Self-Portrait Portfolio Pages

I'm always looking for artifacts for my students portfolios. I try to find items that will be keepsakes for my students and their parents but also show their development throughout the year.

I make a self-portrait page for the fall and one for the spring and place them next to each other in the child's portfolio. This also allows me to collect data (number of body parts drawn) for report cards.

You can download the template FOR FREE here. The background is white but can be printed on colored paper or cut out and pasted on colored paper.

Preschool Self-Portraits

I love self-portraits. It always amazes me how much each child's personality comes out in their drawings. I constantly have parents asking me, did my child draw that?! The answer is yes! With the right directions/facilitation you can help each child do their best. 

I love the results of this project and it's simpler then it looks. This project usually takes us about two days. I begin by giving the child a blank piece of paper. (I use white card stock  Then I ask each child to think about what their face looks like. Is it round like a ball? Oval like an egg, etc. Then I ask them to draw their head. It's important to use permanent marker, because washable markers will run when painted over. Then I ask the child to think about what they have on their head, eyes, ears, nose, mouth, etc. DON'T DRAW HAIR it will be added later. Last, I have them draw two lines down from their chin to make their neck.

Then, we look at our multi-cultural paints together and choose the shade that matches the closest. (You can find multi-cultural paint through discount school supply) They paint all of the white space on their head/neck. 

I cut out their portrait after it has dried and glue it down on a piece of white card stock. 

Then we work on their hair. I use blonde, black, and brown yarn. I ask them about what color their hair is, is it long or short, does it need to be braided, in a pony tail, curly, etc. This part is very teacher directed.  Some accessory ideas; colored yarn for hair ties, barrettes, streamers folded up for bows, pipe cleaners for head bands, jewels or beads for earrings.

Then, it's time to paint in the eyes if necessary. I use white acrylic, because the tempera paint lets the color underneath seep through. Then the child adds a dot with the color of their eyes. 

We added writing to our art that says "My name is ______." You can read about adding writing here.

We display our self-portraits all year in the classroom and then send them home in portfolios at the end of the year. 

Fall weather has FINALLY arrived here in St. Louis! I'm enjoying a lazy Sunday with the windows open and Cardinal baseball on TV. 

If you like the ideas found on my blog, please leave a comment and follow me! :)

Friend Bingo

It's the beginning of the year and my kids are all referring to each other as he and she. He hit me. She took my block. He won't play with me. It's up to me to distinguish just which he or she they're referring to with very little clues. Sometimes I'm lucky enough to get a point in the general direction of the child in question. Although usually this means they turn their head while pointing and all their words start flowing away from me and I can't understand anything that they're saying. This activity won't help you with that, but it will help your students learn each others names. 

Every year I create a bingo game using each child's picture. I print my pictures out at walgreens with 4 pictures on each 4x6. You can read my tech tip here for creating tiny pictures. Instead of making them tiny, size them down to 1/4 of a 4 x 6. (so each rectangle is 2x3). Then use them to create bingo cards. If you have a colored printer, you can just create the whole bingo card on your computer.

The kids love getting to play bingo with their pictures! Once we've played for a little while some of my older kids pick up on everyone's names. Then they take over being the caller for me! :)

How do you help your students become familiar with their friends names?

All About Me Star, Poem, and Portfolio Page!

The first real "theme" we do every year is All About Me. It's a great way for me to get to know my kiddos and for the students to get to know each other. 

School & Home Connection

One of the activities I do is a star. I just cut a big star out of yellow construction paper and send it home with a note asking parents to work with their child to fill it with things about them. They can put their name on it, age, pictures of them, things they like, etc. Then, each child gets a chance to share about their star in front of the class. 

Last year, instead of the star, I drew each child's silhouette and had them decorate it with things they liked.

Shared Reading

This poem is our first shared reading of the year. It's a very simple poem and the kids always think it's funny. (I apologize for the horribly drawn monkey, I never claimed to be an artist. . . )

Portfolio Page

Here is the portfolio page I'm using this year (from Miss Pam's Room). I usually change which one I do every year. We have mixed ages in our classes so I usually have a handful who were there last year. I've come across so many different versions on pinterest. You can follow my All About Me board on pinterest here.

This is just a small taste of my AAM unit. More to come! Leave a comment and let me know your favorite all about me activities!

Name Writing in Preschool

The best way to teach name writing is through tracing. Most of my students don't know how to trace when they come into my room. So I start with a lesson on how to trace. I model the three points below. 

When we trace we:

• start with the FIRST letter in our names
• trace each letter in order 
• do our best job to stay on the line

When they start tracing on their own, they will usually need reminders about how to trace. 

Rainbow Writing

I start the year off with rainbow writing. I've learned if you say it has to do with a "rainbow", you can get the kids excited about anything! For rainbow writing, I print off the student's name in a handwriting font (aka one that doesn't have funky a's or g's). Print Clearly is one of my favorites, you can download it for free at dafont.com. Then, I have the students choose three colors (crayons) to trace their name with. They have to trace their WHOLE name (otherwise they'll trace their m three times then their a three times. . . ) with one color and then they can switch to the next color. When they finish their name looks like a rainbow!

Hand over Hand

Hand over hand is a great way to teach tracing and improve handwriting. It is very important to find the balance between guiding/helping and being overbearing. If students are always being corrected and controlled they will get frustrated and hate writing. Here is my mental guide for finding that balance. 

• Learning how to trace - If they are not able to stay on the lines, I help them trace their whole name one time through. Then, they do it the other two times themselves. Whenever their crayon touches the black line I given them lots of praise about staying on the black line. 
• Tracing well, but writing letters incorrectly - for example, many students will draw a circle then add a line for the a. This looks like an a, but as we know this is not how you write it "properly". Why is this important? In the long run, we want our students to have neat, LEGIBLE, handwriting. So, I choose one letter at a time to focus on with each child. I help them trace that letter, pointing out where to start the letter and explaining how we move our pencil. I use hand over hand and trace that letter with them a few times and then have them write it a few times by themselves. I praise them for the how great their letter looks! It's very casual! I don't expect them to write the letter the way I showed them immediately. Which is why I model it for them and write it with them so many times. It usually takes about 2-4 weeks of working on the letter for my students to break their habit and write the letter correctly. Then I start focusing on another letter. 
• Tracing and writing letters proficiently - I switch from rainbow writing, to writing with a pencil. They write their name once with pencil and then once all by themselves. 
• When it comes to grasp, I try to only correct them once. If they switch back to what is more comfortable to them, it's okay. I use lots of fine motor and prewriting activities to strengthen their fingers and all of mine are naturally holding their pencils correctly by the end of the year. 

I only use hand over hand during our structured name writing time which is at the beginning of the day. When they write their name independently on their art, during play, etc. I praise their efforts and I don't correct them. If they have trouble spelling their name, I do encourage them to grab their name off the writing shelf (pictured below) and look at it to help them remember all of the letters in their name. 

More Handwriting Fun

My students go crazy over dry-erase markers! I just write their name on sentence strips, stick a little picture on it (you can read my tech tip here), and then laminate it. Then, the students can use dry-erase markers to trace their names. When writing on lamination, it is important to erase it as soon as their done, or it will become less erasable. The pom-pom on the lid tip I found on pinterest is THE-BEST-IDEA-EVER!!

You can read more name activities here:

Our Perfect Names Part 1

Our Perfect Names Part 2

Thanks for reading! Please leave a comment on your thoughts or your tips for teaching handwriting.

Preschool Schedule

Here is our daily schedule. I have a full day class (8:00-4:00). I tweak our schedule and routines a little bit every year (and sometimes throughout the year), to meet the needs of my students and try new things, so who knows how long THIS will be our schedule. 


I display a picture schedule on our white board. I have a little button I move down as we move from one thing to another. This helps students know what is coming next. Also when there is a change in our schedule, I can just flip the cards around and they still know what's going on.

Welcome (3 minutes)

I greet students when they walk in the door and help them through our morning routine.

1. Daily Folders in the black box.
2. Backpacks in cubbies. (Put rest time things away on Mondays)
3. Sit down and work on Morning Work.

Morning Work (15 minutes)

Every morning, students come in and complete their morning work. At the beginning of the year we do rainbow names. Each student traces their name with three times with different colored crayons. This makes their name look like a rainbow! As the year progresses, we do journals during this time as well. We also switch to writing our names with pencils later in the year.

Choice Time - #1 (45 minutes)

After students complete their morning work, they can choose a center. My TA and I try to reserve this time for being in the centers with the kids asking questions, facilitating conversation, teaching play, modeling social skills, etc. 

Outside Time - #1 (30 minutes)

I'm pretty sure outside time is every child's favorite time of the day! Although this year, we had to wear jackets on the first day of school! CRAZY (and now it's back up in the high 90's . . . St. Louis weather!)

Calendar Time & Math Mini-Lesson (10 minutes)

Our calendar time (5 minutes) consists of singing the days of the week, saying the month, counting to find the date and adding it to our calendar, looking to see what color or shape comes next in our pattern and singing our seasons song. Then we have a short mini-lesson (5 minutes) on a math topic, such as an estimation jar, counting objects, skip counting, rote counting, etc. 

Snack Time & Independent Reading (10 minutes)

A preschoolers second favorite time of day!

When they are finished with snack, they choose a book to read independently while they wait for our friends to finish snack. 

Literacy Time (10 minutes)

This time looks very different each day. We do shared reading and a letter song every day. Throughout the week we cover reading, writing, phonemic awareness, and phonics through a variety of different activities.

Choice Time (90 minutes)

This is our loooong choice time! This is when we do small groups, art, and more teacher directed/needed activities.

Large Group (15 minutes)

Our large group is when we focus on social skills, science, the theme, or more literacy and math. 

Lunch (30 minutes)

Hey, we have to refuel from our full day of playing and learning! In our school, we have a lunch room we eat in. So we have to be very punctual, as other classes come in to eat after us.

Outside - #2 (20 minutes)

Missouri standards recommend a minimum of 50 minutes for outside play! Which is fine by me, my kids loving playing outside and it is essential that they develop their large motor skills.

Rest Time (120 minutes)

The teacher's favorite time of the day!!!! :P

Snack & Independent Reading (30 minutes)

Our snack time in the afternoon is a little longer, since it takes awhile for everyone to wake up and put their things away. It also allows all of our students to get independent reading time. 

Repeated Reading (10 minutes)

We read the same book everyday of the week. This increases student comprehension, vocabulary, and ability to retell. After we've read the book a few times, I start letting the kids finish the phrases in our books. They think it's so cool that they are an "expert" on the book. 

Dismissal (15 minutes)

During the warm months, we dismiss from the playground. When it gets cold, we dismiss from the classroom. 

*This is the third time I've edited this post because I keep finding mistakes. It's not even 10:00pm yet, but it feels like 2am. The first week of school is exhausting!!!!

A Look into My Classroom

The 2013-2014 school year has officially started! After hours and hours and hours of working on my classroom it's finished and I've survived the first week of school. I always forget just how young they are when they start in August. They grow and mature so much over the year. Now on to pictures of my classroom! Please note that some of the shelves may seem pretty empty. That's because I add items gradually at the beginning of the year to give me time to teach my kiddos the proper way to use them.

Here's my little "office". I'm trying my desk in a new spot this year. In the past I had it against the wall and out of the way, but then during rest time my back was to my kiddos. So this year I can see the whole room while working on lesson plans, checking e-mail, preparing activities and all that other fun teacher stuff.

The block center 

Easel/Art Shelf 

I love the green tree beside the easel. (A new addition this year)

Kitchen Center

I love my polka dot curtain covering my storage area under the loft. (also a new addition this year.) It adds just a little punch of awesomeness to my classroom.

The Loft

The loft is our dramatic play center. We switch out this area usually once or twice a month. You can check out our beanie baby zoo here.

Writing Center

Library Center

I love all the space I have this year to hold books! I only start out with a few topics and add more when I think the kiddos are ready for more choices. You can read more about setting up a library center here.

Large Group Carpet

My Teaching Shelves

These shelves are between the cubbies and white board. It gives me a place to hold my teaching materials so they are easily accessible during group time.

Sensory Table

It's set up for meet the teacher. (that's why their is a shirt hanging on the wall) The laundry basket underneath holds our playground toys. It makes it so easy to take out bubbles, chalk, playground balls, etc. 

Our Welcome Board

I have a set of shelves right inside the front of my classroom. This is where we keep our clipboard for signing in and out, store student portfolios, and our books.

Science & Math Shelf

Our Perfect Names - Part 2

Don't Miss Part 1 - Our Perfect Names

Talking About Our Perfect Names

Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes is a great book to read as a starting point for talking about names. In this book, Chrysanthemum starts school and some of her friends begin making fun of her because of how long her name is. Throughout the book Chrysanthemum discovers all the things she loves about her name and why her name is perfect! After reading the book, ask students what they love about their name. A discussion prompt can be sent home with students asking parents to talk with their child about what their name means, why they chose that name, and why their child's name is perfect. 

Wheels on the Bus - Phonemic Awareness

Use the song "Wheels on the Bus" to increase your students phonemic awareness! The beginning sound in thumpity thump is replaced with the beginning sound of a student's name. I combine each students bus and song page in a binder using page protectors to create a class book. The students love singing the song with all their friends' names and learning their sounds. You can purchase the song page in my tpt store. 

To make the bus, I precut the yellow bus, the white windows, and used a die-cut for the first letter of each student's name. The students cut out the black wheels for the bus, drew people in each of the windows, and then glued the bus together. I used a small picture of each child to show them driving the bus. You can find out how to create small pictures from my tech tip post. 

Shared Writing with Names

Our first shared writing activity each year has to do with our names. It's repetitive and my students love using the pointer to read the poster. This also helps them learn their friends names. I use different colors for each word in the sentence because it helps my students be aware of the repetition and separation of words. 

Happy July!