Making a Preschool Board

Making a portable preschool board is one of the best ways to give a sense of continuity from one house to another in a co-op preschool. Start off with a sturdy tri-fold board and go from there.

You can use your creativity as far as details and how it looks, but each board should include similar elements as to what you see here: Calendar, Behavior Chart, Job/Helper Chart, Weather Chart, and Letter/Word of the Day.

You will want to make sure that each portion is individually laminated and firmly affixed to the board. Sticky back Velcro definitely seems to be the best way to affix removable pieces to the board.

2008-2009 Preschool Board--made by Becca T.

Top left: Song section--little squares with preschool favorite songs, laminated and with velcro on the back are drawn by the "Song Helper" and velcroed to the board

Bottom left: Weather Chart--"Weather Helper" goes through teddy bear's outfits and decides which one is best for the current weather, then chooses a label (in this picture he's wearing a rain slicker and the label says "rainy")

Top middle: Calendar--each number has been laminated and had velcro attached. The "Calendar Helper" adds the right number to the calendar and then the teacher reviews which MONTH, DATE, DAY OF THE WEEK, and YEAR it is.

Bottom middle: Letter and word of the day: "Letter Helper" is told which letter is the letter of the day and a few letter choices. He chooses the correct letter (help if needed) and places it on the board. Have everyone practice saying the letter and its sound. If you have time you could practice writing it too. "Word Helper" places the word of the day on the board. Help the children sound out the word.

Top right: Behavior chart--all kids start on green and will get moved to yellow, then red with disobedient behavior. I usually even give a warning before even moving them to yellow and that threat alone is enough to curb the behavior. I've only ever moved someone to red once in the two years we've been using this system.

Bottom right: Helper chart--Jobs are affixed on one side and movable, laminated strips with each child's name are rotated through the jobs. (Communicate with the teachers how you want the names to move. We always just move each name down one job per preschool session, then the bottom name to the top.)

2007-2008 Preschool Board--by Laura B.

Left: Weather chart--"Weather Helper" picks the appropriately dressed child, a weather label, and then moves the thermometer to the approximate temperature

Top Middle: Word and Letter of the Day--"Letter Helper" is told which letter is the letter of the day and a few letter choices. He chooses the correct letter (help if needed) and places it on the board. Have everyone practice saying the letter and its sound. If you have time you could practice writing it too. "Word Helper" places the word of the day on the board. Help the children sound out the word.

Bottom Middle: Calendar--each number has been laminated and had velcro attached. The "Calendar Helper" adds the right number to the calendar and then the teacher reviews which MONTH, DATE, DAY OF THE WEEK, and YEAR it is.

Right: Helper chart--Jobs are affixed on one side and movable, laminated strips with each child's name are rotated through the jobs. (Communicate with the teachers how you want the names to move. We always just move each name down one job per preschool session, then the bottom name to the top.)

Bottom across: Behavior chart--inside each pocket contains a card with four sections (2 on each side) Green, yellow, orange, red. All kids start on green and will get moved to yellow, then orange, then red with disobedient behavior. I usually even give a warning before even moving them to yellow and that threat alone is enough to curb the behavior. I've only ever moved someone to red once in the two years we've been using this system.

Here are the little song circles that the kids would draw from.