Educational creativity

Do you take your children on field trips?   We are taking our Pre-K kids on a walking field trip to the local museum just down the road.  Preparing your children for a field trip is important for safety and insuring your children have a successful learning experience.   Field trip kits   from DIY Classroom     It is important to talk about rules of walking or bus riding, bath rooming, staying with teacher, and whether this is a touching place or looking place.     It is equally important to talk about what you might see and what you want your children to learn from this trip.   I absolutely love this before and after graphic organizer.  It was made for 1st graders to do individually, but it can be done with little ones as a whole group.    Get it from  Fluttering Through First Grade .  She also has a zoo paper.  Our 1st graders go to the zoo, so I'll pass that on to those teac...

Having a science center or multiple science centers is a great way to encourage creative thinking, process thinking, and questioning along with exploration.  I love science.  Kids love science.  The US doesn't even compare to other countries in the subject of science.  I am always disappointed when I don't see much science done with young children.  So, I'm glad to share some of these fun things you can do to encourage your children in the skills they need in science.  You don't always have to understand science to do experiments.  Check these out and try one in your classroom. First, try teaching the scientific method.  Here are some free cards to help.  Then leave them in the science center to remind children what real scientists do. Thank you Ginger Snaps Materials needed: magnifying glasses lab coat (optional but cute) notebooks or paper writing utensils little clipboards are fun An Experiment (try these) Sensory table - ...

Listening center      As a child I remember having a Mickey Mouse record player with hundreds of records tht came with books.  My sister and I would recreate the stories like we were putting on a great play.  Reading to children teaches kids to read.  That's why we tell parents it is so important to read with their children on a daily basis.  As a teacher, we do not have the time to read lots of books directly to children.  I believe a listening center is a great substitution.      You could buy one of those listening centers set up with head phones, which can be quite expensive, or you can use multiple CD players like Kids Count 1234.  You'll find the link below.      Scholastic is a great place to order books and the CD's to go with them.  I order multiple books when they are only $1, so the kids do not have to share a book while listening.  Many books are in a sing song ...

For the teacher - If you are a teacher reading this, here are some ideas to help your sub and students get through the day with no problems and still do a little learning. Check out my previous post too For a Substitute Teacher .  It will tell you what I feel is most important to a substitute teacher. genius - the sub tub, check out all that Pencils, and Crayons, and Books OH My adds to her tub. These are an amazing idea.  Purchase them here.   Or get together with some of your coworkers and design your own. This cute idea is free at TPT.   It would go along well with the book Miss Nelson is Missing by Harry Allard and James Marshal. For the Substitute Teacher -If you have ever been a substitute teacher you know that you have to catch the attention of the children in that class and establish some kind of management skills before you can teach a lesson.  So get organized and prepared for a day in the classroom. I have found that a puppe...

     ? ? ? Question of the Day? ? ?       I use to work with a teacher who asked a question of the day during snack time and posted the answers the kids gave outside the classroom for the parents to read while they waited to pick up their children.  When I first started teaching young three year olds, just getting them to sit down and eat, getting them more juice, and cleaning up messes were challenging enough for me.  I was not ready to add something like asking a question during this time.  I still feel modeling behavior and creating discussion during meal times is more important than asking a question.  But, now I have worked questions into my daily routine, why not write down some answers.  It is a great shared writing opportunity and a way to create community among the class.  Children also love reading the questions and answers throughout the day. What do you put on first? ...

     The beginning of the year comes with many amazing behaviors.  I mean hitting, kicking, crying, and screaming.  And yes, I got to see all of them today.      When it comes to preschool, children are learning to push buttons, to cross the line, and how far to go.  We need to teach them how to live safely, respectfully, responsibly, carefully, and patiently.  If we base our classroom management on rewards and punishments, they will learn how far they can go and what they will get if they don't.  2 Simple Steps Good Classroom Management is achieved through 2 clear aspects in our classrooms. 1. Through proper room arrangement, modeling, and age appropriate activities you will cut down on negative behavior. Need help with a few good room arrangements .  This site has lots.  or Teach Preschool  always has some good inspirations.  This is her great outdoor classroom. Teach your chi...

Zoo Animals & a few Teddy bear books A Trip to the Zoo by Carla Greene At the Zoo by Susan Canizares & Arianne Weber Bear's Dream by Janet Slingsby Birthday Zoo by Deborah Lee Rose (rhyming) Color Zoo by Lois Ehlert (shape) Curious George by H.A. Rey Curious George Bakes a Cake by Margret & H.A. Rey Curious George makes Pancakes by Margret & H.A. Rey Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed by Eileen Christelow Five Little Monkeys reading in bed by Eileen Christelow Five Little Monkeys Sitting in a Tree by Eileen Christelow Five Little Monkeys with Nothing to Do by Eileen Christelow Going Home by Ann & Reg Cartwright A Giraffe and a Half by Shel Siverstein Hiccups for Elephant by James Preller Hold Tight, Bear! by Ron Maris If You Give a Moose a Muffin I Love you, Blue Kangaroo! by Emma Chichester Clark Inside a Zoo in the City by Alyssa Satin Capucilli (Rebus) Little Bear by Else Holmelund Minarik Miss Moo Goes to the Zoo by Kelly Graves ...

This box contains books that are collections of rhymes or nursery rhymes.  They don't seem to fit into any other of my categories, so I bunched them together. Green Beans and Other Silly Poems by Nancy Leber and Lolli Leber A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstien Miss Mary Mack adapted by Mary Ann Hoberman Play Rhymes collected and ill. by Marc Brown (cute animal movement rhymes) Questions selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins Take me out of the Bathtub and other silly dilly songs by Alan Katz Why the Banana Split by Rick Walton (a  play on words book) You Read to Me, I'll Read to You by Mary Ann Hoberman (Short stories that rhyme)

     Because I am a teacher, I am a collector of things people would normally throw away or recycle.  Only other teachers really understand this habit.  This time it was a unique box that opened at the top.  It was sturdy and would be easy to reuse.  But, for what.  It has been sitting in my work room for about 6 months till I found something that fit perfectly inside.      I covered the top and the sides with scrapbook paper and our newly found sparkle Modge Podge.  I just added a label with letter stickers.      I have been working on sensory bottles in these 6.5 oz water bottles that came in the lunchables my daughter has been eating.  They are small enough to carry and store.      I thought it would be great to carry to school on a day I would be subbing as an extra activity.  I am working on a worksheet that goes along with these bottles, so I could ...

      While teaching preschool, I was very lucky to have some of the best and kindest parents.  I always got wonderful gifts for Christmas and at the end of the year.  It made me feel very special.  So, when I became a parent, I wanted to make sure I was one of those parents who tried to make the teacher feel special.  My daughter and I work together to make something special for her teacher. This was last years experiment.  Edible Crayons & Candy Pencils This year we are making a personalized clipboard and matching pens.  It will be included in a basket with other fun things like stickers and post it notes.  Both of these cute ideas I saw on pinterest and are pretty simple.  pretty clip board Supplies: Wooden clip board Scrapbook paper Ribbon Letter stickers Modge podge  (we found sparkle kind) Cover your clipboard using modge podge with scrapbook paper.  I used ribbon to hi...

I have found the greatest 3rd grade teacher to ever help out a preschool teacher.  She has lots of free printables and ideas you could use in your classroom, but this will help all those teachers that ask for volunteers to make play dough. Visit Clutter Free Classroom   for a free printable picture and word recipe card. It would be great if you make play dough in the classroom too.  Children could easily follow the picture cues to make the recipe. 

I'm so upset that my printer seems to have died just in time for my summer break when I could be making and collecting.  But, hopefully you will enjoy these printables.  They are all free. Mrs. Miner's Kindergarten  has a lot of her introductory centers for free just in time to start out the new year.  I love her stuff. I really like dltk's  printable books.  Every child could use practice reading. Classroom Freebies  is a website dedicated to bringing free resources to teachers.  I love it. The Convenient Teacher  has some adorable printables.  How cute is this. While looking for some winter activities, I discovered Apples for the Teacher .  There are all kinds of printable activities here. space theme  vocab, handwriting and others Mrs. Lirette's Learning Detectives  has some beautiful freebies for letters, numbers, and words.  They would be great for my literacy centers.  Also, che...

My Back to School Box of books includes books about family and friends.  We have always done those themes at the same time. When I Was Little A four-year-old's Memoir of Her Youth by Jamie Lee Curtis If you have four year olds this one is perfect.  It creates so much language and background information about your children.  We always did a self portrait after reading this one. This is a funny rhyming book that you could easily use to teach children when it is appropriate to paint. Are There Any Questions? by Denys Cazet (Children ask lots of questions while on a field trip) Chester's Way by Kevin Henkes (making new Friends) Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes (great self esteem) Clifford Runs to Story Time by Norman Bridwell Countdown to the First Day of School by AnnMarie Harris Dinosaur Starts School by Pamela Duncan Edwards First Day, Hooray! by Nancy Poydar First Day of Kindergarten by Kim Jackson Go To School by Stan and Jan Berenstain (Berenstain Bears stor...

I love books that copy other common books or poems.  It makes it easy to compare and contrast.  This book rhymes and counts while naming and showing what common leaves look like. Apple Picking by Janet Craig Apples by Melvin and Gilda Berger (good life cycle book) Apples, Apples, Apples by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace Autumn's First Leaf`by Steve Metzger (how leaves are friends even if one changes color) Big Red Apple by Tony Johnston (Hello Reader level 1) Clifford Loves Autumn by Norman Bridwell A Day at the Apple Orchard by Megan Faulkner & Adam Krawesky (real photos) Fall Colors by Rita Walsh I am A Leaf by Jean Marzollo (It is great to hear a 3 year old say "Chlorophyll") Leaf Season by Quinlan B. Lee (Clifford Puppy Days) Leaves by Melvin & Gilda Berger The Tiniest Pumpkin by Janet Craig Under the Apple Tree by Steve Metzger Up, Up, Up! It's Apple Picking Time by Jody Fickes Shapiro What are Seasons? by Chris Arvetis and Carole Palmer When t...

We were on vacation during the 4th of July, so I thought it was a great opportunity to do some fun stuff in the dark.  I love glow sticks.  I love that you can get a bunch of them for $1.00.  The challenge is making curved letters with strait sticks.  We found glow in the dark bubbles.  They only glow once. We made a firefly using a water bottle.  We covered half with tissue paper. and wrapped a pipe cleaner around top for antenae.  Google eyes glued to cap make it more fun.  My  intension was to just add a glow stick to the bottle when we wanted to take it outside, but my mom sent us some glow in the dark paint. The paint is thin but works well. Just squirt and shake. Here are some other neat looking dark time activities. Train up a Child  did glowing water beads and other fun stuff.  You need a black light for this.  I like this idea better because it doesn't involve breaking the...

Learning to repeat, create, and continue patterns will help our little ones find and use the patterns in our math system.  Even our base ten counting system is one big pattern.  A child that can count on forever but forgets the tenth number has figured out the pattern. Patterning centers are the easiest to make and can fit into every theme.  I've gotten a lot of rubber manipulatives by themes through scholastic book clubs.  They were about $10 each set.  They are well worth the money.  I have seen apples, Halloween, fall, back to school, bugs, transportation, Christmas and others. I have used holiday stickers to make simple pattern cards.  Children can copy and extend the pattern I've made. Unifix cubes are easy to make color patterns.  I have made cards on sentence strips for children to copy.  I also use the colors we are working on.  Put two colors like orange and black for Halloween in a basket and set it on the table.  C...

   It's getting close to the beginning of the school year.  Everybody is thinking of how they are planning for the new year.  Since organization is so important to a teacher, I thought I would share some of my organizational tips and share those I've enjoyed seeing. This site  has all kinds of tips for new teachers. I just found this helpful blog about how to keep a clutter free classroom.  Neat.  Check out Clutter Free Classroom   I like this idea for storing stuff. Here you'll find some good ideas for organizing back to school from Not Just Cute. I also like this teacher's  way of organizing.  Check out what she uses for extra supplies and books. My paper or craft stuff -  This has been the most challenging area for me to organize.  I want to keep ideas together but also the stuff left over from those ideas (such as all the Ellison cut shapes for shape trains) that way next time I use them I wont have to do so much...