Ted
Palenski


Ted Palenski is a teacher in a play-based kindergarten classroom in Connecticut. He graduated from Yale with a bachelor’s degree in linguistics in 2010. As an undergraduate working with 3-year-olds in a play-based early-learning environment, he became interested in early childhood education, in both center- and home-based settings.

Articles by Ted

Favorite Book Connects Student’s Past, Present

When a student has trouble connecting with his new class, the icebreaker can be a book, family photo or picture that connects the child to his personal history and offers an opportunity to share.

Master Parent-Teacher Teambuilding

The parent-teacher relationship doesn’t have to be stressful. Here are a few ways to make the process easier.

Accounting For Missing Men in Early Childhood

This just in: Men make up a small fraction of early childhood and elementary school teachers. And for children younger than 6, having a male teacher is a rarity. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, just 2.3 percent of preschool and kindergarten teachers are men.

Conflict Resolution Skills Start in Preschool

In our kindergarten classroom, there are no desks. Instead, we have three large, child-sized tables, around which 20 children and three teachers can fit. We call it the writing table. Here, students can draw, write and complete phonics-based workbooks. One morning, Greta was drawing a picture of something that had happened the day before: She and her friend Lily had made bird nests during outside recess and had placed them all throughout the yard. Greta was illustrating herself and Lily making nests. Her classmate Ellie watched her create the drawing.

Support for Tommy and His Doll

Camilla was drawing a doll she was planning to get with her parents over the weekend. She was talking to herself in sing-song tones as she drew the doll, some of her clothes and her own house. Across the table sat Tommy; he heard Camilla talking about the doll she was about to get. He exclaimed, almost as joyfully, “Hey! I’m going to get a doll too!” The two began to chat about the types of dolls they were going to get. Across the room, another boy, busily building with blocks, said in a voice that reached across the room, “You are getting a doll?” A look of confusion spread across his face.
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