The Pre-K Reporter

Winter Holiday Fun

2013-12-15T07:58:00.003-05:00

Ideas for Winter Holiday Fun in the

Pre-K Classroom!

String Art Christmas Tree and Card Display

Receiving a Christmas card in the mail these days is quite a treat, so why not display them beautifully on this colourful String Art Christmas Tree.

I’ve always loved the idea of string art, but making holes in my walls for a temporary project is not ideal. That’s where 3M Clear hooks are perfect, they stick to most surfaces, then come off cleanly. When the box arrived with the full range I couldn’t wait to get started. The Decorating Clips are small and unobtrusive, and were the perfect choice for this project.

You could also use this tree as an Advent Calender by pegging on 25 numbered envelopes, or if you have very limited space, just decorate as you would a normal tree and pop your presents under it on Christmas morning.

Read on for instructions and a chance to win one of 5 prize packs…

You will need:

2 packs 3M decorating clips (36 clips to be exact)
coloured yarn or string
scissors
ruler, pencil, dinner plate, protractor
small pegs
washi tape and pom poms, glue (optional)

How to:

Gather your supplies, have a dig around your craft drawer to find cute bits and pieces that will decorate your pegs and finished tree.
Mark the desired position of the 3M clips on the wall with a pencil. I have spaced my clips 10cm apart. 8 clips across the bottom (70cm) and 11 up the side (100cm). For the star at the top, a dinner plate is an ideal size. Mark nine evenly spaced positions to make each point of the star. It’s easier if you use a protractor – angle if 40 degrees from the center.
Following the directions on pack, stick each clip over your marks with the open part of the hook facing out.
Leave to set for the recommended time of about 30min

Now the fun part. String your yarn in a criss cross fashion between the hooks making sure you don’t miss any.
Follow my cute animation to make the star.

Decorate your pegs if desired

Then it’s time to have fun and decorate your tree. Get the kids to clip on Christmas cards from family and friends.

Once Christmas is done and dusted, you can easily remove your work of art without a trace. The 3M hooks are unobtrusive and come off cleanly, so they are ideal for hanging decorations wherever you please without nail holes. Here is another idea for decorating with the help of 3M hooks.

Thanks to: http://mypoppet.com.au/2012/11/how-to-string-art-christmas-tree-card-display.html#sthash.ifnlwWmq.dpuf

Christmas Theme Tot Trays

There are an assortment of Christmas themed tot trays that can be found throughout the internet. Here are a few ideas that make learning during the holidays even more memorable.

Tot tray number one is a Christmas Tree Pattern Matching game from the Christmas Tot Pack by Carisa of 1+1+1=1. This tray can be more complex with multiple trees to match, but I chose to simplify it and only have one tree for each pattern to match. You could also use cups to sort the trees. But for the sake of simplicity I printed and laminated the “game board” (and taped it to the bottom of the tray in hopes that it won’t get tossed or trashed ;)) and cut and laminated the matching trees.

The second tot tray is really a magnet board (dry erase board). The goal of this tray is to match up the pompoms with the correctly color light bulb and to work on color recognition and the names of colors. I taped the colored lights print out from Tons of Fun and added a small cup of magnetic pompoms, two of each color.

The third tot tray is a color sorting tray. I placed a bowl full of red and green pompoms in the middle and a red and green cup. The idea here is to sort the colored pompoms into the correct colored cup. These trays also work on hand-eye coordination.

To further emphasize color, I have set up a red bin with objects found around the house. The bin has red balls, blocks, legos, clothes pins, pompoms and some other recognizable red objects.

Set up a tot tray at a small table or interest area.

On the table I have included a tray with a jar or play dough and a gingerbread man play dough mat which I printed for free from twinkl.

I have also included a tin pail with a variety of Christmas-y cookie cutters and a container of brown play dough. You can make your own playdough here:

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Make-Playdough-Play-doh/

You can add some ginger root spice or cinnamon to create a gingerbread scent but the doughy smell can be too powerful so start with just a little at first.

Thanks to: stirthewonder.com

Gladware Snowglobes:

A Christmas craft

Too cute, really easy to make, and the kids will love them.

Here’s what you’ll need:

•Glad 4 oz Mini Round Containers & Lids
•Jumbo sized marshmallows (I used just over a bag for a class of 22)
•Black permanent markers
•Wooden toothpicks
•Orange chenille stems (aka pipe cleaners)
•A hot glue gun and glue sticks
•Fake snow
•Silver glitter (aka Christmas spirit )
•Ribbon (optional*)

I did these in small groups of students since there was a hot glue gun involved. I did all the hot gluing but with little ones, I thought it best to be able to keep an eye on each of them as they made their snowmen.

My prep work included cutting the orange pipe cleaners into 1/2-3/4 inch pieces for noses, breaking toothpicks in half for the arms and plugging in the hot glue gun.

I gave each child two marshmallows, a permanent marker, a “nose,” and two “arms.” Each student used the black markers to draw coal eyes, and a mouth on one marshmallow, and then buttons on the other. Then they push the orange “nose” into the face marshmallow and an “arm” in each side of the snowman body.

Once the snowman parts are put together, that’s where I come in with the hot glue gun.

First, I glue the two marshmallows together to make an assembled snowman.

Then I put hot glue on top of the snowman’s head and glue him upside down to the bowl portion of the mini container.

Then I let the kids add a pinch or two of fake snow and a sprinkle of Christmas spirit (silver glitter).

Once they’ve added the snow and glitter, the bottom of the snow globe is ready to be put on.

To ensure a tight seal, I used hot glue around the inside of the lid rim and then pressed the lid on securely.

I had each child turn over their snow globe, give it a shake and voila! A snow globe is born. (*Optional: hot glue a ribbon loop with a bow to the top of the snow glove and create an ornament).

Thanks to: theworkingmomaholic.com

Holiday Center Additions

WRITING CENTER ADDITIONS

name stamping (pdf from 1+1+1=1), christmas alphabet
coloring book (pdf from bry-back manor), glitter glue pens
skills practiced: fine motor, printing name/letters, letter recognition,
creativity, phonics

LEARNING "TRAYS" - I rotate these, setting out about four a day from which the boy's can choose.

sand paper letters and gingerbread flour tray
skills practiced: fine motor, letter recognition, printing

letter beads on pipe cleaners (we'll do a couple version of this:
sorting letters and then spelling names and other well
known words
skills practiced: fine motor, letter recognition, spelling

charles dickens christmas puzzles (puzzles are cut up
christmas cards)
skills practiced: spatial reasoning, problem solving

craft stick christmas tree
skills practiced: spatial reasoning, problem solving, size/length

christmas pattern puzzles (pdf via prekinders)
skills practiced: spatial reasoning, problem solving, shapes, fine motor,
geometry

stacking boxes
skills practices: spatial reasoning, problem solving, size

tweezing pom-poms into star tray
skills practiced: sorting, fine motor

pattern making with pom-pomsskills practiced: patterning sorting

tonging jingle bells
skills practiced: classifying, colors, fine motor, sorting

scooping cranberries into numbered cups
skills practiced: fine motor, number recognition, counting

measuring ribbon (there are 12 cards which the boys will first
lay out in order, they will then measure the ribbons and place
them on the correct cards)
skills practiced: counting, number recognition, using ruler, measurement,
recording findings, fine motor

christmas tree light game: roll the dice to see how many lights
you can add, 1st one to empty their bowl wins (the "lights"
are from a light bright, the "tree" is a painted craft cone)
skills practiced: counting, social, fine motor

christmas items and observation notebook
skills practiced: measuring, observing, comparing, recording date,
expressing thought through print

painting with pine needles & glitter
skills practiced: fine motor, creativity

peppermint play-dough (basic play-dough recipe with red
food coloring, peppermint extract, and fake glitter snow added)
skills practiced: fine motor, creativity

gift wrapping
skills practiced: fine motor, cutting, taping, problem solving, practical life

Thanks to: http://joyfullyweary.blogspot.com.au

Father's Day!

2013-06-10T04:25:00.000-04:00

Happy Father's Day

Father's Day ideas have come a long way from the standard tie and pair of socks given by the children in the family. Creative art driven letter and useful pencil holders have made Father's Day a memorable day for everyone.

Enjoy the Father's Day ideas and websites below!

Father's Day Craft Ideas

All About My Dad

There is a fee for this template but you could easily create one of your own liking with the word suggestions above.

Dad Rocks! Your going to love this website!

We started here with stamping little hand prints with tempera paint in their choice of color.

I cut all the letters and numbers with my Cricut and glued to the cardstock.

I really think stickers would have been easier, oh well, I enjoyed myself!

I laminated them all and hole punched two holes at the top for the ribbon hanger.

All the children had their ribbon choices ready for me to tie in place.

They all went home yesterday.

We usually wait till the end of the week to send home gifts, but what always happens, someone will stay home. So, home they went! You know mom has something special for Sunday anyway!

Best Father Hand's Down

Free Father's Day Printables

Great Father's Day Books!

Happy Father's Day!

Recycling in the Preschool Classroom

2013-05-16T19:53:00.000-04:00

Learning About Earth Day: Teaching Recycling in Preschool

Posted on April 29, 2012 by Megan

Are you looking for an easy way to teach recycling to children? Here’s an activity you can do to teach the concepts and language/vocabulary of recycling.

Materials:

4 or more clean trash cans or other large containers
plenty of materials to recycle (plastic bottles, milk jugs, newspapers, glass jars, empty aluminum cans, etc)
pictures or other labels on the trash cans (depending on the reading level of the children you’re working with

Instructions: After introducing the concept of Earth Day and talking a bit about it, introduce recycling as a way that we can help keep the Earth clean. Have students bring in empty containers, bottles, milk jugs, or other recycling from home and store until ready to use.

Before this activity you can pre-teach vocabulary by having the children cut pictures of recyclable items out of magazines and categorizing them. On the day of the lesson set up four large trash cans with the following labels and/or pictures: paper, glass, cans, plastic. Talk about what materials go into each trash can and let students help you sort a few items.

You can continue letting the children sort items one at a time or you can make it into a fun game by having the children take turns throw the items into the correct trash can. Note: I wouldn’t recommend throwing glass items!

Feel free to leave the containers out in your classroom for children to get some extra practice in sorting and categorizing objects.

Some suggested vocabulary: recycle, plastic, paper, glass, cans, aluminum, names of specific containers (jugs, bottles, etc), Earth Day, clean, litter, trash

Credit: http://lslteacher.com/learning-about-earth-day-teaching-recycling-in-preschool

(Please be thoughtful of your states child care licensing laws in regards to glass and empty jars in the classroom. Jars will need to have dull edges and soda rings will need to be clipped prior to placing in the bins.)

National Poetry Month

2013-04-01T11:28:00.002-04:00

April Is National Poetry Month!

Inaugurated by the Academy of American Poets in 1996, National Poetry Month is now held every April, when schools, publishers, libraries, booksellers, and poets throughout the United States band together to celebrate poetry and its vital place in American culture. Thousands of organizations participate through readings, festivals, book displays, workshops, and other events.

http://www.poets.org/page.php/prmID/41

Below are a few activities to help introduce poetry to your classroom.

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It's Poem Day!

By Ellen Booth Church

Grades: Early Childhood, PreK–K, 1–2

One trick to getting children involved with poetry is to give poetry its own special day of the week! You can choose any day and use your circle time as the place to introduce the poems with fun and gusto. Write a poem on chart paper and use a special prop — a "poem hat," puppet, or costume — to capture the children's attention. Remember to practice the poem before you perform it with the same dramatic elements that you would use in reading a story. Children will be enthralled by your performance and will want you to do it over and over again. And you can! Poems said at group time can be repeated throughout the day.
Here is one of my Poem Day favorites from Great Britain:

Dickery, Dickery, Dare
Dickery, dickery, dare,
The pig flew up in the air!
The man in brown
Soon brought him down!
Dickery, dickery, dare

Children love this silly rhyme and how easy it is to create their own versions of it. Invite them to suggest what else would be silly to see fly in the air. (Flying whales? A buffalo? A crocodile?) Add one to the poem and say it again.

Extension Activity:Make copies of the "Poem Day" poems each week so children can save them in a cherished poetry journal. They will delight in adding their own illustrations and rhymes to the collection throughout the year.

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Activity Plan Mixed Ages: Playing With Poetry

By Early Childhood Today Editorial Staff

Grades: PreK–K

Playing With Poetry
From the rhythm of the lines to the joy of playing with words, poetry weaves a special kind of magic. Children love the playfulness of poetry and are natural poets, putting words together in new and unusual ways every day. Whether they hear a poem read aloud or write their own, children are learning about language - and about themselves and others.

Share a variety of poetry. A classic nursery rhyme, with its enchanting rhythm and fascinating characters, is a great addition to any group time. Other wonderful poetry can be found in the many anthologies for children, from Robert Louis Stevenson's A Child's Garden of Verses (Oxford) to A Child's Treasury of Poems by Mark Daniel (Dial). Children will also enjoy a number of modern poems not necessarily written for young readers.

Make poetry a part of your routine. As children listen to and create poems, they learn to recognize and duplicate beats, patterns, and rhythms - important math skills. And making their own poems builds children's language skills and vocabulary.

Celebrate children's spontaneous poetry. Children make poetry almost every time they engage in creative play. Place a tape recorder in the dramatic-play area or the art center, and record children's conversations. At the end of the day, listen to the tape and write down the best lines. Then share with children the wonderful poetry they created - without even trying

This article originally appeared in the February, 1998 issue of Early Childhood Today.

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A few spring poems to bring excitement in the air!

Allow your children to create there own poems by changing out the wording in some of the poems. Make it fun and enjoyable!

“Spring Poem” by Sharon Siegelman [1]
Some days seem like winter,
Some are nice and warm.
Rainy days and windy days,
Maybe it will storm.
Warm or cold or wet or dry,
What will the weather be?
I think Spring is trying to play
Peek-a-boo with me

“The Garden” by Betty [1]
First you take a shovel, a rake, and a hoe
Plant a little garden, Plant seeds in a row
Water them and weed them through all the summer heat
And then you’ll have some flowers or vegetables to eat.

“Caterpillar” by Christina Rossetti [2]
Brown and furry
Caterpillar in a hurry,
Take your walk
To the shady leaf, or stalk,
Or what not,
Which may be the chosen spot.
No toad spy you,
Hovering bird of prey pass by you;
Spin and die,
To live again a butterfly.

“Spring Has Sprung” by Unknown [2]
Spring has sprung, the grass has ris’,
I wonder where the birdie is?
There he is up in the sky,
He dropped some whitewash in my eye!
I‘m alright, I won’t cry,
I’m just glad that cows can’t fly!

“Spring Rain” by Marchette Chute [2]
The storm came up so very quick
It couldn’t have been quicker.
I should have brought my hat along,
I should have brought my slicker.
My hair is wet, my feet are wet,
I couldn’t be much wetter.
I fell into a river once
But this is even better.

“The Beautiful Spring” by George Cooper [3]
“I was here first,” said the snowdrop: “look!”
“Not before me!” sang the silver brook.
“Why,” cried the grass, “I’ve been here a week!”
“So have I, dear,” sighed a violet meek.

“Well,” piped a bluebird, “don’t leave me out!
I saw the snow that lay round about.”
“Yes,” chirped a snowbird, “that may be true;
But I’ve seen it all the bleak winter through.”

“I came betimes,” sang the southwind, “I!”
“After me, love!” spake the deep blue sky.
“Who is it cares?” chimed the crickets gay:
“Now you are here, let us hope you’ll stay.”

Whispered the sun, “Lo! the winter’s past:
What does it matter who’s first or last?
Sky, brooks, and flowers, and birdies that sing,
All help to make up the beautiful spring.”

“Caterpillar” by Unknown [4]
Fuzzy wuzzy caterpillar
Crawling all about
Would you b a real good friend
And help a fellow out?
My shoes get scuffed and dirty
When I go out to play
So slide yourself across my
Shows and brush the dirt away

“Welcome Butterfly” by Unknown [4]
Small white egg upon a leaf
The hours hurry by,
Caterpillar eat our fill
Or you will surely die
Sleepy now and very fat
On a twig you lie
Cosy in you soft cocoon
Now welcome, butterfly

Resources

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Poetry Friday: Here’s a Little Poem (collected by Jane Yolen and Andrew Fusek Peters)

Here’s a Little Poem:  A Very First Book of Poetry (collected by Jane Yolen and Andrew Fusek Peters) would make a nice addition to a family or preschool class library.  The anthology is divided into 4 sections—self, family (including pets), outdoors, and bedtime.  The poems focus on daily activities, relationships, and observations from a young child’s perspective.  I adore Polly Dunbar’s illustrations.  Most pages depict several visual “scenes” from the poems in vivid colors and lively actions.  Many of the poems are from beloved poets and authors, such as Lee Bennett Hopkins, Langston Hughes, Marilyn Singer, and Robert Louis Stevenson.  Here are a couple of my favorites.

“Dressing Too Quickly” (by Jill Townsend)

Too many buttons.

What a long zip.

Velcro to fasten.

Mind you don’t slip.

Dress more slowly.

You’ll fall in a minute!

You’ve one trouser leg

And two legs in it.

“After A Bath” (by Aileen Fisher)

After my bath

I try, try, try

to wipe myself

till I’m dry, dry, dry.

Hands to wipe

and finger and toes

and two wet legs

and a shiny nose.

Just think how much

less time I’d take

if I were a dog

and could

shake, shake, shake.

For other wonderful poems and reviews visit Teaching Authors for thePoetry Friday Round Up.

http://books4learning.blogspot.com/2013/03/poetry-friday-heres-little-poem.html

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Please visit my Pinterest Page where you will find many other exciting Poetry activities to incorporate into your classroom.

Read Across America 2013

2013-02-28T12:52:00.000-05:00

Read Across America 2013 funded by the National Education Association

will kick off there reading campaign March 2, 2013!

What is NEA's Read Across America?

NEA's Read Across America is an annual reading motivation and awareness program that calls for every child in every community to celebrate reading on March 2, the birthday of beloved children's author Dr. Seuss.

NEA's Read Across America also provides NEA members, parents, caregivers, and children the resources and activities they need to keep reading on the calendar 365 days a year.

In cities and towns across the nation, teachers, teenagers, librarians, politicians, actors, athletes, parents, grandparents, and others develop NEA's Read Across America activities to bring reading excitement to children of all ages.

Governors, mayors, and other elected officials recognize the role reading plays in their communities with proclamations and floor statements. Athletes and actors issue reading challenges to young readers.

And teachers and principals seem to be more than happy to dye their hair green or be duct-taped to a wall if it boosts their students' reading.

National Education Association: http://www.nea.org/grants/13003.htm

Below are website links along with activities and events to incorporate in your classroom and community!

The Official
NEA Read Across America Website
Activities specific to celebrating Read Across America

http://www.nea.org/grants/resources-to-get-reading.htm

The Official Dr. Seuss Facebook Page

http://www.facebook.com/Dr.Seuss?ref=ts&sk=wall#!/Dr.Seuss?sk=wall

Seussville Website for Activity Ideas

http://www.seussville.com/Educators/educatorPlanningCalendar.php

Free Resources and Materials

http://www.nea.org/grants/13023.htm

http://www.nea.org/grants/read-across-america-downloadables.html

Free Public Relations Tools

http://www.nea.org/grants/50649.htm

And don't forget about other

Read Across America/Dr. Seuss Birthday activities

on my Pinterest Page.

I have linked the page below for you!

http://pinterest.com/krunner1/dr-seuss-activities/

Anti-Bias Education- The December Holidays

2012-12-14T10:18:00.002-05:00

Anti-Bias Education- The December Holidays

Many early childhood educators have questions about how to approach the holidays. Anti-Bias Education for Young Children and Ourselves offers useful information and tools for teachers as they consider the specific families in their program. The following text is excerpted from the chapter titled “Learning About Holidays & Fairness.”

Click on Picture to purchase book

Christmas

In our multicultural society, Christmas, although important to many people, is still not everyone’s holiday. For children and families from other groups—be they Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, pagan, atheist, or anything else—Christmas can be a difficult time. For almost all families, the commercialization of the holiday, with its pressures to buy, decorate, and entertain, adds tremendous complication to already overloaded and busy lives. How can you address Christmas in your program in a way that is supportive and fair to all?

Learning about each other’s December holidays

Begin by finding out from families and staff members which December holiday(s), if any, they celebrate, and what they might like to share about their personal tradition. If the people in your program are culturally diverse, this could mean you will be learning about a number of different December holidays. In a more culturally homogeneous class, it could mean learning about the fascinating variety of ways families all celebrate the same holiday.

Make a plan for how you will teach about the various traditions in your classroom. For example, have a school party with every family sharing a special holiday food, song, or ritual. If family members cannot come into the classroom, ask them for a story or song that you can share with the children yourself. Help the children explore the similarities and differences among family holiday celebrations—whether it is the same holiday or different holidays. The aim is for children to understand that “Families are different. Each family’s way of celebrating works for them.”

If you use this approach, be very sensitive to children who celebrate differently from the majority of the children. Otherwise, it is easy for their holiday to sound like just a variation on the dominant culture’s event. It is the teacher’s responsibility (not the child’s) to clarify the distinctions. For example, in one school, most of the children told stories about their Christmas holiday customs; the one Jewish child talked about Chanukah. Later, several of the children (and some adults) wished the child’s family a “happy Jewish Christmas.”

Reference:

www.naeyc.org/content/anti-bias-guide-holidays/december-holidays

50 Books Your Child Should Read Before Kindergarten

2012-05-09T09:32:00.000-04:00

50 Books Your Child Should Read Before Kindergarten

by Education.com

A reading list, for kindergarten? Though they're not exactly required reading, these 50 books, both old and new, make a top-notch reading that young kinders shouldn't miss. They run the gamut from read-alouds that parents can share to early reading practice, and deal with topical subjects (like fear of school), skills kids should master (such as the alphabet), and, of course, flat-out fun! So hunker down and get reading!

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst
Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rock by Eric Kimmel or Anansi the Spider by Gerald McDermott
Bark, George by Jules Feiffer
The Berenstain Bears series by Stan and Jan Berenstain
Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina
The Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss
A Chair for My Mother by Vera B. Williams
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault
Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type by Doreen Cronin
Clifford the Big Red Dog by Norman Bridwell
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs by Judy Barrett
Curious George by H.A. Rey
Danny and the Dinosaur by Syd Hoff
Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! By Mo Willems
Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown
Frog and Toad Are Friends by Arnold Lobel
Froggy Gets Dressed or Froggy Goes to School by Jonathan London
George and Martha by James Marshall
Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss
Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson
Harry the Dirty Dog by Gene Zion
How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight? By Jane Yolen
I Stink! By Kate McMullen
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura J. Numeroff
Ira Sleeps Over by Bernard Waber
Joseph Had a Little Overcoat by Simms Taback
Leo, the Late Bloomer by Robert Kraus
Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile by Bernard Waber
Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans
The Magic School Bus Series by Joanna Cole
Martha Speaks by Susan Meddaugh
Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton
Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten by Joseph Slate
Miss Nelson is Missing! By Harry Allard and James Marshall
Mr. Popper’s Penguins by Richard Atwater
My Father’s Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett
Nate the Great by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat
Owen by Kevin Henkes
The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch
Pete’s a Pizza by William Steig
Pierre: A Cautionary Tale by Maurice Sendak
Puss in Boots by Charles Perrault
Rapunzel by Paul O. Zelinsky
Strega Nona by Tomie De Paola
Stellaluna by Janell Cannon
Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig
Tough Boris by Mem Fox
The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by A. Wolf, by John Scieszka
Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
Yoko by Rosemary Wells

Thanks to Education.com for this fascinating list of books we can all share with parents.

Lorax and Dr. Seuss

2012-03-12T10:39:00.000-04:00

Dr. Suess and Lorax have teamed up to create a website like no other!

The links below are just a few links to the Lorax website!

Click on the titles below as they will take you into different sections of the Lorax site.

Lorax Daily Activities and Games for Children!

Lorax Toolkit!

Lorax Downloads of Book, Videos, and Activity Sheets!

Lorax Green Letter Factory!

Lorax Facebook Page!- Dr. Seuss

St. Patrick's Day!

2012-03-11T10:46:00.000-04:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Celebrate St. Patrick's Day with the following ideas and activities for your classroom!

Just some quick facts about the history of St. Patrick's Day to share with your children!

St. Patrick's Day is an Irish holiday celebrated all around the globe to honor the patron saint of Ireland, Saint Patrick.

When Is St. Patrick's Day?

Saint Patrick's Day is celebrated each year on March 17th.

Who Was Saint Patrick?

Even though Saint Patrick the patron saint of Ireland and one of the most celebrated religious figures around the world, the factual information about his life and times is quite vague. Most information about St. Patrick has been twisted, embellished, or simply made up over centuries by storytellers, causing much ambiguity about the real life of St. Patrick. However, there are a some elements of his story about which most scholars accept to be true.

According to Coilin Owens, Irish literature expert and Professor Emeritus of English at George Mason University, Saint Patrick is traditionally thought to have lived "between 432-461 A.D., but more recent scholarship moves the dates up a bit." At the age of sixteen he was kidnapped from his native land of the Roman British Isles by a band pirates, and sold into slavery in Ireland. Saint Patrick worked as a shepherd and turned to religion for solace. After six years of slavery he escaped to the Irish coast and fled home to Britain.

While back in his homeland, Patrick decided to become a priest and then decided to return to Ireland after dreaming that the voices of the Irish people were calling him to convert them to Christianity.

After studying and preparing for several years, Patrick traveled back to Ireland as a Christian missionary. Although there were already some Christians living in Ireland, St. Patrick was able to bring upon a massive religious shift to Christianity by converting people of power. Says Prof. Owens, "[St. Patrick] is credited with converting the nobles; who set an example which the people followed."

But Patrick's desire to spread of Christianity was not met without mighty opposition. Prof. Owens explains, "Patrick ran into trouble with the local pagan priesthood, the druids: and there are many stories about his arguments with them as well as his survival of plots against them." He laid the groundwork for the establishment of hundreds of monasteries and churches that eventually popped up across the Irish country to promote Christianity.

Patrick's mission in Ireland is said to have lasted for thirty years. It is believe he died in the 5th century on March 17, which is the day St. Patrick's Day is commemorated each year.

The first year St. Patrick's Day was celebrated in America in 1737 in Boston, Massachusetts. The first official St. Patrick's Day parade was held in New York City in 1766. As the saying goes, on this day "everybody is Irish!" Over 100 U.S. cities now hold Saint Patrick's Day parades.

Alecia Dixon is a freelance contributor. Laura Young is editor of Crafts and Holidays & Fun on Kaboose.com.

There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Clover

(Click on title above for link to activity)

March Calendar of Events and Facts!

(Click on title above for calendar)

A Day in the Life of a St. Patrick's Day Pre-K Classroom!

(Click on title above for link to the activity)

Leprechaun Traps for Your Classroom!

(Click on title above for link to the activity)

Leprechaun Art Hands

St. Patrick's Day Tot Kit!

(Click on title above for the link to activities)

This is a rather large file and I already have it downloaded. So, if you'd like for me to send it to you by email as attachments, just let me know!

St. Patrick's Day Scavenger Hunt!

(Click on title above for link to activity)

That Sneaky Little Leprechaun!

(Click on title above for link to activity)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Community Helpers Across the World

2012-01-23T18:22:00.003-05:00

Community Helpers Theme can be used anytime of the year.

The key is who we include as those helpers within our lesson plan.

Most of the time we include community helpers such as doctors, policeman, postal carriers and firefighters.

Take one day and list everyone you have made contact within your community. You will be surprised at how many other helpers you can add to the list!

A few ideas to think about include:

Construction

Nurses

Secretary

Baker/Chef

Teacher

Librarian

Beautician

Electric & Gas technician

Cable technician

Butcher

Pastor

Judge

Car Mechanic

Florist

Beautician

Animal Control Tech/Veterinarian

Scientist

Click on the pictures below to explore a variety of theme based activities

focusing specifically on community workers.

Activities ranging from Astronaut to Zookeeper!

Songs, Poems and Fingerplays!

Recommended Books and lots of Printable Activities!

Fingerplays, Poems and Songs....oh My!

Post Office Printables!

Some special times throughout the year we recognize community helpers around us!
Did you know.....

April 1st > Firefighter Day
April > School Library Media Month
April >National Library Week > The Librarian
April > Earth Day | Arbor Day > The Forester

May > Space Day > The Astronaut
May > Teacher Appreciation | Child Care Provider Appreciation Day
May > Police Week > The Police Officer
May 12th > International Nurse Day

June 5th > World Environment Day > The Forester

July 20th, 1969 > First Moon Landing > The Astronaut
July 24th > Amelia Earhart's Birthday > The Pilot

August 19th > National Aviation Day - The Pilot

October > Fire Prevention Month > The Firefighter
October > Crime Prevention Month > Police Officer
October 12th > Farmer's Day

November > Aviation Month > The Pilot

December 17th > Wright Brothers Day > The Pilot

Don't forget to bookmark this website so you can always come back for more information!

Let's Make Some Snowballs!

2012-01-05T12:54:00.001-05:00

Happy Winter to all of you!

Winter can seem to be a time where activites are limited outside.

It doesn't mean we can't bring the fun of outdoors inside!

Below I have included a few great ideas for a Great New Year!

Snow Ball Lesson Plan for Pre-K Classroom

A nice classic book to read:

Snowballs By Lois Ehlert

Reading Research about Winter Pre-K Lesson Plan

Winter vs. Summer Pre-K Lesson Plan

Writing About Winter using Invented Spelling Pre-K Lesson Plan

Brrrrrrrr Let's Track some Temperatures Pre-K Lesson Plan

Happy Winter Fun!

Holiday Seasons

2011-12-01T14:08:00.004-05:00

Holidays and Fairness

The October–December push
The three national holidays of Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas are the ones that most often appear in early childhood programs. They bring pleasure to many families and staff, as well as to children. However, they also pose a range of challenges for many families. Whether or not to include any of them in your curriculum, and what activities to use if you do, requires thoughtful decision making.

Christmas
In our multicultural society, Christmas, although important to many people, is still not everyone’s holiday. For children and families from other groups—be they Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, pagan, atheist, or anything else—Christmas can be a difficult time. For almost all families, the commercialization of the holiday, with its pressures to buy, decorate, and entertain, adds tremendous complication to already overloaded and busy lives. How can you address Christmas in your program in a way that is supportive and fair to all?

Learning about each other’s December holidays
Begin by finding out from families and staff members which December holiday(s), if any, they celebrate, and what they might like to share about their personal tradition. If the people in your program are culturally diverse, this could mean you will be learning about a number of different December holidays. In a more culturally homogeneous class, it could mean learning about the fascinating variety of ways families all celebrate the same holiday.

Make a plan for how you will teach about the various traditions in your classroom. For example, have a school party with every family sharing a special holiday food, song, or ritual. If family members cannot come into the classroom, ask them for a story or song that you can share with the children yourself. Help the children explore the similarities and differences among family holiday celebrations—whether it is the same holiday or different holidays. The aim is for children to understand that “Families are different. Each family’s way of celebrating works for them.”

If you use this approach, be very sensitive to children who celebrate differently from the majority of the children. Otherwise, it is easy for their holiday to sound like just a variation on the dominant culture’s event. It is the teacher’s responsibility (not the child’s) to clarify the distinctions. For example, in one school, most of the children told stories about their Christmas holiday customs; the one Jewish child talked about Chanukah. Later, several of the children (and some adults) wished the child’s family a “happy Jewish Christmas.”

by Louise Derman-Sparks and Julie Olsen Edwards

Below are a few Seasonal Activities that help celebrate the winter season while keeping a non-biased theme in your classroom setting

Snowman Matching Game
This file folder matching game focuses on color recognition.

Materials: File folder, cut outs of twenty snowmen, twenty colored scarfs for the snowmen and a laminater or clear contact paper.

Description: Teachers cut out the snowmen and scarves then place a different colored scarf on each snowman and place ten of them on the file folder. I use the colors: red, orange, green, yellow, blue, violet, pink, brown, black, and white.  Now, laminate the file folder. Next, take the other snowmen and scarves and laminate them separately. Cut them out and place them in an envelope on the back of the file folder for a matching game.

Comments: You can do this with fire trucks, turkeys, bears, letters, and different size pumpkins.

Language: What Should I Wear?
Children use weather and clothing vocabulary as they relate clothing choices to weather during this early childhood activity.

Materials: Dress-up clothes for various weather conditions: mittens, winter hats, sunglasses, rain boots, snow boots, sandals, sweater, sun hat, raincoat, winter coat, scarf, bathing suit, etc.

Description: Choose children in turn to be 'dressed up' or dress teacher or a life sized doll. Teacher describes the weather conditions by saying, "Ooh, I woke up this morning and I looked out the window and it was COLD and SNOWY. What should (child's name) wear?"

Children can call out suggestions and help dress the chosen child in the appropriate outfit. Children get quite pleased and giggly if they're allowed to 'correct' the teacher's incorrect suggestions too.



Winter Scenes in Southern Climates
This craft activity provides students an opportunity to create a winter scene that will illustrate a snowy day.

Materials: Old Christmas cards with outdoor scenes, white glue and iridescent white glitter.

Description: This is especially helpful for students who are not able to experience snow because their part of the county is too warm for snow. I have the students select, from old Christmas cards, an outdoor scene. They brush on a water and glue mixture over the whole picture. Then sprinkle the card with the iridescent white glitter. They are amazed at the results.  You may hear "It's like magic rain."
This craft helps capture the magic!




Sock Snowmen
Older preschool and kindergarten learn about estimation and have fun making a snowman that they can enjoy during this season.

Materials: sand or handmade playdough, white adult socks, colored children's socks, hot glue gun, hot
glue sticks, rubberbands, jingle bells (optional), toothpicks, black and orange
paint. various fabric pieces, various colored buttons. The hot glue gun is for adult use only!

Description: Place a white sock in a 8 oz. drinking cup, opening the top of the
sock and folding it over the rim of the cup. With a 1 cup measuring cup have
the children estimate how many cups of sand it will take to fill the sock in order to make a snowman body. Have each child fill their sock about ¼ of the way and put a rubber band around it.
Repeat this process two more times to create the snowman body.
Have each child count how many cups of sand it took to make their snowman.

After making each part of the body, with the rubberbands, hot glue around the rubber band and squish it down. Fold the remainder of the white sock down to create the rim of the hat. Take a children's colored sock, cutting the toe out and cut strips up to where the cuff of the sock begins. Place over the top of the white sock to make a colored hat.

Rubberband the colored hat where the strips end and the cuff of the sock begins to create fringe like strips hanging off of the hat.

Glue under the colored hat to attach it to the white rim part of the hat, leaving some white showing. Have the children paint a face on the front of the snowman, and cut strips of fabric. Tie the strips around the neck to create a scarf. Then
cut strips at the end of the fabric to create fringe on the scarf.

Have the children color the pointy part of a toothpick orange with an orange marker, and glue on as the nose. Place 3 buttons down the front of the snowman and add bells if desired.



Wintertime
Enjoy this action winter poem suggesting that you make up hand movements while listening to nature of waltz type music.

Winter Time Poem
by Mary Ryer Icy fingers, icy toes,
Bright red cheeks and bright red nose.
Watch the snowflakes as they fall,
Try so hard to count them all.
Build a snowman way up high,
See if he can touch the sky.
Snow forts, snowballs, angels, too,
In the snow, so white and new.
Slip and slide and skate so fast.
Wintertime is here at last.

I Know An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Pie

2011-11-16T09:38:00.001-05:00

Old Lady Who Swallowed A Pie

I have attached photos of cut outs you can use for felt board activities as well as words to the story if you do not have the book available.

You may wish to change the word "die" to "sigh" if you feel uncomfortable sharing this word with your class.

http://prekinders.com/thanksgiving/Old-Lady-Swallowed-Pie-Flannel-Board.pdf

I KNOW AN OLD LADY WHO SWALLOWED A PIE
“I know an old lady who swallowed a pie,
A Thanksgiving pie, which was really too dry,
Perhaps she’ll die
I know an old lady who swallowed some cider,
that rumbled and mumbled and grumbled inside her,
She swallowed the cider to moisten the pie,
The Thanksgiving pie, which was really too dry
Perhaps she’ll die
I know an old lady who swallowed a roll
Just swallowed it whole – the entire roll!
She swallowed the roll to go with the cider
that rumbled and mumbled and grumbled inside her,
She swallowed the cider to moisten the pie,
The Thanksgiving pie, which was really too dry
Perhaps she’ll die
I know an old lady who swallowed a squash
Oh my gosh, a fat yellow squash
she swallowed the squash to go with the roll
She swallowed the roll to go with the cider
that rumbled and mumbled and grumbled inside her,
She swallowed the cider to moisten the pie,
The Thanksgiving pie, which was really too dry
Perhaps she’ll die
I know an old lady who swallowed a salad
She was looking quite pallid from eating that salad!
She swallowed the salad to go with the squash
she swallowed the squash to go with the roll
She swallowed the roll to go with the cider
that rumbled and mumbled and grumbled inside her,
She swallowed the cider to moisten the pie,
The Thanksgiving pie, which was really too dry
Perhaps she’ll die
I know an old lady who swallowed a turkey
her future looked murky after that turkey!
she swallowed the turkey to go with the salad
She swallowed the salad to go with the squash
she swallowed the squash to go with the roll
She swallowed the roll to go with the cider
that rumbled and mumbled and grumbled inside her,
She swallowed the cider to moisten the pie,
The Thanksgiving pie, which was really too dry
Perhaps she’ll die
I know an old lady who swallowed a pot
I kid you not – she swallowed a pot
she swallowed the pot to go with the turkey
she swallowed the turkey to go with the salad
She swallowed the salad to go with the squash
she swallowed the squash to go with the roll
She swallowed the roll to go with the cider
that rumbled and mumbled and grumbled inside her,
She swallowed the cider to moisten the pie,
The Thanksgiving pie, which was really too dry
Perhaps she’ll die
I know an old lady who swallowed a cake
for goodness sake, a ten-layer cake
she swallowed the cake to go with the pot
she swallowed the pot to go with the turkey
she swallowed the turkey to go with the salad
She swallowed the salad to go with the squash
she swallowed the squash to go with the roll
She swallowed the roll to go with the cider
that rumbled and mumbled and grumbled inside her,
She swallowed the cider to moisten the pie,
The Thanksgiving pie, which was really too dry
Perhaps she’ll die!
I know an old lady who swallowed some bread…
I’m full she said.”

By. Alison Jackson

Turkey Clothespin Letter Matching

(Click on the title above for directions to the activity)

Where is the Turkey Positional Book?

Setting: Large Group

Objective: Positional Words
Materials: Computer, printer, paper, stapler, scissors, popsicle stick, tape or glue
Directions: Print the Where is the Turkey? book on your printer

http://www.pre-kpages.com/docs/where-is-the-turkey.pdf .

Cut out the farmer and attach him to the popsicle stick with tape or glue. Assemble the book and staple, read to class.

The Anti-Bias Holiday

2011-10-27T15:44:00.005-04:00

Many early childhood educators have questions about how to approach the holidays.

The following text is excerpted from Anti-Bias Education for Young Children and Ourselves.by Louise Derman-Sparks and Julie Olsen Edwards.

The October–December Push
The three national holidays of Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas are the ones that most often appear in early childhood programs. They bring pleasure to many families and staff, as well as to children. However, they also pose a range of challenges for many families. Whether or not to include any of them in your curriculum, and what activities to use if you do, requires thoughtful decision making.

Halloween
Many children have fun every year celebrating Halloween in their neighborhoods, schools, and early childhood programs. At the same time, however, its pagan origins and associations with witches, ghosts, and evil make Halloween problematic for some families, including some fundamentalist Christian, Jehovah’s Witness, and immigrant families. Still other families do not like the traditional gorging on sugar that follows trick-or-treating, or they no longer allow their children to go out at all because of their fears about possible harm. Commercialism also has turned Halloween into a time when parents feel pressured to buy expensive candy and ready-made costumes that sometimes are inconsistent with their values or budgets. In addition, children under 4 may find some of the costumes frightening. For one or more of these reasons, some early childhood programs decide not to include Halloween in their curriculum or to modify how they do Halloween activities.

Designing new ways to do Halloween activities
Take into account approaches and concerns of specific families, adapt your activities, or create new ones.

Involve children in making Halloween masks (and perhaps costumes). Display the finished masks in the classroom or let children wear their costumes for a parade at school. Besides helping to reduce the emphasis on commercial costumes and masks, this activity is a way of lessening the fears many preschoolers have of the masked figures that appear on Halloween.
Provide a Halloween substitute. If some families do not want their children engaged in any traditional Halloween activities, consider creating an alternative celebration. For example, substitute dress-up costumes that children put together from the program’s costume and scarf box and have a parade.

Cooking To Learn: Pumpkin Seeds

What do you do when all the pumpkins have been carved? Gather up the seeds and make a tasty snack! Pumpkin seeds are a good source of protein and fiber. You can store toasted seeds in an airtight container at room temperature for one to two weeks, or refrigerate for up to three months. Children can add as much flavor as they like when preparing this easy snack.

Ingredients
1 cup pumpkin seeds* (One large pumpkin usually yields one cup of seeds. Use sugar/pie pumpkins, if available.)
1 T olive oil
Seasoning of choice: salt, garlic powder, onion powder, ground ginger, ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg, curry powder, or grated Parmesan cheese
*Butternut, acorn, and other squash seeds can be prepared this same way.
Directions

Pull seeds from the pumpkin pulp, using fingers. Rinse seeds in a colander.
Scrub off any remaining pulp with a vegetable brush.
Spread cleaned seeds in a single layer on a cookie sheet to dry overnight.
Place seeds in a microwave-safe baking dish or pie plate. Drizzle olive oil over the seeds, then toss.
Place dish in microwave and heat on high for 2 minutes. Take out the dish and stir seeds. Return to microwave and continue to cook seeds in 1-minute increments, stirring in between, until seeds reach desired crispness and turn light gold in color.
Sprinkle the toasted seeds with seasoning(s) of your choice. Toss to coat. Let the seeds cool about 5 minutes before eating.

Adapted from Teaching Young Children 2010 (4) 1: 32.

Here are a few picture-word cards for Fall themes. Click on the link to download a variety of sizes for free!

http://prekinders.com/2011/10/fall-picture-word-cards/#ixzz1c0qKcDEF

Jumpstart's Read for the Record Campaign- October 6, 2011

2011-10-02T21:46:00.002-04:00

Join the BIG Event October 6, 2011!

Preschools and elementary schools around the country can join in to help set a book reading record by participating in "Jumpstart's Read for the Record Campaign" on October 6, 2011. The purpose of this event is to spread awareness of the importance of early childhood literacy.

The goal is to set a new World Record for the most people reading the same book on the same day. And, much to my delight, the book to read is "Llama Llama Red Pajama" by Anna Dewdney!

In addition, this year Jumpstart is also trying to set an all-new record for the largest digital reading experience by reading "Llama Llama Red Pajama" at http://www.wegivebooks.org/ (which is a great way for parents and teachers to still participate even if they do not own a copy of the book).
For those classrooms that have SmartBoards, this is a great way to view the book.

It is very easy for parents, preschools and elementary schools to participate and help set the record. Many schools are reading the book over the loud speaker while teachers show the pages to their classes. If you want to plan an event - event materials and learning activities that teachers can use can be found at http://www.wegivebooks.org/

Here are a couple of preschool activities that go with the story at these blogs:

Download: Activities for Preschool School Pajama Parties!

Download: Red Pajama Craft!

Download: "Llama Llama Pajama Party" Book for free!

Join parents and teachers and read "Llama Llama Red Pajama" out loud to your children on October 6th!

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Teachers Resources: Wee Give Books Educator's Guide for the big event!

Tips To Getting Along With Parents

2011-09-10T21:50:00.001-04:00

Parent involvement can be a challenge for teachers as motivating parents to volunteer can be seen as intimidating for some while time consuming for others.

It's important we provide parents an opportunity to help discover and untilize their strengths while understanding how they can contribute those strengths within the classroom. Many times this can be done inside and outside of the classroom environment.

Instructor Magazine this month provides a great review of how to get along with parents in an effort to encourage more parent involvement.

Click on the link below for the article.

Get Along With Every Parent

How to keep it positive, and keep the volunteering coming!

Let me be real with you for a moment. Working collaboratively with every parent in my class has not always been all sunshine and kittens. Has creating a successful relationship always been a goal of mine? Yes. Have I ever wanted to snatch their cell phones away from their ears and smash them against a wall when we are in the middle of a conference? Sadly, also yes.

But for every parent who has shown up unannounced with a massive birthday cake and seemed confused when I was a) in the middle of teaching, b) unable to magically produce a knife, candles, or matches and c) clearly plastering a pained smile on my face, there is a parent who sends thoughtful notes, is an active participant in her child's education, and is a pleasure to work with.

Bottom line: The more often and positively you communicate, the less likely you are to have grief down the line. Here are some of my ideas for working with all parents without adding hours to your day-from the ones who love to make a shouty phone call to the ones who dutifully return permission slips on time.

Stay Positive
Yes, we all have to call home sometimes when bad behavior rears its ugly head. However, don't let that be the only time you reach out to parents. Nobody wants a relationship with Ms. Debbie Downer. Don't let them live in fear you'll call-reach out just to say everything's cool.

Phone Home
Make it your goal to place at least one positive call home per week. Try putting it on your calendar as a reminder. Not only will it brighten the day of the receiving family, it will make your week a little brighter, too. Keep track of whose parents you've called and make it a point to contact every family throughout the year-even the parents whose kid never stops moving. You appreciate his energy, right?

Get a Notebook
Don't forget to keep careful track of your interactions with parents. Create a quick Parent Communication Log that includes the date, name of the family member, type of communication, and a brief summary of what you've discussed. This record will come in handy during report card time and in the event any sort of ruckus is stirred up.

Use Humor
Be ready with a funny anecdote or story of success about each one of your students. Good teachers are avid kid watchers. (Think bird watchers without the funny hats and binoculars.) When you run into a parent, be ready to share your observations and wow them with how well you know the child. Naturally, parents are curious about what their kids are like when they are at school. And after all, the students tell you all about life at home-My sister's grounded 'cause she stayed out late.

Begin With Compliments
Always start face-to-face conversations with a compliment. Parents will listen better when they feel you are acknowledging their child as a whole person. Let's say you have a child who needs extra help in reading. You might say, "I've loved having Sasha this year. She's so analytical, and that makes her a great math student. But it can make the more abstract tasks in reading a challenge." Take a moment to honor a child's strengths before diving into difficult conversations.

Write Love Letters
Involve your class in sending home positive notes about the good things happening in your classroom. One way is to take five minutes at the end of the day to choose one student to recognize and to collaboratively compose a note or e-mail detailing how that student set an example for those around him. Systematically work your way through the entire class, building positive self-esteem as you go! Can you say "two birds with one stone"?

Share Your "Top Ten" Lists
Many parents are looking for ways to help their children at home. Share your favorites. Once a month or so, send home a list of fabulous books to read, or websites to visit (eagle webcam!), or online math games to play.

Be Inclusive
Give parents a variety of opportunities to get involved. Don't make assumptions about parents' level of involvement. Talk about a slippery slope! Instead, provide a range of options that meet the needs and availability of different families.

Have Story-Time Special Guests
Invite parents to share a favorite book from their own childhood or a current kid favorite with your class. To keep this option manageable, establish a day and time that consistently works for your schedule. Provide parents with tips for reading aloud, such as speaking slowly and stopping to ask questions.

Get 'Em in the Field
Because both working and stay-at-home parents may want to chaperone a field trip, send home dates as soon as possible. Be clear about responsibilites so that parents know what they are getting into and how much time they can commit.

Be the Teacher
Let's face it. Sometimes your students like to see a different face sitting in your chair. Keep it fresh and invite parents to share their hobbies or knowledge with your class. They may totally reenergize a unit of study!

Ask to Receive
Send home a wish list of items to be donated. Make it clear that these items are in no way a requirement. However, there are parents who may not be able to make it to the classroom but still want to contribute something.

Survey Families
Try to get to know the parents of your students as people. Find out where they're from, what their family is like, what they're interested in, or what they're most concerned about. Don't like the idea of a survey? Share a bit of yourself with them in a letter and invite them to write back.

Send Thank-You Notes
Let's not forget our manners in the frenzy of the school week! When a parent makes a contribution to the class, send home a personal thank-you note. Or if you're feeling extra fancy, have the class or a group of students create and write personalized thank-you notes. Your appreciation will go a long way!

Keep the Lines Open
While it is wonderful to aim high, don't back yourself into a corner and create a system of communication that unnecessarily clogs up your to-do list and makes you want to run screaming from the building. Find the system that works best for you.

- Provide Monthly Highlights: Send home a simple newsletter. Keep parents posted on important dates and upcoming units of study. You can also include student work, class celebrations, and a wish list ("We need those toilet-paper tubes"). Keep it simple-use a template and digital photographs to spice things up.

- Make it Colorful: Put important communication on brightly colored paper. Kids' backpacks can be a scary place, filled with last week's snack, long-lost papers, and old gym clothes. Bright yellow or pink paper will help your permission slips and notes home stand out in the chaos.

- Build a homepage Take advantage of classroom websites. Many schools have user-friendly formats for creating a class page. Post classroom rules, homework assignments, photographs, or anything else you want to share with parents.

- Try Blogging: Incorporate student blogging into at least one long-term project this year. Not only can you check for comprehension, but families can get a peek into the learning process.

- Involve your students On Friday afternoons, you might invite students to write a short e-mail to their parents about what they learned that week. It's a great a way to start the conversation at home.

Guiding Children in Taking Care of Books

2011-09-05T22:27:00.001-04:00

The beginning of the school year brings challenges in helping children appreciate and learn how to use books. We have to remember that some children have limited exposure to books and toys which makes it even more important to help guide them in learning more about what we have given them in the class to enjoy.

The website below provide great examples of how to create your own classroom books while offering a lesson through the teacher created books on how to care for them.

http://www.kindergartenkindergarten.com/2011/08/teaching-rules-and-routines-taking-care-of-books.html

This website provides inexpensive powerpoint printable preschool children's books!

http://www.vendio.com/stores/brightideasolutions/

This site offers teachers a way to introduce the library center and books to the children.

http://www.brighthub.com/education/early-childhood/articles/99028.aspx

An interactive story to help guide children in learning how to care and enjoy books in their classroom.
Click on the picture below to access the website where you can purchase this book.

Read It, Don't Eat It! By Ian Schoenherr

We all know there will be a few torn pages or two, but remember children can't learn to read, engage in literacy experiences and care for books until books are held in their tiny hands!

Welcoming Children and Families Back to School

2011-08-10T12:55:00.000-04:00

Welcoming Children and Families Back to School

Most of you are in the process of making last minute touches to your Pre-K Classrooms along with offering parent orientation meetings and open houses for your families.

NAEYC (National Association for the Education of Young Children) has provided a nice collection of resource materials to share with your parents and new classroom children during these first few weeks of school.

You will also find materials to help children transitioning into the program with ease and comfort knowing they are in safe hands!

I have linked the pages below so you can share with families and use for yourself in making the first part of the school year a success!

Welcome Children and Families to Your Classroom

Cultivating Relationships with Families

Fostering Positive Transitions

10 Tips for Involving Families through Internet-Based Communication

More Than a Letter Home

Conferencing with Families

Helping Children Get to Know Each Other

Children's Books About Families

Coffee and Phone Calls

Wishing you the best for a creative and enjoyable school year!

32 Things to Make Using a Cardboard Box!

2011-05-27T19:33:00.000-04:00

This article is being shared from Laurie, The Tip Lady!

I’ve made several fun toys and activities for kids using cardboard but nothing like these amazing projects. You’ll be blown away by these 32 things to make using a cardboard box. They are DIY activities, games, and imagination building props to encourage your child to play for hours.

Cardboard Box City

1. Cardboard Box City – A darling Sweetopia made for a birthday party complete with shopping center, dental office, beauty boutique, and pastry shop.

2. Cardboard Box Party - This party is seriously so creative with box cars, buses, and even a castle.
3. Cardboard City – Australian artist, Annalise Rees, plays with space and drawing in her two and three dimensional ‘drawn’ house-scapes.

4. Castle One and Castle Two - Two amazing cardboard castles made for a window display for a store owner. They are seriously so impressive and would make an amazing castle for a little boy who loves to play with knight figurines or amazing spray painted in black and used for Halloween decor.
5. Barn for the Farm – A darling barn made for a 1st birthday party in a farm theme complete with a silk flower window.
6. A townhouse Village - A sweet little townhouse village for little animals made from a cardboard box, paint, sharpies, clear vinyl, ribbon, and scraps of paper and packaging.
7. DIY Kids: Ice Cream Shop – This wonderfully social, imaginary play led me to the recent construction of our next DIY Kids Project… I present to you, the Ice Cream Shop.

Cardboard Toys

8. Cardboard Mailbox – A fun way to create your own post office at home and a fun activity for kids.
9. Cardboard Box Shape Sorter - Put together this smart cardboard shape sorter to help your toddler learn shapes and sizes.
10. Cardboard Dog House – Whimsy-girl constructed a dog house out of a cardboard box – so cute with the roof shingles!
11. Cardboard Box iPod Costume - With a lil paint, minimal artistic talent and a few supplies you will find around your home, you can easily create an iPod costume for your budding music man.

12. Recycled Three Little Pigs Puppet Theater – A darling theatre made out of a box with a fun dry-erase board topper to write the title of the play.
13. Play Dressing Table from a Cardboard Box – Two boxes made into a play dressing table and wrapped in wrapped up in some bright pink self adhesive book covering.
14. Puppet Theater - A refrigerator box turned into a fun puppet theater.
15. Cardboard Box Marble Run - A fun activity for kids that uses several pieces of cardboard taped together to make a fun marble run.

16. DIY: Castle Story Box – A darling Jack in the Beanstalk castle to inspire imaginary play.
17. Cardboard Guitars - Pictured instructions on how to make your own guitars out of a box.

Cardboard Gift Ideas

18. Cardboard Flowers – These would make a lovely gift for grandma or auntie, or if there are any dads reading, it would be a pretty sweet mother’s day gift too.

Cardboard Kitchen

19. Cardboard-Box Oven Craft – Make this lovely cardboard oven with materials from around your home.
20. Cardboard Pizza Making - A fun activity for kids using cardboard and colored paper and other supplies around your home.

21. Cardboard Bedroom Suite - An absolutely darling room decorated with a box dresser, headboard, frame and lamp.

22. Night Owl Birthday Party – This party is so fab! Look how she used cardboard and made the table look like a bed!

Cardboard Transportation

23. Riding Box Cars Tutorial – This is a fun activity that the kids can get involved in making. And boys will love this too!
24. Creative Cars made out of boxes – Make your own race car out of a cardboard box, tape, and other easy supplies.
25. Cardboard Spaceship – A fantastic spaceship with an extra partition glued on to the back to allow for intergalactic personnel transport. {snicker}
26. Giant Rocket ship – Using a potato box as the base for the structure, all the cardboard was brought home after a trip to Costco. It took about 15 sheets of the corrugated cardboard that they have in between the pallets of diaper boxes/toilet rolls/cereal boxes.

27. Train made out of Boxes - A fun and interactive party decor for a train themed outdoor birthday party. Choochoo!

28. Homemade Toy Car Wash – A car wash made for the toy cars out of a box and stuff out of the recycling bin and a pack of those foam sheets.
29. Scooter made from a box - This scooter is seriously so impressive! What kiddo wouldn’t want their own life-sized scooter made out of a box!
30. Cardboard Fire Engine Truck Tutorial - A darling prop and boy-sized toy for a Fire Truck themed birthday party.
31. Cardboard Canoe - Use hot glue and duct tape to bring the ends together at a point to create the canoe shape out of a box.

32. If you want to make a few fun projects, be sure to check out this great article on How to Work With Cardboard. The Ikat Bag shows tons of amazing tutorials on things to make with cardboard. Click on any of the images at the bottom of her post to be taken to that tutorial on how to make it.
If you have a homemade tutorial over on your blog, we’d love to see it! Feel free to submit it to leave your link in the comments or on the Tip Junkie Facebook page. Or if you’re looking for a specific gift, let me know! I’ll be happy to find it for you.

Celebrating Arbor Day

2011-04-27T08:19:00.005-04:00

http://www.arborday.org/explore/

National Arbor Day is an observance where people and communities are encouraged to plant new trees as well as taking care of the trees we have around us.

The observance day was founded in 1872 by J. Sterling Morton of Nebraska. National Arbor Day is celebrated on the last Friday in April each year (April 29, 2011). So, this is a perfect time to start exploring trees within your children's community and offer Arbor Day preschool activities with the children.

There's so much that children can learn from trees.

If you have the opportunity, plant a small tree on the grounds around your classroom to nourish and watch its growth throughout the years. See how it changes during the seasons. Allow the children to name the tree in honor of their classroom. This gives them pride in nurturing their environment, learning more about the importance of trees in our lives and hopefully returning back to the center to see it's growth over the years!

Arbor Day Pre-K Activities

Adopt a Tree

Find a Tree

Take the children outdoors to explore trees in your playground, the park, and in the neighborhood. Talk about things that are the same and things that are different from each tree. What are its parts (roots, trunk, limbs, branches, leaves, etc)? Together play observation games. Ask questions such as: "Who can find the thickest tree trunk?" or "How many different kinds of leaves can you find?"

Getting to Know Your Tree

Tell the children that they can choose a tree to adopt (all the children can adopt the same tree if necessary). Once they have decided on their tree, help the children get to know their tree better.

Let each child hug her tree. "How far do your arms go around it?"
Encourage each child to kiss her tree. Have her smell the bark, leaves, pine cones, flowers, and acorns.
Have each child explore the tree carefully with her eyes. Then, if possible, let the child look at parts of the tree with a magnifying glass.
Let each child explore her tree carefully with her hands and feet. Feel the bark, leaves, twigs, and buds.
Help each child find out who lives in her tree. Point out that many trees are homes for animals and insects. Look for nests - "What is it made of?" "Who do you think built it?"

Make a Book About Your Tree

Pass out paper and invite the children to draw a picture of their tree. If possible, let them draw while looking at their tree outdoors. Have each child name their tree (teacher can write the name on this sheet). The children can draw pictures of the animals or insects that live in their tree.

Have the children visit their tree and find a piece of bark to paste on another sheet of paper. Or, show the children how to put the paper up against the trunk and make a rubbing of the bark with a crayon.

Help each child measure the trunk of her tree with a piece of yarn. They can glue this piece of yarn to a page in their book.

Finally, have each child find a fallen leaf from her tree and glue this to a sheet of paper. If possible, visit this tree during all four seasons to collect a leaf.

Bound all these pages together between construction paper to make a book.

Nutrition From Trees

Many trees produce fruits and nuts that make good food for us to eat. Encourage the children to find pictures in magazines to make a "food from trees" collage. On one day, have a "tree food day" and serve fruits, nuts, apple or orange juice, and other snacks from trees.

Music and Movement

Invite the children to use their bodies and pretend they are trees. Play music and have these pretend trees sway in the breeze using their arms - back and forth. When the music stops, the children must freeze into a tree shape (like an upright trunk).

Read Books About Trees

Here are a few suggestions:

The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein

The Happiness Tree: Celebrating the Gifts of Trees We

Treasure by Andrea Alban Goslin

Another Tree in the Yard by Lucia Sera

Tell Me, Tree: All About Trees for Kids by Gail Gibbons

Source for Arbor Day: http://www.arborday.org

Arbor Day preschool activities will help teach young children about trees and this important observance. As we are trying to become more eco-friendly, saving our trees is an important factor in our lives. Youngsters should learn how to plant trees, nurture trees and love trees - they will save the Earth!

Sand and Water Table

Tree Farm

1. Set up a tree farm in your sand table
2. Provide tractors, bulldozers, etc for them to play with in the area.
3. Put pieces of small branches, bark & leaves in the table.
4. Encourage children to plant trees and harvest them in the table.

Snack Time

Leafy Snack

1. Using leaf cookie cutters, create leaf shaped sandwiches.

2. Allowing children to take part in this activity would be so much fun for the classroom.

3. Alternatively use Jell-O, to make Leafy Jigglers.

Art & Family Involvement

The Family Tree

1.Have children bring pictures of their family to class. Let the children draw a tree on the poster board or large sheet.

2. Next have the children paste the pictures on the tree.

3. Now you have a cute family tree.

Group Project

Tickle Tree

1. Draw a triangle shape tree on a large sheet of paper. This is a group activity, so the larger the better.

2. Next, have the children cut three inch pieces of green paper and curl them with scissors or their fingers.

3. Finally, let your children glue the curled paper to the triangle to make a unique tree.

4. Add the following Poem to the bottom of the tree:

This is my tickle tree,
As you can plainly see,
It will tickle you,
As it has tickled me.
So if you are not careful, this little tickle tree,
Will make you say Hee, Hee, Hee.

Kelli Boniecki
kelliboniecki@gmail.com
http://www.kelliboniecki.scentsy.com/

Work Sampling Collections & Parent/Teacher Conferences

2011-04-18T08:33:00.001-04:00

It's about that time where your program is in the midst of completing the Collection Reports for Work Sampling and sharing the child's progress with parent(s). Below are a few tips in helping transition into preparing for parent-teacher conferences as well as methods for sharing feedback.

A reminder to yourself while observing your students and sharing information with parents about the child's work.

Our 4K classrooms use “Authentic Performance Assessment” which means assessing children while they are applying their knowledge and skills in a situation or to a task that is meaningful to them and that is within the range of typical classroom activity. Performance assessment is authentic because it is not set apart from daily learning.

You, as the teacher, can either do spontaneous observations of activities to get an idea of children’s knowledge and skills, or they can plan activities or assigned tasks so they can observe and “document” the outcomes. When the outcomes are documented, you make it possible for others to “see” the learning and development that is taking place.

Documentation is “evidence” of learning and development. Examples of documentation include observations made by the teacher and recorded as anecdotal notes, photographs of activities, products the child makes or produces, stories of learning experiences in activities, projects and units, records of problem solving attempts, and so on.

You, the teacher, “share the story” of the daily activities by displaying some of their documentation on the bulletin boards, walls, shelves and open floor spaces in the classroom. The displays are the part of documentation that demonstrate to parents and visitors what children noticed, wondered, explored and discovered in their daily activities. Displays are the part of documentation that makes children’s work visible within the classroom and school.

FOUR REASONS FOR REGULAR CONFERENCES:

*To facilitate a balanced examination of all aspects of development.

*To provide uninterrupted and privacy for conversation.

*To facilitate a free-flowing exchange of questions and information and to increase mutual knowledge and respect.

*To provide the opportunity to formulate and coordinate goals and plans.

STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESSFUL CONFERENCES:

*Help parents feel at ease- make the environment comfortable for them.

*Begin with a positive attitude and end with a positive attitude!

*Encourage parent participation-ask them open-ended questions during the conference.

*Summarize the conference for the parent. Feel free to use the above information about portfolios and conferences to help parents understand the importance of their involvement in the child's classroom learning experiences.

PITFALLS TO AVOID FOR A SUCCESSFUL CONFERENCE:

*Avoid using technical terminology....parents may not always understand words like sensorimotor or 10th percentile.

*Avoid the role of "Expert". Be cautious of "I think" phrases.

*Avoid negative evaluations. ALWAYS stay away from the words: problem, behind, immature, never, can't, slow, failing. Remember these words are subjective. Suggestion: Instead of: Jimmy doesn't like art.

Try: Jimmy usually chooses to play in blocks, building large buildings, and adding trucks and people to the scene. I have seen him choose to use art materials twice in the past two months.

*Avoid unprofessional conversations.

*Avoid giving advice. Unless you are an expert or doctor, your best bet is to provide suggestions after encouraging parents to help come up with strategies.

In closing, here is a quick reference list for successful conferences.

TIPS FOR SUCCESSFUL CONFERENCES

1. Prepare carefully before the conference by considering the individual child's progress and documentation.

2. Ensure privacy.

3. Provide an informal setting.

4. Be mindful of parents' time.

5. Establish rapport.

6. Begin on a positive note.

7. Encourage the parents to talk.

8. Listen attentively.

9. Develop an attitude of mutual cooperation.

10. Delay making suggestions yourself.

11. Encourage suggestions from parents.

12. Summarize points covered.

13. Make plans together for future action.

14. End on a note of continuing cooperation.

15. Make notes about the conference after the parent leaves.

Reference:

Gestwicki, C. (2010). Home, School & Community Relations (7th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing.

Help Support Autism Awareness

and Research!

http://www.kelliboniecki.scentsy.com/

Week of the Young Child- April 22-28, 2012

2011-04-03T11:55:00.000-04:00

Click titles below to be directed to more information

about that topic!

What is Week of the Young Child?

The Week of the Young Child is an annual celebration sponsored by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), the world's largest early childhood education association, with over 80,000 members and a network of over 300 local, state, and regional Affiliates.

The purpose of the Week of the Young Child is to focus public attention on the needs of young children and their families and to recognize the early childhood programs and services that meet those needs.

NAEYC first established the Week of the Young Child in 1971, recognizing that the early childhood years (birth through age 8) lay the foundation for children's success in school and later life. The Week of the Young Child is a time to plan how we--as citizens of a community, of a state, and of a nation--will better meet the needs of all young children and their families.

NAEYC Resources & Logos you are free to use for your events!

NAEYC offers a variety of resources for planning your community's celebration of Week of the Young Child. Here are some of our resources that either feature the 2012 theme, Early Years Are Learning Years, or generally promote awareness of the rights and needs of children. Although the Week of the Young Child does not have an official logo, NAEYC has some graphics that many associate with it. These images are available for your use.

Week of the Young Child Planning Event Book

Activities to celebrate Early Childhood Education in your community

Crayola Week of the Young Child Class Activities

Special classroom activities for your children to enjoy!

Art
Child Collage
Supply the children with magazines with pictures of children, construction paper and glue and let them make collages.

Me Puppet
Have the children create a sock puppet by placing buttons and yarn on a colorful sock with tacky glue.

Button Picture Frame
You will need six popsicle sticks, tacky glue, buttons, two small magnets, construction paper and a picture of the child. Then you make a frame with four popsicle sticks. Lay two stick parallel to one another (stick 1 and 2) then complete the from with sticks 3 and 4. Then to make the picture stay in you will need to add stick 5 and 6 on the top and bottom of the frame. So you have sticks 3 and 4 (the sides) with a stick on the top in front, top in back, bottom in front and bottom in back. Follow? Connect these sticks with glue. When dry have the children decorate these sticks with paint. Let that dry. Then let the children glue buttons on the frame. Let that dry. Cut a piece of paper to fit the back of the frame. Glue that on. Cut the picture to fit in the frame, and insert the picture. Then glue the magnets at the top and bottom of the back of the frame. Viola.. an awesome gift.

Finger Prints
Supply each child with a piece of white paper and different colored non-toxic stamp pads. Show the child how to make fingerprints on the paper, using only one finger at a time.

Self Portrait
Children can use torn paper to make a self portrait.

Shadow Art
Use an overhead projector, or the sun to create a silhouette on the wall. Tape a piece of paper on the wall, and trace the outline. Have the child cut out the silhouette. You may choose to have them decorate the shadow.

I like.... Collage
Supply the children with many different magazines, with foods, toys, etc. Let the children cut out things they like and glue them onto a piece of paper.

Feet Butterflies
Have children take off shoes and socks, paint the bottom of their feet with non-toxic tempera paint. Have the child step onto a piece of paper with their feet and heels together. When dry, add antennae with markers or crayons or yarn.

Me Puppet
Take a picture of each child. Have the child cut out the picture and glue to a popsicle stick.

Paper Bag Puppets
Supply each child with a brown paper bag, yarn and other items to make a puppet. The flap at the bottom of the bag is the mouth.

Paper Plate Faces
Have the children draw facial features onto a paper plate to make a face. Supply the children with yarn or Easter grass for hair.

Paper Plate Faces 2
Have the children cut out facial features from a magazine and have them glue them onto a paper plate for a funny face.

Paper Plate Faces 3
Supply the children with different multicultural colors of paper. Have them tear the paper and glue them onto a paper plate to cover the paper plate. After the glue dries have the children draw on facial features with a marker or crayon, or they hay glue on facial features from a magazine.

I Like...
When I was in Second Grade we did an "All about Me" Board and a warm Fuzzies book. The "All About Me" board was a bunch of pictures of me and my family and there were also things that said a little bit about me... like "My favorite food is Spaghetti" or "I have a cat named Missie" The Warm Fuzzie book was a book that the teacher wrote compiling all the nice things the other children said about me. "I like her hair" "She is a good student" "I like to play with her" I still have this book somewhere amongst the few things that made it from move to move. Anyway, have the children sit in a circle and say one nice thing about the child sitting next to him/her.

Life Size Me
Have the child lay on a piece of butcher paper and trace them. Have the child color the paper, then cut it out.

Life Size Me II
Have the children make crazy poses on black butcher paper. Trace them, then have the children cut them out. Finally hang them around the room for some fun shadows. Do the parents know which one is their child?

Feeling Painting
Divide a piece of paper into 4 sections. Have the children draw a picture of Happy, Sad, Mad and scared one in each of the 4 sections. Label the boxes for the children.

Friends, Holding Hands
Fill in the blank with the name of your class. Write this title in the middle of a piece of butcher paper. Then individually, paint a child's hands with a paintbrush and non-toxic paint. Using a paintbrush will increase the quality of the print, opposed to dipping the hand in paint. Have the child make a handprint around the edge of the paper. Wash the child's hand and repeat with all the children and teachers on your class.

Games, Math and Science
Hair Color Chart
Have the children raise their hands if they have brown hair. Count and record the number of children that have brown hair. Repeat for red, blonde and black. Graph the results. Ask the children "what color hair do most of the children in our class have?"

Height Chart
Measure each child's height and create a graph to represent the children's height in your class.

Eye Color Chart
Have the children raise their hands if they have brown eyes. Count and record the number of children that have brown eyes. Repeat for blue, green and hazel. Graph the results. Ask the children "what color eyes do most of the children in our class have?"

Where's Your ....?
Ask the children "Where's your ____?" Fill in the blank according to their age.
Here are some examples:
head, eyes, nose, foot (easy)
fingers, ankles, knees, neck, forhead (medium)
knuckes, wrist, thigh, forarm, palm, spine (hard)

Feelings Chart
Ask the children "How do you feel today?" Record the answers and create a chart. Talk about the results.

Listen to your heatbeat
Allow the children to listen to their heartbeat with a stethescope. The toy ones work, but some of your parents may have access to a real one.

Guess how I feel:
Have one child stand in the middle of the circle and act out an emotion. The other children can guess what it is.

My Friends and Me Jump
Take pictures of the children and laminate them. Have the children hop from one picture to another.

My Friends and Me Musical Chairs
Set out the pictures on the floor in a circle. Have the children walk around the circle of pictures. When the music stops have the children race to their picture. Every child should have an picture to stand on.

My Friends and Me Time
Set out the pictures on the floor in a circle. Have each child sit on his/her own picture for circle time.

I am Special Because....
Have the children finish the sentence "I am special because...." Record their answers.

Jump Jim Joe
Sung to "Hurry Hurry Drive the Firetruck"
Have the children sit in a circle before lunch. Pick one child, have that child pick a friend, then have the two children hold hands and follow the directions as you sing:
Jump, Jump, Jump Jim Joe,
Shake your head,
Nod your head,
Tap your toe,
Round and round,
And round we go,
Go and wash your hands
WITH SOAP

1, 2, 3 Good Friends
Sung to "10 little Indians"
1, 2, 3 good friends,
4, 5, 6 good friends,
7, 8, 9 good friends,
10 good friends are we!

You can also sing it in Spanish
Uno, dos, tres amigos,
Cuatro, cinco seis amigos
Siete, ocho, nueve amigos
Diez amigos son!

Who is here today?
Sung to "the Farmer in the Dell"
Who is here today?
Who is here today?
Everybbody clap your hands,
Who is here today?
Jill is here today!
Jill is here today!
Everybody clap your hands,
Jill is here today!
Substitute Jill for the names of the children in your class. Great circle time song where the children can dance or jump while you sing their name.

My Friend May I?
Played just like Mother May I? The child and parent stand at opposite sides of a room. The child asks if he/she may: take so may step forward. i.e. "Mother may I Please take 3 baby steps forward?" the answer would be either, "Yes you may", or "No you may not." The child wins when they reach you. Encourage the use of descriptive words, such as little, big, huge, tiny, and giant. You can also play this with a group of children. The winner would be the one who reaches you first.

Name Ball Game
Have the children sit in a circle and supply the children with a ball or bean bag. The child must say the child's name that they are going to pas the beanbag to or roll the ball to.

Friend Memory
Ask the parents to supply you with a picture of each child in the class. Make 2 black and white photo copies of each photo and glue the copies to the back of a blank index card. Now you have the cards to play memory.

Who is missing?
Have all the children cover their eyes. I have found that when they lay on their bellies they tend to peek less. Tap one child on the shoulder. That child will hide. Then the other children have to guess who is missing.

Hello My Friend!
Have one child sit in the middle of a circle on a chair. This child should cover his/her eyes. Then pick one child to go up to the child in the middle and say "Hello my friend, can you guess who I am?" The child in the middle gets three guesses. Then the child who spoke sits in the middle and the child that was in the middle chooses another speaker. The children can use their normal voices, but if they are familiar with the person in the chair, silly voices can be more difficult and amuzing.

Follow me
Play follow my friend just like follow the leader.

Mystery Can
Send a large coffe can home with a child. Send a letter with the can similar to this:
Dear parents:
This month we are going to be playing a game called "Mystery Can" I am sending the can home with your child. Please help your child find something to place inside the can that is special to your child and return it tomorrow with three clues written on a piece of paper. The children will try to guess what it is and the first person to guess correctly will take home the can.

Me Me you!!!
Played like "Duck, Duck, "me" instead of "duck" and "you" instead of "goose."

Book and Music Recommendations

My Body: All About Me Head to Toe
Excuse Me! A Book All About Manners
From Head to Toe
All About me (DK Lift-the-Flap)
The Mixed-Up Chameleon
I Can Do It!
All by Myself (Look-Look)
When I Get Bigger
Me Too!
He Bear, She Bear
Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You
Mice Squeak, We Speak
The Foot Book
Leo the Late Bloomer
I'm Gonna Like Me : Letting Off a Little

WOYC Events In South Carolina
(Click on the title above to learn more about events listed below)

Monday, April 23

All day

Special Event: Week of the Young Child (Statewide)

Tuesday, April 24

All day

Special Event: Week of the Young Child (Statewide)

1:30pm

Child Care and Disasters (Webinar)

6:30pm

A Closer Look at the Environment Rating Scale: Science & Nature (Anderson County)

Wednesday, April 25

All day

Special Event: Week of the Young Child (Statewide)

All day

ADMINISTRATIVE PROFESSIONALS DAY

10:00am

Special Event: PICNIC IN THE PARK (Greenville)

Thursday, April 26

All day

Special Event: Week of the Young Child (Statewide)

9:30am

Pregnancy Discomforts (Greenville County)

6:30pm

Creative Curriculum: Dramatic Play (Abbeville County)

6:30pm

Identifying and Reporting Child Abuse & Neglect (Greenville County)

Friday, April 27

All day

Special Event: Week of the Young Child (Statewide)

All day

10th Annual Early Education Learning Conference (Spartanburg County)

All say

TEAM Lowcountry Conference (Jasper County)

Saturday, April 28

All day

Special Event: Week of the Young Child (Statewide)

All day

10th Annual Early Education Learning Conference (Spartanburg County)

All day

TEAM Lowcountry Conference (Jasper County)

Edventure in Columbia

United Way Child Care Resource and Referral

Explore your public library for activities just for children to celebrate!

It's a Farm full of File Folder Activities!

2011-03-27T21:08:00.005-04:00

FILE FOLDER GAME FUN!

Offering file folder games for preschool classrooms are so much fun and offer concept learning in a way that offer gradual learning by one child or with a small group of children.

They are so to make and even more enjoyable for your children as they bring into the classroom a change in routine for interest areas. The folders help bring a sense of independence to the children and offer a different way of learning a variety of concepts that may be challenging for some to grasp

Six easy steps in creating a simple File Folder Game:

Step 1.

Print the main part of the game (aka- the activity sheet), on regular printer paper. This is the part that will be glued to your file folder. I would recommend either coloring the picture or printing it out in color. If you have a file folder book, pick a game you want to make and copy the part that is to be glued to the file folder onto regular printer paper and then color it.

Step 2.

Print or copy the game pieces onto cardstock. Color these pieces as needed.

Step 3.

Laminate the game pieces either with a laminator or contact paper.

Step 4.

Glue the activity sheet to file folder, label the file folder and then laminate. If you plan to us contact paper, cut out a piece big enough for each half of the inside of the file folder. In other words, don't try to laminate the inside using one piece of contact paper, cut it in half. You can choose to only use contact paper on the inside of file folder or on the outside also. It may be easier just to laminate the one side of the file folder.

Step 5.

Put the game pieces in a Ziplock sandwich bag and tape to the file folder. I would recommend using packing tape so it secures for longer use.

Step 6.

It’s always important to introduce the file folder activity to children during your morning meeting or circle time. Actually participate in the activity so they understand how it is used. Then share with them what interest area the file folder will be placed. For the next few days, spend more time in that particular interest area so you can help children learn how to use the game. This is very important!!!

Below are several File Folder games appropriate

for 4K classroom settings!

Patterns/Matching

Heart Pattern Match-Up

http://www.preschoolprintables.com/filefolder/valentine/filefolderheartcolor1.shtml

http://www.preschoolprintables.com/filefolder/valentine/filefolderheartcolor2.shtml

http://www.preschoolprintables.com/filefolder/valentine/filefolderheartcolor3.shtml

Down on The Farm

http://www.filefolderfun.com/files/FileFolderGames/Animals/FarmTP.pdf

http://www.filefolderfun.com/files/FileFolderGames/Animals/Farm1.pdf

http://www.filefolderfun.com/files/FileFolderGames/Animals/Farm2.pdf

http://www.filefolderfun.com/files/FileFolderGames/Animals/Farm3.pdf

http://www.filefolderfun.com/files/FileFolderGames/Animals/Farm4.pdf

How to Play the Game:This is an animal matching game that you
can play in a variety of ways. The first way
is to simply print two sets of each page
and have the children match the pictures of
the animals. The second way is to print
one set of the animals, cut them out and
then cut them each in half vertically. Glue
the front half to the file folder, and keep the
back half for the playing pieces to match.

Dog Matching Game:

http://jcps.jefferson.k12.ky.us/AngelUploads/Files/garmstr1/MISC/dog%20matching.pdf

Opposites

Open the Opposites!

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/filefoldergames/opposites/

Sequencing

Apple Size Sequencing Game:

http://www.filefolderfun.com/files/FileFolderGames/Apples/AppleSequencingTP.pdf
http://www.filefolderfun.com/files/FileFolderGames/Apples/AppleSequencing.pdf

How to Play the Game:This is a size sequencing game where
children can place the apples in order from
smallest to largest, then largest to
smallest.

Starfish Size-Up:

http://www.filefolderfun.com/files/FileFolderGames/Ocean/StarfishTP.pdf
http://www.filefolderfun.com/files/FileFolderGames/Ocean/StarfishSize.pdf
http://www.filefolderfun.com/files/FileFolderGames/Ocean/StarfishSize2.pdf
http://www.filefolderfun.com/files/FileFolderGames/Ocean/StarfishSize3.pdf

How to Play the Game:This is a size sequencing game for
children who are learning to classify and
sort the starfish by size.

Dino Size It:

http://www.filefolderfun.com/files/FileFolderGames/Dinosaurs/DinoSizesTP.pdf
http://www.filefolderfun.com/files/FileFolderGames/Dinosaurs/DinoSizes.pdf
http://www.filefolderfun.com/files/FileFolderGames/Dinosaurs/DinoSizes2.pdf
http://www.filefolderfun.com/files/FileFolderGames/Dinosaurs/DinoSizesBW.pdf
http://www.filefolderfun.com/files/FileFolderGames/Dinosaurs/DinoSizes2BW.pdf

How to Play the Game:This is a set of printable dinosaur sequencing
cards for children to order in smallest to
largest, and largest to smallest.

Rhyming

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/filefoldergames/rhymes/page2color.shtml

"This is a rhyme game. For each word, find the word that rhymes with it. To check your answers, look at the answer key on the back of the folder. See how many rhymes you can find!"

Using small yarn pieces, let children match the correct rhyming words with the yarn.

Copyright 1998-2010 http://www.enchantedlearning.com/

File Folder Activity Websites

http://www.myffgames.com/

http://www.essortment.com/preschools-educational-file-folder-game-47334.html

http://www.childcareland.com/filefoldergames1.html

It's so easy to come up with your own sequencing file folder games. Take a look at your lesson plan for the week and pull words being used on a daily basis within your weekly theme to create a rhyming file folder activity!

On A Spring Time Hunt with My Five Senses

2011-03-20T11:31:00.319-04:00

On A Spring Time Hunt with My Five Senses.

Helping preschoolers understand the concept of different seasons, especially Spring, can be easily accomplished when using our five senses.

The weather feels wonderful, nature is calling with it's variety of animal sounds and the Earth is blooming with a fun sights, smells and sweet tastes!

Nature offers multiple opportunities for those ranging from sensory to linguistic learning styles to gain knowledge about Spring. The activities below are designed for children to use their five senses in an enjoyable and fun way!

Springtime Outdoor Fun

Introduce the concept of spring with your preschoolers by helping them utilize their five senses.

SEEING – Spend a day outside, observing spring. Look for things such as:

Buds opening

Birds returning

Spring flowers, such as; tulips and daffodils

Rainbows and rain clouds

Trees bending or kites flying

4K Extension: Always provide children with writing materials before heading outside so they are able to write, draw and express what they are seeing while on their Springtime journey!- Kelli Boniecki

HEARING – Have your children listen for the sounds of spring.

Birds singing

Wind blowing

Rain hitting sidewalks or the roof

4K Extension: Create a CD or locate a music/sound CD that offers multiple sounds one may hear outdoors.
After their outdoor hearing experience, have children come in and listen to each sound. Let them try and figure out what the sound is they are hearing. Provide multiple sounds for children. Some examples may include: train, bumble bee, cricket, bird, squirrels playing, lawnmower, beach, kids playing, fan running, trees swaying with the wind, thunderstorms, etc.
If the children are puzzled by one of more of the sounds, write them down on a chart and let them go back outside and listen for the sound or have it be an at home project to enjoy with their family.- Kelli Boniecki

FEELING – What can they feel when they go outside this time of year

Rain falling

Breezes blowing

Soft new grass

4K Extension: Feeling Discovery boxes are perfect ways to add sensory games to this activity. Take an old cloth bag, feelings box or shoe box and place items in the box that pertain to the Spring season and what we would find outside this time of the year. Have the child turn away from the box, place their hand in the box and try to guess what the item is he/she is feeling. Suggestions for items: leaf, moss, grass, pine cone, seeds, soil (pour some in a zip lock bag and have them feel the outside of bag), sand shovel, ball, suntan lotion (pour some in a zip lock bag and have them feel the outside of bag), rocks, etc.

If the children are puzzled by one of more of the mystery items, write down their description of the item on a chart. At the end of the activity, have them work together in trying to figure out what the mystery items really were during the activity!- Kelli Boniecki

TASTING - This one is a little harder but they may be able to come up with some tastes.

Easter eggs and candy

Green eggs and ham

4K Extension: Enjoying the fruits of their labor is such a fun experience for children. How about letting children taste their fruits and vegetables is a garden has been grown and ample time has been given for the seeds to mature into a produce item. Allowing children to create their own salads whether it be a fruit or vegetable one is so much fun and rewarding!
If a garden was not planted this year, picking up a few different fruit and vegetable items from the local Produce Market will prove to be enjoyable as children can make taste testing samples of the items purchased. They can sort by colors, textures, and taste!- Kelli Boniecki

SMELLING – This one is also a little hard, I hope you did better than I did.

Smell of fresh grass after a rain.

Smell of manure or fresh plowed fields.

Themed Activities

BIRDS

BIRDSEED FUN

Identifying Colors: Place birdseed in small bowls for your children to examine with magnifying glasses. How many different colors can they see?

Making Counters: Use a squeeze bottle of glue to draw individual numerals on 4-by-5-inch squares of construction paper. While the glue is still wet, help your children sprinkle the numerals with birdseed and tap off the excess.

Pouring and Measuring: Place some birdseed in a large tub. Give your children a set of plastic measuring cups to use for pouring and measuring experiments.

BIRD NEST MATERIALS

In spring, birds search for items to use in building their nests, such as short pieces of yarn and string, dried grasses, and balls of hair shed by pets. Let your children help the birds make their nests with these activities. Place items such as those above in a mesh vegetable bag and pull the ends of the materials out through the holes. Hang the bag on a branch outdoors for the birds to discover.

Lightly weave short pieces of yarn or string around the outsides of pine cones. Twist chenille-stem loops onto the pine cones and hang them on outdoor branches.

CARDBOARD TUBE BIRD FEEDERS

For each of your children, stand a short cardboard tube upright. Punch two holes in the tube across from each other near the top. Help the children cover their tubes with creamy peanut butter and roll the tubes in birdseed. Then thread a chenille stem through the holes in each tube to make a loop for hanging on a tree branch.

(C) Jean Warren http://www.preschoolexpress.com/

GARDEN

VEGGIE GARDEN GAME

From felt, cut out five or more each of different veggie shapes, such as carrots, radishes, squash, and cucumbers. Mix up the shapes and place them in a pile. Let your children take turns sorting the veggie shapes by kind and “planting” them in separate rows on a flannel board or a carpet.

PLANTING GARDENS

Let your children try one or more of the gardening ideas below. Encourage them to care for their gardens by watering and weeding. Some suggested seeds: marigolds, beans, peas, and radishes. (Check a local nursery for other easy-to-grow seeds for your area.)

Eggshell Garden: Plant seeds in eggshell halves placed in an egg carton. When the seeds sprout, plant them—crushed shells and all—outdoors.

Windowsill Gardens: Plant seeds or seedlings in small containers. Group the containers together in decorated shoe boxes and line up the boxes on a sunny windowsill.

Container Gardens: Plant seeds or seedlings in containers outdoors. Use one container for flowers and one for veggies.

PLANT THE GARDEN- Song

Tune: “Frere Jacques”

Plant the garden, plant the garden.

Watch it grow, watch it grow.

Count the pretty flowers,

Count the pretty flowers

In a row, in a row.

Plant the garden, plant the garden.

Watch it grow, watch it grow.

Count the yummy veggies,

Count the yummy veggies

In a row, in a row. Heather McPhail

Extension Tip: Before singing, arrange felt flower and veggie shapes in rows on a flannel board. Count the shapes at the end of each verse.

GARDEN SNACKS Let your children enjoy the fruits of their labor by helping put together a garden fresh salad using such foods as lettuce, tomatoes, celery, radishes, and cucumbers. Serve with a favorite dressing.

Help the children make an herb garden by planting herb seedlings, such as sweet basil, marjoram, and chives, in an indoor container. Let them add the fresh herbs to salads, spaghetti, and homemade pizzas.

FLOWERS

FLOWER PATTERN HEADBANDS
From construction paper, make paper strips to fit around your children's heads. Set out a variety of flower-shaped rubber stamps plus stamp pads in assorted colors. Invite your children to decorate their headbands with color patterns (red rose-blue rose-red rose-blue rose) or shape patterns (tulip-daisy-tulip-daisy). Tape the finished headbands in place when the children have finished.

COLOR CHANGING FLOWERS

Wind

LITTLE WINDSOCKS

Let your children decorate small cardboard tubes by gluing on torn pieces of colorful magazine pictures. Help them glue several long pieces of ribbon or thin strips of crepe paper to one end of their tubes. At the other end, make a hanger by tying on string or yarn. Have the children hang their windsocks outdoors to see which way the wind is blowing.

IS THE WIND BLOWING?

Explain to your children that wind is moving air. Ask: "Since we can't see air, how can we tell that the wind is blowing?" Some clues: clouds moving across the sky, tree branches swaying, wind chimes ringing, paper blowing down the street. As the children give answers to the question, write their responses on paper for them to illustrate later.

I Can Eat A Rainbow - Annabel Karmel

From Egg to Chicken - Gerald Legg

The Cloud Book - Tomie de Paola

Little Cloud - Eric Carle

The Wind Blew - Pat Hutchins

Ten Little Ladybugs - Melanie Gerth

The Grouchy Ladybug - Eric Carl

So Many Bunnies - Rick Walton

Quiet Bunny - Lisa McCue

Bunny Cakes - Rosemary Wells

South Carolina Gardening and Agricultural Resources

South Carolina has a variety of state and local resources designed to help provide educational assistance for children in learning more about our states agricultural resources. They also help students learn how to better appreciate the importance of gardening and how it impacts life for humans and animals in our own backyards.

http://www.clemson.edu/extension/4h/

(Clemson Extension 4H Club Program)

http://www.clemson.edu/extension/county/

(County Clemson Extension Locations)

http://www.scsu.edu/1890/extension.aspx#4-H

(South Carolina State University 4H Program)

http://scfb.org/getinvolved/agintheclassroom.aspx

(SC Farm Bureau- Ag in the Classroom)

http://www.agclassroom.org/kids/farm.htm

(Ag in the Classroom Kids Page)

http://www.carolinachildrensgarden.org/

(Carolina Children's Garden)

Seasonal Songs

Enjoy the Spring Season!

Websites and Ideas for Recycling Activities- We're On The Eco Move!

2011-03-13T11:30:00.004-04:00

"We're On The Eco Move" Training

March/April 2011

The information listed on this post are projects, websites and information shared during our most recent trainings.

Cricket Caps

As shown in training class.

With this last picture, I glued elastic strips to the top so children could put one or two fingers under them

and use as symbols.

This could be used as two different sound instruments.

http://www.enufwaste.com/wastrument.html

Paper Organizer

http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/paper-organizer-674392/

Little Drummer

Creating a drum for your classroom can be so easy to make.

The drum set above was created by using a small coffee can and a plastic

kitchen spoon. The top is very durable for those "excited drummers"!

For the Drum, decorating the outside was done by using green tape as the stripes

and putting smiley face stickers around the can. I created a handle by super gluing rope to the side.

The spoon was decorated by taping the handle with the same green tape as on the drum

to help make the connection between the two items.

Using the larger coffee cans gives off a more echoed sound. You can use either the plastic or metal cans!

Lawn Bowling Set

http://www.rethinkrecycling.com/kids/fun-and-games/monthly-recycling-activites/make-your-own-lawn-bowling-set

Alternate for Bowling Activity

As shown in training class.

Use any old and clean soda bottles of any size.

Decorate the outside with wallpaper, stickers, or colored tape.

You can fill the inside to help balance it on the floor with water (I added food coloring as well, rocks, sand, bells).

I super glued the top shut. You can make 3, 5, or even 8 pins.

Use a soft ball when letting children play the game.

This is a great outdoor or indoor activity!

Sorting by Size/Sensory Activity

As shown in training class.

Used: cut up pieces of paper towel roll.

Each piece is cut at alternate ascending heights.

Decorated with assortment of used materials: pipe cleaner, fabric, wallpaper, bandaids & rubberbands.

All items were either taped, glued or stapled in the inside and secured with glue.

Paper and Pencil/Marker Container
As shown in training class.

This is an inexpensive way of creating containers when the plastic ones are just out of the budget.

I used an old Ice Cream Box container, but you can use any thick cardboard box-the large Goldfish boxes are also great!

I simply cut open the top, secured the inside bottom of the box with an extra piece of cardboard, and decorated it with old wallpaper scraps.
I secured the corners on the inside and out with extra thick tape to help it last.

Just Mine Art Display

As shown in training class.

I made this out of a toilet paper roll by wrapping it in any kind of paper (newspaper, magazine, tissue paper) and secured it inside of the roll.

On the outside, you can either cut a design from wallpaper, cereal boxes or any child favorite picture to place in the front. I taped it to the front of the display.

On the top to secure the artwork in place, I cut small 1- 1/2 inch slits on opposite but equal sides of the roll.

I wrapped the top and bottom of the display in tape to give it a sturdier finish.

Then simply slide the paper inside the slits and your done!

Alternates: 1. You can display the front by putting the name on a card and taping to the front.

2. You can also display the front by different themes so children can choose which theme they would

like to have their picture displayed on for that week!

Counting Catepillar

As shown in Training

http://www.dltk-kids.com/crafts/insects/mcaterpillar3.htm

Alphabet Connections

As shown in training.

Thanks to Mellon Patch Child Care for sharing picture.

Using any container (coffee, cookie, oatmeal, etc), decorate the outside with an upper case letter. You can use construction paper or any thick paper of your choice while securing with contact paper.

Place inside the container, the same letter that's on the outside (either laminating or using contact paper to keep it sturdy) and a toy or item that represents the sound of that letter.

Keep the lids of the container so the items will stay in place when not being used.

Shop Til You Drop Book!

As seen in training.

I created this book for children to use in the Housekeeping/Dramatic play area, but you can create one for each interest area.

You can use an old binder notebook along with used file folders, but you can create these out of old file folders, photo albums or even using cardboard box sides for the front and back covers.

Print out front and back covers for the book and index each section on the covers with different topics such as: kitchen, bathroom, outdoors, food, dog food, toys, laundry items, cleaning supplies and restaurants.

Place paper and writing instruments within the front cover so children can make a list of the items they need from the sale book.

Each section is separated on the inside with the file folder showing the indexed item.

Cut out items representing each section and tape them on the file folder. I like the folder idea as you can add to each section whereas a photo album only has a certain number of pages available.

An extension to this activity would be to have a small storage"shopping center" area that holds actual empty boxes of the items noted in the sale book. Have the children make their list of needed items and bring it to the "shopping center" where you can trade their list for the items they would like to receive. Children would then take these items to the housekeeping area to play with or any other center where you have the books available.

Adding one to each of your interest areas is so easy. Just think of products, places and businesses that relate specifically to the theme in that area and this will give you guidence on items to add!

"Shake That Bell" Instrument

As shown in training.

Using a peanut can, you can place small bells inside the can and seal the lid with glue.

You can also place sand in the container along with the bells if you would like to lessen the sound or create a more muffled effect. Decorate the outside anyway you would like!

You can also use beans, beads, or coins!

Paper Keeper System!

Move over Trapper Keeper!

As seen in training.

This is a perfect way of keeping those important papers that need to go home from being crumbled in the bottom of the book bag.

I took a paper towel roll, sealed the ends with masking tape and decorated the outside with old fabric and ribbon. I glued all of the fabric and ribbon pieces all over the roll.

Just roll up the paper, slide it into the tube and you are ready to go.

The kids will love to keep their work in good shape and show off not only their masterpiece but also those important information inside.

You may also choose to let children decorate theirs with paint, markers, glitter, etc. I would recommend taping the entire roll first to help it stay sturdy.

Sorting Containers for Everything

As seen in training.

It seems like their are containers of all shapes and sizes we tend to use. They can range from

applesauce cups to dog/cat food.

The cups above happen to be dog food containers and applesauce cups. After a good washing they have been turned into sorting storage for buttons.

This activity gives children opportunities to sort by shape, color, texture, size or number and in an individual or small group setting.

The experiences are endless!

Money Money Money Count!

As seen in training.

The containers above used to hold candle wax cubes.

They have lids that can close to keep whatever items you choose to use safe from falling out.

This are another great way to allow each child to use as individual paint cups, sorting and/or mathematics activities.

The pictures above are shown as being used as math counters.You can use coins, beads, buttons or anything where counting, adding and subtraction can be used. I made these for number recognition, one to one correspondence, addition and subtraction.

Pull Shaker Toy

Thanks to Mellon Patch Child Care for this great idea!

Taking a cleaned out plastic soda bottle, drill a hole on both ends of the bottle and run a piece of yarn or string through one end of the bottle and come out through the other end. Knot the two ends together. The string should be long enough for a child to be able and pull along behind them. I would measure the string from a child's hip to floor before putting in the bottle.
Fill the inside with an assortment of items-bells, button, crinkled pipe cleaners, sand, or colored cotton balls. Decorate the outside with stickers and colored tape.

Seal the cap with super glue to ensure the bottle will not open.

Then let it roll!

Garden Caddy

Thanks to Mellon Patch Child Care for this great idea!

This is a quick and easy way for all of your children to have their own garden tool box when heading outside to work on their classroom gardens.

Taking a cleaned out milk jug, cut it in half and drill a hole (or hole punch) along the top of each side. Using string or yarn, thread through the holes to create a should handle for the caddy. Decorate the outside of the caddy to represent your classrooms garden theme. The items used inside this caddy included: pencils, paper (which were extra sheets stapled together to form a notepad), garden gloves, sprinkler head, hand shovel, and measuring cup (which is an old, plastic soda bottle cut in half, taped along the top to create a smooth edge and marked with measurement lines along the side to track how much water is used). The measuring cup is also used as the pencil holder.

Additional Links for Extra Recycling Ideas!

http://www.rethinkrecycling.com/kids/links-parents-educators

http://funschool.kaboose.com/globe-rider/earth-day/games/game_michael_recycle.html

http://www.suite101.com/content/preschool-recycling-lesson-plan-a58841

http://www.squidoo.com/Recycling-Crafts

RECYCLE REUSE REDUCE!