool to “treeschool”
My first session was called From preschool to “treeschool”: Supporting young children’s growth and development with the wonder of trees SO FASCINATING! When I sat down at the table I introduced myself and met my ‘tablemates’. My table had 3 women from Iowa and two from Detroit. Then to my right was a fellow from Colorado. […]
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