Color Activity Posters

This week we are working on recognizing colors and each child is helping us make color posters by bringing in something to share on our poster.  The students have been so excited to bring in items to share.  We put large pictures of colored converse shoes on the tops of the posters to go along with our reading of Pete the Cat, I Love my White shoes.  At the end of our week we are going to talk about what things we could step in to make our shoes turn the colors on the posters.  Then we are going to generate lists of things that come in each color to add to the poster.  For yellow one child even brought in the back of a very large toy dump truck so we put that down on the floor under the poster!  We just loved the giant shoes on top of the poster and so do the kids!  If you want pictures like this, just use Google images and type in red converse high tops!  I right click it and then save and print the images!  So simple!

Magna-doodle fun for preschoolers!

We were playing in our living room this summer when my four year old came up with this great activity that combined 2 of my favorite classroom toys.  She was using her dress up doll made by Melissa and Doug.  She also had out our family Magna-doodle.  

This is the doll.  They are wooden and the outfits are magnetic on the back.  My daughter added the dresses to the Magna-doodle and then made her own paper doll in the dress.  GENIUS!  She made several of these and had a blast trying all of the outfits.  I am going to try this out in my classroom soon.  I think it is perfect for practicing drawing people.  She loved trying all of the dresses.  

Oh, and if you do not have this Melissa and Doug doll, grab one for sure.  I see them all the time at stores like T.J. Maxx,  but online I have searched them and they are only like $10!  It is a great investment.  I have a really old one and the kids in my class love it.  They have a boy version too!  There are several to choose from too.

Pete the Cat color Posters

This week we are going to begin color recognition.  I am starting off with a bunch of sorting and fun activities!  Then we are going to make color posters.  I am going to head them up with a large converse shoe for each one, as we ask each child to bring in items to glue on to our posters.  We are then hanging them up for the year.  I am also putting out a color game I found through TeachersPayTeachers.   It is really cute!  You can  find it on my Pete the board on Pinterest.  I bought it from TeachersPayTeachers!  You should too.  It is really well done and great for preschoolers.  So glad I found it and did not have to make it myself!  Thanks to Erin @ Creating and Teaching!  

An App for Pete!

Finally they came out with an app for Pete!!  I stumbled upon this as I was seraching for apps to review for appSmitten.  I was so excited.  I tried it with my two 4 year old twin girls and it was a hit right away!  Pete is rockin in his school shoes and you can help him find things in hidden pictures.  It reminds me of a very simple version of Where's Waldo but for preschoolers.  It is great because Eric Litwin the narrator for the game and is awesome.  If you have not gotten his books yet you must do so!    Preschool is so much better with Pete!  Here is the link:
Pete the Cat App

I also recommend heading over to my Pinterest boards.  I have tons of free printables for Pete and great ideas for your preschool room!  Here is my link:

Pinterest Board for Pete the Cat Activity Ideas and Printables

Send Pete On An Adventure!

It is Pete the Cat time again and we are sending our Pete on an adventure.  We have found a nice blue backpack, decorated it with fun foam, and have placed Pete and a composition book in it.  We will be picking one great student to take him home each night, play with him, and then write a story with their parent about what they did together with PETE!  We will then read the child's page in the class book at circle in the morning.  I have done this with a plastic fish but never with an actual soft animal.  I am prepared to have him washed frequently!  He is ready.
I have been working on a parent instruction page too.  I will post that tomorrow as a FREEBIE so check back!  He is ready to head out!  Told me so himself tonight while we were blogging.  I would recommend this activity for preschoolers.  They get so excited when it is their turn.  The fish we sent home last year even ended up taking a bath with one student!  Hopefully Pete will stay dry!

Letters in my Name

Investigating Our names has been fin in summer school.  We counted letters in our first and last name and got out the big drum to count out our syllables in our names with a partner.  That was the fun part! Each child got to make a self portrait too, to go on our classroom chart.  This was a great way to compare and contrast!  Try it!

Conscious Discipline in your classroom

I have been reading on Heather's Hearts and it has really made me think about discipline and how it should be handled, especially with at risk children.  The thing I think has impacted me the most, is that all kids should feel good about themselves at school and it should be safe.  My classroom is that way for sure, but I want to impact others, the way the articles on Conscious Discipline have impacted me.  I am going to work hard this year treating every child the way I would want my own children to be treated.  I am going to keep reading Heather's Hearts too.  She has great ideas.  The first job I am going to put into place is the CHEERLEADER.  I am going to hunt for small wedding bubbles this weekend to start celebrating behaviors!  I cannot wait to get started.  I will let you know how it goes.

Great first week station activity

I was working on activities for my new students in my kindergarten prep class and found this on Pinterest.  It was perfect for making writing fun!  And as you know..I am all about making it fun!  So for one of my first writing activities this fall, I am putting this out.  I used an old foam die I had and just used card stock an a glue stick.  I put out 2 dry erase boards and 2 of these cute new half sized dry erasers.  It was easily the most popular activities we had out last week.  Try it and watch them enjoy!  Our dice included circles, straight lines, curly lines, zig-zags, and more.  You can be creative!

It is almost back-to-school time!

Most teachers are getting ready to head back and get ready to set up!  I am already teaching in a special kindergarten prep pilot program.  We have of curse been reading Pete the Cat and talking about him, colors, and of course the rooms in the building-the lunchroom, playground, etc.  We made my Pet out of paper and were practicing listening and following directions.  After we finished, we put the cats in the hallway.  Many of my students were upset that their cats did not have shoes.   I told them we would add them the following week.  I had some very distressed artist who felt they needed shoes on the cats.  So on Friday we got out paper and practiced cutting just circles to add to the feet of our Petes!  Some of the kids really were not happy with our basic shoe shape and they made adjustments.  But then came Joe (name is changed of course)!  Joe loves art and wanted to make the shoes for all 4 feet, draw laces, and the backpack, AND then the LUNCHBOX!!!!  I just had to post it.  It was so detailed!  And I almost forget the GUITAR! 

Don't Miss This Great ECE Pinterest Party!

A Pinterest Linky Party Just for ECE Educators!  This is one of the neatest ideas yet!  Debbie Clement at Rainbows Within Reach has a link on her blog to see other teachers pinterest pages.  This way if you are not a big hunter/gatherer on Pinterest, you can still take advantage of all o f the great teacher boards!  Better yet it,it is special to early childhood educators.  When I linked up there were 157 teachers who had provided their links!  This is a wonderful resource and if you have not yet seen it click above and try some of the links out!  I am slow to find out about some of these things, so I am #157 on the list.  There you can link to see my pins on Pinterest!  I think this is one of the best ways to find great blogs too so hurry up!  What are you waiting for!  Link up!

It's almost school time again and Pete is waiting!

I cannot believe it is almost time again to begin another year!  I think along with the excitement of planning new things I have been most excited about the new Pete the Cat ideas I have been working on for the summer.  I hope everyone knows that Amazon is taking pre-orders and the new book about Pete comes out in September!  I did this for the last book and my class held a count down.  We used the count down as a math project.  I am going to do this again.   I will post the photo of what I have mad latter this week when I have my classroom more put together!  We had a picture of Pete and he held the count down numbers and we tore one off until the new book arrived.  It made it very exciting.  And now since there is a new one coming again, I think we will do the same!  I posted this picture just to get others as excited as I am about the new book!  More later this week as I get things ready!  My summer class kids are really enjoying Pete and we have only read it once!  I have one student who calls him Pat the Cat!  Tomorrow we are going to read I Love My White Shoes and make shoes for our cats we made last week.  I will post some action shots of their creations.