I am a pre-school teacher and I am having trouble staying organized with my planning???

Question

This is my first year teaching and I feel like I always have so much to do because we have to do art and an activity and a circle time and a book and deal with so much (we have majority low income) and I feel like I don't have the money, the energy, or the time to plan for 20-something days like that a month!!!!

Answer 1

I've been there(am there?)  I've been in childcare for many years but am only on my second year as lead teacher in a preschool program and I have a 3 and a half year old daughter who is also in my class of 20(I do have a somewhat capable aide in my room) my kids are 33 months to 5 years(going to kindergarten in the fall)

The first thing i did to try and organize myself was to create a way to lessonplan that helped me to stay organized.  I never really liked any of the planbooks I have seen so I used MIcrosoft word and the table function to creat a chart that has 5 days and each area of my day.  I also have a second page to my lesson plans each week that has my areas or centers that I have open that week ex. what am I adding to the block area that is theme related?  what are we doing in dramatic play,? etc.  I also leave a large blank space or write on the back page things I need to gather for the week.  I print a balnk copy and make copies for a binder that I haul to home and work.  I can scribble in my ideas when they come to me and then I type them into my template on my computer to make an easy to read copy that works great for a sub to read and I also post it for parents to see each week.  Sometimes if you just put up the theme you are working with parents will send in things that relate.

other great resources: your local public library.  I go online to my library and order books taht fit my theme.  If you have a children's librarian at your school he/she might be willing to pull books for you taht they know of that work with your themes and age group.

I have some great websites that I'll give you.  

www.allthedaze.com

www.childcareland.com

http://www.preschoolexpress.com/

http://www.kinderthemes.com/index.html

http://www.perpetualpreschool.com

http://www.littlegiraffes.com/

http://www.pre-kpages.com/

www.drjean.org

These work well for me.  Also a great resource is Mailbox Magazine (preschool edition)  it is kind of expensive for a subscription but you can buy copies off of ebay or ask at the library.

Now here is my teacher to teacher advice:  Preschool is all about exposure and experience.  You are not trying to get them to master anything just giving them tastes of everything.  Remember that so much is learned through play that it's not wimping out to give them freeplay time.  You are not going to be perfect and that's just fine.  It's a little easier the second year (you figure out what works for you and how to make thigns fit).  If you have an assistant or an aide utilize them as much as you can.  I know it's hard but find a way to make an end to your day especially if you stay late to plan or work at home.  You still need time for you even if your planning isn't 100 percent.  

hope this helps

Answer 2

Take  it one week at a time, instead of a month at a time. If you do it a week at a time it wont feel so overwhelming.

Week 1 could be teddy bear week... do teddy bear crafts, sing songs about teddy bears, read books about teddy bears.. have the kids bring in their favorite teddy bear on friday and they can have a teddy bear picnic

week 2 and 3 could be colors...(use 2 days for 1 color to stretch it out and give them longer to learn the color)

send a note home that says monday and tuesday will be red day, please have them wear something red, wed and thurs will be blue day have them wear something blue.... on friday for circle time they can bring something red and/or blue for show and tell....

You can take up an entire month with the alphabet...

you can look up activities online, or you can get a "theme-a-saurus" They are great for giving crafts, songs and ideas to make it all easier.

http://www.amazon.com/Totline-Theme-Saur...

they have them used for $5

Answer 3

Divide the day into 7 or 8 periods, Keep one period for everything you do, That way you will have enough time to do everything, and you will stay organized, and you do not need money to makea scedule. =) Good Luck!!!

Answer 4

its overwhelming in the beginning but with time you will get it. i do my planing at nap time, i have at least 2 hours which help me accomplish every thing that i need to do.do your planing one week at a time, choose your theme for the week and always ask around for ideas. that's how you become a pro at this and the best thing that you can do is to make a file for every theme you do and for every project that you do file it in the right file and this way planing will get easier with time because you have your files to go back to.

Answer 5

Remember that this is your first year.  Next year, you'll be able to say, "Ok.  I did this at this time and it worked, maybe I can change this around because it wasn't that great...."

Teaching involves doing a lot of the things you did last year.  Knowing the flow of the classroom and knowing how well things went makes life easier down the road.

You're right.  It is a LOT of work.  Save all your notes, make sure they're dated, and go back to them in the Summer when it's time to prepare for the fall.  No year of teaching is necessarily an "easy" year.  We're just too dedicated of a profession for that.  :-)  

You will, however, have much more time to focus on other things later.  That first year involves a LOT of planning that you just have never done before on a such a large scale.

Just a note to say "don't give up."  Feel free to visit a few popular ideas you had at the beginning of the year, but don't go overboard with that.  The more new things you make now, the easier your next year will be.

Matt