Fall Leaves poem

A quick and easy fall literacy resource for you!  I borrowed the Fall Leaves poem from this blog.  I used diecuts to make the leaves.  The combination of writing the numerals, having the color word written in the color that it is, and the number of leaves out to the side seemed to help the four-year-olds read it with me after we practiced a few times.  Once it was finished I laminated it and put in on the board (second picture).

Kitty Pumpkin

I saw this All You Magazine at the store the other day, and I thought this cover was too cute!  Love the small pumpkins transformed into kittens.  Looks like it wouldn't be too difficult to recreate either.

 

Spider embroidery

I got this long sleeved purple Halloween shirt from Goodwill the other day.  I just love the design, and I think it would be fun to try to embroider a web similar to this some day.  The picture doesn't show it very well, but the web is sparkly silver.  It's a bit wrinkled. Oops.

 

 

I'm not much into the ghouls, witches, and Jack O'Lantern shirts at Halloween, so I was glad to find something like this.  I also enjoy a good owl or bat Halloween shirt.

Icky Sticky Shelves Solution

Our classroom has some fairly old furniture, and because we continually are required to have our shelves labeled, there was quite a buildup of sticky tape residue all over them.  Ever use packing tape on your shelves?  You know the cleanup nightmare.

 

Here's what we did.  Items needed:  Goo Gone, Razor blade/scraper, sanding blocks.

 

 

I got this pack of two sanding blocks at the Dollar Tree.  They have rough on the front and back, and then the middle is foam.

 



 

I would use this method at your own discretion.  Our shelves are old, and the finish is worn off in many places, so damaging the finish really wasn't a concern.  Also, the sanding blocks we used were abrasive enough to get the yuck off, but at least in my case I didn't notice it taking off much finish.  It was kind of like using a really scrubby brush or sponge.

 

It is simple enough to do.  Just Goo Gone, scrub with the sanding blocks, and if there are any bits of anything left like tape remnants that's where the scraper comes in handy. 

 

Here is an example of a before.

 



 

And here is an after.

 



 

It may not look like that much, but the stuff on that shelf was so stubbornly stuck on I was impressed that it came off so easily with this method.  I hope it helps you too!



Spring Break Countdown

In Pre-K we love to do countdowns to special days.  It is a good reminder for the kids and teachers. :) It helps with one-to-one correspondence, counting, and number recognition (We always write the number of days left on the board.).

 

This is one we have for Spring Break.  We display it on our dry erase board. 

 

  I printed the reproducibles from Twisty Noodle.

 

I made the basket the size of a paper plate, and I increased the size of the eggs as well (using a copier, and the maximize/minimize feature).  I colored them using both markers and colored pencils.

 

The basket used two paper plates.  The basket picture is cut in half so that the handle is on the back plate.  The front of the basket is on the front plate.  The front plate has been cut in half, glued together for additional strength, turned around so the front faces the front of the others, and then taped to the back so that it forms a pocket.  I hope that made sense.  I apologize for not taking pictures.

 

 

It can now hold the eggs.

 

 

For a finishing touch I made grass to "hide" the eggs.  It is laminated green construction paper cut in half, and then the tops are cut irregularly to make it look like grass.  I kept the length of the cut about the same, but I alternated the angle of the top of the grass to make it remotely more realistic.

There's a chocolate bunny at the end for that very special last day!

PreK Line up - Math integration

It is quite helpful to have the floor marked in some way to show the children where to line up.  We decided to integrate math as we transition to different activities (such as lunch, playground, etc.).  The children have color groups, so we have the opportunity to correlate them in that way if needed.  So far we have called the children to stand on a certain shape, a certain color, and a certain number.  We will also use this to review patterns.  There are two shapes for each number so that we can instruct the children to put one foot on one shape and the other foot on the other (Hopefully avoiding turning around and talking in line, twirling around, etc.).  

There are 20 total spots.  The shapes were made by laminating construction paper, cutting them out on the die-cut machine at school, writing the numbers on the shapes with a Sharpie, and using contact paper on each set of shapes (20 sheets cut to size) to stick them to the floor.  This should *hopefully* be easier to pull up at the end of the year to prepare for the floors to be waxed over the summer. 

There are a few closeups and then a full length picture.  This has been a great classroom management tool. 

Sensory bags for Writing

There are many parents and educators out there who have made sensory bags for various purposes.  In my PreK class we've been learning pull lines, slide lines, and circle back as an introduction to writing, so we gave the bags a go.

I've often seen the recommendation of using $1 hair gel to make the bags.  I went looking at our local Dollar General, and I couldn't find exactly what I wanted, so I stood in the aisles tipping various bottles of (cheap) liquid around until I found something that I thought was gel-like.  

I found these $1 hand soaps, and I added some food coloring to them to get the desired colors.  

I also bought some $1 shaving cream to make some fluffy bags.

The finished product looked like this.  It help up reasonably well (We used Great Value sandwich bags from Wal-Mart).  I had to replace a few over the course of the day if a child got a little to rough with one and poked a hole.  The soap poured fairly easily into a new bag if I snipped off a corner with scissors.

This kind of shows how the bags work.  

It's a bit of trial and error to find the right amount to initially put in the bag to give the needed effect.

And there you have it!

The kids love them.  They were great for our small group / special activity table.  We made a few rules.

1.  No picking up the bags.

2. No squeezing the bags.

3. No pounding on the bags.

4. One bag per person. (Trading is okay.)

Basically, keep the bag flat on the table, and (gently) use your finger to write/draw in it.  

A few things to note: Shaving cream bags only last for about a day because they loose their foaminess.  The soap I used got little suds after a while, but it just turned into a different sensory experiment.  I used these bags for a few days before throwing them away.