End of year gifts

I wanted to share with you what I gave my sweeties for end of the year gifts. I am so sad the year is over, but so excited to be getting married in a little over 2 weeks!

At our Pre-K graduation, I have my little ones an owl bag with candy and a slideshow I made with pictures from the year. It was so special for me to make. On each DVD I wrote a short message: "Owl" miss you! Pop this into a DVD player for a sweet reminder of Pre-K!"

If you are looking to make a video for your little ones, I highly recommend using Windows Live Movie Maker. It's super easy!

There are so many sweet and adorable ideas for end of the year gifts. What are you doing for your kiddos?

A Very Special Delivery from Afghanistan

Hi friends!

Once again, I apologize for my absence on the blog lately. To say that my life has been crazy busy is an understatement! I am currently in the process of getting ready for my upcoming wedding on June 9th, packing to move out of my current apartment and trying to find a new job. We are so blessed to have found a beautiful home and we are now under contract. We are closing a few days after our honeymoon so I will be spending the summer getting settled into the new house. We are so excited!

I wanted to share with y'all a very special package we (my class) received in the mail yesterday. A couple of weeks ago, one of my kids' parents approached me with the idea to send a care package to his cousin, who is currently in Afghanistan. Of course, I jumped at the opportunity. I got my sweeties together and we wrote notes and drew pictures to our heroes in armed forces. This was a very special time in our classroom.

Yesterday we received a thank you package from our soldier friend, Armando. How thoughtful of him to send us a thank you package!! The goodies inside were unbelievable.......

First up was a collection of Afghanistan money. Too cool! We compared our American currency with that of Afghanistan.

Pins he gave us.....

Items from his uniform. The American flag is placed on their uniform as a protective measure. When soldiers are in planes looking down at the ground, they are able to look through certain goggles to see the America flag through infra-red lenses. This lets them know they are good guys.

This was the COOLEST thing ever!! An American flag was flown in honor of us. This was so special to all of us. This is definitely going in a frame! How thoughtful of him.

This is the picture of everything we received.

What really made my heart smile was the fact that he wrote each individual child a lengthy thank you note. For him to take the time to do that really showed his gratitude. It touched my heart.

This was such an honor to receive this. I did not expect anything in return, but it completely made our day. If you get a chance, I highly encourage you to send a care package to a solider. It will mean more to them than you may know.

Have a great week!

Sale

Hi guys! I apologize for my lack of posting. Between getting married, moving, and finding a new job, I am super busy! Once things slow down I will try to post more. I wanted to let you know that I am having a 20% off sale in my TPT store May 6-8. You can also type in the code TAD12 for additional savings. What a deal!

Have a great weekend!

Conscious Discipline Behavior Strategy

I wanted to share with you a behavior management technique we have been using in my classroom for a while. It is from Conscious Discipline. It has worked wonderfully. In my classroom, we call it The Mirror. I am amazed at how well this technique has been working with my little ones. When one child is feeling angry or sad, they know they may go to the  mirror to choose a way to handle their anger, sadness, etc.


This is the front of it. I like how the children are able to see what they look like when they are feeling angry, sad, happy, etc. They must choose what their goal is and velcro it in the box. More times than not, they choose "feel better." :)

Once they have decided on a goal, they flip the mirror over. This is what the other side looks like. They are able to choose how they are feeling, and then decide how they are going to handle their feelings. They are given the choice to do things such as use a squeeze ball, draw a picture, and write in their journals.

I highly recommend this strategy to other teachers as well as parents. This teaches children that it is okay to be upset and angry. We must teach them how to handle these emotions in a healthy way and I think this strategy is a fabulous way to do that.

Enjoy your week!

A Peek At Our Week!

This week went by so fast. For the most part, it was a great week. We had vision screening on Thursday as well as 6 (yes, 6!!) observers, so that threw us all off a bit. :)

We learned so much about insects! We used all of the activities from my insect unit. I wish I had more pictures...sorry about that! It was so great to see how well the kids picked up on everything. I love when kids are having fun while learning!

After reading several nonfiction books about insects and the characteristics of insects. We then sorted pictures based on if they are insects or not.

I typed up several statements on cards, read them to the kids, and had the children come up to determine if it was a true or false statement.

We matched pictures to words. This gave the kids a chance practice identifying words by their beginning sounds.

We practiced one to one correspondence by counting out raisins onto these cute ladybugs. Edible activities are always popular! :)

We measured various sized pictures using cubes. We recorded our answers and then measured ourselves using the butterfly.

We had several read it, trace it, write it cards with several insect words. This was great writing practice for the sweeties.

This game is called Catch that Wasp and the kids played in partners. The kids rolled a die and moved that many number of spaces. For a challenge, the kids drew an alphabet card, and if they could identify the sound of the letter, they could move ahead one space.

This activity pack has brought so much fun and excitement to our classroom this week! If you're interested in purchasing, click the picture below.

 Have a wonderful weekend! I am flying to Houston early, early tomorrow morning to spend time with some sweet friends. Enjoy your weekend!! :)
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Insect Week, Freebie and Spring Has Sprung Sale!

This week we are learning all about insects. We learned all about ladybugs today. They are so fun to learn about! Who doesn't love ladybugs? :)

First, we talked about the parts of an insect. We used this poster to determine if various animals were insects or not.

We read a book about insects and their compound eyes. I saw this idea on Pinterest. Gather a bunch of straws and place a rubber band around them. This was great for the kids to see through an insect's eyes.

We started out by reading this book. It's called Ladybugs by Ann Meinrichs. This is a great resource and my kids were so engaged today throughout this book. We also read The Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle.

We played Buzz! This is a super fun game that helps with number and number word identification. I have several games similar to this in my TPT store. The object of the game is to fill up your game board. The children draw a card, identify the number or number word on the card. If they are able to identify the card, they place it on their game board. If they can't, it goes back in the pile. If they draw a Buzz! card, they may remove a card from one other players' board. The game is so fun!

Several of my littles are working on reading CVC words. I am so so proud of them! This activity was super fun and engaging. The children spin the spinner, identify the letter, then record the letter on the cricket mat. This is where the sounding out comes in. They sound out each letter, then read the CVC word. They will also determine if it is a real or nonsense word. There is a recording sheet that some of my higher level students completed.

We made ladybugs today at the art center. These turned out super cute! I'll have to snap a picture tomorrow of the finished product. We added googly eyes and antennae. Loved them.

If you're interested in any of these activities, you can find them in my Insect Math and Literacy Activities~ It's A Bug's Life! Click here for my insect unit.

Here is a freebie for you. We are going to do this little activity tomorrow.

Spring has sprung! :) I am throwing a 20% off sale from tomorrow, March 27-Saturday, March 31. Enjoy!

Have a great week!

I Have, Who Has Games

Do you ever play I Have, Who Has games with your kiddos? We have recently started playing and it is so fun! The great thing about it, is that you can play by saying the letters OR the letter sounds. I am completely amazed by the progress of some of my kids just from playing this game. It also builds confidence in the little ones because they are standing and speaking in front of their peers.

I keep these cards in a box right by my chair. That way, it's easily accessible so I can grab and we can play.

Here's how you play: Pass out any number of cards to your group. I have 14 kids, so each child gets 2-3 cards and that works just fine. The kids stay sitting and the child who has the first card "A" begins by standing up. They will say, "I have A, who has B? (or whatever letter is on the card)" The person who has the letter being called will stand up and repeat the same process. This continues until the last card is read. My kids LOVE this game because we always time ourselves. We like to beat our previous time. I know yours will love it too! Click the picture for your free copy. This download has the letters in random order and in alphabetical order.

Here is a link for a number I Have, Who Has game. It focuses on numbers up to 30.