OK - Alisha Lee - Pre-K teacher in Norman

I have taught multiple grade levels, but I can truly say that I love my pre-kinders! This age is so unique compared to all the other ages I have worked with. Most of my students are experiencing a large group setting for the first time. I love when they see my classroom for the first time and they want to see and touch everything! Our town is a small one that serves about 4,000 students. While our town is small, our school district is very large. Many of our students have to ride the bus for an hour to get to school and an hour to get home. Since we are a full-day pre-k program, this long ride includes my pre-kinders. That is a long day! Even after getting off of the bus, they always have hugs and love ready for me every morning!

I love how literal this age is. I will tell you two of my favorite stories. The first is near and dear to my heart. I had a student who needed lots of love and would get up in the middle of my lessons to get a hug. I love giving hugs, but not necessarily in the middle of a lesson! Needless to say, one day this child came up to give me a hug and I was about to tell her to go sit down when she said, "You smell like laundry." and gave me an extra big squeeze. That was almost ten years ago and I still remember that moment! My second story happened when I and my teacher neighbors were doing what we called "Big Group". (We each would dress up as something for the letter of the week and our three classes would get together for community learning). It was letter E week and I was dressed up as Elmo. I was talking to the other teachers and the kiddos about how I lived on Sesame Street. Afterward, a little girl came up from another class and the following conversation occurred:

Student: "So you live on Sesame Street?"

Me: "I do!"

Student: "So you know other people on Sesame Street"

Me: "Yes!"

Student: "So you know Cookie Monster?"

Me: "Yes, but I have to watch my cookies so he doesn't eat them!"

Student: "I love Cookie Monster!"

With that, she bounced away with a smile on her face. That conversation made my day and I think helped her make a connection to what we were studying. These, and many more stories, are the reasons I love pre-k!

Our district has not purchased a curriculum for our pre-k program in years. Part of the issue is the lack of quality and engaging programs for pre-k...especially full-day pre-k! Most of the large publishers who have a curriculum for pre-k don't present a quality program. It is usually an add-on program or a basic upgrade of an old program that often doesn't match the curriculum being sold to K-5. It is ridiculous how underrepresented pre-k is in the curriculum area.

Years ago, our pre-k team went to a training for Zoophonics after seeing the program in use at a local program. After using it for years, I have decided that the program does not go deep enough into literacy to be considered a high-quality program. What I have figured out is that the kiddos love anything to do with animals! I hope to add Letters Alive to supplement our Zoophonics program and beef out the curriculum so that my students are engaged and learning deeply and meaningfully.

We do not have a math curriculum at all! I have purchased resources through TeacherPayTeachers over the years to go along with my themes, but I always worry that something is getting left out or not taught in the best way possible because I don't have a program to help me map out my year. I would love to use Letters Alive and Math Alive to streamline my curriculum!