Storykate: an early childhood teacher and trainer, armed with ukulele and the gift to generate endless curriculum ideas.
Hello, fellow educators!👋🏻 I'm Kate, an experienced early childhood teacher and tertiary education instructor passionate about enriching early learning. With extensive experience across various roles—from nanny and storyteller to educational leader and early childhood trainer—I bring a wealth of knowledge and innovative teaching strategies to the table. At Storykate, I'm dedicated to sharing engaging educational practices through stories, puppet shows, action songs, ukulele, mind maps and circle games. Whether you're teaching young children or training future educators, you'll find invaluable resources here. I offer a treasure trove of free resources, creative ideas, and digital products designed to enhance your teaching methods and pedagogy. I helped hundreds of students and educators achieve their professional goals. 👇Why Subscribe? Subscribe to get your hands on exclusive content that blends storytelling, puppetry, and music with effective teaching techniques. These resources are perfect for keeping your programs lively and educational, especially during circle time. 🐞Join me at Storykate to explore new ways to jazz up your teaching style and connect with a community of like-minded early childhood educators. Let’s make learning fun and meaningful together!
Storykate Stories
Welcome to storytime with Kate! Hey Educators!I hope you’re all doing well and feeling inspired in your classrooms! This month, I’m excited to share some fresh ideas and resources to help you create engaging learning experiences for your little ones. I will share tools, tips, stories from practice, useful links and answers to your questions. “Children are curious, and their curiosity deserves to be fostered. Teaching them to be creative and think for themselves is the ultimate goal of education.” - Jerome Bruner Kate's story from practiceI’ll never forget a conversation I had while tutoring Marcus, one of my learners. Marcus was bright, curious, and full of questions—sometimes about the subject we were working on, but often about life in general. Marcus came from a very wealthy family, and it wasn’t unusual for him to casually bring up things that felt worlds away from my reality. One day, during a session, he looked up from his work with a spark of curiosity and asked, “Do you have a car?” “Yes, I do,” I replied, not thinking much of the question. “What colour is it?” he continued, leaning forward slightly. “Red,” I said with a smile, amused by his sudden interest. Marcus’s face lit up. “Oh! Ferrari too?” he asked. I love our Ferrari. My car was a second-hand Kia Rio LOL. Felt story of the monthFeeling like Christmas? Tell this story about a little fur tree using felt puppets to children. In this festive little video, I'll tell a little fur tree story with felt puppets. I'll use props to make the story come to life, in Steiner storytelling style. Our little fur tree story is full of holiday cheer, and you'll love watching it come to life on screen! Payhip Product of the monthHow to use mind maps for inquiry-based learning? Watch this tutorial to see mind-mapping examples and mind-mapping techniques. Mind mapping is one of the techniques to use effectively for creative thinking, brainstorming and generating ideas. In early childhood education and care, mind mapping can be used for planning an engaging program, documenting children's voices, for collaborative thinking between the teachers, supporting children's thinking and reflection and as an assessment tool. In my webinar, I will walk you through some examples of how mind maps can be used for planning effective inquiry or projects with young children. Theorist of the monthLet's talk about Paulo Freire and Jurgen Habermas, both are critical theorists. Critical theorists focus on questioning power structures, inequalities, and social norms in education and society. They encourage us to ask: Who holds power? Whose voices are being heard or silenced? How can we challenge unfair systems? In early childhood education, this means looking at things like inclusion, equity, and how children’s diverse backgrounds and experiences are valued (or not) in the classroom. It’s about making sure all kids have the chance to thrive and helping them think critically about the world around them—even from a young age. Famous critical theorists include Paulo Freire, who believed education should empower people to challenge oppression. His ideas remind us that education isn’t just about learning facts—it’s about creating a fairer, more inclusive world.
Resource of the month
Geoboards are hands-on learning tools that help young children explore shapes, patterns, and spatial reasoning. They consist of a flat board with a grid of pegs where children can stretch elastic bands to create various geometric shapes or designs. You can find a selection of geoboards that I picked https://amzn.to/4ezA8ED or make your own. Why Use Geoboards?Math Skills: Children learn about geometry, symmetry, and basic concepts like perimeter and area. Fine Motor Development: Stretching and placing rubber bands strengthens hand-eye coordination and finger muscles. Creativity and Problem-Solving: Kids can design patterns, replicate shapes, or tackle challenges like creating a specific shape. Language Development: While exploring, they can learn shape names and positional words like "inside," "on top," or "between." Make your own geoboard video Game of the month Puncinello funny fellow - a group game that’s perfect for early childhood settings. It’s a fun way for children to build confidence, practice movement, and develop social skills like turn-taking and observation. I learned it from my FIRST kindergarten placement many many moons ago. How to Play:
WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE GAME? Thanks for reading, and I hope these resources spark new ideas in your classroom. Stay tuned for next month’s edition; remember, creativity is key to keeping the joy in learning! All the best, P.S. Share the Love!
Explore More on Storykate What would you like me to make articles and videos about? What resources would you like me to create? Send me a message via DM or FB and I will try my best to make it. |
Storykate: an early childhood teacher and trainer, armed with ukulele and the gift to generate endless curriculum ideas.
Hello, fellow educators!👋🏻 I'm Kate, an experienced early childhood teacher and tertiary education instructor passionate about enriching early learning. With extensive experience across various roles—from nanny and storyteller to educational leader and early childhood trainer—I bring a wealth of knowledge and innovative teaching strategies to the table. At Storykate, I'm dedicated to sharing engaging educational practices through stories, puppet shows, action songs, ukulele, mind maps and circle games. Whether you're teaching young children or training future educators, you'll find invaluable resources here. I offer a treasure trove of free resources, creative ideas, and digital products designed to enhance your teaching methods and pedagogy. I helped hundreds of students and educators achieve their professional goals. 👇Why Subscribe? Subscribe to get your hands on exclusive content that blends storytelling, puppetry, and music with effective teaching techniques. These resources are perfect for keeping your programs lively and educational, especially during circle time. 🐞Join me at Storykate to explore new ways to jazz up your teaching style and connect with a community of like-minded early childhood educators. Let’s make learning fun and meaningful together!
Welcome to storytime with Kate! Hey Educators! "Writing precedes reading. One who writes learns to read with greater ease and understanding." – Maria Montessori 18 years ago telling children stories and teaching them to read using innovative approach Kate's story from practice When I was working with a group of 4- to 5-year-olds, we set up a soccer goal one day. The children seemed excited, especially the boys, who quickly organised themselves and started a game. One of the girls walked up...
Welcome to storytime with Kate! Hey Educators! How are you? Grab a cup of tea, settle in, and let’s dive into another Storytime with Kate.☕ I am recovering from the operation on the voice chords, which, fingers crossed, can give me the ability to sing and talk without tension soon. Stay tuned and you may watch my new videos with ukulele! I love hot chocolate and all sorts of weird teas, including turmeric latte with almond milk. What about you? Kate's story from practice I started working in...
Welcome to storytime with Kate! I am glad you are here! Grab a cuppa, settle in, and let’s dive into another Storytime with Kate. Hey Educators! How have you been? It has been a bit of a challenging time for me, as I had an operation on my voice cords to get on top of the chronic dysphonia. The thing is it stops me from singing with children, teaching face-to-face classes. It turns out, that losing voice while teaching is quite a common professional risk (remember WHS unit of study?) Whether...