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Preschool Self-Portrait Project
One of my absolute favorite back to school activities to do with my kiddos is to have them create self portraits. I think that encouraging them to take some time to look at themselves, and pay attention to what makes each of them unique, is a great way to help them recognize why they are each an important part of our community. Children learn a number of things from creating their own portraits – They get to practice taking time to focus on an activity, and pay attention to detail. They also begin to compare themselves with other students, and learn to recognize their own unique characteristics, as well as…
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Friday Freebie
Happy Friday! I am so glad that this week is over, it was complete chaos. While my weekend won’t exactly be relaxing, I am looking forward to celebrating a few milestones – My future SIL’s bachelorette party, and my nephew’s first birthday, not to mention my husband’s 27th birthday (which was technically last weekend, but has yet to be fully celebrated). I may actually be looking forward to next week, when things will calm down and get back to normal! I am seriously excited about this week’s freebie. I fully agree with the idea that the classroom environment plays a vital role in the learning process. I also firmly believe…
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Beach play – without the beach
We’ve been doing water play once a week, with different activities each week (ice, car wash, squirt toys, etc.), this week it was wet sand. I knew that all of the boys would love the opportunity to make a giant mess, but to be honest I was shocked by how much all of my students loved this experience. It took me a while to realize that they loved playing in the wet sand because it was just like being at the beach, and in these last few weeks of summer, I’d be happy to have a beach day too! In addition to the sand table that we always have available,…
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5 Inspirational Quotes for Preschool
The last couple of weeks have been a bit of a whirlwind, and right now, all I have to say is that my brain hurts. So in an effort to give you some content that is inspiring I thought I would share some of my favorite Early Childhood quotes. I’ve made every effort to link their original sources, those that I wasn’t able to track down are linked to my Preschool Quotes Pinboard. From Early Learning HQ From Happy Brown House Found on Zulilly From Katie Surly on Teachers Pay Teachers From Treat by Shutterfly Hopefully these will give you the inspiration that you need to start the school year…
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Loving the latest from Ikea
I’ve always loved Ikea, the former interior design student in me considers that store absolute heaven. The closest Ikea store is an hour and a half from my house, and I make the drive regularly. Needless to say, receiving the annual catalog is grounds for hours of focused study. I love that Ikea has always offered something for everyone. But now I’m rambling, and I’m sure you’re thinking “what does this have to do with preschool?” I promise I have a point. I am so impressed with Ikea’s newest children’s products, and the ways that the company has chosen to present them. The new Ikea catalog shows that childhood can…
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What I’m Buying
There’s a great big sale going on over at Teachers Pay Teachers and I’ve got some shopping to do! Today I wanted to take a minute to share what I’ll be buying during the Back to School Sale. 1. Interchangeable Clipart from Molly Tillyer. This is clipart, but I honestly think that it would make a great pre-k classroom center. The set includes a ton of different people (all skin tones) and then anything that you could possibly need to create thousand of different individuals – hair in different styles and colors, all kinds of facial expressions, and clothes and accessories like you wouldn’t believe. I think that my students would…
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Back to School Sale!
You don’t want to miss this! It’s back to school time (yes, it’s really here) and Teachers Pay Teachers is celebrating with a huge sale! My entire store will be 20% off, and TPT is giving you an extra discount. Make sure to visit on August 4th or 5th and enter the code BTS14 to save on everything you need for the school year. It has become a tradition here at Preschool Ponderings to do two blog posts for each big TPT sale – I like to highlight the items in my store that are a great deal during the sale, and I also like to show you what’s on…
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Going to the fair!
This week is our local county fair – one of my favorite weeks of the entire year! The fair is a big deal at my house, my husband and I were both raised in 4H, we met when we were counselors at 4H camp in high school, and now we serve as advisors for our local 4H club. We take the entire week off of work to help out with fundraisers and special events, watch our club members show their animals, and enjoy spending time with friends that we don’t get to see very often. In honor of the fair I wanted to share some of my favorite farm themed…
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Time to say goodbye
In a couple of weeks my pre-k students will start kindergarten. We had a graduation ceremony in May because some of my students stay for the summer, while others do not, but now that it’s time for all of them to go, I really want to do something to send them off. I’m planning a pizza party, because really, what 5 year old wouldn’t want a pizza party. Other than that, I didn’t really have a lot of ideas, so I turned to Pinterest, which of course, was full of inspiration. Our kindergarten send-off isn’t for a couple more weeks, but here are a few of the things that I’m…
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Friday Freebie!
Happy happy happy Friday! This week seemed to drag on forever, maybe because it finally got really hot and I was desperately seeking time in the air conditioning! I made a cute little freebie for you today. This one is a blog exclusive, so send all of your friends here to get it. I’m gearing up for back to school, and this year I have a lot of students who will be new to my teaching philosophy. I’m at a Reggio inspired school and I absolutely love all of the hands-on learning, exploration, and creativity that this philosophy promotes, but sometimes it can take a little getting used to for…
