Back to School Teacher Gift

     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 hide the change of paper color.
Add stickers to personalize.
Paint over all with sparkle modge podge.
Then paint over with regular modge podge.(Those were the directions on bottle.)
The sparkle kind was very sticky after it dried, so adding the regular coat must help seal it.

The sparkle Modge podge worked beautifully.  I would decorate my walls with this stuff.
This is the smaller version my daughter had to have.  We haven't finished her teacher's yet, because we are not sure of her name.  But it is cute, and my daughter wants to write on it all the time.  Great benefit.

Pretty Pens
Supplies:
Clear pens you can remove ends (refillable)
I found them at Dollar Tree 2/$1 but grocery store had them 5/$2.38 colored ones too.
Scrapbook paper (matching clip board)

Cut scrapbook paper length of clear part of pen only and width about 1 1/2 in.
Remove pen and wrap paper around it.
Put it back together.  I had to use the scissors to push the paper completely in the pen.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Math Centers- Number work

Image
Children get to explore numbers in a variety of forms.  Numeral to set These types of games are very simple to make.  Pick any theme.  Cut shapes or buy them already cut out.  Then find something that goes with the shape to use as counters.  I like using those shaped erasers you can buy at the dollar store. Here are butterflies cut from the ellison machine. I put numbers 1-10 on the front and 11-20 on the back just so higher level thinkers can have a challenge.  I have snowmen, cars, Christmas trees, hearts, and flowers.  Any little manipulative piece can be paired with a shape to make a thematic game. You can also buy store bought games and adapt them to your needs.  This game is cute but is too easy.  It is set up more like flash cards so that kids can count the number of M&M's on each card.  I use bowls or thought about making candy jars with the little M&M pieces. great number work This site has the cutest printable number games. Fun and good for fine mot
Read more

Changes, Changes- A book of building and a craft too

Image
Changes, Changes is a book by Pat Hutchins This book has no words and I was amazed at how it kept all the children's interest.  We predicted what the people would build next.  At the end of the story we recalled all the different things that were built.  They did great with it.  Some even asked to read it again.  Since we share all our books from Creative Curriculum with another class, we had to give the book up for the day. I decided to let the children make their own structures like in the book. Like the book states, plans change. My lesson plan shows the intent of the activity below. First, we worked together to watercolor paint a large piece of paper.  I then cut out shapes from the paper, and I added some other paper scraps from other cutting projects.  Next the kids were asked to glue some shapes down to make something.  I recorded what they made on each page along with their name. We turned it into a book we will keep in our library.  Now, the kids can read our story. We
Read more

Stages of Writing

Image
     I don't have a lot of experience with a specific writing curriculum, but I have acquired a lot of knowledge though observation, conferences, college classes, and reading.  I was very fortunate to have a really good language arts teacher in college.  She showed us how important real literature and writing go hand in hand to teach children to read and write.      Before a child is ready to write, Handwriting Without Tears , has shown that children progress in markings in a certain order.  First, side to side, then up and down, then a cross, then a circle, then a square, then a triangle.  This just states that diagonal writing is the hardest for little hands to make.  So, don't start writing with letter A.  When children start to assign meaning to their marks, then starts the real writing. I found this very neat worksheet somewhere and thought it was a good description for parents to look at.  I hang it up on my parent board, so they can see that their child isn't ju
Read more