Simply Preschool: classroom

Tasia over at Great Minds Teach Alike came up with a great idea to share tech tips each month. We all have our little secrets, and some might not think of things that others have. I'm excited to see what every one else has come up with. Most of my tech tips will probably have to do with parents communication and organization because, unfortunately (or fortunately?) I don't have technology in my classroom. I would LOVE to have access to a SMART board or at least a projector at times, but let's face it. My kids are 4 and they get enough technology at home. I'd rather give them free play or manipulatives to play with.

So, here is my contribution to the first Tech Talk blog hop:

Two words: Google Calendar

I used to work at Family Christian and every year around this time, they would have these super cute planners on sale. I would always think about buying one, then I'd remember that I don't actually use a paper calendar. I use Google Calendar for everything. And I've found that anything I don't put in my calendar I promptly forget. I've missed my nephew's birthday party that way, and once I almost missed a babysitting job. It's how I stay organized. Here are my tips for making Google Calendar work for you and your classroom:

1. Create a calendar specifically for your classroom. I actually have calendars for my life stuff (dinner dates, rehearsals, etc.), babysitting jobs, church/youth group activities, as well as school. Each has a different color, allowing me to differentiate between events at a glance.

2. Input your events on the calendar. I put field trips, birthdays, class parties, book order due dates, and school closings all on the calendar. There's a space for notes in which I put reminders about field trip shirts, costs, lunches needed. I also make sure I put in the address, too, so I can easily pull up directions if need be.

3. Share the calendar with parents. I make a bit.ly link and include it in my email signature. (BONUS: You can see how often it's been clicked.) It's also in my parent info packet each August. They also get a paper copy of all of our field trip dates in that packet.

My understanding is that the XML allows parents to import the calendar directly into their calendar.

My goal in doing this is so there is no excuse for parents to not know when various events are (especially since I email weekly with reminders about events). You'll always have parents who don't pay attention, but at least you tried!!

We start school in the middle of August here in the Midwest. I have no idea why. I don't think we've started after Labor Day since I was in early elementary school (early 90s...). So I have actually been in school now for 2 weeks.

I teach preschool in a childcare setting, so we're open year-round. I'm completely jealous of all you teachers who get a few weeks to organize a room before your new kids come. I get 6 hours. No joke. Our kids go home on a Thursday, we clean till like midnight (I was done at 8:30, thank you very much), have some PD on Friday, and on Monday we start with our new kids. Although, I am thankful that I don't have to pack everything up in May every year. That is nice...

So here are a few of my back-to-school things I did (not student related) to prep and welcome my kids.

My favorite is my bulletin board. I wish I could take credit for it, but I actually found the idea for it in this Buzzfeed article.

I found a cowboy hat in our toy closet and took their photo with the most grimacing look they could give. Some of them did a great job! Then I took their photos and added them to a Wanted poster and thought up clever, outlaw-esque names for them. I cut the letters out on my Cricut.

(Side note... my bulletin board is painted. All of ours are. It's great because I don't have to worry about the hassle of paper or fabric all year!)

It was time to do some rearranging from last year as well. Here is a shot of my room at the beginning of last year. I put together the room from scratch, which is why it seems so EMPTY. I filled it in a lot over the year, but that space next to my desk was bugging me. It really WAS empty.