Salary and Outlook

According to the US Department of Labor, there are 469,600 people employed as preschool teachers, except special education in the United States. The median annual salary is $31,900. Entry level employees earn approximately $21,900 per year and senior employees earn approximately $58,230 per year.

Estimates do not include other potential benefits such as health insurance, overtime pay, or retirement benefits that may be offered by employers.

Job Duties

• Teach basic skills, such as color, shape, number and letter recognition, personal hygiene, and social skills.
• Establish and enforce rules for behavior and procedures for maintaining order.
• Adapt teaching methods and instructional materials to meet students' varying needs and interests.
• Provide a variety of materials and resources for children to explore, manipulate, and use, both in learning activities and in imaginative play.
• Serve meals and snacks in accordance with nutritional guidelines.
• Attend to children's basic needs by feeding them, dressing them, and changing their diapers.
• Meet with parents and guardians to discuss their children's progress and needs, determine their priorities for their children, and suggest ways that they can promote learning and development.
• Organize and lead activities designed to promote physical, mental, and social development, such as games, arts and crafts, music, storytelling, and field trips.
• Identify children showing signs of emotional, developmental, or health-related problems and discuss them with supervisors, parents or guardians, and child development specialists.
• Maintain accurate and complete student records as required by laws, district policies, and administrative regulations.
• Assimilate arriving children to the school environment by greeting them, helping them remove outerwear, and selecting activities of interest to them.
• Observe and evaluate children's performance, behavior, social development, and physical health.
• Prepare materials and classrooms for class activities.
• Collaborate with other teachers and administrators in the development, evaluation, and revision of preschool programs.
• Plan and supervise class projects, field trips, visits by guests, or other experiential activities and guide students in learning from those activities.
• Meet with other professionals to discuss individual students' needs and progress.
• Select, store, order, issue, and inventory classroom equipment, materials, and supplies.
• Supervise, evaluate, and plan assignments for teacher assistants and volunteers.
• Administer tests to help determine children's developmental levels, needs, and potential.
• Attend staff meetings and serve on committees as required.
• Provide disabled students with assistive devices, supportive technology, and assistance accessing facilities, such as restrooms.
• Perform administrative duties, such as hall and cafeteria monitoring and bus loading and unloading.
• Read books to entire classes or to small groups.
• Establish clear objectives for all lessons, units, and projects and communicate those objectives to children.
• Arrange indoor and outdoor space to facilitate creative play, motor-skill activities, and safety.
• Teach proper eating habits and personal hygiene.
• Demonstrate activities to children.
• Plan and conduct activities for a balanced program of instruction, demonstration, and work time that provides students with opportunities to observe, question, and investigate.
• Enforce all administration policies and rules governing students.
• Prepare and implement remedial programs for students requiring extra help.
• Confer with other staff members to plan and schedule lessons promoting learning, following approved curricula.
• Attend professional meetings, educational conferences, and teacher training workshops to maintain and improve professional competence.
• Organize and label materials and display students' work in a manner appropriate for their ages and perceptual skills.
• Prepare reports on students and activities as required by administration.

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