If you've been teaching preschoolers or are in the process of becoming a preschool teacher, you know what short attention spans preschoolers have.  You've probably wondered how to structure your days to make the most of the way they learn. Up to now, crafting original and inspiring lesson plans may have been a daunting task, but not for much longer! In this course, you'll get equipped with a solid lesson plan template and lots of interchangeable activities to choose from—plenty of inspiration to take you and your students from September to May.  You'll learn over 100 circle-discussion, art, literacy, fine and large motor skill, science, and music activities that you can take into your classroom right away. Then you can adopt the ideas just as they are or tweak them slightly to fit a variety of themes. Either way, you'll have ample material for crafting memorable, balanced, and engaging lesson plans. Whether you're already teaching or you're just investigating a career as an early childhood educator, you're sure to find the right mix of inspiration, motivation, and practical tips in this six-week course

A new section of each course starts monthly. If enrolling in a series of two or more courses, please be sure to space the start date for each course at least two months apart.

All courses run for six weeks, with a two-week grace period at the end. Two lessons are released each week for the six-week duration of the course. You do not have to be present when lessons are released. You will have access to all lessons until the course ends. However, the interactive discussion area that accompanies each lesson will automatically close two weeks after the lesson is released. As such, we strongly recommend that you complete each lesson within two weeks of its release.

The final exam will be released on the same day as the last lesson. Once the final exam has been released, you will have two weeks to complete all of your course work, including the final exam.

Internet access, e-mail, the Microsoft Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox Web browser, and the Adobe Flash and PDF plug-ins (two free and simple downloads you obtain at http://www.adobe.com/downloads by clicking Get Adobe Flash Player and Get Adobe Reader).

This course includes a knowledgeable and caring instructor who will guide you through your lessons, facilitate discussions, and answer your questions. The instructor for this course will be Usha Fortna.

With a master's degree in education and years of experience teaching students with special needs, Usha Fortna happened into preschool teaching quite by chance. When her family relocated, she decided it was time for a change and took her teaching experience into the preschool classroom. Working with young students has become her passion, and over the years, she's developed hundreds of lesson plans that incorporate innovative themes, creative activities, and exciting content-based games and songs. Her secrets will become your own as you discover a year of inspiring lessons.

“ I really enjoyed this course! The instructor was amazing- she was extremely helpful and her lessons were easy to understand and very thorough! ”

“ I have taught middle school for several years, but this year I switched to teaching preschool ( a 3 year old class). I found several things in this class that will help me in preparing for next year and made me feel more at ease with the little ones. Thank you! ”

“ I really enjoyed the class. As a kindergarten teacher for the past 15 years, I found the class full of refreshing ideas and thank you for the fun and exciting activities and songs. ”

“ My favorite class so far! I have learned so much that I can use in my preschool lesson planning. ”

“ I so enjoyed this class. It was to the point, informative and so in line with me. Thank you for not stressing me out after a long day of work. ”

“ This was my favorite class so far! I have learned so much in this course and taken away so many lesson plan ideas as well. I was glad to see that we have a lot of similar ideas and teaching methods in common; it makes me feel more confident in my teaching and feels like I am doing a good job. ”

“ The course was definitely enlightening and provided great information to use in the future. I would recommend anyone teaching the preschool through kindergarten years to take the course...Thank you for the time it took to prepare the lessons. ”

“ The instructor was helpful and always available. Her lessons were organized and easy to read. Supplementary materials were included that were extremely helpful and provided great additions to our learning, not to mention wonderful resources for future use. I would definitely recommend this course and instructor to any preschool teacher, brand new to the field or highly experienced. ”

“ Thank you so very much for compiling so much information into a six week course. I didn't feel over-loaded with information, but I certainly came away with over-flowing ideas. I think that your class is quite possibly the most practical and useful class I have ever taken in my teaching career. I am a stay-at-home-mom of 4 little boys, so as you can imagine my time is limited. I always looked forward to your lessons and am thankful for all the work you have put forth to make it such a complete class. I wish you all the best! ”

“ I can not even begin to tell you what this class has done for me. I was very disappointed that my school had closed this past spring. I couldn't find another job I was interested in, so I decided to take this class. I have enjoyed it so much that I am going to continue on and redo my whole year of lesson plans and be ready to go for a new job, hopefully next fall. Your plans are educational, fun and exciting and I can't wait to use them. Thank you, thank you, thank you! ”