Dramatic Play

There are so many different options for dramatic play areas. One that I liked was the hospital themed play area. This is just one way someone set up their area but there are many other options too.

Here is the link to the example I use:
 https://playtolearnpreschool.us/hospital/

Emotion Who Game

Emotion Who?

Emotion Who is like the game Guess Who. This game is a great game for kids to learn their emotions. The game works by each player picking a card to be their emotion. The goal of the game is to guess the other person's emotion first. They can do this by asking a series of questions about the different faces on the board. For example, they could ask the color of the background, what the mouth is doing or other ways they can come up with describing the emotions. They take turns asking questions until one of them guessed the person's emotion. This can be a fun way for kids to learn and practice what different emotions are and what they look like. 

Dream Classroom

My Dream Classroom 

As a future teacher, I cannot wait to design and decorate my classroom. Of course, I want my classroom to feel warm and welcoming to my students. Creating a classroom design that can do this important.  I will have decorations of my own but to make feel more inviting I would love to hang up my student's artwork. I for sure want to hang up a calendar and a schedule for my students to see. I would also like to have a weather chart so I can have them learn the different types of weather. I want a big fun rug the kids can sit on, plus it will help with sound. 

For the students, I would love to have a corner just for reading and relaxing. In this corner, I want to have comfy chairs or even some big, fluffy, oversized pillows. It is a great place for the students to feel comfy and dive into a good book to keep the creativity flowing. I will also change out the books from time to time to keep them curious about reading and learning new things. 

In a different area of the classroom, I want to have an area for dramatic play. In this area, there could be a kitchen or house set up but then also add in toys that go along with the theme we are learning. This is important to have kids be creative and use their imagination. I cannot wait to allow them to have free time and see what their little minds come up with to play. 

One other area in my classroom is an area for the kids to do crafts. I a place where they can create whatever they like and they can even get a little dirty doing it because I will have a little sink near this for them to wash up. I want them to be able to engage in hand activities that keep them excited to learn and be in the classroom. 

I think the layout and the way I arrange everything is important. I need it to flow nicely and allow for easy access. I am thinking that I would like to arrange the table or desks as pods so the kids can learn from each other. I would like to add the idea of flexible seating in the classroom and each pod will have a different style of seating. They will rotate to all take turns at each spot. I think this fun seating will allow them to stay engaged and take out some of their excitement. I like this layout because it is able to have each part of the classroom I like plus I few more areas to do some group work at. 

Positive Classroom and Appropriate Praise

It is important to have a positive classroom for your students. This can make it more welcoming and feel like a safe place for them. One important thing that you as a teacher should be is positive. You may not always feel that you want to but it is important that you can show your students you are excited for them to be there and they are going to have a fun time learning. You want to make sure you are welcoming the students every day and giving them some appropriate praise. This is important to show your students that they are improving and doing a good job and it may even change the behavior of students. You don't want to always give personal paise because it may backfire. The students may think it is out of there control and just apart of who they are so they won't strive for improvement. You should try praising things that they tend to struggle with as they start to complete them so you can see their improvement. Other ways to have a positive classroom is to get to know your students to create a sense of respect and the caring and understanding between each other. You could keep track of how well each pod was able to listen, get there work done and behave. Then whichever pod had the must points could get a reward at the end of the week. You could also keep whole classroom points where when they reached the amount they receive the reward they picked. Finally, you could do individual points for students. They could each have a card and when they did something good they would get a stamp on the card. These last ideas help you maintain a positive classroom while still giving appropriate praise to the students making it a better environment for everyone to be in.

Lesson Plan

 I chose the book "When I Feel Scared." This is a great book to teach your students about being scared. It shows the kids that it is okay to be scared and what they could be feeling while this is happening. It also shows them a few things they could do to help while they are scared. This book is a great opening for discussion about what makes them scared. You can have them come up with more things that make them scared and what makes them feel safe. For an activity, you can do after the discussion is to have them use flashcards of things that scare them and then match it to something that will make them feel safe. This can help them become more aware of the emotion of fear and being scared. 

Embracing Process Art

"Handprint Turkeys, Step Aside: Embracing Process Art in Early Childhood Programs"

http://www.communityplaythings.com/resources/articles/2019/embracing-process-art-in-preschool

This article tells the importance of process art rather than product art. I found this article to be very informative and why kids are in enjoying process art more. The children are given more free choice on what they create and if they want to keep what they create. It has been found that process art prompts independence and has more development and creativity. I found that it is important to make sure you are always providing materials for them to create new projects and want to try new things with the material given. It may be hard to switch from product art to process art because you have grown up always making projects that relate to the theme and ones everyone has to participate in.

Inspirational Quote

About Me

Hi everyone, my name is Megan Tiede! I am currently a freshman at Northern State University. I am majoring in Elementary Education and Special Education, with minors in Early Childhood and a Reading. I will also be getting three endorsements from birth to preschool in both General Education and Special Education and in Kindergarten. I have always loved being around kids and I'm excited to be teaching kids from preschool to 2nd grade.

I grew up in Aberdeen, SD where a graduated from Aberdeen Central High School in May of 2019. I decided to attend NSU in the fall because I thought it would be a great fit for me and I am familiar with the area.

In my free time, I enjoy hanging out with friends and family, hiking and other outdoor activities and watching movies. I love to travel and wish I could do more. Three of my favorite places I have traveled to were New York, Wisconsin, and Colorado. I have never been out of the country but I do hope to someday.