Pirate Unit Ready To Purchase on TpT

I am finally done getting my TpT (www.teacherspayteachers.com) store up and running!  I have the hang of it and I hope that all of you will enjoy the things I am making to put in your classroom.  I worked a long time practicing and getting all of my ideas together.  My students love the games already!  I think they will never get tired of the clothes pins and clipping the right number on the counting cards!  Thanks Erin!   I use that idea all around my classroom and they never get tired of it!  Below is the link to my gigantic pirate unit of fun!  Check it out!

                                         

                                                Here is my link to my TpT store and first unit!

Pumpkin Fun for Class

I am always trying to find new things to do each year.  This year it was pumpkins.  What could I do that I had not yet tried?!  I decided upon painting a pumpkin with chalkboard paint.  I think I did not buy the best chalkboard paint.  However, I went for it.  I loved how into the pumpkin they got.  Each day last week tons of kids were into drawing on this black pumpkin.  It turned out to be lots of fun and it was an activity the class waited in line for!  So I say try it if you just need one more fun thing with pumpkins like I did.   

My old stand by favorite activity with pumpkins is to hammer gold tees into it.  I love watching how excited the kids get with this.  We had 2 different types of hammers.  I had some made of dowels that my husband made, and then I had the yellow plastic ones from Lakeshore.  The youngest kids in my class began singing the tune from Bob the builder and it was adorable!  One little guy would say, "Can we fix it?"   And the whole class sang back, "YES... We can!"  It was cute.  I  hope the pumpkins last through the week.  They were very into this and it kept 4 kids very busy.  If you have never tried this before...head out and get a few golf tees from the sporting isle at Target and get this station going.  Kids love this!  It is great fine motor!

Water Beads

Okay everyone!  I have searched and found these three types of water beads!  The Xploderz are sold in the boys toy section with a gun.  But these are the refiles and this is the pack to get.   These were $4.99.   The packet in the middle is the best value.  I got them at Michael's.  They have the most in the packet and were only $2.99.  They come in tons of colors.  Michael's also had them in a jar already hydrated.  I think seeing the beads grow though was half the fun for my class!  The last packet is called OrBeez and they are sold in the girls department.  They are about $4.00 and come in little packets all in a box.  They too come in lots of colors.  A friend mentioned to me the ones at the Gardening section, like the water gems say keep out of the reach of children-however that is because they could be a chocking hazard   You would have to have a pretty large eater to chock on one.  They are so small.  If you have kids who mouth thinks I would not recommend these.  My class is past the oral stage so we love them!  Next week we are adding shaving cream to them!!!  Stay tuned!

Water Beads

Water beads are the latest and the most fun sensory experience I have seen in a long time!  They are so wonderful! They begin as tiny hard balls that are the  size of a seed bead.  You put them in water for about 2-3 hours and then the tiny beads grown and become slippery and a bit squishy!  They come in every color and they even bounce!  I have started my class using them in small amounts at individual station in this box.  I used bubble grabbers to pick them up.  I got those at Lakeshore Learning and use them for everything.  I love them!  I will be adding googly eyes later this week.  A tip to keep them fresh:  Keep a strainer handy and rinse them each night and add a little fresh water.  This keeps them the right size as they will shrink back to small if left out long enough.  Get some today!  They are sold as water beads in store like Michaels in the gardening or plant section.  They are also sold in the kids toy isle for boys in the toy guns.  There is a gun that shoots them called the Xploderz and these beads refill it.  They cost about $4 for 1000 of these beads.     In the girls section of toys they are sold as Orbeeze. They sell refill packets too.  All about the same price and all of products do the same thing. I highly recommend these!  My students stand in line to wait for a turn!  It is nuts!  I am going to get brave and fill my whole sensory table up soon and add the shaving cream.  That will be a site to see I am sure!  So what are you waiting for...go grab some of these today for your class! 

Pizza Math

 This summer we did a pizza project.  I incorporated listening skills with color and number concepts.  We also worked on basic writing skills with the children who were ready to copy letters and write simple words.  The pictures above are of the activity.  I gave instructions and watched to see if each child could follow simple instructions.  We also worked on number recognition and listened to hear each child count out loud as they put pepperoni bingo marks on their pizza.  We had a lot of fun filling up the pizzas!  We had plans to actually have pizza and count real pepperoni but we never got to that.  I plan to next time I try this activity.  It was good learning for all levels.  Can't wait to do it again!

My First Halloween Freebie

Click here for my first FREEBIE math game!

Okay, I am working on creating my own learning games and materials to begin selling it on teacherspayteachers.com.  I am not quite there yet, but I wanted everyone to print and enjoy this math game.  I have been using this format with a few of the kids in my class and some really love this format.  We use clothes pin clips and have the child clip how many objects they see on the card.  After they are finished we talk and assess together how many card we get correct.  It is a fun and fast game for kids working on counting.  Try it and see what your kids think!  It is great for early kindergartners too!

Here is the file for you to download and try.  I would love feedback.  Just have your students count how many things are hiding in trees.

Name Recognition Activity

I just learned that any paint store will pretty much let you take as many paint stirring sticks as you want at no charge!  So of course, I ran right out to get some for my class.  We then put their names on it and put the individual letters on clothes pins. The students got all of the letters and had to clip them to the paint stick right above the letters on the stick.  Then we gave them play dough and asked them to use the clips and stand them up in order too!  This is great practice! We helped them learn the names of individual letters too!  I made new ones for my current class.  They are a little more colorful.  I used different colors of Sharpie Markers for each child.  These in the picture were from my summer school class.  I added a photo of each child on the end of the sticks for my current class as they cannot recognize their name yet.  I thought that this may help!  Trying them out this week too so we will see!

School Tools

Recently my husband created this station for his classroom and I wanted to share it.  At first glace, I loved it just for the pure colorful beauty of it.  Any kid would love coming over to it!  He put out things that he felt a preschooler would need to use in school and it would cover the standard that addresses use of school tools.    The picture on the wall is of him with students.  I think this makes it personal and since most students love pictures, one of their teacher is the perfect addition to this station in his classroom.   I think it will be very popular.  I myself plan to get organized and try this soon! 

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.

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! 

Chocolate Play Dough

MAKING CHOCOLATE 

PLAY DOUGH!

I cannot believe I have been a teacher for now 17 years and this is the first year I tried the chocolate play dough recipe.  It is sometimes crumbly, but always so much fun because the chocolate smell that comes from this recipe is wonderful!  Kids will actually think they are making real chocolate things from this dough.  Of course many will try bites, but who wouldn't!  I put out an oven for the play dough to be "cooked!"  Add real muffin tins and rollers and other small kitchen spatulas and let them loose to create and cook!  Try it!  It is awesome!

Chocolate Play Dough

2 1/2 Cups Flour

1 cup cocoa powder

1 cup salt

1 T cream of tartar

3 T oil

2 cups water

Mix dry ingredients in a pot.  Add water and oil and stir together over low heat until it forms a dough.  Remove play dough from the pot.  Knead it after it cools by hand until it feels ready to play with!  Store in an air tight container or zip lock freezer bag.