Can Anyone Help A New Preschool Teacher?

Question

I just started teaching a preschool class at a small private school. Right now I have 3 that are 3 year olds and next year will be their preschool year. Emotionally these little ones are not ready for Preschool. It's just educated daycare in the mornings. I teach them for 3 hours a day and need a suggestion for a simple schedule and some ideas. I'm having fun but am running our of creative ideas. We use the Abeka Preschool teaching books but the books are hard for 3 year olds so I'm using other teaching materials when I can find them Thanks.....

Answer 1

dollar store is awesome I think the dollar tree

Answer 2

Try a different theme for the week to add into your curriculum.  

Go to educational stores  or websites for more ideas.

http://www.kidzone.ws, or http://www.first-school.ws

Answer 3

Preschool education does not have to be academic think about pre-readiness skills. Following a schedule, taking turns, fine motor development, gross motor development and the #1 language concepts and development. Themed activities are great. I use to do a theme a week. It is a great starting off point.

A 3 hour schedule

8-8:20 arrival routine, maybe some free play as kids arrive

8:20-8:45 fine motor development (puzzles, blocks, beads, tweezers, tongs, coloring.. etc. anything that involves the hands and fingers.

8:45-9:15 Centers- set up different stations and have the kids rotate between stations these can even be toy or play related, but you are teaching kids to follow a schedule and routines for readiness skills. Building center, house keeping center, cars/ trains/ transportation center, sensory table (sand, rice, water anything kids can put their hands in.. I typically change this once a week).

9:15-9:35 Circle time, songs, finger plays, story, gross motor activities that involve music and imitating the teacher, calendar, sharing.

9:35-10:00 recess or gross motor development. Work on catching a ball, jumping rope, climbing, running, skipping, jumping, hopping, riding bikes, kicking a ball, obstacle course, bean  bag toss.

10:10:20- Snack

10:20-10:40 Arts and crafts painting, coloring, gluing, cutting, stickers, glitter- or book making pre-reading activities with letters and sounds or language concepts such as prepositions. Something they can take home and parents can review for "homework"/ practice.

10:40-11:00 free play until parents come to pick them up.

Answer 4

A story, a song, craft time (keep it simple) play dough, finger painting etc, free play, fun dancing, a simple game (simon says).  They are 3 there is enough time later for them get into a more full on routine, just give them your attention.

Answer 5

Try downloading and printing some of the material at starfall. I have recommended this to a lot of parents who have loved it for their kids and there are a few things that you can download and use there. I will give you a link to the main page and then scroll down to the teachers section.  Good Luck!

Answer 6

Color

Blow Bubbles

Play Hide-and-Seek

Peek-a-Boo

Play Chase

Do Fingerplays

Sing a song

Collect rocks in a basket

Make an obstacle course out of cushions and/or furniture

Make a fort out of cushions and sheets

Go for a Walk

Make a Car out of a box

Read a book

Go to the park

Fingerpaint

Play with Clay-Dough

Toss Bean bags into a Bucket

Play the shell and pea game

Dance to music

Download games for toddlers from the Internet

Practice putting things in and taking things out of boxes and bags

Make a temporary slide out of a table leaf and the class chairs

Roll a ball back and forth on the floor

Scoop dirt or sand into a child's bucket (or use a serving spoon and bowl)

Practice climbing by stacking boxes on top of each other (only with adult supervision)

Put on a puppet show

Go fishing with a yard stick and yarn

Make a Horseshoe game

Make a Shape Puzzle

Play paper basketball

Run through a Sprinkler

Play with a bucket of water and a sponge (PLEASE WATCH CHILD AT ALL TIMES!)

Make a Drum out of an oatmeal box

Play with a kazoo

Wash windows together

Bang on Pots and Pans with a spoon

teach them how to Brush their teeth

Play dress-up with stuffed animals and your child's clothes

Stack canned or boxed food on top of each other

Let child stack mixing bowls inside each other

Make a playhouse out of a large box (see links page for some great instructions! Entitled: Building a Playhouse)

Let child play with a sticker sheet (make sure your child doesn't eat them!)

Put stickers on fingers for finger puppets

Play a musical instrument together- i.e.recorder, piano, etc.

Go on a Smelling Hunt

Frost Cookies

Plant a flower or vegetable plant together

Roll a tennis ball into an empty trash can or bucket

Draw on a mirror with dry-erase markers

Play hide and seek together- trying to find a stuffed animal or other object

Have a splash party together in the bathtub

Put a leash on a stuffed animal and walk around the house

Record each other on a tape recorder (great for scrapbooks or journals!)

Make and try on paper hats

Give a piggie back ride

Play "Horsie"

Talk into an electric fan (it distorts your voice)

Play tug-of-war with a blanket

Collect flowers (felt, artificial, real...)

Make a camera and go on a Safari

Play games with frozen juice lids

Disconnect your phone and pretend to make phone calls to relatives

String large beads onto or along a shoelace

Squirt each other with squirt bottles

Glue shapes onto paper

Make sock puppets

Make paper puppets

Fill an old purse with toys

Use a paper towel tube as a megaphone

Make binoculars and go "Bird Watching" or "Stuffed Animal Watching"

Put snacks in different fun containers (paper sacks, empty canisters, etc.)

Act out a story from a book

Walk on a balance beam- use a 2x4 placed on the ground

Draw with chalk on the sidewalk

Sketch an outline of your child on the sidewalk or paper with chalk

Paint child's palms with tempura paint and blot on paper. Makes a great card for loved ones!

Put lipstick on child and kiss a mirror

Make a puddle on cement and splash barefoot in it

Let child decorate and eat an open peanut butter sandwich

Make a toilet paper barricade for child to go under, over, or through

Do the Hokey Pokey

Make a super-hero costume out of household items

Do Knee-Bouncing Rhymes

Play "Red Light, Green Light" saying "Go" and "Stop"

Make a shoebox train for stuffed animals

Make a pillow pile to jump on (keep it clear from any hard surfaces, including walls!)

Make an easy puzzle with felt and velcro

Make bracelets or collars for stuffed animals out of pipe cleaners and jingle bells

Learn numbers from a deck of cards

Play the matching game with a deck of cards

Make a domino chain

Have a picnic in the park,in the school palyground

Make a tin cup telephone and talk to each other in it

Make a nature collage

Mirror each other

Make a "Mummy Mommy" with toilet paper

Make a tape recording of short music selections and instructions to move in different ways

Make and walk along a toilet paper trail

TAKE A NAP!!

have fun

Answer 7

do more fun activities

Answer 8

Buy some pre-school sing-a-long tapes. They love that.

Tapes about animals, the weather and even mobility.

Answer 9

There are a number of sites that i used when I was overseas teaching a part-day preschool program.

Enchanted learning

Perpetual preschool

ABC Teach

chubby Cubbies

From my training and education I have learned that 3 year old learn best from play, so the majority of a 3 hour day should be playing in centers with educational toys.  

I would start with about 15-30 minutes of circle time.....after about 15 minutes for the children to arrive and get ready to start the day.  During this time there should be a lot of songs.  A welcome song and one about the days of the week are what I start with....these should be the same, or of a similar vein, every day.  A discussion about the weekly topic or a story, and more songs....a lot of songs at this age.  If you wnat them to remember things put it in a song.  Lately I am singing the ABC song as different characters and the kids love it.  

After circle time center play for apx 1 hour or a little more where there are plenty of activities for the childen to choose from.  Always have an open ended art project, my 3's love to paint.  Give them a 5 minute warning than apx 10-15 minutes for clean up....very important for them to do as much as possible in this.

Outside time for apx 30 minutes, than back in for a 15-20 minutes final circle time to recap the day....what they did etc.  This is always good to remind them and they have a possible answer if the parents ask after pick up.

Hope this helps

Answer 10

I just hate the way the states insist the kids learn. They make learning not fun. I wish they'd just keep their noses out of it and let the teachers have fun with the kids. I have 4 kids. Add more fun too it. Take the kids out and just by looking at things closely they learn a lot. All kids learn differently. But they all like to have fun. So take them outside that sets the stage of fun. Get in the grass and talk about the color, maybe the different shades of color, talk about how it grows, tell each to pick 5 blades of grass. Your not just talking about grass, but teaching them how to observe, count, color etc... they will like it.

Answer 11

Look for resources at your local library. They usually have a lot of reference books with curriculum ideas and setting up a classroom environments for young children. Or, pose as parent looking for childcare, and go see a local daycare and get ideas. Tell them you have a 3 year old (even if you don't, lol, nothing wrong with doing a little research). People do it all the time to see what the competition has to offer.