✨ Preschool Teacher Inspiration: A Collection of Photos ✨
I hope you enjoy this collection of photos from my Preschool Classroom. I hope they inspire you and make sure to bookmark this page because I will keep adding to it!
Be forewarned - they aren’t all “instagram-perfect,” because they were taken in a real classroom with real students and ✨real magic happening.✨
I tried not to put too many words, I wanted the photos to tell most of the story - so if you have any questions about ANYTHING - please leave a comment at the bottom of the page and I’ll be happy to give more information!
📎 Make sure to bookmark this page because I will keep adding to it!
Sometimes, just adding a feather to a writing utensil… changes everything! ✨
I hope you all have seen the aprons I wear when teaching, (if not, they are NOT like this baby!)
This was a teaching apron I made to hang by our carpet area so I could throw it on and have an awesome way to engage the class in a whole group lesson. I just made the apron out of felt, so it's basically a walking felt board. 👏🏼👏🏾👏🏿
The possibilities are endless. You could teach anything with this as long as you can throw some Velcro on the back of it! I picked letters and numbers.
I'd ask the class things like:
"Who can find the letter s?"
"Who can find the number 5?"
"Raise your hand if you have this letter in your name."
"Who can find the letter that makes the sound /t/?"
Then we'd do fun things like put the numbers in order (like you see at the bottom of the apron.) And I'd ask, "What number comes after 3? Who can come find it?" Then we'd count up to 10 and backwards to zero again.
The first tent I ever built… I’ve since made another and you can see exactly how I did it by clicking here! PS- There’s NO SEWING! (You can totally make one too, I promise!)
I wish I could give one of these shirts to every preschool teacher in the world…
(I drank too much wine one Saturday night and ordered them for my team😛)…
BEST DECISION EVER!
Did you know Layne and I did a podcast for you!? WE SURE DID.
(And I only blocked out your face because I didn’t know if you wanted to be associated with all of our public posts… WE LOVE YOU D!!!)
Do you have trouble getting your little ones to form their letters correctly??
…So I've always loved the rainbow scratch paper, but I never really found a WOW purpose for them... until now-- I recently started using them to teach letter formation for my students names.
It's a simple system---they start in the dot and follow the arrows...over and over again. 🎤 (mic drop.)
But seriously, that's the purpose of scratch paper, the more you go over it, the prettier it looks! They want to keep going over it!
In the beginning, I have them recite, "I start in the dot...and follow the arrows." (As they correctly do it.) Once they master the system, they can go over and over their name--forming each letter correctly! (Insert hallelujah meme.)
But don't let the dream end there, dreamers....once you have them using the system and writing their name correctly, just imagine... you could do it with NUMBERS...OTHER letters....SHAPES...this can change the (classroom) world entirely.
Who sees the magical picture I'm painting here?
This was a display I put on my door in my first year of teaching… simple, yet so powerful.
How do you keep all of the (what seems like millions) of art/craft supplies organized?? (Popsicle sticks, pipe cleaners, gems, feathers, the list goes on and on...!)
I found this cabinet at Hobby Lobby and it upped up my organization score to at least...a solid 8. 💃🏻💃🏻💃🏻.
Before everything was in one big cabinet — Why are those cabinets SO DEEP? Ugh, so much stuff behind stuff behind stuff… I always had to pull everything out to find what I was looking for… and there was a VERY SLIM chance of finding specific items when I needed them. It was awful.
⚡️ ⚡️But now, I'm SO organized, it's not just ME who can find things--a sub, my Para, ANYONE can find them!!!! ⚡️⚡️
A little color sorting inspiration for you. My classroom was Montessori inspired, so we loved pictures that used real images! Where my Montessori teachers at?!! 📢💛
DO YOU USE CAPES IN YOUR CLASSROOM?
There's just something about putting on a cape that can make a person feel STRONG💪🏼💪🏻💪🏿💪🏾 …capable...proud...inspired....super-hero-ish?☺️
⚡️
I use these simple kids capes to make examples of students showing certain qualities. Recently, I busted out the green capes to highlight kids who are working hard.
⚡️
I've used them to encourage good friends, patience and lots of other qualities! I just spot a kid exhibiting the qualities and put the cape on them. Then, they wear it for awhile and then (the best part) THEY get to pick another kid who's exhibiting the same quality. It's pretty fascinating how quickly behaviors change when you bust out the ol' cape trick 👍🏿👍🏽👍🏻
⚡️ Give it a try and see for yourself. I got these on Amazon!
Or, if you’re more of a DIY kinda teacher… I made these capes myself…
Looking for a way to step up your recess game?!?! 💜💜 I am so excited about my DIY cape project, I had to model it myself because I couldn't wait to share it!
My cousin is also an amazing teacher of little people and she told me about a great idea--she gets animal print fabrics and they tie them up like capes to let the kids play like wild animals... (How cute is that idea?) I loved it so much I went shopping, hoping to find some more animal prints so I could make them for all the classes to enjoy on the playground...but they had no animal print fabric--so I got creative and started making capes of all sorts!!! I am certainly still in the market for lots more animal print fabrics but for now, these will be fun for the kids!!
If you know me, you know, I'll take any excuse to wear a cape and I think we should dress like Superhero's more often!!!!
I used velcro to secure the capes so the kids could put them on and take them off without help.
BUILD THEM UP! ❤️💙 This work is so simple, yet soooo beautiful. I introduced it to one of my students and she sat and worked diligently, making a sticker for EVERY student in our class. Then, she walked around looking for kids exhibiting the qualities she had written on the stickers such as, "hard worker" or "role model" 😊
There are several magical moments that happen with this work---first, the excitement one student gets when putting a sticker on a peer and watching that proud look on their face...second, the child wears it around all day, remembering again and again how great they are...and finally, they get picked up and their families ask about the sticker and get to hear a great story.
Making time to help kids truly believe in themselves and feel that they possess these precious qualities that we want for all of our kids, IS SO WORTH IT!!!!!
Window Tracing is fun any time of the year!
Window tracings always turn out SO AWESOME and the kids are so proud of themselves.
Our spring window tracing work! I printed different flowers on white paper and trimmed down the colorful paper to fit on top of flowers. They get to pick which flower they want to trace and then they get to color and decorate it!
Peek-A-Boo Books!
You lift up the colored word card to reveal the white card where they’ve drawn the picture. It’s a way for them to practice early reading… they guess the word, and life the flap to check and see if they’re right!
Kandinsky...thanks for the inspiration. We made this class masterpiece of circles based on his famous painting.
💕💜 Our dry erase boards are ready to go! We use those pom-poms as erasers when we do whole group lessons on letter formation!!! 💕💜
Have you ever brought any cardboard creation play into your classroom?
I thought we might just enjoy this cool project for a few days, but once they got started, it was obvious it was going to be here a lot longer, so we rearranged the room again for a more permanent stay…
These simple cardboard boxes made my kids more excited than anything... and it immediately brought them together and motivated them to collaborate and encourage each other!!
Similar to that cozy feeling you get when laying under a Christmas Tree. 😊
Color Mixing Nature Slides I made for our light table…
Sorting fun!!!
I created a very simple template for my students to explore sorting and I made it seem SUPER EXCITING by putting all the objects into an art box that I wait to give to them until after they write the words...
Then, I hype it up even more by saying, "Ok, nice job writing...now you get to search through this treasure box! Look carefully there are some special tiny things buried in there!" (They get so into it.😊)
Next, I have them lay all the treasures out on the paper where they belong and I return to check their work before they start gluing. The best part? You can write ANYTHING in the spaces... If your students need practice with shapes, put shapes on there and cut them out of (glitter) paper... Do you have a bunch of extra paper hearts punched? Stars? Feathers? Fill those in on the other spaces...Kids love to do this again and again because they get to look through the treasure box and find new things!!!!
In the winter, I throw snowflakes in - after Valentine's Day, I add hearts... ✨make it your own box of treasures based on what you have in your cabinets!!!!✨
Continent Study! I always use this youtube video to teach the names of the continents. Not only does it work like a charm, but the kids LOVE IT.
Our Animal Study!
This is a document you can get in my TPT store!
The whole document is actually 112 pages!!!
Maps included to learn about continents and habitats together!
Your students fill in the habitats based on the photos of the animals (INCLUDED with the template!)
^^Here is how they look before the student’s add in the habitat.
^^These masks are a BONUS PERK for the Pre-K Teacher Family members! Join today!
We also do some window tracing with the animals we learn about!
The kids are always SO PROUD of their window tracings. It’s great fine motor practice to work on a vertical surface and they feel like such great artists when they see the result!
We also did some tracings on our light table!
The rock possibilities are ENDLESS… this was a DIY project that turned out to be even cooler than I imagined. We use them in our fairy garden and other free play and building centers.
Do you like the glitter side (bottom photo) or the plain side (top photo) better?
When you only get a small amount of screen time, you better enjoy it! 🔥🔥 Isn’t this setup cozy?!
🌎🌍🌏 A display I created in my room, using this incredible article I found online a few years ago showing all the beautiful types of play happening around the world
It's a captivating mix of culture, beauty and of course, THE IMPORTANCE OF PLAY… I’m hoping to inspire others in a country that I feel is going the wrong way with older students --taking way too many standardized tests 😫😫😢.... 🌏🌍🌎
Take a minute to check out the article, the photos of children playing around the world are absolutely BREATHTAKING.
Image Credits: Светлана Квашина
Image credits: Chan Kwok Hung
Image credits: Sarawut Intarob
Image credits: Sarawut Intarob
Image credits: James Khoo
BENEFITS of displaying markers like this for your kiddos:
#1-AMAZING hand strengthening exercise for kids to remove markers and snap back onto caps 💪🏼...
#2-No more searching all over for lost marker lids! 👀
#3-KIDS LOVE THE CHALLENGE!! And feel super proud as they master it! 👍🏻
I just hot-glued the lids to a normal wooden block! Give it a try!!
🌙⭐✨ Our Dreamcatchers were the perfect decorations for our Graduation celebration!! Dream big, little ones!!!!! 🌙⭐✨
^^ Here’s a close-up on the poem we attached to each one. 😊
These are a FINE MOTOR DREAM~ the kids threaded the yarn at the top and wrapped their own sticks with yarn to hang with the feathers.
^^^ This was the first year we made them, and they were very simple… but over time, we’ve just naturally gotten a little more fancy. 😂
I’m not kidding when I say, each year, I became so excited for this project - I couldn’t help but make it more and more elaborate… it was such a fun and special thing to do with each child… and then they each COULD NOT WAIT for the day they got to take them home.
I did home visits and I remember visiting so many siblings and finding past students that still had these hanging in their room… melt my heart why don’t cha…
And we talked about how hanging these above their bed would help keep bad dreams away… and it broke my heart to hear so many of them talk about how they had such bad dreams!! (Totally normal, but still made me sad)… Each year, they were always so excited to bring them home… I think it’s one of those things where thinking positive thoughts and believing they would keep the bad dreams away really helped them to have better dreams…
Have you heard about the apron I wear everyday?
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
^^^^ Here’s a video I made to explain why I wear an apron everyday… (I hope it at least makes you laugh. 😂)
Graduation Caps
Graduation Photos. ❤
I ordered several caps and gowns to take photos of my students at the end of the year each year. They don’t actually wear the caps and gowns to the graduation, but their families always LOVE getting surprised with these fun photos. I print them and laminate them so they can hang them wherever they want. (I do one photo with the sign and one of without.)