Resources
Activities
Simple activities that can be done with children at home can be fun and easy ways to become a part of your child's educational life. Using some of the most simple materials can make for very fun and engaging games and projects that can be done at home or in a classroom.
Butterfly Maracas
This activity is wonderful for the development of motor skills in early childhood. It also is a great opportunity to teach children about butterflies.
Paper Plate Flowers
Using simple materials around the house to create simple crafts is a great way to engage with your child's development and education.
Books which discuss pro-social topics
- The Good Egg by Jory John
- Those Shoes by Maribeth Boelts
- You, Me and Empathy by Jayneen Sanders
- The Invisible Boy by Trudy Ludwig
- All the Way to the Ocean by Joel Harper
- Africa is My Home: A Child of Amistad by Monica Edinger
- All Are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold
- Seeds of Change by Jen Cullerton Johnson
- The Way I Feel by Janan Cain
- Same, Same but Different by Jenny Sue Kostecik-Shaw
Sample Lesson Plans
Kindergarten Writing Lesson
Sample Video Lessons
Description Text Structure in Informational Texts Mini-Lesson
This mini lesson focuses on the text structure of description in informational texts. Through the use of the book "Birdies in the Sky" I was able to explain this strategy.
Interactive Read Aloud of the book "Are You My Mother" by P.D. Eastman
This read aloud is a great resource for students to use when they want to sit down and listen to a good book. Reading to children comes with many benefits that can help them grow as readers!
Read Aloud
Reading books with children of any age will benefit their education. Reading helps children develop word recognition, phonemic awareness, and fluency from an early age. The more exposure children have to books will improve their literacy skills and academic performances.
Here are a few links to more read aloud videos:
Screencast reading of "The Red Blanket" by Eliza Thomas
Photos from my experience working as an art teacher
I worked as an art teacher at Maplewood School and Camp and put together these activities. Some of the photos show children's work, and others show the materials laid out before completed activities.
The Honey Hut Montessori Learning Center
This project is a design plan for a preschool that I put together with a colleague. It goes into depth the different things we would include in our facility and the logistics that would go into the day to day schedules of the students. The Honey Hut would provide a space for young children to learn and grow using the Montessori philosophy of education.