Get Inspired!!!

Get Inspired!!!

After reading my BLOG post about LABELING, all of the teachers in the South End took pictures of their toys and labeled their toy shelves.  I always love to hear how you have gotten inspired by the weekly IDEAS DE INSPIRACION.  Keep me posted on what is inspiring YOU!!!

MORE PORTFOLIO IDEAS

I just LOVED how Marissa in Needham used this beautiful floral paper which she picked up at The Dollar Tree to display the photographs of the children in her portfolios.  As you can see, it adds such a lovely element to the portfolio, and it adds a perfect amount of space to write a caption about what's happening in the photo underneath.  I just had to share!!

REFLECTION TIME

As you put the finishing touches on your portfolios, it's a wonderful time to review and reflect on what samples you have collected for each area of development. That way, it can help you move forward for the upcoming year. So if you only have SHAPE RECOGNITION in your math area, then next year you need to think about offering a larger variety of math activities for your children (seriation, sorting, patterning, finger plays, estimation, counting charting etc...).  Or if you only have color mixing for your science section, then it's time to think about adding more data collection, experiments, theories they may have, animal and plant exploration, the human body, the five senses, pictures at the sensory table etc...)

Patterning idea

Sorting Idea

Daily Reports Timesaver

Since Savi works alone in the classroom, she types up her Daily Reports in the morning, sends them to the printer right from her classroom, then personalizes them with a SPECIAL MESSAGE for each child.  

What a great timesaver!!

Bookmaking

I had to share this wonderful sample of some books that Savi had her preschoolers make during the Art appreciation Unit.  This could be adapted for ANYTHING!!  

"En el arte, yo veo..."

Then she printed some famous art and had the children describe what they saw and she took dictations."

The Spanglish that the kids used in their descriptions was PRICELESS!!  

"Yo veo una chica hanging out with these pollitos and there is music.  There is a skeleton too because I see it."  SOOOOO PRECIOUS!!!

Some Videos for Inspiration!!

Savi Reviewing the Alphabet with the Kids in Spanish

http://youtu.be/9Bz7zXWCLmA

100%

Savi Reviewing Numbers with the kids before counting the calendar days - LOVE

http://youtu.be/E7vqOPqNHTw

"Mami de Mis Amores" song with Maru and Patricia

http://youtu.be/e8kyIsE2Au4

Muchas Ideas!!

TRY SOMETHING NEW!!

Last week, you were challenged to try ONE NEW THING in your classroom that you learned about from the "Ideas de Inspiracion".  Como les fue?? :-)  Aqui yo comparto lo que Claudia en el South End hizo con su grupo basado en lo que vio en el BLOG!  Que divertido!!!

BULLETIN BOARD CONTEST

Remember!  May is the last month for the Bulletin Board Contest for your chance to win $250!! We'll be coming out to the schools on Tuesday, May 29th. It was so inspiring to see that even though we didn't have the "contest" in April, there were still many beautiful displays!  Here is Marilyn and Julissa's bulletin board display, "Nuestros Pequenos Artistas"  from April!!  Absolutely adorable and eye-catching!! Keep it up everyone!! 

Classroom Management Technique:

Preschool teacher, Shannon, was inspired to turn into "La Inspectora" after completing the PVP Training and Orientation!  When it's clean-up time, she turns into "La Inspectora de la Limpieza" by putting on her enormous glasses to ensure that everything has been cleaned up and put away in it's spot.  

Excellent Attention Grabber!

Getting Organized with Curriculum Boxes

As we near the end of the school year, we reflect on what worked this past year and how we can grow for the following year.  Compiling all of our thematic materials into curriculum boxes is a great way to organize everything that has to do with "Insectos", "Dinosaurios" or whatever it was that you were studying!  By compiling all of the classes materials into one curriculum box, it makes it easier for the next year to grab the box and have so much of what you need right at your fingertips!  Here are a few samples of the Curriculum Boxes from Newton!

 PORTFOLIOS:

I know that everyone is VERY BUSY putting together portfolios for the end of the year conferences.  I wanted to share some pictures of some of the portfolios that I've reviewed this month in the South End and Porter Square!  Remember, it's way more than just putting their art together in a folder!!  It's all about the documentation of the progress of the child from throughout the year. 

Check out these pictures for inspiration!

Documenting WHAT is happening in the picture teaches the parents more about the PROCESS of what the children were going through with their learning.  There are many ways to do this!!!  

As educators, it's important to put the LEARNING GUIDELINE on the piece of work or photo too!!!

Of course it's important to have CUTTING SAMPLES...

 Math activities...(this looks like it was inspired from the BLOG)

 Art...of course!!

ANECDOTES!!

Filling the pages of the portfolios with anecdotal stories about the child is pure joy for a parent to read and really shows the time that you put into knowing each and every child in your class.  

 Even if the piece of work is larger than the portfolio, it's okay!!  The portfolios are a keepsake memory of the child's experience in Pine Village that they will treasure forever.

 Lastly, Journals as a part of the portfolio process with dated entries (*like this one that Pamela put together in Porter square) is an excellent way to show the progress of the child in one simple book.

Have a great weekend!!

Jacie

Lots of Ideas! TRY ONE!!

Each week when I visit the schools, there are just SO MANY cool things that inspire me!  We can learn so much from one another, so I invite you to please dedicate yourself to try at least ONE NEW THING this upcoming week in your classroom based on something that inspired you from the blog ideas!  It can be from this week, or any of the weeks prior!!  HAVE FUN and please email me or send me pictures of what you or your colleagues try!!  

MORE SENSORY IDEAS:

You can give the children sensory experiences not only in the sensory table, but also many other places!  Check it out!

Pasta, beans and cooking materials in Isabel and Britti's toddler class in Newton.

Foot Paint with Shannon in Newton.

Exploring Jello in the sensory table with Shannon in Preschool 4.

Dumping and sorting with the toddlers with Maria in the South End.

Colored Sand play in the South End

The teachers put out this fun material for the kids to explore in Porter Square!!

MATH IDEAS:

Math is EVERYWHERE!  Sorting, and counting are lots of activities that I see, but don't forget about shape recognition, seriation, counting, positional language, ordinal numbers, solving simple addition and subtraction problems, classifying by a variety of attibutes, patterning, comparing the size of things, measuring, using nonstandard units to measure familiar objects, estimating and collecting data!

Claudia in Needham did this shape activity with her Pre-K class where they had to count and write how many fruit loops they put on each shape!

This was a great estimation activity that Pamela did in Porter Square to have the children estimate how any objects were in each container and write their guesses on sticky notes!!

 Denise and Alejandra in the Pre-K in Kendall Square had the kids collect ants and graph how many they collected using paper squares!!

LITERACY IDEAS: 
There are so many ways to introduce literacy in the classroom from the toddler group all the way up to Pre-K!  Here are a few examples!!

Claudia and Katie in the Pre-K in Newton had the kids learn about ALLITERATION in Spanish after reading Dr. Seuss' Wacky Wednesday.  They wrote out words using upper case and lower case letters that started with the same letter in Spanish and drew pictures to go along with it.  

Cynthia in Kendall Square has her Preschoolers eat their friendship fruit on plates with their first initial on it.  One of the classroom "jobs" is to have a child hand out the plates by reading the letter and giving it to the child whose name starts with that letter!  

The use of BIG BOOKS is an excellent way to give the children a chance to listen to stories.  Eliana in Porter Square translated this BIG BOOK to Spanish as the children learned all about "la primavera!"

SOCIAL STUDIES:

The Pre-K kids in Newton learned about where all of the artists and authors came from in the world by placing the names of the famous artists on this map!!

They were able to compare it to where they live in Boston and add some social studies to this art heavy unit!  Loved it!!

SCIENCE:

Science is everywhere too!!  It's broken down into Inquiry Skills, Earth & Space Sciences, Life Sciences, Living Things & Their Environment, The Physical Sciences and Technology & Engineering!!  The ideas are ENDLESS!!  

Here's a great example of a teacher getting inspired by the "Ideas de Inspiracion" BLOG!!

Ariana, a preschool teacher in Porter Square did this AWESOME Science activity with her class during the Art Appreciation Unit last month!  Melting the crayons on the canvas!!!  

GETTING ORGANIZED!!

 We are constantly organizing and re-organizing our classrooms in an effort to keep things new and fresh for the kids, the parents and for OURSELVES TOO!!

 Each month, change out the tags on your mailboxes like the teachers in Brighton do!  It's the first thing that the kids and parents see with the start of the new month, and it sets the stage for all things thematic!!

Check out these nametags that Marlene in Newton did for her Preschool class during the Authors and Artists unit.  For them it's the first thing they see when coming to school and it sets the stage for the theme.  Marlene creatively used Photoshop to add the pictures of the kids into famous paintings!  Adoable!

The Pre-K teachers in Newton just changed out their nametags by adding famous paintings!  If you are worried about messing up the walls of your school, try the old teaching standby of VELCRO to change out the images each month!!!  

Check it out Directors!!!  Parent Communication Calendar - 

Kelly in Newton has this board in the hallway and is updated monthly for the parents to have a visual cue of what fun and exciting things are happening in the school!!