Karen Cox has been teaching Pre-k for 13 years and has experience working with High Scope, the project approach, Montessori, and Reggio Emilia. What do all of these approaches have in common? They are all excellent models of the child-centered approach to learning.
Prekinders is a great resource for any early childhood teacher to use for ideas to support just about anything in the pre-k classroom. The website is very easy to navigate, and the home page has links to the the different sections that include learning areas, themes, printables and classroom ideas. Each of these areas gives information, ideas and photographs to help teachers understand why and how Karen has set up her child-centered classroom.
One area I have found very helpful in planning activities for my classroom is on her learning areas tab. She has broken down information for each center area of the classroom so that teachers can pull up information on specific content areas and find ideas for activities that are developmentally appropriate. This is extremely helpful when making changes to centers to keep the students engaged.
Another area that has been very helpful is the classroom ideas. I have used several of Karen's classroom tips for organization and center design when setting up the classroom in the beginning of the school year. She has also listed great resources for creating a schedule, the classroom management system, and training students to follow daily routines and expectations.
There is so much information that a teacher could hunt for hours finding new ideas.
You can find Karen Cox and Prekinders at http://www.prekinders.com/.
I am a huge fan of Prekinders! When I am looking for additional resources to go along with a specific theme, I can also come to this website to find more activities. I love the learning areas tab. A part of our program we have to go through an ECERS rating scale to be licensed. I can use the learning areas tab to add materials in my centers. It has been very helpful in knowing what materials I need in my learning areas.
ReplyDeleteAntoinette,
DeleteI understand, I have been an ECERS observer for 5 years, and the teachers who are being observed/evaluated with this tool definitely need to use resources like prekinders to enhance center areas for the activities section of the ECERS. Thanks for visiting!
Tara
I really like it that prekinders.com has a lot of printables for teachers to use. I always find these useful because making them up yourself can be very time consuming! This seems like a great website. Thanks for sharing
ReplyDeleteKatrina,
DeleteI am glad you liked it. Remember that her printables are wonderful to use in centers and small group activities. Be careful to use items like these as worksheets, which is not developmentally appropriate for preschool/pre-k children. But they are wonderful to support hands on activities.
Tara