Classroom Sneak Peek

I really should have taken more pictures of my classroom some time over the past couple of days, because my room has been finished and decorated for Parent Orientation Night and Visitation Day, but I forgot to.  Instead of showing you a bunch of half-finished pictures, I will show you one I took the other day of the first thing I completed in the classroom.

All of our classrooms are supposed to have a theme. The Pre-K class is owls (and puzzles), the Preschool II class is the ocean, and the Preschool I class is Adventuring/Exploring (pirates and the like).  I wanted to do something cool, but a little unexpected.  Last year, the teacher in my room did a jungle theme (So. Many. Monkeys.), but that's not really my style (I'm really not into monkeys).  I decided to go with a space theme; it's cool, it's educational, and it doesn't automatically scream preschool (not that that's a bad thing). 

I didn't want to go overboard with decorating, because I like to let the kids' artwork make up most of the decoration, but I wanted to use lots of stars.  Not only do they look cool (a star is my favorite shape), but it reinforces the idea of a star as a shape for my group of mostly two-year-olds.

So anyway, here are some of my stars :)

Sometimes You Just Need To Improvise

My classroom doesn't have a bulletin board, inside or in the hall.  In order to have the kind of displays I want, I have to make them myself.  Unfortunately, we were out of black bulletin board paper, so I had to improvise.

My first bulletin board is on a piece of black posterboard.

Now I realize this won't work for everyone (I lucked out because I only have a handful of kids), but it really works well in a pinch.

Since there was no cork to staple anything to, everything had to be attached with sticky tack and tape (as a result, it's not as awesome as I'd like, but it gets the job done).

I think my favorite part is the shiny holographic letters :)

How do you improvise in the classroom?

Any ESL Suggestions?

Several of the kids who attend our school are the children of local university students, and quite a few of them are immigrants here on student visas.  Two-thirds of my class are non-native English speakers.  I have two Korean boys, a Chinese girl and Japanese girl (yes, I only have six kids, but that's up from last week, when I only had five enrolled!).  I know a few basic Japanese words (greetings, numbers, and the like), but I don't know any Korean or Chinese.  I think since my kids are younger (they'll all be two on the first day except my youngest, who will be two in November), it might be easier than i they were older, but I'm still a little overwhelmed trying to overcome the language barrier.

For those of you who have experience with ESL students, do you have any tips? 

School is Now in Session

Welcome to Pre-K Prep School!

My name is Alex.  I teach a mixed-age class (mostly toddlers) at an academic ministry preschool.  This is my first teaching job in a couple of years.

I began my early childhood education career in 2008.  I had just left college in the middle of my second year, and was feeling a little lost.  My aunt is the Head Start teacher in the town I lived in, so I decided to volunteer to help with their circus day.  I had so much fun that I came back every single day for the rest of the school year (and was even honored at the county Head Start banquet).

After the school year ended, I set off in search of my first full-time job, hoping to get on at a preschool or daycare.  I got a job a month or so later at a faith-based daycare and preschool in my hometown; it was part-time at first, and I was mainly a floater to help out the two teachers (at the time, there was only a 3-year-old class and a 4-and-5 year old class).  That fall, we added a two-year-old class, and after the teacher left on her lunch break and never came back, I was put in charge of the class until a replacement teacher could be hired.  A couple of months later, a teacher was hired, and I was moved to be the assistant in the 4-and-5s room (though it ended up being more of a co-teacher/lead teacher role -- that position really helped me understand the responsibility and work needed to run a classroom).

I continued on in this role until summer, when I left.  I had several weeks I would need off that summer (I went on a mission trip to Haiti and spent three weeks as a church camp counselor), and I couldn't get that much time off.  I don't regret my decision; I grew so much that summer and learned so much about myself.  When I returned at the beginning of August, I searched for another teaching job, but had difficulty.  I humbly asked my former boss for my job back, and she was kind enough to give it to me.  On my first day back, she told me the lead teacher had called that morning to say she was quitting; I was now the lead teacher.  From August to July, I taught the 4 & 5-year-old class and absolutely loved it.  I had amazing kids, great coworkers, and a lot of ideas.

I spent July and August 2010 supervising the school-aged kids, because I was moving at the end of August.  I spent the time leading up to my move trying to find a teaching job in my new city to no avail.  I continued to look after the move, but still had no luck.

My husband and I started trying for a baby in spring 2011 (which is when we got married as well).  We never expected to have fertility issues.  After I had a hysterical pregnancy that fall, it became unbearable for me to be around kids, even my own nieces and nephews, so I stopped looking for a teaching job.  At that time, I wasn't sure I would even want to teach again.

Over time, I've been slowly healing emotionally.  A couple of months ago, I decided I was ready to try to get back into teaching, so I started looking for openings.  I was blessed to find a position pretty quickly, and that's what brings us to the present.  I started on Monday (TB tests, staff meetings, and classroom prep), and the rest of this week (and most of next week) will be all about classroom prep, before Parent Orientation Night and Visitation Day next week.  Our first day of classes is September 4th.

I hope to eventually return to school and get my Early Childhood Education degree.

I decided to begin this blog to help share my ideas and connect with other teachers.  I also didn't want to clog up my personal blog, Good Girl Gone Wife, with a bunch of school-related stuff.  With some encouragement from my readers, I decided to go for it.

I picked the name Pre-K Prep School for a couple of reasons.  First of all, I'm in love with the preppy color pallette (which is pretty recognizable, if you're a Good Girl Gone Wife reader!), which I fell in love with on prep style staple Lilly Pulitzer's website awhile ago.  Secondly, I'm mostly teaching toddlers (who aren't quite old enough for Pre-K, obviously), so I'm prepping them for Pre-K (get it? Wocka wocka).  I know the blog is fairly...simple...now, but as it grows there will be more features.

So there you have it.  I'm excited to begin this blog journey with you!