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Book Talk Tuesday – Leaf Man
Mrs. Jump’s Class Hi everyone! It’s Tuesday so I’m linking up with Mrs. Jump’s Class for Book Talk Tuesday. Today I’m sharing one of my favorite fall books – luckily I have enough favorites to get me through every week of autumn – but today it’s Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert. All of Lois’ books are amazing, her illustrating style is unique and it really speaks to children, and encourages their own creativity. This book in particular contains illustrations that are made out of leaves. This story opens up children’s imaginations to all of the possible places that leaves can fly on the wind. There are a number of activities…
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Countdown to the NAEYC Conference
I am so excited about this year’s NAEYC Conference. I attended my first NAEYC conference in 2010 and fell in love with the whole experience. I love the sessions, I love the expo hall, I love meeting teachers from all over the country, and I love love love traveling with my favorite teachers! This year is especially important for me because I get to present. I love public speaking (I know, I’m weird), and giving teachers new ideas that makes their jobs easier is just about my favorite thing, so I am super pumped (I mentioned that I’m excited right). I got my badge in the mail this weekend and…
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Friday Freebie
Yay for Friday. This weekend is all about fall for me, high school footbal tonight and a fall bonfire party for my 4H club on Sunday, not to mention the tiny little town down the road is having their annual fall festival and flea market this weekend, so it feels like fall is officially here. This freebie would be a great addition to the crockpot applesauce recipe that I shared yesterday. The Apple Five Senses set from Kindergarten Lifestyle includes a mini poster for each of the five senses with words to help children describe apples. It also includes a black and white full page poster for each of the…
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Making applesauce with preschoolers
I'm not sure when it was decided that autumn means an in-depth study of apples in every single early childhood classroom in the country, but I'm certainly not one to buck tradition. One of my favorite apple activities to do with my preschoolers is to make homemade applesauce. Children love this activity because they get to eat the end product, so it's a great way to sneak in a ton of other learning opportunities. First there's the understanding that the applesauce they eat in their lunch every day actually comes from an apple that grows on a tree. This helps them begin to comprehend economic concepts such as food supply and…
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Preschool Activities that meet Social Emotional Standards
It’s Wednesday, which means it’s time for some activities aligned to a specific standard. This is the fourth week of this feature, and we’re still on social emotional standards. (The Standards that I use every day, and am most comfortable with are Ohio’s Early Learning Development Standards – you can review them here, however I’ve found that even if your State’s standards differ, many of these activities can still be aligned similarly). Here we go!Domain: Social Emotional DevelopmentStrand: SelfTopic: Sense of Competence This is one of those standards that can be difficult to plan activities for, because you can absolutely take steps to foster competence in your students, but often this happens…
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Book talk Tuesday – We’re Going on a Leaf Hunt
Today I'm linking up with Mrs. Jump's Class for Book talk Tuesday. Every year, this book finds a permanent place on my classroom bookshelf for the entire autumn season. My students love Going on a Leaf Hunt by Steve Metzger. This book is perfect for preschoolers because it takes a story that they are already familiar with, and gives it an autumn twist. They are easily able to retell the story to themselves or each other after hearing me read it a few times. The pictures are also colorful, attractive and very descriptive. Books like this give young readers confidence in their beginning skills, making reading fun. I also love that it names…
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A Reggio Inspired Word Wall
I use vocabulary lists with my class all the time. They are a great way to keep track of the new words we have learned, and they help keep parents informed too. When I saw this word wall in one of our preschool classrooms I had to share the idea with you. It's a word wall with a Reggio twist - the kids helped the teacher decide which project- related vocabulary words to put on their wall, she wrote them, and then the children wrote them too. I think this is an awesome way to incorporate a traditional word wall, and make it effective and relevant for the children. I’d…
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Friday Freebie
It has certainly felt like fall around here this week (of course it’s supposed to be 80 degrees tomorrow so…). I’m beginning to see pumpkins on front steps, mums in flower pots, and all kinds of pumpkin flavored treats everywhere. In honor of all that is fall, I wanted to share this freebie with you! All of these adorable board game mats are from Jenny Bolay. They are designed to be versatile, but the first idea that comes to my mind is that they would be perfect for dice games. My students are just getting to the point where they are able to work together and take turns, so these…
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Autumn Play Dough Recipe (Version 2)
On Tuesday I shared my recipe for Apple Pie Play Dough. Today I’ve got one for Pumpkin Pie Play Dough – it’s very, very, very similar. This recipe is so easy, just mix the following ingredients in a large saucepan: 2 cups of flour 2 cups of water 1/2 cup of salt 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil 1 tablespoon cream of tarter 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice food coloring (I used Wilton gel food coloring in copper, but you can use red and yellow liquid food coloring too) stir over medium heat until the dough forms a uniform ball (it should look dry). Place the play dough on the counter…
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Preschool Activities that Meet Social Emotional Standards
It’s Wednesday, which means it’s time for some activities aligned to a specific standard. This is the Third week of this feature, and we’re still on social emotional standards. (The Standards that I use every day, and am most comfortable with are Ohio’s Early Learning Development Standards – you can review them here, however I’ve found that even if your State’s standards differ, many of these activities can still be aligned similarly). Here we go!Domain: Social Emotional DevelopmentStrand: SelfTopic: Self-RegulationAhhh Self-Regulation. Teaching a class full of preschoolers to regulate and manage their feelings and impulses, trying to get little ones to think about the consequences of their actions and behaviors. Do we…
