Caffeinate and Teach

 It has been a long time since I sat at this keyboard and created a blog post. A lot has happened in the past year. The world is spun upside down for so many of us. Between the pandemic, schools closing, reopening, small businesses struggling, people going through personal loses, and so much more, the last year has just been.... a lot. So, in the spirit of change... allow me to re-introduce myself to you.  I am Rachael Ennis. I was a classroom teacher for the past 17 years until this past January. See, a few years ago, I told my husband I wanted to go back to school. I had my A.A.S and wanted to go for my B.S. in Child Development. He agreed, I worked full time and took classes online, got that degree, and decided I wasn't quite done yet. My heart's desire was to teach and work with the educators that are in the classroom daily, and to not be in the classroom myself. Please, don't misunderstand me. I loved being in the classroom with young children. I needed a challenge, so...

Hello again! It has been a while since I have created a blog post. In light of the current COVID-19 situation that we have going on in our country right now, I thought it would be helpful to jump on here and give you a few thoughts about dealing with this with young children. This is uncharted territory for all of us. It can be scary, it is causing our schedules and routines to change and is unpredictable. For those of us who are planners, the unpredictability is a frustrating feeling! There are a lot of BIG feelings happening right now in adults and that will inevitably spread over to the children in our lives. Dr. Becky Bailey says that "our state dictates their state" and I have found this to be true. I would like to offer some suggestions for both helping children navigate with us through the feelings and some easy and fun ways to pass the time while we are all at home over the next weeks. Navigating Feelings 1. Take a deep breath. Yes, this is uncharted territory...

Have you ever asked young children what they want to be when they grow up? Some of their answers can be quite interesting and even hilarious. I make a point to do this at least once a year to see what children are thinking about the type of job they may want to have, provide parents with a memory for when their child grows older and honestly because it is fun! The answers change as the years go by. When I first began in this field, I received a lot of "teacher", "doctor", "vet" and "fire fighter" along with the occasional, "princess" and "fairy". This year when I asked the children in my classroom what they wanted to do when they grew up, I heard, "football player", "teacher", "bug guy" and "YouTube sensation".  It's interesting to think that these children who have dreams of being a "bug guy" or "YouTube sensation" will change their minds a thousand times before ...

I am a Christian. I love Jesus and I love people and in doing those things, I hope to be a reflection of His love for me and for others. I am growing more and more passionate about seeking after Him and learning from Him.  One of the things I am re-learning is that being a part of the early childhood field is a calling. I feel strongly that the Lord has given me a passion for this field and for young children and families. I have a great desire for children and families to be whole, healthy and to know their worth. I want young children to be celebrated for their curiosity, their creativity, their zeal for life. I mean, have you ever just listened to children laugh? It is the BEST sound in the world and they do it ALL. THE. TIME. They laugh and find joy in the things that we as adults have not stopped to consider in much too long. I believe that adults can learn a lot from young children. Young children can create joy in most situations. They find the joy in being outside in the ...

A few weeks ago, as a school family we raised money for and purchased two guinea pigs. Their names are Pearl and Roxy and they are a wonderful addition to our school family! They have been so much fun and have provided so many opportunities for the children to work on their observation skills. These skills will serve the children well as they continue with their academic careers. What may appear to be only "watching" the guinea pigs and seem as if it is just a "fun" addition to the everyday in's and out's of the classroom, these skills are important for aiding the children in being able to produce higher level cognitive skills, science skills such as hypothesis and more! During these observations, children have been practicing comparing and contrasting, attention to detail and delayed gratification as they wait for Pearl and Roxy to explore something new in their playpen or "popcorn: (which is basically "popping" around like jumping because th...

Last week, I told you all about the journey of choosing which school family pet we would get. This week, I would like to show you some fun pictures of them and tell you about how we named them! We got two female guinea pigs and they are as sweet as can be! They are young, which is helpful for the adjusting to the noise level in a preschool classroom and helps them in getting to know us and feeling safe. We were able to purchase a play pen for them to play in and to make it easy for us to observe them as a school family. Pictured below are the girls playing with jingle balls and eating hay. They eat A LOT of hay! We started trying to figure out what to name them and found a list of influential women who have been a part of the University we are a part of. We chose four names for each of the guinea pigs from that list. Then we started the voting process. We posted the name choices on the door of our classroom along with a color coded key and colored sticker dots. We allowed the ...