The Crazy Pre-K Classroom

I finally decided on my theme for next year! I am going to use nautical and ocean themed decor to decorate my new classroom. Yes, I am moving again this year so new room, new theme! I do not have access to my room over the summer so I took these pictures over my kitchen table which is approximately the same size as my large board. The first picture shows how I plan to use one of my boards as my calendar/ math focus wall.  I will be placing magnets onto the letter pieces and have them next to the calendar on my whiteboard. I have not decided where I will use and place all of the other pieces except the word wall which will be on a board on the adjacent wall and my number line above the calendar/ white board. There are quite a few pictures of the pieces included in the file and there are also editable pieces so you can customize your classroom.  If you would like to see the Christian file or the secular file scroll through the pictures and click on the link at the bottom. I wil...

Hello All! I truly hope you are enjoying your winter. I know many of you have had several snow days, here in Texas we have had 2 ice days, which is unheard of down here! This week my class started working intentionally on addition and subtraction concepts. While I always try to connect simple addition and subtraction concepts to my numbers lesson it is very informal. I am now planning the majority of my number lesson on addition and subtraction concepts.I know my class is ready to begin these concepts when they can count to 50 forwards and backwards, can pattern easily, can put numbers to 20 in order and can easily sort by color. With all of this in place teaching the basic addition and subtraction strategies should be easy! (Well, we will see!) So, we started this week with 10 frames,you can easily make your own or print out free sets through a google search. Each child then has 10 objects to use to count. I start with addition problems to 5. I instruct the children to "place 1 c...

Hello All, Here is a follow up to my most recent post about the importance of math in the pre-k classroom. Today we worked on Graphs and Patterns. My class has been exposed to both of these several times in group teaching and number centers but this is the first time the children filled in the patterns and graphs on their own. I knew which ones would do well and which ones might have some trouble folllowing along. I will show you what both look like. I walked them through the patterns by first having a group pattern lesson on the carpet and then brining them to the table for the worksheet. We assigned each letter a color for the entire sheet so that there was no confusion in the switching of colors and so that I could use the colors to help them understand the pattern. A=orange, B=yellow, C=green, D=white. All typical colors of pumpkins; I even showed them pictures of each color pumpkin that I took at the pumpkin patch over the weekend but that is a different story. Back to the pattern...