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A Quick Update
You know that I’m prepping for summer, and that means switching my work schedule up a bit. I’m taking this week to make those changes and get everything ready to move forward. What that means is that you won’t see any new blog posts here this week, but next week I’ll be back in full force!
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Summer Plans!
This summer is going to look very different for our family – it’ll be the first summer that my girl and I will be home together all summer long. The idea of giving her a fun summer while I’m still working stresses me out a bit, so I took some time to do the one thing that always puts my mind at ease, some serious planning! If someone asked me to choose ONE word to describe myself it would definitely be the word “planner.” I truly love to organize my thoughts, lay them out on paper and fill in any missing pieces. It helps me feel in control and gives…
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Graduation Gifts for Little Graduates
There are so many incredible ideas out there when it comes to gifts for High School and College graduates – but what do you get for the little graduates in your lives? Preschool and Kindergarten graduates definitely don’t need money to furnish a dorm or apartment, they don’t need tech to support their next educational steps, or frames and photo albums to store all of their school memories. There are still meaningful graduation gifts that you can give these little ones to help them celebrate this major milestone! My favorite idea is a memory book that they can complete and keep with their preschool or kindergarten keepsakes. This is something…
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Celebrating my own creativity
I’ve always considered myself to be a creative person, it’s something that I recognized at a very early age. As an adult, I spend the vast majority of my time creating things for other people – which I truly love to do. But I’ve realized that I don’t do a lot of creating just to enjoy the artistic process. I’m about to change that! I gathered some tools that I enjoy using, and bought a new sketch book (there’s just something about all of those blank pages)/ Now I’m giving myself permission to take time losing myself in the creative process. I can’t wait to share what I come up…
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Preschool Graduation Round Up
Preschool graduation is one of my favorite events of the year! I just love celebrating my students’ accomplishments and I definitely go “all-in.” Sometimes it sneaks up on me though, so I thought it might be helpful to pull together all of the posts I’ve written about this over the years, and links to all of my resources so that you have everything you might need for graduation right in one place. Here you go! Blog Posts: Friday Freebie – Graduation Song DIY Graduation Tassels Tips for a Smooth Graduation Ceremony Graduation Decorations Making Graduation Easy Friday Freebie – Graduation Countdown Graduation Keepsakes for your Students Snack Ideas for your…
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The Cutest DIY Graduation Cap!
We’ve gotten through the Easter holiday, and that usually means one thing – it’s time to nail down some details for preschool graduation. This is always one of the most bittersweet milestones. It’s such an honor to send little ones onto preschool and celebrate all of the growth that has happened over the past year (and often longer if they’ve been in your program for a while), but saying goodbye can be hard! Graduation caps are such an iconic piece of this celebration, and you know I’m a huge fan of the DIY. I’ve perfected the technique and I’m loving the idea of personalizing these diy graduation caps so that…
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A full month of preschool lesson plans!
Have you grabbed your copy of A Month of Preschool for April yet?! Four weeks of April preschool lesson plans, art ideas, dramatic play plans, and printable activities – and this month has an exclusive social emotional lesson that you can only get in this set: Children will build confidence and understanding of themselves as they put together this flower! The activity comes in two options – a cut and paste, or a color and write: These monthly sets are everything that I’ve used in my own classroom, printable and meant to make your life easier. I hope that you’ll try April’s because I’ve got a ton of new stuff…
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Easter Art Projects
Here’s a collection of the art projects that we’ve been working on for Easter. The classics are classics for a reason, and the woven placemats were especially a hit! We used a mixture of shaving cream and white glue to paint these soft bunnies. For the bows we added a little food coloring. We also mixed some shaving cream and food coloring, then dipped paper egg cutouts to create swirled patterns on the eggs. Finally, we used the leftover strips from our placemats to make a paper chain. The colors are all super happy and the finished products remind me of my favorite projects from my own childhood. That’s what…
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Building a Positive Mindset
I consider myself a naturally positive person, but the classroom can be a hard place to keep that going. Someone is always upset with someone else, there is always a mess somewhere, and I’m constantly having to change my plans. It takes a toll! When positivity doesn’t come naturally, there are some things that help me keep that positive mindset in the classroom. First and foremost, when I recognize that I’m struggling I make a conscious effort to find something (anything) positive that I can acknowledge. Sometimes this is as small as a child nicely walking across the classroom, or offering to share with another child. I’ll spend the next…