Classic fairy tales are an essential part of early childhood education. Children can learn so much from them, but imagine how much more they learn when they are exposed to different variations of the story. Why teach variations? It reinforces the original story Encourages creativity Teaches compare and contrast Encourages attention to detail Exposes…
books
Pumpkin Books
Looking for some seasonal favorites to read to your little learners? Here are some great read-aloud pumpkin books for the month of October! 5 Little Pumpkins: Dan Yaccarino The easy rhyme and familiar rhythm lends itself well to repetition. Dan Yaccarino uses bold colors and simple illustrations to add to this classic rhyme. Extending…
Fabulous Fall Books for Preschoolers!
When there’s a nip in the air and frost in the morning, it’s time to get out some favorite books about Fall. Preschoolers enjoy being able to relate to the story. They might chime in with, “The leaves are falling off of MY tree too!” Extending the learning through centers is a fantastic way to…
The Best “Three Little Pigs” books to read with Preschoolers
Preschoolers love reading fairy tales! There’s something so exciting to a 4-year-old about having a “bad guy” in the story and they just can’t seem to get enough of it. We love to do an entire fairy tale unit where we study 1 fairy tale each week. I introduce it during circle time, and then…
Books about Going to the Doctor
When we set up a special thematic dramatic play center, like our recent Hospital, we always look for ways to incorporate lots of literacy elements. Reading about a place or a scenario gives our preschoolers lots of ideas to incorporate into their play. These are our favorite Doctor Books. You will find them in the…
The 10 Books every Preschooler should have
The absolute best thing we can do for our preschoolers is read to them every single day. It is the #1 most important factor in school readiness. The perfect preschool books have these things in common: High-Interest with great Illustrations Predictable Patterns or Rhyming Children can memorize them after repeated readings With those criteria in…
Books for the First Week of Preschool
The first week of preschool is a very tricky time! We have to spend the majority of each day just teaching our little ones how to do school– where to put their backpacks, how to sit on the carpet, what to do if they have to go to the bathroom, how to carry scissors, where to line…
The Mitten
Reading The Mitten by Jan Brett seems to be a right of passage in the early childhood classroom, doesn’t it? We love this story too, of course, and read it last week to begin our Winter Unit. Reading aloud to young children is a fine art. Teachers can plan things before, during and after reading to…
Cows!
I just love it when a lesson that I’ve planned turns out even better than expected! (For full disclosure– it does not always happen that way. Many times the opposite is true! Maybe someday I will do a “bloopers” blog post.) Today was one of those “better than expected” days. During circle time, we read one…