planning
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Summer Learning Supplies for an 8 Year Old
Every year I’ve tweaked the supplies that I gather for summer learning. When my daughter was in Kindergarten we used a ton of crayons, glue, and flash cards (see how I organized all of that here), now that she’s almost done with second grade, there are so many more notebooks, pencils, and books. Here’s what we’re using to keep her on track academically this summer (all links are affiliates). In the past I’ve printed specific worksheets for certain themes. That worked for us, but it also used a lot of ink and paper, plus I had to organize all of it. The workbooks help us focus on specific subjects, and…
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Summer Planning; What Works and What Doesn’t
Over the last couple of years I’ve learned so much about planning and structuring our summer days at home (see the post that I shared on Monday for a round up of ideas and inspiration)! From planning our days down to the hour to throwing out the plans and winging it, I’ve tried it all. Here are some things that have worked really well for us (DO’s), followed by some things that haven’t been so helpful (DONT’s). DO DON’T The most important thing that I’ve found is to know your kids and plan for what they need. My summer planning has changed every year because my daughter has grown and…
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Summer at home with kids
I’m getting ready for my third summer at home with my daughter – it’s coming so fast! Over the last couple of years I’ve learned a lot about what it takes to keep her busy and how much planning can and should go into preparing myself for all of that. I wanted to share how I’ve set up these plans so that you can get a little inspiration if this is something that you’re looking for a little support with. I’ve got a couple more posts planned for this week about specifically what has worked and what hasn’t worked for us, and what my plans look like for this year.…
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Planner Supplies for 2025
I see my planner as an extension of myself. That might sound a little dramatic, but I’m serious! It’s where I keep track of all of the tasks I need to complete, but it also serves as a record of special events, notes about things like snow days, birthday plans, vacation packing lists, and all of the things that are important to me and to my family. Since I use my planner as both a calendar and a scrapbook I’ve gathered quite a few materials to help really make it mine. Here are my favorite planning products for 2025 (all links are affiliates. First things first, I have to keep…
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How I’m Using My Happy Planner
I’m a paper planner girl. I’ve tried digital options (you can even find some of my posts about them if you search), but there’s something about being able to look at the full spread, write tasks in by hand, and really turn the pages that just works for me. I’ve always had what I consider a photographic memory, and for some reason that just works better when I can visualize words written on a page – not a tablet or screen. This year I went with a big Happy Planner (affiliate link) and I couldn’t be happier – no pun intended. The price is truly unmatched. All of the other…
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Holiday Organization Printables
There is so much happening during the month of December! There are too many things to remember, plan for, and complete. I don’t know about you, but when I feel all of that swimming around in my brain, there’s only one way for me to deal with it – write it all down. I modified my Organized Teacher Planning Pages for the holiday season and I’m sharing them with you for FREE (click here to download)! Please use these to help yourself feel a little more organized in the classroom this holiday season! Click the link or photo above to download your set. You can also find these in the…
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Warm Weather December Themes
I’ve always lived where we get to experience 4 distinct seasons and the changes in weather that come with them. That’s played a role in my lesson planning for sure, because all of these seasons are relevant to my students. What do you do when this isn’t the case? Maybe your students only experience one or two different types of weather, does it make sense to teach preschoolers about snow when your temperatures never dip low enough to get any of the white stuff? There are two schools of thought here. One would say stick to what the children in your class will personally experience. I tend to agree with…
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Non-Christmas Themes for December
December can be a tricky month is your program or the children in your class don’t celebrate Christmas. There are so many ideas and activities that support the Christmas season that it can be really hard to find other relevant topics. It can also feel a little strange to completely ignore what seems to consume the rest of the world for a whole month. No worries, I’ve got some ways for you to make December fun and easy! Here are some themes to consider for the month of December if you don’t celebrate Christmas in the classroom. The great thing about the month of December is that it’s typically pretty…
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After Halloween Plans for the Classroom
This year Halloween is on a Thursday, which means we all have to come back in to school for Friday before we can really crash. The day after Halloween can be ROUGH in the classroom. Honestly, it makes perfect sense – the routine has been totally off, most kids were up way later than usual for trick or treating, and we’ve all had more sugar over the last few days than are bodies are used to processing. It’s completely normal for everyone to be super cranky the next day. Knowing this, there are some things that you can do to make the day go a little more smoothly. In planning…
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September Preschool Lesson Plans
We have been squeezing the last bits of summer out like it’s our job over here – but it’s quickly coming to an end. As we look forward to September, I know that life isn’t about to get any less busy! I wanted to really dig into one of those resources that makes planning and prep so much easier. Let’s take a look at every single item included in the September Month of Preschool set. I’ll list it all below, and any products that are also available as individual resources will be linked so that you can go see specific images of those. For a video of how to use…