Summer fun

It has been such a long time since I made a post.first, I had a daughter s wedding keeping me busy, and then I got busy with a new business Nanny Blooms. I have a blog for the business and it took over the time for my preschool fun blog. Today I decided to share some stuff for summer fun. It may be stuff you already knew about, but I have to say my demo of it for my grown children was a hit for everyone. One daughter called it gal but I just call it amazing stuff. Cornstarch and Water! About equal portions I would say thou I have never measured either. The best way I know for you to learn about it before you dive in and play with it is www.stevespangler.com and search cornstarch and water. He has a cool u-Tube of it and explains what happens. Make some for you preschooler or whole family and play and be amazed. Tip: adding food color makes it even more fun!

once a month posting

Well looks like a month has gone by and I am just making time to post again.  With a daughter getting married at the end of the month I am on remote control teaching right now.  Thankfully, I have a wonderful class of new little friends that are very receptive to what I have to offer.  The business of a wedding has helped me relax more with my little friends and take a less is more approach to the year.  It is proving very beneficial for us all. 
I do want to share two things one is Pinterest.  If you haven't started your own boards you need to and then browse the ideas that stream through there. 
The other is something I found on pinterest something all teachers preschool or otherwise need to remember

Mrs. Nanette's Nuggets: 5 things I love about my job- starting my year

Mrs. Nanette's Nuggets: 5 things I love about my job- starting my year

5 things I love about my job- starting my year

Well it is time again for school to start, and we have spent the week preparing ( actually some of us have spent the summer) and I am excited and ready to meet the new members of my class family. Let's start the year off right with 5 things I love about my job
1) I love going to conferences getting new ideas for the year
2) I love the ladies I work with
3) I love that to me it is a ministry more than a "JOB"
4) I love my assistant who keeps me organized
5) I love all the fresh new stuff to make our classroom cute and inviting
6)BONUS:  I love that our school really does not start until after Labor Day.

Back to school

Looking forward to the first day with my new class.  New ideas ready to go, new cute stuff to make Jumping into another year of preschool fun for me as well as my class.  Found alot of new fun froggy stuff for learning centers as well as decorating ideas.  This year in my searches I found 2 really great ideas for helping your children learn their classroom, as well as one that I made many years ago and still love using. 
The two new ideas are Can you find this in my classroom.  I found this great idea on another teachers blog http://www.littlekinderwarriors.blogspot.com/.  The other idea ws to go on a treasure hunt in the classroom.  It was for an older group of children that had some reading skills but I thought it could be improvised by posting a treasure box picture on each of the different items they were hunting for in the classroom.  When the children finished the hunt and everyone had a treasure sticker they could treat themselves to a treasure from our class treasure box. 
The old idea I have used for years is to take close up pictures of different things in the classroom.  taking the pictures so close that only a piece of what ever it is shows up. An example would be to go to the book shelf and take a picture of just the corner of the shelf with a piece of the book, or to take a picture of a small piece of the calendar, etc.  I usually have 16 pics so everyone can figure one out.   The children have to guess what the picture is of in the classroom.   Lot's of fun.   The first two days of school we spend much time learning about our classroom enviornment, and the rules to keep it safe.  These games are good to use during these times. 
Well happy school year to all of us

A New year ahead

Well, long time no post.  I have been on a REAL break from preschool for the first time in so many years.  It was a good break but I am ready to roll again with a new group of special little friends to add to my heart full of so many little friends from the past.  My husband and I went on a New England cruise and believe it or not the last night on the cruise ship I ran into one of my past students.  She was going in the 7th grade.  Wow, it just shows that preschool teachers tend to make a lasting impression.  That brings me to how important it is for the children in our classes to feel love, acceptance and especially to know they are safe as they leave Mommy at home for the first time in their little lives.  I teach PreK but work at a school that has Babies through TK. 
Back from teaching conference I am on my mad rush to write my lesson plans through November since I have a daughter getting married  at the end of October.  New great websites and ideas from the conference will tweek my old lesson plans. 
I look forward to sharing another year on my blog. 

A camping we will go

Last week of school we set up camp grounds inside the classroom.  I have parents bring a tent and a small pool becomes a pond.  This year we have ducks and nets in the pond.  Some years there are fish and other things.  I also bring rocks and dirt for a sensory digging center.  We have horse shoes, a pretend campfire and some pretend cooking equipment. I have a plastic cast iron kettle that I bought after Halloween one year.  It is use for cowboy unit, campfire units, really anything that is cooking outside, and also my pioneer unit.  Worth keeping and eye out.  I even use it in sensory for ladling beans in and out of the pot.

Two friends roasting pretend marshmallows at the pretend camp fire.  Notice the logs are blocks, and the fire is tissue paper. The marshmallows are cotton balls and skewers are 18" dowels.  the kids just push the cotton balls onto the dowel and roast away.  They had a blast with this, and it was just a last minute brain storm of what could I use as pretend marshmallows.

Cotton balls are handy for a lot of brain storms, lambs wool, fluffy clouds, snow and now marshmallows.

 We use compasses to learn about finding our way.  We use flashlights to help us find our way in the dark  Lot's of night time books, because my actual unit is called outdoor fun day and night.  It is a great way to end our year as a class family. Notice from the picture the tent inside the classroom.  It was such a blast.
another fun year of classroom camping. 
We purchased water bottles and flashlights for the kids to have as camping gear, and thanks to
Chick-fil-a  we got compasses as well.  Their toy for this month was spy gear compasses, and they generously donated 16 to our end of the year camping event. 

If you don't teach a class, try an indoor camp out at your house.  The kids will love it and you will be a hero. You don't even need a tent because sheets and blankets work
 great.  Use your imagination and have fun with them.  Surely you had some fun indoor camping adventures as a child.  I know my girls did. 
Here is a a good camping rhyme for nightime noises
Night time noises


The children love this one. I use it when we do any night time activities, slumber party, campout, God made the night and day.

Chant this:
I was laying in my sleeping bag  and I couldn’t get to sleep.
The winds began to howl (howl)
And the bugs began to creek ( creek)
So I rolled to the left ( roll left)
And I rolled to the right ( roll right)
And I heard all the sounds that you hear late at night.


Repeat the rhyme with other sounds like people began to snore, frogs began to croak, owls began to hoot, dogs began to bark. Have children think of noises they

hear at night.
A few good books for camping theme.

Spring time fun

There is so much fun learning to do in the spring time. We spent a week learning about the weather changes, and nature changes that occur during the springtime.  We learned about spring colors and how to make pastle colors by adding white to red, blue, yellow, green.   The children always think mixing paint to make a new color is fun.  We used sponge mops to make the paint part of this art collage.  After all was dry, we let them add some more to their picture to make a beautiful spring garden.

 We have been having a great time swatting bugs with letters, numbers, and pictures for letter sounds on the back.  I put velcro on the fly swat and the other half on the bug. 

We also have been checking out our patterning abilities by using colored sticker dots to create patterns. 

One of my favorite learning activities in spring is teaching them about ants and insects in general.

We use what we learned about insects to do a special math project.  We learned that when you have x ants and x ants it makes x ants in all.  Addition!!!!!  I let the children roll the dice and make finger prints on their pre-drawn ant tunnels (they draw the tunnels before the math begins) Each insect has 3 body parts.  We count together so they don't lose track of the bugs they are making.  They roll the dice again for the second number.  After all the ants are made we count them all and write our numbers on our paper.  The children love the finished result. 

Another fun math activity is pattern caterpillars.  We used green construction paper for leaf and sticker dots for garage sales for our patterns

 There are so many great books to go along with spring time learning.  Check out Eric Carle for many great bug and spring books.

Pet show valentine party

During the week or week before Valentines, I like to do my pets unit.  We learn about all the kinds of animals we might have aas pets and about caring for them.  We pretend to be veteranarians, and pet store owners, we add to our class made books by illustrating what kind of pet we would like to be.  Sooo much fun.  We sort dog food, from cat food, and different size dog treats.  The best part of the week is the last day, when we all come to class dressed as a pet.  This day is special because it is our valentine party.  We play all day and after a valentine exchange, we have a pet show.  Each different pet (aka student) does some pet tricks and each pet recieves a Best show ribbon for what ever they have done.   It is always a huge success and adds a little spice to the usual Valentine party.
The new thing this year was the bags we made to put our valentine goodies in:  I usually use a valentine man on the bag but this year I designed a cat or dog bag for the children to make. 
The original valentine man was from  http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/holiday-seasonal-crafts/valentines-day-crafts-cards-gifts-decorations/
 
 The idea for the dog and cat came from that and some valentine coloring pictures another teacher had.
The cat requires two large hearts.  One is for the head and one is for the body.  Then you need two smaller hearts for the years and 2 pink hearts a size down from that for the inside of the ears.
You also need 2 pink hearts the same size as the original ears for the paws.
1 more pink heart makes a nose.  Large google eyes were used for the eyes
For the dog it requires two large hearts for the head and body,  You need one heart a couple of sizes smaller and cut in half for the ears. 
2 smaller hearts for paws and then one a little smaller than the paws for the nose. 
I pre-made all the heart on the cricut except the head and body.  The children could look at my example but choose how they wanted to put their bag together. 

                                                  Very cute and we will do this from now on.

This Valentine.......

A few years ago I ran across a Valentine rhyming book for the kids to make for a valentine gift for parents or just for a valentine book.  I have used it for many years now, and have no idea where I originally saw it. 
The title page is This Valentine
Each page there after says p. 1 - This valentine is red and small
                                          p. 2 - This valentine is the BIGGEST OF ALL!
                                                    I have the children trace a big heart shape and cut out for this page
                                          p. 3 - This valentine is glittered and glued
                                          p. 4 - This valentine is shiney and blue
                                                              We are skipping this page and putting page 3 right before  page 7.                            
                                                                       I had planned to use eagle brand milk and blue food color to paint
                                                                       the heart, but I usually use a shiny blue paper and have them glue pieces
                                                                       on the heart.  (to many snow days have cancelled this page :()
                                          p. 5 - This valentine is covered in ribbon and lace
                                          p. 6 - This one has a Funny Face!
                                          p. 7 - Ths Valentine is made just for you,  and it says "I LOVE YOU"

Obiviously each page is decorated by the child.  I have made the words for each page in different fonts to make the book.  The children enjoy it as well as the parents.  I do many things and am attracted to ideas that create books just for the great literacy connection they make. 

also, I  wanted to share a really fun Valentine book that I have use since I found it at the Half Price book store a few years ago.