The Teacher Corner

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Ask DK Schoolhouse


How did you get your start in early childhood education?

  Growing up in rural South East Asia, my parents instilled in me a strong  passion for education. This was largely due to the ‘hands on’ approach to early learning my mother used with us children---we were taught sight-reading from the age of 2 and brought up in a academically stimulating environment.  
This motivated me to pursue an education in ECD, with emphasis on child psychology and early literacy.
Upon arriving in Cambodia more than 10 years ago, I was struck by the lack of access to basic education and the extremely high illiteracy rate in both rural and urban areas.
I became involved in various pro-bono education projects around the country and later wrote a customized phonics & writing curriculum that has since been used in several local/ international schools to promote early literacy.  

2. What do you look for in teachers you bring on to your team?
Parents entrust the lives of their little ones to us each day. As such, we are very careful with the selection of our teachers and choose teachers based on 3 main attributes
- Native-sounding oral and written English skills
- Hands-on experience in early childhood education
- Long -term (2+ years) commitment to live in Cambodia.
Cultural understanding is an invaluable skill we look for in teachers. It is not enough for them to simply hold pedagogy qualifications, they must also be able to adapt their teaching methods to the local culture.  Our motto is, live in the country, learn of the country. We require our teachers to have a basic knowledge of Khmer culture and to make efforts to learn/practice speaking Khmer language in order to facilitate better communication between parents and teachers.

3. What is the demographics of the parents? Are they more locals or expatriates?


We have predominately local parents with a small minority of expatriates. Our focus is and always has been to provide tailor-made education for Cambodian children and to provide the type of quality, affordable education we are accustomed to receiving in the West.

4. Are parents involved in school events? 
Yes! We actively encourage home-school communication. Our ‘Open Doors’ policy allows parents to drop in at any time of the day to take a sneak peak at what their child is learning in class. Teachers communicate with parents directly regarding a child’s individual progress and work together to build home habits that will encourage active learning.



Friday, October 25, 2013

Happy Teachers Day! 


For all the tears,
Runny noses,
Bruised knees and wounded hearts, 
For all the smiles,
The hugs and love, 
The never ending wellspring of patience. 

THANK YOU 

Some little life somewhere has been shaped by YOU. 


Happy Teachers day Heroes! 

Friday, June 7, 2013

Coming Up!




You are warmly invited to attend DISCOVERY DAY at DK Schoolhouse Day Care & Kindergarten. Sunday June 16th from 1.00 – 4.00pm. Tour our facilities, meet the teachers, check out enrollment packages and enjoy family bonding time over tea and homemade muffins!

Sunday, May 19, 2013

Here's What's New at DK Schoolhouse!




Summer is just around the corner. If you are looking for activities for your children, come on over and join the fun. 



Check out more program details at the following link:
http://www.dkschoolhouse.com/?act=p&name=CRAFTY-SATURDAY


Monday, March 11, 2013

LEARNING WITH PLAY DOUGH

By  Tiffani Mugurussa



 
What is soft and colorful and can squish through your fingers? The answer is play dough. The invention of play dough dates back to the 1930s. Originally it was invented to be wallpaper cleaner. However, after a classroom of children began using it as a modeling compound, it was reformulated and introduced to the Cincinnati schools in the mid-1950s as play dough. Today play dough can be found in almost every preschool and kindergarten classroom. Bringing play dough into a learning center offers a variety of educational opportunities. It is a great, inexpensive educational tool that can be used to foster creativity, literacy, and math skills.
And most importantly of all, kids love play dough. There is something magical about rolling, patting, and squishing the brightly colored dough with your fingers. Play dough isn’t just for playing with, however . . .
  • It can strengthen and improve fine and bilateral motor skills. The muscles we use to hold a pencil are the same muscles used when playing with play dough.
  • It can help release stress. Give a ball of play dough to a student who is angry or stressed and watch them squish and mash those feelings out of their system.
  • It is a great tool for igniting conversation and imagination in young minds. Have you ever listened to your students at the play dough center? Often you will hear them talking about their creations.
  • Play dough also makes a great learning center manipulative for teaching literacy and math concepts. This colorful ball of salt and flour has so many possibilities!
Before your students can begin to smash and roll this large ball of fun, you will need a fabulous recipe for play dough.  If you are fortunate enough to have the ability to cook in your classroom, making the play dough with your class can be a lesson in and of itself. Below you'll find a recipe I have used for almost 20 years.  As long as it is stored in an airtight container, it can last the entire school year.

Play Dough Recipe

 

INGREDIENTS:
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1/2 cup salt
  • 2 tsp. cream of tartar
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 tsp. vegetable oil
  • Food coloring
DIRECTIONS:
1. Mix the flour, salt, and cream of tartar in a large pot.
2. Mix water, a few drops of food coloring, and oil together in a bowl, then add to the dry ingredients.

3.  Cook the mixture for 3–5 minutes on low/medium heat while stirring constantly. Make sure you scrape the sides and bottom of the pot as you stir. Add more food coloring if needed.

 4.  The dough will start to pull away from the sides of the pot and form a ball

 5. Take it out of the pot when it begins to have a VERY faint brown skin. Place it on a counter or cutting board. 

6. Knead the dough until it becomes soft and smooth.
7. When the dough is cool, store it in an airtight bag or container. I like to use frosting containers with color-coded labels.

Play Dough Rules

When I introduce play dough to my class,  I make sure they know my three simple Play Dough Rules:
Rule #1.  Keep play dough on the mats. We discuss why it needs to stay on the play dough mats.  When play dough is on the floor, it gets dirty and it can be tracked throughout the room. To make play dough mats, I laminate 12‛ x 18‛ sheets of colored construction paper, but you can use plastic place mats, too. I explain to the students that the mats help to keep our tables clean.
Rule #2. Don’t mix the colors. We discuss why mixing colors isn’t a good idea. At the beginning of the year, I usually just offer one color choice. As the year progresses, I add additional colors.
Rule #3. Only use play dough tools. I have a variety of tools that are only to be used for play dough. We discuss that classroom pencils, crayons, and scissors are not play dough tools.



Beginning of the Year Play Dough Activities

The very first time I introduce play dough to my class, I let them just play with it on the mats. The first time they use play dough, there are no tools to be used. I want them to just use their imagination and play with it.
The next time we use play dough, I add basic tools like rollers. Again, they are just experimenting and playing with it. I feel it is important for my students to have the opportunity to play with it before we begin to use it as a learning tool. For many of my students, this may be their first experience with play dough. I will often sit back and observe how they are using the dough, look at what they are creating, and listen to the conversations they are having. All of these observations can help me learn about and have a better understanding of my students.

After a few times of just playing with the play dough, I demonstrate three ways to roll the dough. I show the students how to roll the play dough between the palms of their hands into long, snakelike pieces. Next, I show them how to roll it out on the table using their hands. Finally, I show them how to roll the dough into small balls using the palms of their hands. All of these rolling activities are good for improving small motor and bilateral coordination skills.

 After they’ve learned to roll their balls of dough into snakes, I introduce the instructional learning mats. We practice shaping the snakes into the shapes that are printed on our mats. These mats are basically large alphabet letters, numbers, or shapes that I have printed on my computer using a very large font size. The ones in the picture below were created using a font size of 500. I printed the letters and numbers onto colored cardstock then laminated them for durability. You can also use sheet protectors if you don’t have access to a laminator. 




7 Simple Learning Mats

These learning mats can easily be made using your computer and printer:

As time goes on, introduce other play dough tools, such as:

. Alphabet and numeral cookie cutters
. Play dough stampers
. Play dough cutters or plastic knives
. Play dough scissors
 
 
 
 All of these tools can be easily integrated into a learning center to build literacy and math skills. For example, the alphabet cutters and stampers can be used to spell out sight words, and the number cutters and stampers can be used to create math problems.  Simply put, play dough is fun; it strengthens hands and fingers; and it builds imagination, communication skills, and cooperative play.  I’d love to know what is in your play dough center and what activities your students participate in.

Sunday, March 3, 2013

Creating a Cozy Classroom

By  Tiffani Mugurussa




It is often said that first impressions last a lifetime. When students and parents enter your classroom, what is their first impression? I want my classroom to feel cozy, inviting, and, most of all, safe. After all, it is their home away from home.
My classroom always has a theme and some sort of color scheme. In my personal life, I can’t have mismatched items, and I need some items to be color-coded. So, while my classroom changes every few years, the bottom line is that my classroom is coordinated!


Currently polka dots, chevron stripes, and owls are popular. I’ve always been fond of polka dots, so that is the theme I went with this year. Since red is one of my favorite colors, it is one of the main colors in my classroom.  However, I have toned the red down by using mostly black fabric for bulletin boards. The black creates a nice backdrop and doesn’t take away from the students' work or other items on display.

Collecting Items

 You don’t have to break the bank to have a cute classroom.  Look around at what you have and see if it can be repurposed. For instance, this year I took an old metal chest of drawers — once pink, then blue — and repainted it red. I found an old wooden bookcase in a storage room, and using red paint and some black and white polka-dot ribbon, created a cute shelving system to hold my students' book boxes. Other items that I have repurposed include plastic drawers and two old office chairs.




Visits to the local thrift store can be very productive. Thrift stores often have great items that can be recovered, repainted, or reupholstered. Especially look out for the following items:

  • Chairs — reupholster or repaint
  • Small tables — repaint or add a tablecloth
  • Containers — recover with paper; spray paint; add ribbon or cute labels
  • Bookcases — repaint
  • Lamps — recover the shade or add a new shade; repaint the base
  • Rug — small rugs help define areas

 Defining the Space
Look around your room to see if it is obvious where various centers are. Do you have a library, listening center, or science center? Easily define these spaces using rugs or bookcases to section off each area. Coordinating bulletin boards with these areas also helps to define the space. In my classroom, I have specific areas for the listening center, the library, the writing center, and the housekeeping center.

 Listening Center: A rug, a table, six crate stools, and a bookcase define the listening center. The stools do double duty: they also store extra listening center sets.


 The Classroom Library: Four bookcases placed in an L-shape around a large carpet form our library. This area also serves as our carpet group-time area. Inexpensive tubs and homemade book labels also help create this space.

 The Writing Center: My writing center is complete with a large word wall, dry erase boards, and student-friendly dictionaries. Students may choose from a variety of writing utensils. Redecorated plastic drawers hold our writing papers.

 Housekeeping Center: The housekeeping center is in the corner with a small curtain acting as a window. It contains plastic food and dishes, costumes, and dolls.



Pulling It All Together

This is where your color schemes and themes come into play. I’ve made many of the labels and signs in my classroom myself using clip art, my laptop, a color printer, and a laminator. All of my tables and their tubs are labeled with numbers. The labels themselves tie into the polka-dot theme. I used black fabric with polka dots for some of my bulletin boards and red for the others, and all have either red with white or black with white polka-dot borders. Curtains on the windows make those dull window blinds look a little less institutional. Although this year my classroom doesn’t have windows, I do have a curtain on the little window on my front door.

Covering the Walls: Use fabric instead of butcher paper.  Fabric doesn’t fade or show pinholes. Some teachers like to use plastic tablecloths; however, these can tear and show pin or staple holes.
Ribbon: Use ribbon to decorate edges of shelves, crates, and bulletin boards. Wide ribbon can also be used as border instead of the traditional scalloped paper borders.
Containerize: I’ve been accused of being obsessed with plastic containers. I admit it is true. I like containers because they serve several purposes: they store items neatly; they hide the mess; and they look clean and tidy. I also like to label my containers. Labels help students learn where to return items, and again, they give your room an overall organized feeling.

No matter the theme or color scheme in your classroom, the bottom line is that you need it to feel inviting to students. You want your students and families to feel welcomed and comfortable. I know my students love our classroom this year because they tell me all the time how much they love school!



Wednesday, February 27, 2013

March Weekend Program

CRAFTY SATURDAYS AT DK SCHOOLHOUSE

 

 

 

There aren’t enough days in the weekend—so make Saturday count for two! Give the kids a morning of pure revelry  with the DK Schoolhouse Crafty Saturday program. Every Saturday from 9.30 – 12.30 for children aged 2 – 10 years old!
WHATS UP THIS WEEKEND? Introduction to TINY TIKES YOGA POSES! Can you say “Ommmmmm” anyone?
Call / SMS / EMAIL your child’s reservation at:
078 777 466  (English/Khmer) / 095 777 466 (English/Khmer) / 092 777 466 (Khmer)