There is a lot of fun going on this month for my little wise
owls in room 5! In order to get ready for the month I came into my classroom
over our two week Christmas break and worked on getting the classroom ready for
the children’s return (all off the clock). Gone are all the red and green
Christmas decorations and now our classroom is decorated for a “Winter
Wonderland” feel.
I created new bulletin boards,
wrote and made copies of the
January Newsletter for my classroom,
printed out words for my winter “Word Wall” (cut them out, laminated them and cut them out again),
I typed up a list of
important dates from now until June to give to the parents,
set up new centers,
and started prepping, crafts,
bible time,
and everything else for our
January themes.
This is typical for each month except normally I don’t get two
weeks in between, I have to squeeze in all the preparation and switch over centers
and decorations during my twenty minute prep time on Wednesdays and mostly when I find some time here and there during the work day. Many of use our ten minute breaks to work on getting stuff together for our classrooms and many of us use part of our lunch break as well.
Our school is a faith
based program and we have a play based philosophy,
but as the education system
has shifted over the last decade, we have tried our best to include some
academic work
while keeping all of the hands-on fun and learning through play.
There is so much planning and preparation that preschool teachers do to ensure
that each child is having a positive preschool experience. Every teacher is
different and maybe I don’t have to decorate my classroom, or plan five field
trips in the school year, or plan a “Camping Day” or a “Snow Day” because
really I make more work for myself but when that kiddo sees me a few years
later and comes up to me and says “Miss Gloria remember when we roasted
marshmallows on camping day” or parents come up to me and say “We have heard
great things about you from so-and-so because their kiddo had you last year”
and when kids get excited about learning, well that makes it all worth it!
