FDK Learn and Play

I know we've barely begun summer vacation, but I'm already thinking about getting back into the classroom, and wondering what I need to replenish in my room. Teachers tend to spend a lot of our own money on our classrooms, I'm definitely guilty of this (you can check a few posts back to see just how guilty I am!). I want to give my students the most enriching program I can, and so I tend to buy materials, resources, books... the list goes on and on! But, over the years I have managed to find a few simple hacks to save myself a little bit of spending - and do some good for the environment at the same time. As we gear up to (maybe) go back to school, I thought I would share some of my favourite upcycles for the classroom!  1. PLASTIC FRUIT TRAYS First up, plastic fruit and veggie trays. These are perfect for SO many activities! I use them for arts and crafts invitations, to organize materials for small world areas, they're fantastic for play dough and loose parts set ups,...

I've had a number of people inquire on Instagram about how I run my math centers and structure my math program, so I thought I would get back to blogging with a more in-depth look at how I teach math!  Let me start by saying, it took me a few years in kindergarten before I came up with a system that I was completely happy with. It is not easy when you're starting out in full-day kindergarten - I found at first that I really struggled with how to run a math program that served both myself and my students well. There is a lot of trial and error involved, and a lot of experimentation to find the right balance of instruction and play-based learning. My actual math schedule looks like this: I have 4 math centers a week. I run it this way because typically the over last few years, I have had a significant amount of prep periods on Monday and I'm not able to fit in a full math block. So on Mondays I would do a short mini-lesson around our math focus - usually I would try to gauge ...