Play to Learn Pre K

Recently found myself quoting TWICE during an online learning session. Great read for anyone new to play or needing an entertaining refresher!

Play hits all four domains of child development, of course we intentionally facilitate play!

Join me at the TXAEYC Austin conference on Saturday @ 9am to talk about adding more PLAY into centers in the K-3 classroom!

You can’t teach kids to communicate if you don’t let them communicate! Embrace the noise, more conversations means more oral language development!

Build on a topic of interest in conversations with littles to promote oral language development. Extending conversations past a few turns back and forth promotes vocabulary, receptive and expressive language and phonemic awareness, all early indicators of future literacy success!! Stop what you’re doing to pretend, explain, add in feelings or details.

Turns out just talking to our kiddos makes a difference!

There are 15 objectives in the Texas Pre-K Guidelines that involve Oral Language. 15!! Can't have a quiet classroom while teaching that!

I'm developing a new course focused on Oral Language Development in Pre-K and loving all these reminders and best practices. We can all improve the volume and quality of children's language learning experiences by responding to children intentionally to expand and evoke conversation. Building the foundation for future literacy skills!

There are 15 objectives in the Texas Pre-K Guidelines that involve Oral Language. 15!! Can't have a quiet classroom while teaching that! I'm developing a new course focused on Oral Language Development in Pre-K and loving all these reminders and best practices. We can all improve the volume and quality of children's language learning experiences by responding to children intentionally to expand and evoke conversation. Building the foundation for future literacy skills! #PlaytoLearnPreK #EarlyChildhoodEducation #PlayBasedLearning #orallanguage #orallanguagedevelopment

Excited to be sharing about play-based centers at the TXAEYC conference in October! Join us for a weekend of EC learning and fun ❤️🎉

It's shaping up to be a busy fall!

Excited to be sharing about play-based centers at the TXAEYC conference in October! Join us for a weekend of EC learning and fun ❤️🎉 It's shaping up to be a busy fall! #playtolearnprek #earlychildhoodeducation #playbasedlearning

Austin Parks get $8.1 million for improvements from ACL festival 👏 👏 👏 Nice work, Austin!

Love hearing Peter Gray on Hidden Brain talking about the importance of independent play and the real stress of the balance for parents and caregivers. He’s the GOAT! Give it a listen!

Found this sweet pic from a while back of my oldest helping his brother on a hike. Reminded of the importance of the unplanned, seemingly small moments that help our kids on their path to being kind, whole adults.

Coming back to Play to Learn Pre-K after a break for family and life. Excited to planning for some big things this spring!

Love this! No need to buy all the things and confine items to one use.

Why do we value play?

There is little evidence that prioritizing early, direct academic instruction has long term benefits. Instead, to name just a few, the evidence shows that the benefits of play include...

🧠Cognitive Skills: critical thinking, reasoning, working memory, problem solving, processing
🗣Language Skills: communication, vocabulary, verbal language, negotiation
💪Physical Skills: fine & gross motor, hand eye coordination, balance, stress management
💚Social & Emotional Skills: interpersonal relationships, conflict resolution, self-regulation, understanding and responding to emotions

There isn't enough space! Given an intentionally prepared environment and the chance to choose, all our children will thrive!