Ok. Well I'm pretty sure in my classroom we have tables. I would assume that most teachers have assigned seating for pre-K kids. Do you just put the nameplates on the table? Or does anyone use any other strategies? Also- I only have 12 students in my pre-K class (and no assistant). Are name-tags a good idea? And would you leave those at the tables for students to put in? Or set up a table with them? (For the first day of school). And my last question is about classroom libraries. I have book baskets and am collecting books. How do you separate your books for pre-K? According to subject/genres or reading levels? Just wanted some insight for that. THANKS!:2up:
I don't have assigned seats, rather assigned tables. Each of my tables is a different color, I have 4 tables that each seat 6 and my class sizes average about 24. I group the kids into color groups, for example 6 kids would be "assigned" the yellow table. This way they are still "assigned" but they still have some choices and can make their own decision about which seat to sit in. I think it's important to allow them to make their own choices whenever possible. I don't think you can assign seats until you get to know the kids and their personalities. Maybe Johnny and Jimmy absolutely shouldn't be together and Suzie and Samantha fight like cats and need to be separated. You wouldn't know these things on the first day of school and would create more work for yourself removing and replacing their nametags. I would wait until after you get to know the kids and then group them as you see fit. Do you mean name tags to put on their shirts? I always put nametags on my students for the first week or so until I learn their names, I'm a very visual learner. Little ones can't put on their own nametags, they will need lots of help. Here is a link to the page on my site that explains how I present books to my pre-k students in the classroom. There you can see a picture of my book boxes. In Pre-K it is better if your books are grouped by subject, reading levels won't really come into play much.
I know all the names of my kids on day one because they move up to me form the toddler room but wehn I do make name tags for soem other reason I make them like necklaces so the kids can put them on by themselves. I don't sepreate my books at the reading area--- I only h ave one book bucket or I use a bookstand ---and put a variety of books in it. I switch them out every once ina while. I use name plates on my tables but don't cover adhere them permanently until a c ouple of weks have gone by-- that way i can move them around if I need to.
Oops, I just answered this in the Check In/Attendance thread if you want to see. I agree with V on just about everything she said about groups. However, I teach in an extremely low-income school and the kids have to be taught how to make good choices. So, I use the nametags to give them an assigned seat for that day but it will change the next day to another assigned seat at a new table. They get lots of other chances to make "free choice" decisions. I just got very tired of having to deal with (imagine whine) "that was my chair", "he's bugging me", "that's where I was sitting", etc. As far as wearing nametags... I put information on each nametag and tape it inside a plastic sleeve and safety pin it on each child for a month. For about 4 weeks the bus drivers won't let a Pre-K child on unless there is an address, parent name and phone number pinned on them. They won't let a Pre-K child off the bus unless someone is there to take them off. SO, I add lunch numbers to the tag to save some time... On books, there are several threads someplace on Elementary Education that are talking about books. I'm getting new ideas from them. I have lots of board books out on the shelf for them to hold and look at until I can teach them how to handle books. Previously, my 4yr olds have destroyed many of my "regular" books early in the year. Now I wait until I know they can do it. Right now, I put books in 2 gallon Zip Locks by theme and then file them in Scholastic book boxes by when I would use them. Then I rotate them when I do themes (Back to school first, then bears, cats & cookies, dogs, farm, goats, fall, Thanksgiving, etc..) I don't put out "reading levels" until 2nd semester when I see who is ready. This year I had one child who understood reading concepts at the end of the 1st 9 weeks (during morning message when we started sounding out some initial sounds and the "at" family) By the end of the year, she was reading AR books for first and second graders!! I had couple of others that were reading "Bob" books and Clifford phonics books. They aren't ready until they are ready and I just have to be aware. I do put out predictable books though after I read it to them. They like to "pretend" read to each other. Brown Bear and the How Do Dinosaurs... board books are read all year long.
WOW:wow: I need to read your web site pages again. My little darlings seem so different that yours. I would never believe they were from apartment slums. Thanks for sharing your experiences on your web. You don't know how much it's helped me. I just hope, with your new promotion, that you still update us on what you learn. I'm one of your #1 fans. Thanks again!!!:2up:
Thanks tgi Yep, we're Title 1 with 95% free and reduced meals (mostly free) and over half of our 700 student pop coming from section 8 housing across the street, the other half rent the old houses surrounding the school. At registration last year I think we had one pre-k kid whose family actually owned a home, and that was a shocker. Almost all of our kids are ELL's too. Yes, I will still keep up the website, not to worry, it's my favorite hobby As soon as all my workshops are finished next week I plan to add a few new pages to the site.
Whew! :wub: Thanks. I'll watch my RSS feed for your update. I learned how to do that from you too! I just hope you will consider turning over your info to someone if you decide to go the route of Mrs. Pohlmeyers Kinderpage someday. Luckily, I copied some of her pages I used regularly and saved them on my hard drive at home when I read her message that she might stop her site. I used the archive that you suggested and retrieved a few more that I wanted to "get to someday". Thanks for that, too. (I told you that I was your #1 fan.) OK, I'll stop now.... no more hi-jacking.
When you subscribe to a blog you subscribe to the RSS feed of that blog. When you subscribe you receive notification whenever the blog is updated. Thread hijacking is when people don't respond to the original poster's question, but instead start talking about something else, which is what we seem to have done on this thread :sorry:
Thanks for the advice! Boardbooks is a good idea... now I just need to get some! I thought genres would be the better way to go, I just wanted to make sure. VannaPK- Your website is an awesome resource! Alright, DH is getting on me about signing some papers...
I like to use table tags as a way of controlling behavior issues. I have some friends who don't get along or they get along too well. I have to keep several of my girls seperated or we get a little click going. Who knew that at 4 you could be in a "click". Sometimes they can be really NASTY!!! We have a state guideline to follow and we have to keep our books on a book shelf. I try to keep them changed out with the theme but most of the time I just keep them until they fall apart and then I replace them with something from my stash.
I have a random selection of books in a book bucket that sits on the floor in the book area. My book area consits of the book bucket on the floor againt the wall ---or sometimes a book shelf that I really hate becasue the spaces are not fat enough and the kids have a hard time putting the books back in without ruining them--- and two benches one on each side . I can have up to 8 kids in my class and the bencehs will hold 8 kids so they get used for a lot of things. In between activities while I clean up or prep for the next one they sit and llook at books--- they always called it the book area. then one day I hung a curtain of tulle so it came down from the ceiling in a swag over the benches and they suddenly started calling it the library!
