In 2018 I joined the Lacey Township Preschool team and began teaching PSD -Preschool Disabled and Inclusion. Once again I fell in love with preschool as well as my new district and my amazing new team. I immediately signed up at Kean University to complete my masters in Special Education and in May 2021 I will finally graduate. My aim is to hang my hat at the Lacey School District and be a foundational part of a growing early childhood program is a community oriented district.
In 2018 I joined the Lacey Township Preschool team and began teaching PSD -Preschool Disabled and Inclusion. Once again I fell in love with preschool as well as my new district and my amazing new team. I immediately signed up at Kean University to complete my masters in Special Education and in May 2021 I will finally graduate. My aim is to hang my hat at the Lacey School District and be a foundational part of a growing early childhood program is a community oriented district.
In 2018 I joined the Lacey Township Preschool team and began teaching PSD -Preschool Disabled and Inclusion. Once again I fell in love with preschool as well as my new district and my amazing new team. I immediately signed up at Kean University to complete my masters in Special Education and in May 2021 I will finally graduate. My aim is to hang my hat at the Lacey School District and be a foundational part of a growing early childhood program is a community oriented district.
Inspired by my overwhelming love for Books, Books and more Books along with the need for some funding in the Preschool Program where I taught, I helped to coordinate a book fair to raise money and help get us BOOKS!!
The theme of the book fair was Circus. My class kicked off the decorating for this event by creating a hallway filled with clowns. The Book fair was a HUGE success.
AMERICAN ART
AMERICAN ART
AMERICAN ART
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THE PROJECT APPROACH
Before implementing Creative Curriculum, I loved designing my classroom around The Project Approach, a philosophy that closely aligns with study-based learning. Long before studies became part of my curriculum, my students and I were exploring meaningful topics driven by their own questions, interests, and curiosity.
The Project Approach is a form of project-based learning in which children help inspire and shape the topic of study. Once a topic is identified, the class engages in an in-depth investigation through research, hands-on experiences, field trips, guest speakers, and authentic exploration. As the teacher, my role is to facilitate learning by providing rich experiences, asking thoughtful questions, and encouraging children to discover answers for themselves.
This approach is at the heart of my educational philosophy. I believe children learn best when they are active participants in their own learning and have opportunities to investigate real-world topics that are meaningful to them. Each project follows three phases: planning and questioning, investigation and exploration, and reflection and celebration. The culmination is a meaningful opportunity for students to showcase what they have learned, created, and discovered together.
Throughout my years teaching preschool and art, I have facilitated a wide variety of project studies while encouraging as much child-led learning as possible within the curriculum. Below are examples of some of the project studies my students have completed.
For more information about The Project Approach, visit www.projectapproach.org.
THE COWBOY PROJECT
The Cowboy project was a collaborative project with another preschool teacher. Inspired by a reoccurring observation of students returning to the block area to build barns, create horses and play cowboys. After multiple observations of this same theme a variety of books and resources were brought in to see if we could spark an interest in the rest of the class. It was a quick success and an entire unit was developed around this study. The unit included a variety of math, art, music, science and technology to explore cowboys, horses and all things in the west. The culminating celebration was a rodeo on the playground where students shared all their learning with their parents and grandparents.
PROJECT COCOA CAFE
I have conducted Project Cafe multiple times. It began as a child driven project when my preschool class demonstrated intense interest playing restaurant, cook and waitress. The more info I offered them the more excited they became. With the help of parents and restaurants in our community we hosted a 4 week study on how a restaurant operates. Children were encouraged to visit restaurants and take notes and bring in menus and ideas for creating a restaurant in our classroom. There was loads of pretend play, role playing, mathematical concepts, social skills and planning involved in this project. In the end we hosted our own
Cocoa Cafe (named by the students) to show off their new knowledge. Students worked the restaurant as either host, waitress, cook or busboy. This study was such a huge success that the next year I attempted to implement this project as my first ever teacher driven project and it was pleasantly received. Once again the students were again and excited to explore restaurants.
ALL ABOUT THAT BUS
The Bus project was inspired by the love of a Book: "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus" by Mo Williems. This is one of my favorite and most animated books to read and I read it often to my students. This book and the fact that these students would be starting Kindergarten the next year and taking the bus inspired loads of curiosity and interest in buses. Thanks to the help and support of our school transportation department students were given a tour of a bus. We used digital camera for kids to take pics of things we should remember when we built our own bus. Kids were able to explore the bus in a fun and safe way, they practiced buckling their seat belts and even honked the horn. After our bus
exploration we went back to the classroom and got to work building a bus using the pictures, drawings and information we collected. I still see students who were involved in this project and they all claim to still have a love for that pigeon and our bus!
