Another way to make it more interactive is to make the environment a teacher. With interactive charts (photos to come), pointers, magnetic letters on the chalkboard, and hands-on activities all over the classroom available for children to use at any time, they guide their own learning and the teacher is only there to facilitate learning by asking many questions and allowing the children to explore to come up with the answers.
This all goes hand in hand with Head Starts 2 initiates for this year, Family Engagement and Kindergarten Readiness. I am going to make sure we have things planned ahead of time for these and I am already working on a K readiness bag that I will use for small groups. Families will be able to participate more in the classroom, not that they weren't always welcome before, but now we will have prepared and planned activities ready when someone comes to the room as well as take-home activities.
Which brings me to my first photo:
What, you may ask, is this??? My secret book of tricks. Much of it will be revealed slowly in future blogs. But there are so many interactive things you can do in the classroom. And this book is jam-packed with ideas. Story props are another one of my goals for this year. I am hoping to get a good collection started that I can add on to each year. Here are 2 ideas to keep you going until I can really get some good photos from the classroom to blog about.
This is pretty easy, just cut and laminate the pie pieces so they can be put together. Velcro on the back to use with felt board. Nice way to introduce fractions.
So, I'm assuming I don't have to say what book these go with. And if you don't know, you must not be reading my previous blog postings. Great prop to help act out the story. Kids can put their fingers through them like little puppets. Great for sequencing and counting!
Well that's all for now, but I'm sure there will be more on this subject in the near future.
I realized there was a lot of math in this post, so I linked up to Marygrove College's Math Linky.
Hi I'm a new follower from twitter. @hppyheartofmine 's #FF post. I used to be a preschool teacher! I love your ideas. Looking forward to reading. :o)
ReplyDeleteFor Love of Cupcakes
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ReplyDeleteI think kids would love to use a felt board with math since I'll bet a lot haven't seen one before... I don't know of any teacher in my building with one! I used to teach at an old preschool and we had one there and the kiddos loved it!
ReplyDelete:)
Christina
Mrs. Bainbridge's Blog
Hi, Lori:
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for thinking of us and sharing the linky!
-The Marygrove MAT Team