Thoughtful Thursday

More Great Quotes about Teaching

A good teacher is like a candle — it consumes itself to light the way for others. — Unknown

Teaching should be full of ideas instead of stuffed with facts. — Unknown

The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires. — William Arthur Ward

Praise, like gold and diamonds, owes its values only to its scarcity. — Samuel Johnson

To teach is to learn twice. — Joseph Joubert

I like a teacher who gives you something to take home to think about besides homework. — Lily Tomlin as Edith Ann

A very wise old teacher once said: I consider a day’s teaching wasted if we do not all have one hearty laugh. — Gilbert Highet

It is not what is poured into a student that counts but what is planted. — Linda Conway

It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge. — Albert Einstein

Workshop Wednesday

Jump Froggie Jump

(Small Group)

Materials: blue butcher paper; colored frogs (bean bag or plastic); and dice or spinner with colors

Directions: Make a game board out of blue butcher paper.  Make a square grid on the paper.  Mark one end Start and the other Finish line.  Place a set of colored frogs on the start line along with a colored dice (made from a mailing box 6 X 6).  Have children take turns rolling the dice.  As each child rolls the dice they identify that color and then find the frog that matches that color and moves the frog one square ahead.  See if they can predict which frog will win. 

Extension: Add a number dice. Children roll both the color and number. Add paper and make a chart illustrating the children's predictions.

Taken from Learning & Teaching Preschool

Transition Tuesday

This fingerplay is not only a great transition activity but it is also good for fine motor development. Separating and moving the fingers will help children see they have 10 fingers, not 2 paws. Children will need to be able to separate their fingers in order to properly grasp a pencil and other tools. Fingerplays are fun ways to build and strengthen the muscles in the fingers.

Matching

Match the fingers on your hands

One to one as up they stand.

Match your two thumbs small and fat.

Match two pointers just like that.

Match two middle fingers tall.

Match two ring ones. That’s not all

Match two fingers very small.

Match two feet with socks and shoes.

Match everything that goes by two’s.



Make & Take Monday

Homemade Felt Boards

Materials: a large picture frame with the glass removed; a piece of felt that is cut slightly bigger than your frame (black makes the felt pieces pop out).

Directions:
1. Center felt onto the back of your frame as if you were going to put a picture in the frame.
2. Pull the felt so it fits very tight. (The tighter the fit the better.)
3. Put the backing on and trim the excess felt.
4. Turn over and you have a felt board!

Idea taken from Jada Roo Can Do



Feature Friday

Bunny Books

Spring conjures up many images for me and while chocolate bunnies are my favorite type of rabbit these books about bunnies are a close second!

White Rabbit’s Color Book by Alan Baker is a classic in my mind and if you have never read it you must. It’s not a complicated story, instead it’s a brilliant book and lesson about color mixing . The cover illustration of the bunny in the paint always makes me think of dying Easter eggs which is another great opportunity to teach about color mixing. Kids love this book and adults reading it will enjoy the fun and dynamic language used to describe the vibrant colors that the bunny plunges into.

Thunder Bunny by Barbara Helen Berger is a lovely book about differences and acceptance. Thunder Bunny knew she came from the sky - even if her siblings did not - "I am the blue, and the blue is me!" Her inner strength guided her with courage and purpose. The text is melodic and the illustrations will keep the interest of a wide range of ages.

Little Bunny’s Sleepless Night by Carol Roth is a sweet story of an only child bunny who wants to share a room and go to sleep with someone else. He ventures out to a series of friend’s houses before eventually realizing that maybe sleeping alone in his own bed is what he really wants.  I like it because the bunny learns that he isn’t missing out on anything by not having someone to share a bedroom with , that he has the perfect spot for him after all.

 

Moon Rabbit by Natalie Russel is a calm, beautiful book about two rabbits who find each other and become great friends even thought they are from different places.  White Rabbit is a city rabbit and loves her urban home but is called away by the longing for company. She finds it in a park with Brown Rabbit who is wonderful and plays beautiful music. There is just one glitch White Rabbit misses the city.  It  really is a sweet tale about friends who can be friends despite physical distance. And the illustrations are the very definition of springtime. Lovely.

 

A Very Big Bunny by Marisabina Russo is a nice book about two bunnies that don’t fit in at school.  AMELIA IS A VERY BIG BUNNY. At recess, the other bunnies tell her that her feet are too long for hopscotch, they say she’s too tall to jump rope, and of course, no one will get on the seesaw with her. Amelia is a very big and lonely bunny. But when a new very small bunny named Susannah arrives in the classroom, something amazing happens. Readers will delight as they watch Amelia transform from a shy bunny into a confident friend.

Thoughtful Thursday

Great Quotes About Teaching  (Enjoy!)

I’m embarrassed every time I look a teacher in the eye, because we ask them to do so much for so little. — Phil McGraw

A teacher is never too smart to learn from his pupils. — Bill Bowerman

If teaching were easy, we wouldn’t need teachers. — Todd Whitaker

The greatest sign of success for a teacher… is to be able to say, “The children are now working as if I did not exist. — Maria Montessori

Technology is just a tool. In terms of getting the kids working together and motivating them, the teacher is the most important. — Bill Gates

Teachers are expected to reach unattainable goals with inadequate tools. The miracle is that at times they accomplish this impossible task. — Haim G. Ginott

Often, when I am reading a good book, I stop and thank my teacher. That is, I used to, until she got an unlisted number. — Unknown

Workshop Wednesday

Rotten Egg Game

Materials: egg stickers to make the gameboards and game pieces; cardstock; plastic eggs; small easter basket. Place the stickers on cardstock strips. Place matching stickers on cardstock and cut out so they will fit in a plastic egg.

Directions: Two children may play this game.  To play, they each take a gameboard and then take turns opening one egg at a time.  If the egg contains a paper egg that matches one on their board, they place it on their gameboard and place the empty shell off to the side.  If they open the "rotten" (black) egg, they must put it back and also put one egg from their board back into the basket.  If they open an egg that doesn't match any on their board, they also return it to the basket.  Play continues until one player has matched all their eggs.



Taken from My Montessori Journey