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Easy Science – Exploring Sugar Crystals
My Favorite science experiments are often the simplest, like the opportunity to get a close look at sugar crystals. These easy experiments are a first opportunity to ask questions and try new things with materials that are familiar and safe. Sugar offers a couple of opportunities. The first being the chance to explore crystals. If you place a small amount of sugar on top of a dark piece of construction paper or cardstock, it is easy to see each individual crystal with your bare eyes. This is also a great time to practice using a magnifying glass to get a better look. Some things that you can ask the children…
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Friday Freebie – What’s on the Inside
Happy Friday – I swear, sometimes the short weeks feel like long weeks! TGIF! Today’s freebie is “What’s on the Inside” a mini-lesson from Kindergarten Chaos that would be perfect for any discussion about diversity. Go download a copy and add it to your stash! Have a great weekend!
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Exploring Physical Characteristics
Yesterday I shared an article with some great tips for talking about our differences, you can read that post here. Today I wanted to share some of my favorite activities related to physical characteristics so you could add them to your plans! I’ve shared this one before, but I’m just going to keep sharing because I love it! The visual makes a great impact for all ages. This EASY activity helps children learn to pay attention to subtle differences, which is what makes all of use unique. Use these printable pieces to give children opportunities to explore what different hair and skin colors look like together. What a great idea!…
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Standards related to MLK day experiences
It’s been a while since I’ve talked standards here (but if you want to go back and read all of those posts, they’re right here). There are a number of holidays over the next few months, and sometimes it can be hard to justify celebrating them, or spending time exploring related concepts. I’ve become quite skilled at aligning just about any activity to related standards, so I wanted to share with you in order to help your lesson planning. Here are some preschool standards related to Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Recognize and identify own emotions and emotions of others – when discussing how being treated differently makes us feel. …
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Talking about differences
I know that many of you will be talking to your students about physical characteristics and differences this week. Some of these conversations may be unplanned, between Martin Luther King Jr. day on Monday and the inauguration on Friday, children are certain to be hearing things that they don’t understand or need help processing. I wanted to tak a minute to pass along an article that I read a couple of weeks ago that offers great advice for handling these touch topics. Take a minute to head over to Edutopia and read Teaching Young Children about Bias, Diversity, and Social Justice.
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Books for Martin Luther King Jr. Day
Martin Luther King Jr. Day is one of those holidays that I always plan to introduce to my students, and then the closer the day get the more I struggle to find the right way to discuss it. In some ways, they understand, and in other ways, it is way over their heads. In my experience preschoolers have a hard time comprehending why people would be treated differently because of the way they look – which is one thing that I love about them. So, I’ve rounded up some books that have been really helpful for me, here are my favorites (all links are Amazon affiliates): My First Biography: Martin…
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Friday Freebie – Life Skills
Happy Friday! I hope that some of you are going to get to enjoy a nice long weekend! I’ve spent a lot of time this week talking about responsibility and planning ahead, and these life skills posters from Amy Marshall Are the perfect way to introduce some of these concepts to your students. These would be a great way to introduce social studies vocabulary and start a discussion about each character trait. Go download your set and have a great weekend!
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Books about responsibility
I’ve been sharing more of my favorite children’s books lately, and these posts have been something that I’ve really enjoyed putting together. I’m planning on continuing these posts throughout this year, and I can’t wait to round them all up at the end of 2017 and look at all the great books we’ve talked about! All links are Amazon affiliates. Since I shared an idea for classroom jobs yesterday, I thought I’d put together some books about responsibility, here are some of my favorites: Do I have to? By Nancy Loewen Just a Mess by Mercer Mayer Don’t Forget! By Anastasia Suen I Wanna Iguana by Karen Kaufman Orloff Not…
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Classroom Responsibilities
On Monday I shared some of my favorite tools for getting all of my routines and procedures back in place after the holidays. I look at this time of year as a perfect opportunity for starting fresh. In addition to getting back to routines that may have gotten a little relaxed over the last month or so, I also like to introduce some new responsibilities. At this point of the year I’ve built relationships with the children, they know my rules and they’re getting back into the regular routines. Because the children have worked through all of this already, I take this opportunity to add more of a challenge. One…
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Personal Goals
I know that I posted last week about my one word resolution, which is prepare, but that was pretty much a general thought for both my personal and professional life. I wanted to take some time and share some of my more specific goals for this year. I refuse to call them resolutions, because I think that term brings to mind something that is a little too big and probably unrealistic. These are goals, things that I know can be done, and in most cases they will help me feel less stressed and less rushed! Make sure that I’m ready for the next day before I go to bed –…
