Professional Development

 Social media outlets such as Instagram, Pinterest and YouTube have allowed me to develop personally and professionally as a preschool teacher. By networking with other teachers online I have learned about great resources from ALSDE, Teaching Strategies and ALEX as well as developmentally appropriate technology tools such as Starfall, ABCmouse, Nearpod and Book Creator to help empower my students with early learning and success. I have been able to see fun ideas for my classroom, literacy activities, ways to support behaviors and access to professional development that helps me be the best teacher I can be. Collaborating with others has allowed me to better my skills at planning hands-on activities that encourage children to learn and grow with literacy, technology and social emotional skills. By sharing ideas and learning from others I have become a stronger leader and more informed individual who seeks to help others and find new ways to empower my students and their learning every day in my preschool classroom.

The intent of this lesson is to align with LLT 2b by allowing students to hear beginning letter sounds and match those sounds to spoken words through phonological awareness activities. While participating in the “Big Red Barn” rhyme activity, students will listen to a farm rhyme displayed on an anchor chart paper, pick a letter with a corresponding sound and use the rhyme clue to figure out what farm animal is hidden. Matching letter sounds and rhyming words allows students to develop the skill of listening, identifying, and manipulating sounds in spoken language. Once students hear the letter P and the word “big” rhyme they were able to connect the /p/ sound and rhyme together to identify the hidden word as “pig”. This lesson allows for skills to begin to develop that will lead into emergent reading. Skills such as listening, auditory discrimination, rhyming, and understanding language are taught through fun activities in this preschool lesson.