What was I thinking?

With my older boys still at Grandma's house and only 1 week until school starts, I decided to take our 2 and 4 year old with me to preschool. I thought they could play with the few toys in my classroom while I hung posters, and started tidying up. Yeah Right! They tore through that room like little tornadoes, pulling things out of shelves and putting them in the floor. Needless to say, I did not get much done! However I did learn something about my room set up and I plan on adjusting accordingly. If only 2 little ones can run amok in that room, I cannot imagine 13 little ones doing the same thing. Tonight I will be making a new floor plan (after PiYo class of course)!

All About Me!

The teacher whose spot I am moving into made all about me books for herself and her aide. I decided to make a small one. I still would like to add a few pics from my childhood, but I haven't made it to my mom's house to rummage through family pictures. I also am going to add captions, but I want my colored pens that are in a cabinet at school. I am just going to attach with 3 rings after I add a few more pages. Anything else I should add? Sorry I took Iphone pics as I worked. Note to self: get a good digital camera to leave at my house!

Age covered with a potpouri leaf! LOL

Last Day

Tomorrow is my last day before I start back to work. The last two days I have spent savoring my time with C and D. We have went to the splash park, McDonald's, Dollar Tree, Grammy's, and watched a few baseball games on TV. 

I did not realize how much easier having just 2 children would be. While it is easier my heart aches for my other boys. I know they are having a blast, but I still worry nonstop. Did she put sunscreen on them? What if they don't like what she cooked for supper? Is she letting them stay up late? Did they wear their seat belts? I could go on and on.

Tonight I will spend making a autobiography to ready to my new class. Most of them had me last year, but I figure they will like looking at the pictures. I also have to spend time going through my curriculum book and starting on making plans for centers.

Lego Duplo Read and Build Party

If you are not signed up for House Party yet, then you should be. It gives you an opportunity to try new products for free with your friends. This week we were chosen for a Lego Duplo Read and Build Party. We received 4 Lego Duplo Read and Build sets, a poster, 13 magnet frames, plates, napkins, and 13 sticker sheets. The boys loved the sets! We were sent the farm sets, but I cannot wait to try out the other ones. Here is Decker checking out the animals:

I am definitely going to add a few of these to my block center and reading area. My preschoolers love Duplo anyway, but I love that there are stories and pictures to encourage dialog.

Finally Made It



Left side



Right Side

In between new student orientation(enrolling in 2 separate colleges for fall-vomit), PTA board meeting, and making homemade peanut butter-chocolate chip cookies, I made it to my classroom. I also made it to the Target dollar spot and Dollar Tree on the way. So it happens to be 2 separate classrooms with an accordion wall that I will open of course. There should be more than enough room and I will have 2 sinks. The downfall is that there is no bathroom in my new room and they apparently have a Sunday school group that meets there. I am so selfish and hate that I have to share a room. No one can take care of your belongings like you do. Plus side I found a few $1 items that everyone should have:

From Dollar Tree: Perfect for holding sorting materials

Target: These have 4 slots and holes at the bottom...I am thinking water table!

Speechless!

I woke up this morning and did my typical check email, check facebook, read the local headlines, scroll through pinterest. I was ecstatic to see I actually had a pin. This is the most traffic I have seen on my blog EVER. I have been so horrible at updating my blog and making resources for my boys/classroom. Now I am feeling motivated to get up to my classroom and dive in. Maybe during this one week off I will be able to post some fun ideas while I have all this blog traffic!

Happy New School Year!

So many changes have occurred in our house since my last post. I have started going back to college to get my Early Childhood through Sixth grade teaching certificate, we joined a fruit/vegetable coop, and I am teaching two classes of 3 year olds next year.

This summer I conquered 14 hours of college, took my first trip out of town with no husband or boys, attended the state PTA conference, and had a few great workshops. This is my only week "off" before I start my inservice and organizing my new upstairs classroom. Hopefully this blog will motivate me to be more creative and accountable this year. (or be free therapy!)

Valentine's Week at Preschool

This week is always fun at preschool because we have parties, chocolate, and tell each other how much we love them. Here is a tiny taste of what is happening in my classroom:

We are gluing foil to Hershey kiss cut-outs in honor of our chocolate day!

 I made an impromptu chocolate play dough. 1 3/4 cups flour, 1 cup salt, 1/4 cup cocoa powder, 2 cups water, 2 tsp cream of tarter and 4 tbsp vegetable oil. Cook until it doesn't stick to the pan. Smells great! The picture doesn't do it justice. All I had was my iPhone. It looks more like a tootsie roll consistency.

My touch table is filled with white beans, large foam stress ball hearts, cups for scooping, and candy boxes to pour the beans into. It is very eye-catching.

We are reading:

Happy Valentine's Day Mouse by: Laura Numeroff

Roses are Pink Your Feet Really Stink by: Diane de Groat

The Biggest Valentine Ever by: Steven Kroll

My Songs are:

(sung to Mary had a little lamb)

Won't you be my valentine,

valentine, valentine?

Won't you be my valentine,

I love you!

Yes I'll be your valentine,

valentine, valentine.

Yes I'll be your valentine,

I love you!

There's a Little Wheel a Turning in my Heart by: The Lauri Berkner Band

Gingerbread Playdough Recipe

Gingerbread Playdough

1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
2 tsp cream of tartar
1 cup water
1 tsp vegetable oil
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg

Mix together on medium low heat until it starts to unstick from the pan. Put it on wax paper and continue to knead it until it forms a big ball. Store in an airtight container.

Run, Run, Fast as you can...

Today I had a gingerbread day. We read The Gingerbread Man, glue misc. pieces to make a gingerbread man, had gingerbread shape sorter sets and patterned gingerbread people. I also picked up a bag of gingerbread cookie mix. I usually have the children add the ingredients, but I really wanted them to dig in and get messy. They were each given a glob of gingerbread to shape and mold as they please. Most of it ended up looking like feces. This apparently was the straw that broke the camel's back for my aide. She was recovering from the stomach flu she had all weekend and ended up leaving for the day during the activity. Solo cooking with 2 and 3 year olds was busy and messy, but totally worth it!

Corn Prints

In keeping with my corn theme today, we stamped yellow corn on 11x13 constuction paper. I used potato mashers from Walmart for this activity. After we were finished my aide and I decided these would also be great beehives!

Corn Sensory Tub

Today's touch table is simple yet fun! I just bought a bag of deer corn from walmart and added some shovels, buckets, and bowls. I am going to add large sieves and funnels later this week.

Great Turkey Books

Here are the awesome Turkey Books we have read this week! My favorite is Gobble Gobble Crash...a barnyard counting book.

Pinecone Turkeys

In keeping with my Turkey week, today we made pinecone turkeys for our art museum. A little glue and a few feathers later, we had a pretty cute turkey. I did glue the beak and gobbler on because I used the glue gun, but the feathers, eyes, glue were all them. Some even made one to send to grandma!

Here is the body getting a chance to dry

A finished product completed by one of my older children

Discounts for Educators/Homeschoolers

Last night while I was supposed to be returning pants to Old Navy, I ventured down the mall. Naturally I wandered into Books-a-Million to check out the clearance section. I picked out 5 awesome Thanksgiving books for my preschoolers and went to the checkout. It happened to be a day that I wore my staff shirt and the Manager asked if I new about their educator program. As frugal as I am you would think I would have knew that educators INCLUDING homeschool parents save 20% on books they are using for their classroom. Of course I signed up! I also decided to investigate the other places I can save money. Here is my list:

Books-a-Million- 20% off includes homeschool parents!

Michael's-15% off for teachers with an ID card

Joann's-Sign up here for 15% off every purchase as well as bonus coupons

Office Depot-Star Teacher Program off ink, toner, and paper Register here

The Container Store-Register Here for the Organized Teacher Program to get 15% off purchases

The Limited and NY & Co- 15% off with ID or Pay stub

Painting Turkeys

I know some Early Childhood people are against cutouts to paint, but occasionally we do them. Today I had large turkey cut-outs to go along with our theme. We used brown paint and stuck feathers to them while they were wet. It was interesting to watch the children. Some dabbed paint and added feathers one at a time and others painted the whole turkey and sprinkled feathets on. They turned out cute so I needed to post a picture for myself.

5 Little Turkeys

Five little turkeys standing at the door,
One waddled off, and then there were four.

Four little turkeys sitting near a tree,
One waddled off, and then there were three.

Three little turkeys with nothing left to do,
One waddled off, and then there were two.

Two little turkeys in the morning sun,
One waddled off, and then there was one.

One little turkey had better run away,
For very, very, soon it will be Thanksgiving Day!


I used precut turkeys and hotglued them to popsicle sticks for this story. As with most flannelboard stories or fingerplays, after I am done with them during circle, I leave them out for the children to use. This is why I make most of my things with cheap or recycled goods.

Fall Sensory Table

I bought a small bale of hay from Hobby Lobby and added few bags of pumpkins and squash from Dollar Tree, a few turkey Feathers and rakes. This is messy, but the children have loved it

Recycled Juice Box Blocks

My boys love CapriSun and I have always thought about the boxes being nice and sturdy. I found some sturdy wrapping paper at Michael's for $1 and covered them using packing tape at the ends. They are awesome for jumbo blocks and the children can use markers or stamps to decorate them!

Outside Sensory Table

I made a sensory table from pvc pipe and plastic rubbermaid containers. I was going to take it to preschool, but it is in the backyard right now. D loves having it here. We had water in it and he loved scooping it and drinking it. Of course we do this while my germaphobe husband was at work! Someday I will post the pictures of the World's largest mud puddle (according to A) in the backyard!