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Friday Freebie – Valentine Teacher Gift
Happy Friday! I hope that you all survived your Valentine celebrations! Today’s freebie is perfect if your still looking for an easy, last minute gift for a favorite teacher: You can download these adorable tags from eighteen25 and simply put them with a bag of candy – perfect teacher gift! Enjoy the rest of your weekend and spend tons of time sharing the love with your favorite people!
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Valentine Movement Games
Party days are chaos. Instead of fighting it, just embrace it, and incorporate some of these fun Valentine-themed movement games: Musical hearts Color a heart XO Hop Conversation heart jump Giant alphabet heart matching game Use these games to channel the sugar rush into something educational that will help burn off some steam!
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Candy-free valentines
I’m not sure when it became the norm to give valentines with little gifts attached – when I was little the box of cards from the dollar store was more than enough, but I’m guessing this new trend is here to stay. So I’m here to help you with some last minute valentines that are perfectly appropriate for preschoolers and sugar-free! All of these fun ideas can be found on Oriental Trading, because while kids love candy, they also cannot seem to resist things from Oriental Trading (and the price tag makes that something that I can handle)! If you see one that you love, you can download it here!…
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Healthy Valentine’s Day Treats
Cupcakes and cookies are wonderful things ( I love them more than I should) but nine times out of ten, young children will choose healthier snacks if given the option. Doesn’t this bow of raspberries look so tempting?! This would be an incredibly easy Valentine’s day treat, and I guarantee that by the end of a preschool party, there might still be cupcakes on the tray, but all of these raspberries would be gone. Children have surprising appetites, and many of them choose healthier options more willingly than adults do! Here are some other healthy treat ideas that children, parents and teachers will thank you for bringing to the party:…
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Making Valentine’s Day Meaningful to Preschoolers
Valentine’s Day is more than just a day for a party, it’s a holiday that’s perfect for exploring social emotional concepts. Focusing on some of these specific skills, such as relationships with adults and peers, empathy, and emotion recognition and expression, is a perfect way to give meaning to a holiday that otherwise might just be a day for a party. Using holidays to teach specific content is how we make that content relevant and meaningful for preschoolers. I always try to focus on special relationships during the weeks leading up to Valentine’s Day. We talk about love, and what that means. In a preschooler’s world love usually means having…
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Friday Freebie – Friendship Valentines
Happy Friday! This has been one of those weeks where I’ve had something crazy every night, and I am so ready for the weekend – I’ve got some sleeping in to do! Today’s freebie is perfectly timed. It goes with my posts this week, which have been all about friendship, collaboration, and building your classroom community. It would also be a perfect addition to your writing center for Valentine’s day. These cute little notes are fun for kiddos to color, and they each have a fun little message. Children can decorate them and share them with their friends all week long! You can download them from A Burst of First so…
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Community art projects
I love to do community art projects! When children work on the same project they learn to value others’ ideas and perspectives, they have to share materials and work space, and they practice communicating with each other. On top of all of these wonderful lessons, community art projects are also better for the classroom logistically. You don’t have to worry about having the same amount of materials for everyone, you can hang one large piece of finished art work instead of 20 little ones, and cubbies don’t fill up with excessive amount of artwork to send home. Plus they require far less drying space! Here are some amazing ideas for…
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Finding the motivating factor
I just came home from the dentist, I had to get three cavities filled. Yuck. To be honest, the actual procedure doesn’t bother me, I’ve had enough dental work done in my life that I’m used to the noise and the numbness, it’s the price tag that really hurts. I’ve been told for the last 20 years that I need to be flossing every day, and I finally learned the lesson – because I finally figured out my motivation. The cavities don’t motivate me, but the money definitely does. So what does this have to do with preschool… I promise, it actually flows quite well! This is why it is…
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Currently – February
I’m not quite sure what happened to January, it flew by! I can’t say I’m complaining, the faster that warm spring weather gets here, the happier I’ll be. Since it’s officially February, that means its also time for a Currently. Here’s what I’m up to right now: Listening: I didn’t have a great day. It was a bit of a stressful Monday, so I figured the best way to put things in perspective was to watch the news. Between the local news and the national news, someone must’ve had a much worse day than I did. I sat down to watch with a cookie and a glass of wine, so…
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Building and celebrating friendships
The major focus of preschool is all things social emotional. Learning how to build friendships, express empathy, and take another’s perspective are lessons that take time and practice. While many of these lessons are organic – happening throughout the day as a natural part of your routines – they can also be planned intentionally. When you’re trying to encourage friendships, it helpful to spend time making sure that children know each other really well. When a child can say “I have a brother, just like you” or “My favorite food is pizza too!” They start to form bonds over these similarities. Here are some fun ideas for helping children get…
