Any suggestions for a first year preschool teacher of 4-5 year olds?

Question

My first teaching position is with 4-5 year olds in a preschool. I will be co-teaching with another woman who has had a lot of experience teaching this age group, whereas I just finished student teaching in April. I am looking for any suggestions, advice, or activities that I could use in my first year as a preschool teacher. The preschool is very hands-on oriented and child-centered. The director explained to me that the curriculum isn't set in stone, but the teachers choose themes and the children explore what they are interested in. Any help would be wonderful! I am starting to feel a little nervous. :-) Thank you in advance!

Answer 1

Get to the the know children you will be teaching. With each lesson or activity you present, embedded self-esteem boosters.

I suggest you also included in all your  lesson plans problem -solving skills activities

And last... They will absorb more of what you teach, if you make it more fun and less structured.while teaching

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Answer 2

First of all, you will be working very closely with the other teacher so it is vital to work well together. Sit down & go over schedules, responsibilites, etc.. You want to make sure you are communicating well with each other. Not getting along with coworkers, expecially ones you work with closely, can be very difficult to overcome sometimes. Be open & patient.

About your classroom- Have a visual schedule for your kiddos. They can't read at that age, so don't put up a schedule with the words only. Real pics are best, but if you don't have access to a camera, clip art will work. This is especially great for kiddos who have trouble saying bye to mommy. If the schedule is posted for everyone to see, they can take comfort in knowing they will be going home. They see the picture on the schedule!  

Have well defined areas in your classroom. If you have stations or centers, use furniture to seperate them. Make each space special.

Things that I cannot live without as a teacher: a timer (that rings, such a cooking timer), music cd's (relaxing & up beat), plenty of dry-erase markers, hand sanitizers, baby wipes- you will be amazed at all the things they can clean up, coffee, clipboards, phone log (which reminds me, word of advice document everything!).

Last peice of advice- take time for yourself. You will get burned out & if you cannot take care of yourself how can you take care of anyone else? Unwind in the evenings with a bubblebath, meditating, reading, relaxing outside, whatever works for you! Good luck! You only have your first day of teaching once. Enjoy it!

Answer 3

Wow, there's alot of good answers here! I wont give you any activities answers since most said them already, and you can easily google these and research. Instead, i will give you some personal advice (in random order):

1. have a good working relationship with your co-teacher who is as you say experienced. listen to her and voice out your suggestions and concerns. DONT be afraid to ask and clarify things. if all goes well, im sure you'll learn a lot from her more than reading all the websites (though they will still help supplement things). your hands on experience is the best way of learning. in a way, you'll be trained by her.

2. dont just be a teacher to your kids, but be a friend. this age is the inquisitive age. dont just talk to them as a teacher, but as a friend laugh with them and ask them questions not necessarily pertaining to your topic. you'll see you'll get alot of quotable quotes out of them.

3. there's a time be friendly, there's a time to be firm. what i mean is that though its nice to play with the kids and show them your soft spot, let them know you're still in charge. kids these ages can be quite manipulative without them knowing. if you dont establish the "you have to listen to me coz im your teacher" relationship, a class of 4-5 year olds can get quite rowdy. they have alot of energy and really enjoy playing with friends by this age. however, this can also result in disagreements and petty fights.

4. ALWAYS be alert and look out for signs of problems or accidents. in short, always look ahead. this will avoid any accidents or misunderstandings. ex. if you know a toy is popular with the kids, try to have more of this instead of waiting for a fight to happen because of grabbing. yes i know sharing should be taught but in a realistic way. if theres only one toy and then 10 children waiting in line...see? another example, a child keeps running in the classroom. ask him to just walk and he can run during outdoor play time instead of waiting for him to run into someone else inside the classroom.  

5. Be flexible.- Planning ahead, organizing lesson plans and activities, and establishing rules and routines are all good. But learn to be flexible when things dont go as planned. Instead be resourceful and adapt to some changes if needed.

6. Lastly, dont feel nervous and i'm sure you'll do fine. the fact that you're asking here means you're really looking foward to this, hence you'll be a good teacher who is willing to learn and embark on a new and fulfilling adventure with your students!  Cheers and good luck! I'm sure you'll have a blast this school year!

Answer 4

Well you will first need to remember that Patience can be the answer. Second, there are websites that can help you with everything you need to know about activities and the best approach to take with children. Just type in "preschool activities" ,or something like that, into google. You should get  some really good sites! Oh and don't be nervous, you will be fine. I wanted to be a teacher because of my love for kids. When you start working with them, things will come naturally to you. ~GOOD LUCK~

Answer 5

As one that has done this for a number of years the most important thing I can tell you is to take care of yourself. Have a complete physical and make sure your shots are up to date.  Eat a well balanced diet and get plenty of rest!! It sounds to me that your curriculum will be pretty much as your senior teacher dictates and your role will be as a support.  One thing you should do is look for any holes in your curriculum.. Culture is very often neglected by older teachers.  Make yourself an expert by doing extra reading and watching any appropriate programs on educational TV channels.  Maybe your lead teacher does  not like to get dirty.  Here is where you can shine by bringing in such activities as making your own paint or modeling clay.  Be careful not to usurp your lead teacher's authority.  Such people have much to teach you that you will not learn between the pages of a book!!!

Answer 6

You have to be someone who enjoys having fun, laughing, does not take herself too seriously and really understands children.  I think you have to get your cues from your children about what they like to do.  I like to set out open ended materials in the beginning...play doh, paper and crayons, water table, finger paints etc.  These activities get you talking with your children and you find out what they enjoy.  For instance you may find that a child loves dinosaurs while they are playing with play doh so you know to introduce some dinosaur activities.  You may find that a child has a new puppy in the home by what they drew on paper so you may want to do some veterinarian theme or pet store activities around animals.  I get my best ideas from my children.  When children are doing, playing and talking things they enjoy they get a lot more out of the activities.

If you have parents that want to see ABCs and 123s out of your classroom you can incorporate this in to any of the above activities somehow.

Answer 7

I think you will be surprised how much fun it is to work with this age group.  The biggest thing you need to do is LISTEN.  These kids have a lot to say but you won't know it unless you really listen to them.  Remember that this age group should be able to direct their learning a lot.  They need to show you what their interests are, and then you will add the skills they need into their area of interest.  You will teach them literacy skills, math and science skills, music, health, and fitness, but you will coordinate it into their interests.  Your teaching partner will help guide you, as well as the children, so keep your eyes and ears open and you will learn a lot that they didn't teach you in college!  Don't be nervous.  Just jump into it.  Let your teaching partner lead, and you absorb as much as you can as fast as you can.  Interact with the kids.  Talk with them, play with them, ask them questions that will help them think things through.  Like "What do you think will happen if you do that?"

Have fun!

Answer 8

check out this website www.smartartforpreschool.com this might be very helpful for you

Answer 9

You can never go wrong with finger paints. It'll be a little costy but if you don't want the mess get the color wonders stuff. Kids love it. Or you could try sing-a-longs.

Answer 10

First, you have to be able to understand the age. At this time in their life, all they need is attention and understanding. For example: On child takes another child's crayon. You find out. Instead of becoming angry, listen to both sides of the story seperatly and remove any child still causing a problem.

Also, you need a set schedule that doesn't change such as, every week a different letter or times of when certain things happen, like 12:00 is lunch time every day or something like that.

Make up fun themes for the children such as clown week or dinasaur week. Maybe jungle week or color week.

Have fun, it will make you and the children less stressed about the first year at school!

Answer 11

If you are not a big girl (I know that sounds mean, but it matters-I am kinda hefty and this activity tires me out FAST) then Greg & Steve music cds is an EXCELLENT choice for that age group. You teach them colors, numbers, rythm, etc, and imagination while also getting their blood pumping and doing large motor exercises. They will memorize the songs and thereby memorize colors, numbers, days of the month, the week, etc.

My kids favorites are the Creative Dramatics-One says imagine you are a tree and the wind is blowing, dont fall over etc, then youre a rock and roll star, then youare a scuba diver-put on your tank and mask, jump in the water, look around, hide from a shark, before you get back in your boat. In another, you do the same stuff but instead you are on a rocket ship to mars. I have never encountered a group of kids aged 2 to 7 who did not absolutely adore Greg & Steve. The set you should get is called "We all live Together" there are five volumes. Also get "Kids in Motion" and get Hap Palmers "Sammy."

I have these on my computer oif you want me to email you a few so you can hear them before you buy them. But they are priceless, especially on restless rainy days. I use them for morning circle time, too.

You can do a hands on activity with this stuff...I forget what its called...but you make it with cornstarch and borax. When the kids hold it in their hand it is gooey and will dripoff. When it is on a cool surface (table) it hardens and flakes up, but goes soft again in a warm hand.

Painting with potatoe halves that you cut shapes into, so they use them as stamps. Bits of colored paper are priceless-NEVER throw away scrap construction paper. Instead cut it into random small bits when you have a chance and keep them in a large ziplock bag. Kids love to paste and glue them onto everything-give them shapes or pictures to paste them onto. Helps with fine motor skills as well. Ah...a sand table is usually a good idea, too. You can buy them or make your own, buy sand from Home Depot or something and put toys in it. The boys especially love this. Just watch out that you mix the groups with even tempered kids-no sand throwing. If you get four hyper boys someones going to fling sand and uh oh!

Shaving cream mixed with a few drops of paint is good fun, too. They can play with it and paint on white paper-just be sure to use paint that does not stain-not hands or the tabletop. NO DYE!

You can make edible playdough and color it with kool aid powder (only one use, do not reuse edible playdough it will mold)

FELT BOARD stories are priceless as well. You can buy one, but since I worked with 2 year olds and hyper 4 yr olds, I always preferred to make my own.

Walmart-$2 foam board, 99 cent piece of black felt fabric, 2 glue sticks, a glue gun. Glue the felt to the foam board (leave the edges long enough to glue behind the board. You might also want to glue another piece to cover the back of the board to cover the glue job :-X

Look online for templates of popular nursery rhymes and childrens stories. Print them out and color them (or let the kids color them) then laminate them. I prefered to do my own lamination (tiny machine costs maybe 40-60 dollars at sams club or costco) I loved this method because when my 2's inadvertently chewed on my feltboard pieces or the 4's ripped them-it was easy to just print out replacements, no ruined sets and was so cheap to make.

I even took pictures of my kids and laminated them into felt board characters and we made up stories with the kids (and some characters from other stories.) They loved it.

I can give you other ideas if you want to e-mail me. Just shoot me a message through yahoo.

Answer 12

make sure to be patient with the children, Since this is your first year of teaching just to let you know your co teacher will try to boss you around don't let her speak up if there are any problems go straight to the director. I am not sure where you r but if the is a lakeshore in your area go there and get information about activities for 4 and 5 years old. At the age they r usually learning to writ there first and last names. Let me give you some monthly themes for the year.

September: First day of school, All about me, My family My friends

October: Halloween, Community helpers, Health and Safety

November: Thanksgiving, Harvest time

December: Christmas, Christmas around the world

Jan: New year, Winter time, and you can do community helpers again

Feb. Valentines, President

March St. Patty's day

April: Insects

May: Farm animals

Jun; Summer fun