ABOUT VANESSA

I know what it’s like to work 12 hour (or more!) days and still
hardly make a dent in your to-do list. My first several years
as a teacher, I spent as much time planning as I did
teaching...but then I got smart. I started creating and
perfecting resources to save myself time and energy, and
after 20 years in the classroom, I'm ready to share those
resources with you.

My mission at Pre-KPages.com is to help pre-k and

kindergarten teachers save dozens of hours of prep time each
week with hands-on learning activities, printable lesson plans, and
templates. Pre-K Pages is the place for busy teachers of young
children to get ideas to help make learning fun.

As a subscriber, you'll get my most recent articles, tips, and shortcuts in your inbox every week. And if you like what
you see here, you can browse all my resources and save hours of planning time, starting today.

Browse Resources

Pre-K Pages
 Any teacher who has been on the job for more than a few days knows how many hours of work are required just
to do the bare minimum. The fact that you’re reading this tells me you’re an outstanding teacher who wants to
learn how to get more done so you can have more time for teaching and learning in your classroom. You wouldn’t
be teaching if you didn’t love your job because you’re certainly not in it for the money!

Every teaching job, especially those that involve young children, should come with a cape and tights. No, I take
that back, not tights—I look horrible in tights! How about a cape and comfortable shoes? That sounds better!
Except the cape is a choking hazard and might get caught in the fire safety doors…ok, comfortable shoes it is
then!

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 So, what if I told you that I could save you TONS of time so you might actually be able to have some sort of
normal life? What would you do with yourself if you weren’t constantly planning for controlled chaos your class?

These are tips I have accumulated over the years. Every year I learned new tricks that I added to my “teaching
bag” until I could stop reinventing the wheel, or at least just repair it as needed.

Here are the 7 areas I have identified that will help save you the most time and get weeks of your year back:

1. Setting the Stage

2. Curriculum Pacing Guide
3. Lesson Plans
4. Activities
5. Storage and Organization
6. Assessment
7. Sub Plans
In case you’re in a hurry (who am I kidding, what teacher isn’t in a hurry?) I have created a resource section at the
end of this document that includes links to some time saving tools I know you will find helpful.

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 HACK 1:
SETTING THE STAGE

“It's true, the first

impression is everything,
but the teacher is the one
who makes the first and
most important
impression, not the
classroom décor.”

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 HACK 1: Setting the Stage:
Create a Parent Handbook that includes the answers to all the questions you get over and
over again at the beginning of each school year.

The beginning of the school year is often the most challenging for teachers. The amount of prep
work that has to be done before the kids even walk through the door is staggering. Have you ever
felt burned out before the first day of school? Me too!

One thing that used to take me forever as a new teacher was preparing for Open House or Meet the Teacher night. I
spent hours, days, and even weeks getting my classroom to look “just right.” And yet the parents still peppered me with
millions of questions that made me want to fill out an application at Wal-Mart.

Then, I realized that the answer to my problems couldn’t be found in the decoratives section of the teacher store. What I
would actually say to the parents at open house was so much more important than how “cute” my classroom looked. It’s
true, the first impression is everything, but the teacher is the one who makes the first and most important impression, not
the classroom décor.

That’s when I stopped working harder and started working smarter by creating a carefully planned presentation that
included the answer to every single question I had ever been asked by a parent at open house. Eureka!

The parents love it because they feel safe leaving their baby in the care of somebody who has all the answers. And if
the parents feel safe, you know what that means-—less stress and anxiety from the kids on the first day of school!

Then, I added a printable handbook with all the questions AND answers for the parents to take home. This really hit
home with visual learners.

A little bit of extra effort before school starts will have you reaping the rewards all year long. Having these things
prepared in advance will help you get off to a great start with parents and kids, and save you time so you’re not
reinventing the wheel every year.

No time? Not sure what to say? No problem! Check out the resources section for some pre-made templates. If you get
stuck, I have some helpful, pre-made templates you can use listed the resources section. Just add your details and say
good-bye to the back-to-school jitters and hello to smooth sailing!

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 HACK 2:
CURRICULUM PACING GUIDES

“Careful, intentional and

long-term planning takes
lots of time and a deep
understanding of how
young children learn.”

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 HACK 2: Curriculum Pacing Guide:
Develop a curriculum pacing guide to ensure the skills and standards that need to
be taught throughout the year are covered. It is super helpful to use a pacing guide
to map out the what and when in your classroom.

OK, so now that you’ve mastered meeting the parents, let’s take a look at your curriculum
pacing guide. Here’s where I see a lot of teachers take a nosedive, so listen up.

It’s important to have a year-long plan in place so you can figure out how you will get your kids from point A to
point B. How exactly will you get your little angels to go from barely understanding what a letter is to becoming
syllable superstars, rhyming wizards, and letter sound pros?

Without a solid curriculum pacing guide you’re just driving a bus full of kids down the highway with no particular
destination (sound like fun?). You know what else isn’t fun? Sitting down to prepare a curriculum pacing guide!

Careful, intentional and long-term planning takes lots of time and a deep understanding of how young children
learn.

How do you know what skills to teach and when? Which comes first, teaching syllables or phonemes? Identifying
numerals or developing one-to-one correspondence skills? See where I'm going with this? Long term planning is
like spinning plates, one wrong move and everything comes crashing down around you.

But no worries, your entire summer or vacation doesn’t have to be ruined by the “pacing guide” blues. I’ve got
your back! Check out the resources section for the pacing guide I have used in my classroom with great success
or create your own.

The curriculum pacing guide takes the guesswork out of planning and includes literacy, math, and science skills
for the entire school year. I've also included links to helpful math and science book lists you can print and take to
the library to find the best books. And best of all, the pacing guide is totally free because everybody knows that
free is a teacher's best friend!

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 HACK 3:
LESSON PLANS

“Lesson plans, YIPPEE!

Said no teacher, ever!”

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 HACK 3: Lesson Plans:
So now that we’ve set the stage and planned our curriculum pacing guide, it’s time to dig
into the actual lesson plans. “Lesson plans, yippee!” Said no teacher, ever!

Creating a lesson plan template you can use over and over again will save you tons of
time each week!

Good lesson planning can take hours and hours each week. Here’s another pitfall to avoid; don’t listen to that
teacher who says they do all their lesson plans for the entire year during the summer. Or those who take turns
planning for the entire grade level. Ummm…no, just no.

First, assessment drives instruction (we’ll get to that later), so there is no way you can know exactly what you will
be teaching any given week without the actual kids and data in front of you. You might know what topics or
themes you will be covering in a given week, if you use them, but the actual lessons themselves must reflect the
needs of the children in your current classroom. If you haven’t even met them yet, or they're not even your
students, how can you know exactly what they need?

You might be thinking, “That’s great Vanessa, you just told me I’m doomed to spend the rest of my teaching
career chained to my desk doing lesson plans!” Nope, good news! Having a good lesson plan template is the
key to planning smarter, not harder.

A good lesson plan is easy to read and implement with just enough detail to document the learning taking place in
the classroom. Anybody should be able to pick up your lesson plans and know exactly what you're doing at any
given time. When your lesson plans are easy to read and follow it will be more useful to you, your students, and
administrators. Substitute teachers will also love you forever if your plans are clear and concise!

Having your lesson plans in electronic format will save you oodles and oodles of time. Find a template that meets
your specific needs, then fill it in and “save as” each week -- don’t forget to include a date!

Then, next year you can open up your plans from last year and look at how they need to be adjusted for this
year’s class—easy-peasy, and you’re welcome! If you want to save even more time by using a pre-made lesson
plan template you can type your own information into, then check out the templates I use in the resources section.

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 HACK 4:

ACTIVITIES

“Research has proven

that children who are
actively engaged
learn more.”

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 HACK 4: Activities:
That brings us to the really time consuming part of teaching young children: coming up with
the actual activities you will use for your lessons. We all know that little kids learn from the
concrete to the abstract. That translates to hands-on activities, or STUFF that they need to
touch and manipulate to make learning meaningful, fun, and engaging. Nothing will get little
kids to act out and misbehave quicker than a flat, boring worksheet!

The actual activities that you will be putting into your lesson plans need to be hands-on, engaging, and most
importantly—FUN so your kids will remain on-task. Research has proven that children who are actively engaged
learn more.

And not only do those activities have to be hands-on and fun to hold the interest of little kids, they also need to be
those “just right” Goldilocks types of activities—meaning not too hard and not too easy. If your activities are too
difficult, kids will become frustrated, and you know what that means: chaos will reign! And if your activities are too
easy you’re in for the B word—BORED, and we all know what bored little kids look like!

I know I’m preaching to the choir here so let’s cut to the chase. Where do you find these elusive Goldilocks-type
activities? Well, you could spend hours upon hours each week creating them from scratch, then go through the
trial and error process like I did—which takes about 20 years. OR you could use the thematic math and literacy
activities I designed. These activities can be plugged into your lesson plans based on the needs of your current
students. You can find the link in the resources section.

Have kids who don’t know the alphabet yet? There are tons of fun activities tailor-made just for them. What about
kids who need help developing rhyming skills? Yep, got those too! You’ll find literacy and math activities for all the
skills that early learners need to build a strong academic foundation for future success, created by yours truly.

Feel better now? Awesome, mission accomplished!

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 HACK 5:
STORAGE & ORGANIZATION

“Did you know that some

teachers lose 30 minutes
of instructional time or
more each day because
too much time is spent
searching for things
necessary for teaching
and learning?”

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 HACK 5: Storage and Organization:
Create a well organized and fully functional classroom environment where materials
necessary for teaching and learning are easily accessible to both teachers and
students.

Did you know I’m running for President? Forget foreign policy and economics! I only have one
platform issue, every early childhood teacher MUST have one classroom for their children, and one
classroom devoted exclusively to storing all the STUFF necessary for teaching them! You can donate to my
Super Pac if you’re interested in supporting my campaign ☺.

But seriously, storage and organization are very important parts in being an efficient and effective teacher. Did you
know that the less time you spend searching for stuff the more time you have for teaching? Did you know that
some teachers lose 30 minutes of instructional time or more each day because too much time is spent searching
for things necessary for teaching and learning? Yikes! Just imagine what you could do with 30 extra minutes of
instructional time each day!

The first step to having an organized classroom is de-cluttering. Even new teachers have clutter they may have
inherited from the previous teacher. Clutter tends to creep up on you really quickly, like the flu—oh, and that
reminds me, my presidential platform also includes 20 sick days a year for every early childhood teacher!

Here’s the bottom line, the less you have, the easier it is to organize. I personally subscribe to the “If you haven’t
used it in a year, toss it” theory. Anything that is not being used is considered clutter. You know that puzzle with
one missing piece that's been sitting in your storage closet since Bill Clinton was in the White House? What about
that baby doll with a missing leg? Yes, I'm looking at you! Just get rid of it, nothing bad will happen, I promise-
pinky swear!

Because the budget for classroom materials and supplies is usually a big fat goose egg, we feel deprived and
therefore we often save things we no longer need -just in case. Don't let all the "stuff" drag you down, more stuff
doesn't mean you're a better teacher, it actually holds you back and slows you down. Lighten the load and you will
find more time for teaching and learning. So what are you waiting for? Start de-cluttering now so you can gain
back those lost minutes of instructional time!

You can find a link to some of my favorite tips for storing and organizing classroom materials in the resources section.

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 HACK 6:

ASSESSMENT

“Continuous, on-going
assessment will allow you
to make informed
instructional decisions
that will best help your
students succeed and
save you from wasting
instructional time”

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 HACK 6: Assessment:
Collect helpful data on student progress that you can use to effectively plan your
instruction without getting bogged down in the collection or recording process.

Some of you may be thinking “How on earth can assessment possibly save me time?
Assessment takes up most of my time!” But hold up, because I’m about to reveal the truth about
assessment.

Remember the bus analogy from the curriculum pacing guide section? So here’s the deal: assessment isn’t just
something we do because we have to, real assessment drives instruction. We need to assess what our students
know so we can better understand what needs to be taught. 

Here’s an example for you: if all the children in your classroom can identify the color red, why would you bother
devoting an entire week to teaching the color red? That would be wasted instructional time. Continuous, on-going
assessment will allow you to make informed instructional decisions that will best help your students succeed and
save you from wasting instructional time.

I know some of you have assessments for your assessments and then some. I follow the K.I.S.S. theory when it
comes to assessment, Keep it Simple, Silly. Collect the data that is the most helpful and will give you the best
understanding of where your students are in their stages of learning. Then, take that data and use it to inform and
shape your instructional strategies.

You can find a link to some simple assessment recording sheets and forms I use in the resources section, as well
as a progress report and an electronic report card. These resources can help you streamline and organize your
assessments. The electronic report card saves loads of time because it can be filled out quickly, and it has a
variety of pre-written comments for all areas of development for you to choose from.

And if you’re looking for a really cool electronic assessment tool, I can’t say enough good things about ESGI. A
simple assessment platform, ESGI can help you quickly gather student performance data and automatically
generate multiple reports.

(Hack 6 continued on the next page)

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 Hack 6 cont:
The data in ESGI can be used for identifying individuals or groups for targeted instruction.
Yes, you read that correctly, ESGI will interpret your data and create your small groups for
you! Now that’s what I call the ultimate teacher time saver!

Did you know you can save 400 hours per year with ESGI assessments? I know you’re
wondering what this mysterious thing called “extra time” is all about, so allow me to tell you a little bit more, in
case those 400 hours didn’t do it for you!

With ESGI you can choose from 100's of pre-loaded tests or CREATE YOUR OWN custom tests in minutes—test
exactly what you need, when you need it! But here’s the part that really got me hooked: it automatically generates
parent letters in English AND Spanish! Say what? ESGI can also auto-generate personalized, printable flash
cards specific to each student. Can I get an amen?

Take back your instructional time and reduce the time spent testing by simplifying and streamlining the process
with these assessment tools. You'll be happier because testing is a breeze. The kids will be happier because they
will get their teacher back. The parents will be happier because they are receiving personalized communication
about their child's progress as well as tools to help their child succeed. And last but not least, administrators will
be happier because of all the helpful data that is generated on student progress.

Check out the resources section for a link to get a 60 day FREE trial of ESGI and a promo code you can
use to save $40 off your first year!

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 HACK 7:

SUB PLANS

“Have you ever had a

‘submare’? That's a
nightmare about all the
things that could go
wrong in your classroom
when you're absent.”

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 HACK 7: Sub Plans:
Create plans for a substitute teacher in case of an emergency.

And that brings us to sub plans, and all those sick days I promised you! Anybody who has
taught little kids for more than a few weeks knows all about being sick, and often. Let’s face
it, being out sick for just one days takes hours of prep work in advance and can also leave you
scrambling to play catch up when you return.

Have you ever had a “submare”? That’s a nightmare about all the things that could go wrong in your classroom
when you’re absent! Preparing for a sub in the youngest grades is time consuming because you have to plan for
every single little detail like transitions, bathroom breaks, who rides which bus. The list is never ending.

What if there is a student birthday and you’re absent? Yikes! What time is lunch? The kids can’t tell time so it’s all
up to the sub. Fire drill? I seriously hope not!

I remember the first time I was absent as a new teacher. I left a brief, handwritten note for the sub on top of my
lesson plan book. Poor lady, I never saw her again! Over the years, my sub plans evolved, much like a recipe for
the perfect cake.

The key to creating great sub plans is to have everything a sub could possibly need at their fingertips in one
location. If you can make it easy for a substitute teacher to find things necessary for doing their job they will be
more comfortable and confident. When the teacher feels comfortable and confident it translates to happier
students and more time for teaching and learning- even when you're not there!

What if I told you that creating sub plans didn’t have to be so overwhelming? Instead of re-creating the wheel
each time you’re absent, spend a little time at the beginning of the school year getting your sub plans in order
before it's too late. Have everything ready to go by the first day of school and you're good to go!

If you need help getting started I have an electronic sub guide you can take a look at - you know where to find it
by now! Just print the pages, put them in a binder, and bring on the germs!
 CONCLUSION:
If you’re serious about working smarter and not harder,
you should follow the seven time-saving tips you’ve
learned here, start saving tons of time and re-claim your
long lost life!

You don’t have to reinvent the wheel each year. You’ve

got this!

Your new problem will be figuring out what to do with all

that freedom.

Don't forget to send me a postcard from the beach!

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 RESOURCES:
Open House/Meet the Teacher Tips

Printable Parent Handbooks

Curriculum Pacing Guide for Pre-K

Lesson Plan Templates

Thematic Math and Literacy Activities

Organization Tips

Pre-K Assessments, Progress Reports and Repost Cards

Try ESGI FREE for 60 Days Use promo code “prekpages” to save $40 off your first year!

Electronic Substitute Teacher Guide

What’s Your Superpower T-shirt

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 The Teaching Tribe is a community for teachers who don’t just want to teach better,
but save time and live more, too.

The Teaching Tribe is a place for pre-K and kinder teachers who want to
bring their A-game to their kids, and still have a life.

It’s the place you can go to get new ideas and inspiration for your classroom
…without any judgment or drama.

The place where you can feel safe asking questions and get
REAL answers from REAL teachers
(…it really does exist!)

The place where you have hundreds of use-them-now resources at your fingertips, 24/7
…to help you live more and teach better.

When you become a member of The Teaching Tribe, you’re saying yes —
not just to your students, but to yourself.
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