Prayers for preschool teachers

Nothing Runs Like a PreK John Deere Tractor on a Farm Field

September 21, 2017

Our farm theme has been so fun this year. We ate some Cornflake Muffins that I made at home. We are going to bake some cornbread at school. We are going to eat some oatmeal cereal. We had a morning snack with a variety of farm foods: carrots, cucumber, apples and cantaloupe.

We also painted some farm fields with yellow and green paint. The next day, we glued tractor pieces on the field. When that was dry, the children drew a person in the tractor cab.

So why John Deere? Well, my grandparents and uncle were farmers. John Deere is the only tractor brand that they would drive. I remember the John Deere slogan from when I was a child. By the way, I am the child who drove the tractor in the ditch when I was back in Wisconsin visiting my grandparents. I still never know why my grandfather let me do that since he was there. I know we didn’t get stuck there so he must have gotten the tractor back on the road before the damage was too bad.

Also, I live in a state with a lot of farms. My children have family members who are farmers. They also drive John Deere tractors. Besides, doesn’t the green and yellow blend in nicely with the fields?

This is a picture of my grandfather’s farm long after he passed away.Yes! This is the ditch that I wanted to drive the tractor into. I was probably 7 or 8 with my grandfather with me.This is a tractor not too far from my home. I drive to the city every day but I enjoy driving by corn, soybeans, cows and horses on my way home.Here’s another reason for liking John Deere tractors. My daughter married a pastor. They moved to a small town. This is actually a picture of what they can see from their house.LeoAnnabelleArcherBurkley knows a lot about farms since her grandpa and uncle are farmers with John Deere tractors.CameronClaytonEmily – Looks like pretty straight rows!Georgia ClaireHoldenJacobKairiLilyQuinnRosieWillWilson

Big Lollipops with Artist Wayne Thiebaud

September 21, 2017

Wayne Thiebaud is a fun American artist to copy. You can see these blog posts for more information about the artist and our PreK copies:

Artist Wayne Thiebaud – Good Enough to EatL is for Lollipops by Artist Wayne Thiebaud and PreK

Here’s another year that we did the lollipops. Instead of doing smaller lollipops with water color paints, each child did one large lollipop. We also used washable tempera paint. The lollipops still turned out good enough to eat, almost!

L is for Lollipop by Artist Wayne Thiebaud and PreK

September 21, 2017

Our lollipops are ready for licking but you better not. One of the great things about painting lollipops is that children often work on their swirl painting or curved lines. I usually provide the children with the circles. They use watercolor paints to paint them. Later, we add the sticks and we are ready to display our lollipop art just like Wayne Thiebaud. He is definitely the artist to copy if you are painting anything in the food line. Excuse me, I should say that he is great to copy if you want to paint junk food. Yum yum!

Click on this link for other Thiebaud information and art ideas:
Artist Wayne Thiebaud – Good Enough to Eat

This is my label for the Lollipop art:
L is for Lollipops
Lollipops are just one of many fun things that American artist Wayne Thiebaud (born November 15, 1920) liked to paint. He liked to paint so many things that children (and adults) love: pies, ice cream cones, pastries, gum balls, shakes, hot dogs, cakes, etc. All those things that are fun to eat! The reason why Wayne Thiebaud liked to paint these is because he liked to paint common things that we all know.

CharlieClaireFrankieGeorgia ClaireJackLuke PLuke WMaddieMalachiNatalieRosieSophiaSullyZach

Artist Wayne Thiebaud – Good Enough to Eat

September 21, 2017

I can’t think of an artist that is more fun to copy than Wayne Thiebaud. Thiebaud is an American artist who likes to paint all the junk food that we shouldn’t eat. But he makes it so colorful and enticing.

I actually helped the children with their art. I gave them a cupcake pattern that they could decorate. I also cut out circles that they could watercolor paint rather than having them paint their own circles. We usually do this project near the end of summer so I’m usually starting to wind down with energy to do something more exciting.

Thiebaud, Wayne
Born November 15, 1920
Wayne Theibauld is an American painter is well-known for painting things that children (and adults) love: pies, ice cream cones, pastries, gum balls, shakes, cakes, etc. We copied him with making cupcakes and lollipops.

M is for Mountains – Llewellyn Xavier Watercolor Art

September 21, 2017

Llewellyn Xaxier did an awesome job of painting mountains with water colors. In preschool, it is sometimes hard to control where the water color paint goes so I find that it is easier to do this art in stages. First, we use watercolor paints to paint a background sky. One choice might be sunset colors. Another choice could be shades of blue. We paint the entire page.

The second stage is to paint paper that will become mountains. After both papers are dry, I cut out the mountain shapes and glue them onto the sky background paper. I cut the mountains so they are rather smooth, not jagged. My main advice to you is this: make sure the papers are completely dry before you glue them together. Use glue sparingly or even use tape since the glue can mess up the colors some.

When I first did this artist in my class, I did it as X is for Xavier since I worked through the alphabet based upon the artist’ last name. Here is a link to a past post about that:
Artist Llewellyn Xavier – Watercolor Art for Preschoolers

Now a days, I do the same artist but base it upon a word. In this case, the word is “M is for Mountain.” I always hang a label with the art work so viewers become informed and the halls look like an art museum. Here’s the past label rewritten to incorporate the Letter “M.”

M is for Mountain
Llewellyn Xavier was born on October 12, 1945. He is a Saint Lucian artist. He does an excellent job of using water colors. In PreK, we tried to copy his paintings of mountains.

Xavier also likes to make collages. His large cycle of collages was named Global Council for Restoration of the Earth’s Environment. You guess it! He used recycled materials to make his collages.

Reduce! Reuse! Recycle! Go Green!

Ben – It helps to paint the sky and mountains more solid colors or it looks pretty wild.Charlie – Even mountains can become a rainbow.Claire. Mountains can look pretty stripey.Frankie – Another variation of stripes.Georgia Clarie – Love that sunrise or sunset background.Jack – Love the water and tree additions.Lily – Very earthy looking!Luke P – Love how one mountain is like the other. Make sure your helpers glue the mountains on the right side on the background paper.Maddie – Looks like the sun is ready to burst over the mountains.Malachi – Looks like a rainbow downpour.Natalie – Every mountain has its own personality.Rosie – The sunrise makes the mountain look on fire.Sophia – Gentle colors on the mountain.Zach – Scenery on the mountains.

Glue, Glue As Fast As You Can – Gingerbread Friends

September 20, 2017

Glue, glue
As fast as you can!
You can’t catch me!
I’m the Gingerbread man!

These gluing art projects are great for the Gingerbread Man or Girl theme. I often use scraps of construction paper for the hair. This year, yarn was handy. Apparently, I didn’t bring the wiggle eyes to school so buttons for the eyes worked fine.

Corn Flake Muffins for Farm Theme

September 20, 2017

I looked for a recipe that would go along with our farm theme. There are a lot of Letter “F” recipes like French Toast, Fettuccini, Fudge, etc. But what about the farm?

So I looked through my recipes and found one that I actually had never tried. It’s called Corn Flake Muffins. Here’s the one thing that I learned while making them. I did not read the words “slightly crushed” that is right next to the corn flakes cereal. Now, I always picture corn flakes as getting pretty soggy and falling apart. My corn flakes got soggy but did not really fall apart even with the mixer. Now I will confess that I was trying to save some of my preschool salary so I did buy the cheap store brand rather than the official Kellogg’s Corn Flakes. So pay heed to the words “slightly crushed.” The muffins look great. Can’t wait to take them to school tomorrow! Actually, why wait for tomorrow? A little butter on a warm muffin! Here I come!

Corn Flake Muffins
Set aside:
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ cup sugar

Mix:
2 cups corn flakes cereal, slightly crushed
1 ¼ cups low-fat milk

Add:
1 egg
3 tablespoons vegetable oil

Stir together flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Set aside.

Measure corn flake cereal and milk in large mixing bowl. Stir to combine. Let stand about two minutes or until cereal softens. Add egg and oil. Beat well.

Add flour mixture, stirring only until combined. Spoon batter evenly into twelve muffin pan cups coated with cooking spray or in paper muffin cups.

Bake at 400 degrees about 20 minutes or until lightly browned. Serve warm.

I like to gather the supplies so I don’t forget anything. I gathered enough for a double recipe.Here are the corn flakes mixed with milk. I forgot to slightly crush the corn flakes.Let the corn flake and milk mixture sit for two minutes.Mix. You can see that I forgot to crush the corn flakes since they are still pretty lumpy here.Add the egg(s) and oil.Add the sugar, baking powder and salt.After adding the flour, you can see that the dough is pretty thick.It’s so thick that it will not fall off the spoon easily.I have an awesome Wilton pan that will let me bake a class set where every child may have two muffins.Here’s a pic just to prove that the big Wilton pan actually fits in a regular oven.Since these muffins are smaller, I cooked them for about ten minutes. Even though the dough was firm, the muffins turned out soft.The double recipe was enough to make 40 small muffins and 7 large muffins. Good for breakfast for my husband and me and enough for a co-worker at school! I think we will be happy campers tomorrow! Or maybe I should say “Happy Farmers!”

Jackson Pollock Fall Fling

September 19, 2017

Let’s face it! Flinging paint, Jackson Pollock style, is a lot of fun and a lot of mess. Although Jackson Pollock used a variety of colors, it is fun to break out the colors of the season for a seasonal fling. I like using red and blue on white paper to celebrate America. I also like using fall colors (red, yellow and orange) for a fall fling.

Remind parents that children will need to wear old clothes and old shoes and socks. You may want to send a reminder email or text the day before. You could also warn parents that you may need a window of a few dates to do this project. It is glorious to take the paint project outside and fling paints on a few rocks instead of your classroom floor. So look for a beautiful fall day in your window of dates.

You may be able to tell from the photos. I spread out several large tablecloths which I use for art anyway. I put one child on each tablecloth or old sheet. The paint can fly so you need to spread the children out and ask onlookers to keep their distance.

I set out the yellow, red, and orange paints in small containers such as yogurt cups or something else that won’t tip over on the uneven gravel or dirt outside. Although children seem to be natural at flinging paint, sometimes they need a demonstration to get them going. Also, if your paint is getting rather thick, you may want to bring a container of water outside just in case you need to thin out the paint. I would also suggest bringing out some baby wipes and a trash can. If possible, you might want to roll out the art rack. Hopefully, the day is sunny and calm so papers won’t blow away.

Old posts:

Jackson Pollock – Flinging Paint in PreKJackson Pollock – A Hit with PreKThoughts on Contemporary Art

Preschool Apple Knowledge

September 19, 2017

One of my favorite things to do in preschool is to ask children questions and listen to their answers. I start by asking, “What do you know about apples?” When that question gets me all the information that the child will give, I ask extra questions. My questions include:

Colors:
Parts of the apple:
How many seeds are usually inside?
Where do they grow?
What do they need to grow?
Which kind of apple do you like the best?
Do you like to make anything of any foods with apples?

After I get the answers from each child, I type them. I center the words and redo the page margins so that I can print them and construction paper and later cut the printed paper into an apple shape.

You may click on this link PreK Apple Knowledge to see an old post. There is also an Apple Pattern pdf download on that post. You can look at this year’s pics for ideas of what children are thinking these days.

www.preschoolplay.net

Here is a preschool lesson about prayer for your toddler or preschool Sunday School class at church. It’s based on selected scriptures and teachers younger children this powerful truth – they can talk to God.

This lesson plan was written for a preschool class at church, but it could be modified for other ministry settings. You could expand it for elementary children or use it at home for family devotions.

Bible Truth: I Can Pray
Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 5:17 – “pray continually” | Colossians 4:2 – “Devote yourselves to prayer” | Ephesians 6:18 – “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests”
Target Age Group: Ages 2 – 4
Learning Context: Any small group setting like Sunday School or Church Toddler class.
Target Time Frame: 30 minutes
Printer Friendly Bible Lesson:  PRINT this lesson plan
You Can Help: Please share your feedback and suggestions to improve this children’s Bible lesson. Click here to respond

Materials Needed: Pictures to represent a quiet place (search Google images), being alone, being in a crowd, night, day, storm, sunny day.

Coloring Page: Print off our prayer coloring pages.

Lesson Plan: Briefly explain the following scriptures  to the children, be expressive and show this fact is amazing – God actually wants us to talk to him.

• 1 Thessalonians 5:17 – “pray continually”
• Colossians 4:2 – “Devote yourselves to prayer”
• Ephesians 6:18 – “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests”

Explain to them that God tells us in His word to pray and that they can pray to God any time.  Explain that praying is talking with God.

Show pictures of places where we can pray. Use the pictures to help kids understand when and where we can pray.

Craft Time:

Materials Needed for Craft Time:

• Empty/cleaned baby food jars with lids
• Labels that are preprinted with “I Can Pray”
• Praying hands/Bible stickers
• 4 small pieces of paper per child
• Crayons/pencils

Craft Procedure:

1. Give each child a baby food jar.  Help him put one of the provided “I Can Pray” labels on it.  They can also use other stickers to decorate their jar.
2. Give each child four small pieces of paper.  Have kids each draw a picture of something they want to pray for on each paper.  Suggest praying for Mommy, Daddy, your church, and people who are sick.  Have kids fold their drawings and put them into their jars.  During prayer time, have kids pull out pictures and pray for what they’ve drawn.  Challenge kids to take their jars home and have their parents pray with them everyday.

Need More Preschool Ideas? Then browse our lessons for Preschool Sunday School or print one of our free Bible coloring pages.

I Can Pray: Preschool Lesson and Craft

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Preschool teachers teach children ages 3 to 5 about the basics of subjects like reading, writing, math, and science. For many students, this is their first structured learning experience, so preschool teachers often show their students an elevated level of care and attention.

Preschool is about more than learning how to read, write, and count. It’s also an opportunity for young children to learn about the world, develop their motor skills, and practice social skills. Preschool teachers have to design a classroom experience that allows students to explore a variety of skills. For instance, reading a story to students while they sit still on a reading rug helps students to learn language and vocabulary skills while teaching them proper classroom behavior.

Most childcare centers require preschool teachers to have a high school diploma in addition to a certification in early childhood education. In other settings, particularly public schools, teachers may be required to have more education or training.

A Day in the Life

• Morning: Preschool teachers may start their day by greeting students and parents and helping ease each student’s transition to the classroom. This will most likely be harder in the beginning of the year for students and parents who are new to school.
• Mid-Morning: Depending on the school’s schedule, mid-morning may be circle time where students may receive instruction or hear a story while sitting in a circle on the floor. Teachers may receive help from a teacher assistant to manage classroom behavior.
• Lunch: The teacher may have a break during lunch to prepare for afternoon lessons while the teacher assistant takes the students to the cafeteria for lunch and then outside.
• Afternoon: After lunch, students will most likely take a nap. This may be easier for some students than others, and the teacher is responsible for managing their behavior during this time. The rest of the afternoon may be a time for students to play or work on a project together under the teacher’s supervision.
• After Work: After the students leave for the day, teachers may be responsible for making calls to parents, meeting with administrators, and planning lessons for the next day or week.

Licensing Requirements

The licensing requirements for preschool teachers varies depending on the type of preschool program and the location. For instance, a high school diploma and a certification in early childhood education are all that’s required for many childcare centers. Head Start requires that teachers have an associate degree. Public schools require a bachelor’s degree and certification in early childhood education or a related field. An early childhood education certification allows teachers to teach from preschool through third grade. Other requirements may include: up-to-date immunizations, background check, CPR certification, and additional training in a preschool setting. For more information on individual state requirements, check out our state certification pages.

Areas of Specialization

A preschool teacher looking to specialize in disabled children might consider getting additional training or education in special education. With a master’s degree in special education, a preschool teacher might receive a higher salary in a public school and would likely have the knowledge necessary to help young children with learning, physical, and emotional disabilities.

Previous and Next Steps

Many current preschool teachers embark on a career path in early childhood education fresh out of high school or college. Others looking to make a career shift later in life have opted to become preschool teachers, as well. Childcare centers are usually not as strict as public schools about requirements and certifications, so it’s possible to get experience without a degree in early childhood education. While some preschool teachers move on to become directors of childcare centers, others go on to teach children at the elementary school level.

For average salary information for preschool teachers (and several other early childhood education-related positions), go to our Jobs page and select a state.

National Organizations

• National Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators
• Association for Early Learning Leaders

www.earlychildhoodteacher.org