Sunnypatch kids

Hello My name is Elisha Suarez and I am a preschool teacher, mother, wife and lover of all things child development and secret do it yourself-er enthusiast . I am always learning new things in this amazing world of child development. One of my favorite educational resources to use are the teaching young children magazines from National Association of the education of young children (NAEYC) I suggest anyone in the early education field to get involved with NAEYC.  I will post a link below to some of the articles. I would love for you all to come on this blogging adventure with me as I attempt to figure out this crazy world.  I will be posting all things early education. I also have a cricut machine and as I am learning to use that machine to help out my preschool classroom   I will be posting articles about my trial and tribulations with the cricut. I will post a link below of the cricut machine in case you have never heard of it    as the great Peter ...

Circle time can be a challenging task for a veteran child care provider let alone someone new to the field. I will never forget me first circle time it was a mess I was a disaster   But, Like everything I got better with practice the more you do it the better you become it is as simple as that. I have compiled a list of things that make my group gatherings go smoother. 1. A Great Book- If the book is not interesting to the children get rid of it. The children will let you  know by their body language if they start to squarm and start talking you know its a dud. You might LOVE the book but were here for our audience. My go to book for a new class it DON’T touch that button by Bill Cotter it is a great book for children. I have never had a child not love it. I make it interactive by letting each child touch the button on the page or tell me when to stop shaking the book exc. I let the children have part in the story telling. 2. Music and movement- Children love music ...

The Audubon Nature Preschool “Children are born naturalists. They explore the world with all of their senses, experiment in the environment, and communicate their discoveries to those around them.”   Learning in nature is something very near and dear to my heart. A couple year ago I went to a conference being held by Claire Warden she runs an outdoor nursery in Scotland Auchlone Nature Kindergarten. My life was forever changed from that moment on I always asked myself how am I involving nature in my children’s learning.  Bringing living plants into the classroom doesn’t really cut it is a great start though. Some examples that I always try to do is bring an art project outside instead of being inside. Who says that we only go outside for physical activity. Our children need nature in their life. Take them on a backyard scavenger hunt. That is math skills that we are now learning in nature. There are so much activities that we can bring outside. But remember bring  nature...

Getting Families Involved Family involvement in the preschool classroom is so crucially important. It shows the children that families are invested in their education; But, everyday my coworkers and I struggle to get families to volunteer. Here are four ideas to get more families involved in the early childhood  classroom. At the beginning of the month put out a blank calendar and ask the families what day works best for them to volunteer in the class. (remember it’s all in how you ask) have them fill in the dates their committing to on the calendar right then. Assign parents jobs in the classroom like cutting out projects, class helper, or setting up the outside environment. This should be done in advance. (remember to have set times it only takes about 5 minutes to set up the outside environment) Have special events in the classroom monthly for family involvement for instance have a special guest read a book in circle time, or have a family member set up a special activi...