Owner & Early Childhood Educator

Hello Parents!

My name is Thema (Tayma) Houston and I am the owner and educator at @homebusybodies half day preschool in Covington, Georgia. I am originally from New York but relocated to ATL back in 2009. My passion for early childhood education started over 14 years ago when I interned as a teacher’s assistant in a Pre- K classroom, through this experience I realized my purpose and decided to pursue teaching as a career. So far, I have obtained my Associates in Early childhood education, CPR & First aid certification, professional development training, and currently pursuing my bachelors at Georgia State University. Through my teaching journey I have worked with students of different backgrounds and abilities, but one thing has stayed the same, and that was my approach! When I interact with preschoolers, I bring myself down to their level to establish trust and pay close attention to their interests inside and outside the classroom. I then use those interest to teach essential concepts for life and to prepare them for kindergarten and beyond. Some of these skills include:

Language Arts

Children should have knowledge of letters of the alphabet, letters in their name, letter sounds, reading comprehension skills, concepts of print such as: how to read a book, turn the pages, etc. During our program, we will be working on 4th quarter pre-kindergarten language arts standards and early kindergarten standards. These standards can be found here.

Math

Children should have math skills and knowledge such as: oral counting, being able to count objects, identifying shapes, colors, and some numbers. During our program, we will be working on 4th quarter pre-kindergarten math standards and early kindergarten standards. These standards can be found here. 

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Fine Motor Skills

Children need to practice fine motor skills by engaging in different activities in order to strengthen their fingers and hands. This will help them with writing throughout their elementary school career. Examples of activities that are used to improve fine motor skills: play-doh, stringing beads, tweezer activities, puzzles, etc.

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Independence

The kindergarten classroom requires students to be able to work independently throughout different parts of the day. It is important that children have opportunities to try new things and do tasks on their own. Examples of activities to build independence are: packing and unpacking themselves, carrying their own belongings, dressing and undressing, and completing activities at independent workstations. Children also need to spend short amounts of time away from home and parents to help gain independence and work on building their stamina for the separation that full-day kindergarten requires. 

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Self-Control

Although we do not expect children to be able to control themselves all the time, children at this age are developing self-control. They will need to be able to complete tasks such as sitting and listening for short periods of time during the school day, refrain from the impulse to hit or push when upset, and working to get along with peers.