Transition Tuesday

Clean-Up Inspector

When children are just about finished cleaning up centers, put the "inspector binoculars" around your neck and carry the clean up basket with you. Walk around the room and inspect the different centers. Along the way place small items that did not get put away in your clean up basket. Bring your basket to group meeting and see if anyone wants to help the "inspector" find the proper home for the items in the basket. Make sure you give positive feedback about what you see as you walk around "inspecting".

Photo taken from Learning & Teaching with Preschoolers

Make & Take Monday

Snowflake

Place a doily on a paper plate. Use a sponge to sponge-paint over the doily with blue paint. After covering the whole plate, remove the doily to see the snowflake design.

Taken from PreKinders

Thoughtful Thursday

I love this story and thought it would be appropriate for the New Year!

Once there was a newly married couple.  The bride decided to cook her husband a ham.  She cut off the front of the ham and the back of the ham.  Then she put the ham in the pan and put it in the oven.  Her new husband asked, “Why did you cut off the front of the ham and the back of the ham before you put it in the pan?”  She replied, “Well, my mother always did it that way.”

The husband went to his mother-in-law and asked, “Why do you always cut off the front of the ham and the back of the ham before you put it in the pan?”  She replied, “Well, my mother always did it that way.”

The husband went to the grandmother and asked, “Why do you always cut off the front of the ham and the back of the ham before you put it in the pan?”  She replied with a smile, “My pan was always too small.”

A similar practice often underlies what we do as educators.  We don’t know why we do things –we just do them because we’ve always done them that way.  Thinking about WHY you do certain things each day and HOW you might improve instructional techniques is a challenge that makes our job more exciting.

Remember!  If you always do what you’ve always done then you’ll continue to get what you’ve always got!

Workshop Wednesday

Snowman Math Grid
small group activity

Make copies of the snowman grid and laminate. Give each child a mat and a numeral dice. Have children roll the dice and identify the number. Once the number has been identified have them cover that many snowmen on their mat using a cotton ball for the marker. Have them continue rolling the dice until they have covered all of their snowmen.

As an extension, use 2 dice and have the children add the numbers on the dice.

Transition Tuesday

Do you ever get tired of singing the same "clean up" song. Well try this simple song for the new year.

Twinkle Twinkle Clean Up Time

(Tune: Twinkle Little Star)

Time to put the toys away

We'll bring them out another day.

Twinkle, twinkle little star

Stop and clean up where you are.

Twinkle, twinkle little star

Stop and clean up where you are.

Use a star wand and sing the song. Move around the classroom waving the wand.

Photo taken from Learning and Teaching with Preschoolers

Make & Take Monday

Happy New Year! I have taken some time off and am ready to begin 2012. I hope you had a wonderful holiday season.

Paper Roll Bird Feeders

It dawned on me that January is bird feeding month and these poor creatures could use some food. So why not have your students create these simple bird feeders.

Materials:
Paper rolls (toilet paper, paper towel, or wrapping paper cut into smaller pieces)
Peanut butter (no sugar added)
Bird Seed
paper plates or newspapers
plastic knives

Directions:
1. Sprinkle bird seed on paper plate or newspaper
2. Spread peanut butter using plastic knife onto paper roll (or you could roll the paper roll in peanut butter) For a sensory experience spread the peanut butter with your hands!!
3. Roll the paper roll covered with peanut butter in bird seed. (Pat it on just for fun!)
4. Once the paper roll is covered with bird seed run a piece of string or yarn through the roll and hang it on a tree limb.
5. Watch the birds enjoy the seed!

Photos taken from The Moffatt Girls

Feature Friday

It’s Christmas, David! by David Shannon.

Being a kid is hard. Being a kid waiting for Christmas to come is even harder and David Shannon remembers what it was like. As parents we try so hard to teach appreciation, gratefulness and patience but it’s so hard to be any of those things when you are little and very very excited! In this book we follow David as he gets scolded for trying to grab Christmas cookies, for peeking at gifts, and writing his name in the snow…with pee.  Over the years I have had readers say that they aren’t a fan of the original No! David because they worried it would spark naughty ideas but that is not what these books do. Young kids have a very natural sense of what is right and wrong and they are laughing because they know what he is doing is wrong and even David knows that he has messed up, as he fears Santa will leave him nothing but coal. Of course we all know that David is not a bad kid ( Are there bad kids? I don’t think so!) and his heart is in the right place even if sometimes he makes bad choices. Kids love this book and I love the underlying message to parents that being a kid is tough especially when parents are busy.