20 MUST FOLLOW INSTAGRAM ACCOUNTS FOR EDUCATORS

There are so many different forms of social media now - Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest... the list goes on and on but my absolute favourite place to find inspiration for my work in the classroom and our play at home would come from Instagram. It's full of amazingly creative people who are generously sharing their ideas with the rest of the world. 

Today I'm sharing 20 of my favourite Instagram accounts that you will want to follow if you are an educator or parent of young children.

HOW TO INVITE PURPOSEFUL PLAY WITH TRUCKS

Perfect for preschool and kindergarten aged children, these transport themed number printables invite purposeful play following children's interests.

Playing with trucks and cars is a favourite of many, some might even say rite of childhood. A classic for very good reason. I had kept my old Matchbox cars and now my three girls have enjoyed playing with them as much as I did then I was their age.

Forever the teacher, I'm always on the look out for ways to incorporate learning into children's play. Gentle ways to encourage children to explore new materials and new (to them) concepts.

Knowing how much my own children enjoyed the sandpit and playing pretend with their trucks, I created these construction themed number mats for play at preschool.

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LEARNING WITH LEGO

Plenty of hands-on ways to use LEGO to make learning in your Early Years classroom engaging and effective!

My children love any hands-on activities that include building particularly when it includes DUPLO and LEGO blocks. 

Following their lead, we've been using LEGO to help learn different concepts like our letters and numbers, beginning sounds and how to spell. We've been using these in our literacy centers in class but you can just as easily use the ideas at home too. 

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PRINTABLE DIGRAPH BINGO GAME FOR /CK/ SOUND

Make learning digraphs in class fun with games like these printable BINGO cards that focus on the letter sound /ck/.

My class of five and six year olds love to play games. 

While the transition from preschool to school involves many changes and adjustments for both children and their parents, the playful learning need not stop. 

Knowing how much my students enjoy playing games during class I've been trying to incorporate more of this type of play in our intentional learning time and in our literacy centres. 

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2D SHAPE STEM INVITATIONS TO TRY

Are you looking for lessons and activity ideas that are fun and build a strong understanding of shapes and geometry? Recreate these simple STEM invitations in your classroom to help children learn about 2D shapes and their attributes through play.

The first stage in learning about geometry is being able to identify, name, and describe 2-dimensional shapes. Talking about shapes whenever you see them and having shape posters on the wall are helpful to children as are having plenty of different shape manipulatives available.

Learning about shapes through play and exploration is also key for developing spatial skills in preschool and kindergarten. With careful thought given when choosing materials and prompts, math centers can also help children develop their ability to problem solve and reason while building their fine motor skills and strength and their ability to manage themselves and others cooperatively to complete a task.

We've put together this list of STEM challenges that use simple materials so you can easily create a STEM center or Makerspace children will have an awesome time at building 2D shapes while learning.

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WHAT ARE DIGRAPHS AND HOW TO TEACH THEM

A quick guide explaining what digraphs are along with plenty of ideas and printable resources for teaching digraphs in the first years at school.

Teaching phonics you are introduced to terms you probably haven't heard before and as a parent trying to support your child at home, the whole thing can just be confusing. 

Phonograms, digraphs, graphemes, blends, morphemes, trigraphs, dipthongs...

What are digraphs? Aren't they just blends? How are blends different? In this post, we try to explain the what digraphs are and provide you with some teaching ideas and resources to help teach them to young children.

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GREAT READ ALOUD PICTURE BOOKS

A list of 30+ hilarious kid approved read aloud picture books you must read aloud in your classroom or to your child at home.

Today I sat and was read to by my youngest child. 

At seven she has learnt how reading aloud is a different skill than reading to herself but it did make me stop and think about the difference the right book can make to this, how not all picture books are perfect for reading aloud. 

As a classroom teacher I know how important, yet sometimes difficult, it is to choose a good read aloud book. To make this job easy, I've put together a list of the best read aloud picture books for home or the early years classroom.

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