Chantal 0:02
preschoolers don't really come with a manual, do they? You want to spend your day helping them grow and enjoying the magic of learning through the eyes of a preschooler. You also want to help them deal with all the big feelings that come with being three or four. But real talk. You don't have a lot of time. We need to prep for the day with confidence, and ditch the stress that sometimes comes along the way. I got you. Welcome to the preschool Made Easy podcast. I'm your host Chantal, a kinder teacher turned curriculum designer, and preschool consultant, and I'm here to help you make this school year. The best one yet. Let's get to the show.
Hey, everyone, its official. Welcome to Episode One of preschool made easy. Oh my gosh, I can't believe this is even happening. Launching a podcast has been on my heart for about a year now. And to see it go from a baby idea to actually being a part of your commute, or errand running routine is a literal dream come true. I am so pumped to bring you all of the amazing and easy ways to make this whole preschool thing work for you. So let's talk a little bit about who I am. why I'm so passionate about helping you what you can expect from the show and what this is and is not about.
My name is Chantal Macias. I'm a girl mama, Wife, Daughter and aunt or Thea to 12 nieces and nephews. You think that's a lot. I'm the baby of five. So yeah, it's a lot of us. I'm also a former teacher, and now I get to create curriculum, and help other educators in the classroom. To quote one of my favorite assistant principals, I truly am living my best life. When I was 13 years old, I began volunteering in neighborhood schools to help third graders in summer school. During the school year, I would volunteer and help the preschool and kinder classes. Upon graduating high school and starting college, I worked as a paraprofessional in those same preschool and kinder classes.
My favorite part was building relationships with my kids, and watching them grow in ways I couldn't even imagine. Being in the early childhood education program in high school really opened my eyes to all of the big feelings three and four year olds have, but it also prepared me to help them and teach them all the academics while making sure that I was aware of their developmental stages.
I then graduated with a bachelor's degree in early childhood, and started teaching Kinder right away. I began working on my master's degree at the same time, was a little bit of a crazy ride there. Two years later, I graduated with my master's in curriculum instruction and technology. I've always loved the idea of making my own activities. You know, getting creative with technology and making learning fun for my kiddos. We all knew it needed to be meaningful, but we need to make it fun to write. Fast forward a bit. I had taught Kinder for a few years and second grade for one year. I fell in love instantly with child development, and things like how to set up a preschool class that flows well, with all the centers and expectations for each one, creating new activities and thematic units that they enjoyed. And using music, art and technology with them. I've also lived some of the struggles that come along with teaching preschoolers and kindergarten overwhelmed and stressed the never ending comparison game feeling the burnout guilt or like you haven't done enough behavior management and the infamous spider man jumps from the bookshelf. Oh, yeah, those are real, parental legal issues. You name it. Been there done that.
We all have dealt with challenges. And let's be real. In this show. We're going to talk about some unpopular opinions and you better believe I'll be giving you some tough love along the way. But I promise you, they are all meant with so much love.
In future episodes. I'll be helping you in your preschool journey with topics like simple routines and supplies, reading and math routines, life skills. Whoa, that's a big one, communication and social skills. We'll also talk about building independence with your kiddos, roles and responsibilities, outdoor time and so much more. My ultimate goal is to help you make your preschool experience a success and get your kiddos ready for kindergarten.
Don't know where to start. Are you looking for an easy checklist that will tell you exactly what skills your kiddos need to start kindergarten successfully? I got you. You can grab a free copy of my kindergarten readiness checklist in the show notes Let's take you from wondering what skills they need in kinder to confident in helping them be successful and ready to crush their first day of K. I can't tell you how happy my heart is when a preschool teacher tells me they can't wait to use one of my toddler and preschool activity packs this year. Or when a homeschooling mama tells me there are two and three year olds love them, and that they will definitely be purchasing more soon. Seeing the excitement you have when you use my resources in the classroom or at home is the reason I made them in the first place. I tried to find simple and fun activities to use with my daughter. And when I realized there really weren't any that targeted the skills she needed to learn. I made them Have you checked out my new website store yet, teachers and parents across the country are loving the toddler and preschool activity packs because they make learning fun and are super easy to use. They include low prep, hands on literacy and math activities your littles will love, grab your preschool activity packs in the show notes, or head over to Chauncey macias.com/shop. So you can get your littles ready for kindergarten in no time. Let's get back to our show.
So you might be wondering, what exactly is this show? And what is it not about? Ultimately, this show is about you, celebrating your wins your successes, listening to your stories, helping you find solutions to your challenges and pain points. I want you to feel supported and valued when you listen to the show. I'll be giving you specific tips and tricks, discussing some of those unpopular opinions, and sharing parent perspectives. At the end of each month, one episode will be a segment we call parent corner. This is when I'll be talking about that month's topic, and how preschool parents can help or what parents can expect. Oh, and did I forget to mention our expert speakers. That's right. Every month I will also have a guest speaker, give us expert advice and share their helpful resources with you. I hope you're just as pumped as I am for all the exciting things happening here. And if you have any special requests, or just want to say hey, hit me up on Instagram at Shanti dot Macias and let me know what you'd love to hear. All right. That's all for now. Thank you so much for hanging out with me today. I love creating content to support you on your preschool journey. So if you enjoyed this episode, reach out to me on Instagram, and let me know what resonated or any questions you may have. Let's keep the conversation going. So we can support more preschool teachers and parents, just like you see in the next episode.
