Curriculum Ideas- Cornstarch and colors

Most of us know that there is great fun to be had in mixing cornstarch and water. Is it a liquid? A solid? What is it? You can roll it into a ball and it will immediately melt in your hand if you stop rolling it. For those of us brave enough, we have even put it in long trough like trays filled with the stuff and let the children "walk on water" in their bare feet. It's great! However, it took someone telling me of this great idea for me to go "Aha! Another great use!"
So, take some cornstarch...the more the better. Make a big mountain in the middle of the sensory table with it. Then fill spray bottles with primary colors (blue, red, and yellow). I usually fill six, but three is okay. Then, let the children go at it! They can spray the colored water on the cornstarch and it will mix the colors. What's great is that, when they are done, there is a sensory table full of something fun to play with. For some reason, not everything mixes right away as well and you end up with a somewhat fascinating color mixed concoction.

Book of the Week-Purple Hair, I Don't Care.

Purple Hair? I Don't Care! by Dianne Young is a fabulous book! Barbara Hartmann's paintings definitely add to the book. The story begins as soon as you open it. However, this book is not just about the pictures. The words are what makes it. It is a book that is repetitive with it's phrases. The children will be able to quickly "read along" with you. The surprise ending makes this so great. The first time I read this to a class, I don't finish it. We go to the table and draw pictures of what we think this baby will look like. The next day, we read it again (yes I leave them in suspense for a full day). They are all surprised to see a dragon in the end. But, they love it! Lakeshore used to have a story puppet that goes with the book. If you were lucky enough to get it before they stopped using it, I bring it out about the third day. You can easily memorize this story. It's one long poem really. I pull out the story puppet and recite the story for the children. The puppet then goes into the library area for them to explore. Of course, the book gets added to the library as well. This is a story that lasts for weeks, if not months, in the classroom. I highly recommend it gets added to your lesson plan.

Again, there are no pictures of the author or illustrator on this book, so here you go:

Dianne Young

Barbara Hartmann

Worth the price

Whether you are a teacher in the classroom or an administrator in the office, there is one supply that everyone uses: a stapler. I recently got this one. Yes, it's a bit more than a standard simple stapler, but it is worth the money. It's not a stapler I would put out for the children on their writing desk or anything, but I think that every classroom and office should have one. It is spring loaded so it pushes a powerful punch. Have a thick bunch of papers to staple together? This will do the job! Want to easel art up on the wall? No need to look at bulletin board space, this easily puts staples into the most difficult walls! Unless you are in a totally brick building like mine. It doesn't do brick. But did you really expect that? You can get it in many different colors...I chose green. It's very pretty!

It does have a safety button that sometimes is difficult to work around. It has to be pressed strategically down before it will let a staple go off. So, sometimes it can be difficult; but once you get the hang of it, there are no problems. It can be placed on the desk horizontal like a traditional stapler (and used as such); but it also can be placed vertically and is very comfortable to be used as a hand stapler. The only downfall I have found is when you want to open it to staple into the wall. When opening the stapler, it automatically opens the place that holds the staples and, if you are not careful, staples will come tumbling out; causing the user to have to reload it. When opening the stapler, just be aware of this and hold it upside down when opening and quickly slide the staple lock back in place.

I highly recommend everyone get one of these. I can say I am now spoiled by this stapler and will never purchase a standard stapler again.

Sand Mills

Way back in October, we purchased this set:

Okay, so not way back, only 5 months. We bought two sets of these. These are supposed to be able to be used in the sand and in the water. In my experience, they can all be used in the water; but sand doesn't work so well in the one in the middle not the one on the right. The one on the left seems to be the best one all around. Both of the middle sand mills have since broken. The lever in the middle has broken off, and it is really not very sturdy to begin with. The one on the right works in the water, but not at all in the sand. The best on is the one on the left. This one has proved to be the sturdiest and most flexible in use. If I had to do it all over again, I would just buy more of the ones on the left and leave the other two alone.

I'm Back!

Just a quick note to let you all know that I am back! I will be updating with a new product soon, maybe even by the end of the day. I didn't forget about you, I just stayed away from most media tools to give myself a real vacation. I did, however, have a great time with my nieces and nephew. I'll be posting more about it here.

Spring break!

I am taking a vacation starting way too early tomorrow morning; I will check back in with all you loyal readers in a week! I may try and put some updates while I am away, but I am afraid it may not be as regular as you are used to. This is going to be a light week for us this week I know because everyone is going on vacation for spring break; hope you are just as lucky!

Book of the Week-Busy Toes

This weeks book is a book that I didn't know that we had in our personal library until just this week. What's great about getting married to another preschool teacher is that you book library gets expanded. Anyway, I am in the process of cataloging all our books and ran across this gem. I wish I had known we had this. Busy toes by CW Bowie. It is fabulous! Very few words on each page make it great for a child as young as a toddler or crawler even. It is so engaging, however, that even the older preschooler will love to read it. They will also be able to "read" it on their own (through memorizing the word). It's a fascinating book about all the things that toes, and feet, do. This book is great for a child who is learning to label body part; but it can also be used for the older child in curriculum: what other things can your toes do? What would be really fun is to take pictures of their feet doing different things. Then they could do some painting or drawing with their toes (drawing toes are in the book). I would then use those paintings as the back drop to each child's toe picture. With the pictures pasted on the painting, let the child dictate or write the words for a classroom compiled book. It would be so much fun!

Again, the only complaint I have is that there is no author picture, but here you go:

CW Bowie is actually the pen name for Mary Bowman-Kruhm. There's a new vocabulary word for the children: pen name.

A great idea for parents

Here is a great tip to pass on to some of your parents. I bet it could even be adapted in the classroom. Maybe labeling each section with the child's name and then the time the bottle was given and put back in. Of course, you might not want to use a beer pack, but coke makes some 6 pack bottles that would work just as well.

Homemade Fridays- Favorite songs

We have discs upon discs of music to play in the classroom. And, like any other CD collection, each disc only has about 1 or 2 songs that the children enjoy listening to. The children will ask over and over for the same song, and completely ignore the rest of the disc.
Then there are the parents who come to you and say "What's that song about a dog?" or "How does that waddle song go?" or "Do you sing something about a bee named wally? And you have to guess that they mean Oh I want to be a dog, or waddelee acha, or willabee wallabee.
So, I had a coworker once who solved all these problems...and more. She made a collection on one disc of the classroom favorites. It was great to have in the classroom! It was the only disc that the children listened to the whole things and you never had to skip over or repeat songs because they couldn't wait to hear the next one too! She also made copies and gave it to the parents so that they would know what the songs actually were that their children were singing.
A simple idea? Yes! But sometimes you need to use someone elses simple idea to spark it in yourself.

So, what are you classroom favorites?

Preparing for a change

As a director, I don't really have to prepare the children when I go on a vacation. However, I remember as a teacher I did. Even more so when there was a child who had some behavior issues. Even last year, I had a child in the center who needed to know that I was in the office and available to him if he needed me. So, when I knew that I was going to be gone (even for a day) I always prepared them ahead of time. How long before I told them equals the length of time I would be gone. For example, I am going on vacation for a week starting Monday. If I were in the classroom, I would have started this Monday telling them, at circle time, that "next week Miss Jenni is going to be gone. I'm going on a vacation. I get to fly in an airplane, have any of you flown in an airplane?" I would have made it part of the curriculum. This way, there is no surprise to the children and they are prepared.
Could you leave for a day and not make a big impact? Probably. But why would you do that to a child? They depend on you being there. You are their security in an unsecured world.
For the most part, the children should be fine. It's the one's who have challenging behaviors that really need the input. They may not be challenging for you any more; but this is because you both have found a rhythm to your relationship. Remember what it was like at the beginning of the year when you first got them in your classroom? This is what their week will be like if you don't let them know ahead of time. They will adjust much better if you give them advanced notice.
When you get back, make sure you bring pictures of things they will enjoy. One year I took a road trip and saw a train getting filled at a station. The boys went nuts over these pictures! Keep them in your mind and you can never go wrong!

The best kind of Grandpa

Today is one of the little girls birthday's in our Preschool classroom (we allow them to bring in a healthy snack replacement; she brought muffins). This class is only here for 3 hours a day. Grandpa took off from work for a short time to bring his granddaughter a dozen roses and a birthday balloon. He does this for all of his granddaughters' birthdays. That just warms my heart. What kind of memory these girls are going to have growing up of their grandpa! How absolutely special.

Patriotism

Are your children patriotic? Mine are! I am proud of the fact that every day out children in every classroom say the pledge of allegiance. I found these flags at the Dollar Tree last year:

They all had smaller flags in the classroom before this, but these are awesome! They are big enough that they have a prominent place in each classroom. By the time the children go to kindergarten, they have memorized the pledge of allegiance, and know what our flag stands for. We foster pride in our country with the children; which I think is very important.

I went in today and on of the children had a smaller flag on a stick that he was responsible for holding for the flag salute, he knew exactly how to hold it properly and with respect. When on of the other children took it from him and started banging it on the ground, you should have heard the rest of the class. I didn't need to stop him and teach him respect for our flag; the rest of the children did this for me. I'm proud of them.

Every year at our graduation activities (we have a carnival) we start off by gathering everyone together and doing the pledge of allegiance and a patriotic song. This is how every important event should begin in the USA. I have had aunts and friends who attend this event beg me to enroll their children the next year because "I can't believe you teach them the pledge of allegiance. That is so important. I want my child to come here next year." Since the first comment about 3 years ago, I make sure that it is a prominent part of out program.

So, I challenge you to do the same. Goodness knows that children now aren't learning a lot of patriotism, lets get them started young. I have also recently purchased some posters of important American landmarks (the White House, Congress, etc...). My children are Proud to be Americans...are yours?

Send me some pictures or tapes of your classes being patriotic. I'll post them up here.

Wagons

About 3 weeks ago a parent donated one of these to our center;

They were moving into a smaller place and didn't have the space for it. Plus, the children never used it (key word there is never). So, how long does a wagon like this last on a preschool playground? Not long at all. Last Tuesday I went out and it had just broken. One of the front wheels had come off. Upon closer inspection, the plastic around the wheel split apart from the rest of the wagon. Does this mean this wagon is a bad product? No. In a home, I have seen these last for years. However, a preschool yard tends to give equipment years worth of use in just one short week. The children had a blast pulling each other around the yard. They are still putting it to good use:

I suggested we take the wheels off and put it in the sand box. At first when we took the wheels off, we didn't dig a hole for it to sit in. The children had fun pulling each other around the yard in their "boat"! That alone was worth it. After a while we saw a safety need to either get it out of the yard, or make it a more permanent structure. Now it's still a boat, it just doesn't go anywhere. Eventually they will get tired of it, and at that point we may move it to our garden and make it a flower bed; until then...it's a boat!

Administration organization

The best thing I ever bought for my center was a large dry erase board. It is magnets and has a wipe off surface. Similar to the one you see here. It also has small, very light, gray dots to help you write on a straight line. I bought it at Costco for about $25 and it is the best thing I ever did. I use this board to write daily notes to teachers (who is absent today), keep track of days off requests, and general notes for the center that everyone needs to be aware of (meetings, fire drills, schedule changes, etc...). What's great about the magnetic part is that when I have papers to give to them, I can just put them on the board. I have split my board into 6 sections: 1 for each of the four classrooms, 1 for this month's notes, and 1 for future notes. I also have it color coded so that the teacher's know what color to look for. Each classroom has it's own color (red, orange, blue, green) and then Purple are notes for everyone and Yellow is for changes that everyone needs to be aware of. This has really helped me become more organized and the teachers from having to ask me who's called in, what's going on, etc... These are all things that need to be communicated, but can really break my rhythm when I'm in the middle of a report and have to stop to answer mundane questions.

This way, I also know that if a teacher is interrupting me, it must be important. I keep this board up across from my desk so I can see it at all times. It used to be just to the right of my desk, which also worked because it was within easy sight of everything; but office arrangement caused me to move it. Either way, the most important thing I have found in using this system is to have it easily visible to the teachers when they walk by the door and myself from my desk.

Curriculum idea-for the Dinosaur lovers!

I'm sure you've had them before, and you will probably have them again: the dinosaur lovers! This interest will lead to talking about archaeologists and I have a great activity for you!
Get some plaster of paris and dinosaur molds or rubbing plates. I've used these in the past. But anything will work. You can also do a negative space by using play dinosaurs.
So, you mix together a batch of plaster of paris and pour a thin layer on the rubbing places or molds. If you are making negative space (read fossils) get a shallow bowl or plate and pour a thin layer of plaster of paris on that and gently lay the dinosaurs on top (make sure it doesn't fall all the way through to the plate). You can also use leaves, sticks, and anything else. Get creative!
Once the plaster of paris dries the fun begins! Fill your sensory table with sand. I like to moisten the sand a little bit, but dry sand works just as well. Bury the plaster of paris molds you just made in the sand. If you have separate "bones" place them strategically down in the sand and then cover with more sand. This will make it like the real archaeologists find: bones laid out to show a perfect skeleton.
I have the children use plastic spoons and paint brushes for this activity. When I introduce it, we talk about how fragile the bones are and they can break. That's why archaeologists use paintbrushes, to be very gentle. Depending on the child, we talk about documenting what we find through drawings and pictures; I will provide them with the tools they will need close by. My dinosaur lovers will spend hours and days at the sensory table. It's great!
What's also nice about this is that the plaster of paris can be very fragile, just like the bones, giving the activity a realistic approach.
Have fun!

Book of the Week-Where's Wallace

When I was about 3 or 4, I was introduced to Where's Wallace? by Hilary Knight. This book came long before all those search and find books that became so popular with Where's Waldo and I Spy. This is a great book! I used to hide this book in the library when I wasn't allowed to check it out so that no one else to get it before I was back. I loved this book. I still do! It wasn't until I was 6 or 7 that I realized that this was an actual story. The story is on every other page turn. On the other page turns, there is a 2 page layout picture that includes many characters. There is Wallace the oragutange that keeps escaping from the zoo. Then there is the zoo keeper who keeps having to look for him. In addition to a mischievous girl with red bows in her hair, her mother, a baby who thinks he can do big things (like drive a car), a cello player, a relay race runner, a grandma who knits, a huge dog, and so many more. The pictures are what really draws the children in. This is not a circle time book. This is a book that belongs on the shelf in the library area to be looked at and admired. It's great to sit with a child who may need some one on one time with you. It's what I call a "lap time" book. If someone just needs some get away from the classroom and spend some quality time with the teacher; this is the book for them. It's great! I highly recommend any classroom or home have this in their library!

Roads roads and more roads!

I have a few boys in one of my morning classrooms that LOVE cars. For the past 2 or 3 weeks they have spent their free play time building complex roads with the blocks. They bring in their own matchbox cars to supplement the ones we have here (because the 15-20 we have are just not enough). So, when I was doing my order, I saw this item and decided now was the time to get it. I had seen it before and thought it was totally cool, but I didn't really have anyone who would absolutely love it as much as me. Plus, I had been watching them create ramps (short and long) across the classroom and knew that this would help in exploring these creations. So, I put it in the classroom yesterday before any of the children arrived. They immediately were drawn to it and had no problem at all assembling the pieces. I thought they might have a problem at first in connecting the pieces; but they needed no help at all! These pieces fit very easily together, and their size allows for them to easily create turns, ramps, bridges, and anything else they dream up. The set also comes with two battery powered cars; they just turn them on and the cars stay on the road! They liked using those cars because they were a novelty, but soon they were using all the matchbox cars, too. The picture doesn't show this item any justice. Those color sections are actually a bunch of individual pieces already put together. So, in reality you can also take patterning into the block area with a child who just doesn't care about math play yet. You can use these pieces to make a pattern in the road. Since the way these pieces connect allows for the connection to turn and bend in all directions, it's easy to incorporate the blocks in making bridges and hills; however the set does come with 4 ramps to place under the road to make a hill. There are seemingly endless possibilities with this item! The only thing it doesn't have is the ability to make a fork in the road (you know, the road could go left or right) or make corners (intersections); but I don't think that has bothered them yet!

Construction set

I have a few dad's in my center who work in construction. So, when I saw this item I knew it would be perfect for some of the children in our center. I can actually name off 4 children off the top of my head who will greatly enjoy this. I was pleasantly surprised when it came yesterday to see how good it actually is. There are so many fabulous parts and the pieces all look sturdy enough for the classroom. There are some very small parts, so this will probably never see the inside of my 2 year old classroom; but my threes and fours will have a blast with this. I'm sure some of the smaller parts may bend and break eventually; but I consider that reasonable wear and tear.

Now my praise for Discount School Supply: Their orders always come very fast! The order was put in Friday and the entire order was delivered yesterday. That's less than 2 business days! When the order came I went through everything. one of the tractors had the bucket broken off. I contribute this to the shipping and handling. The boxes were pretty beat up when they got here and the set was at the bottom corner of one of the boxes, so I am sure that this is where the damage happened. When I called to let them know, I was planning on them just sending me the replacement tractor. No, they are sending me an entire new set! I don't have to send back the set I just received either. Now that's customer service! I have experienced the same thing with other orders in the past with Discount and have always been impressed.

How do you treat birthdays?

We don't celebrate birthdays in our center. For the most part, parents are okay with this when we explain our view points. If they really must do something, we ask them to bring a healthy snack (apples and peanut butter, real fruit bars, and trail mix are popular).

So, how do treat birthday's at your center?

Curriculum Ideas-Stone Soupd comes to life

Have you ever read the story stone soup? It's one of my favorites. I especially love to do a storytelling rendition of it in the classroom. I have a special stone that I once found that only comes out for this purpose. I have been using it for years! Anyway, I would encourage you to find a special stone for this purpose. I get a clear bowl and set it aside; I also fill a cloth bag with all sorts of play food (carrots, lettuce, corn, salt/pepper shakers, etc...). I also have a pitcher of water available and a long wooden spoon. I start the story by showing my special stone, "Do you see this stone? This is a very special stone. It's very old and it has a very special, magical story that goes with it. Would you like to hear the story?" Well, of course they are all enamoured and want to hear the story. Wouldn't you? As I tell the story, I bring out the supplies as needed. The whole storytelling is one which leaves the children in awe and wondering...and always begging for another telling. I usually tell it everyday (sometimes several times a day) for about a week. After this, the children are eager for my next lesson plan idea...we make a classroom, very edible, stone soup.
I send home a request list to the parents of items we need to be shared with the classroom. I have done this a couple of ways: 1, make a list and post it on the door; 2, send a list home and ask them to bring in something off the list; and 3, send a paper bag home with each child with a specific item listed on the bag to be brought in. The last one works best. This one gets every parent to remember to bring in something and you don't end up with tons of carrots and no corn.
Leading up to this, I talk to the children about parties and dancing and singing, and we decide on the activities for the day of the soup making (I also plan a few surprises of my own). On the day of the making, we start immediately after breakfast. I set up a crock pot at circle time. I pull out the special stone and start the story telling process. "Let's see if this stone will work for us." I announce as I place it in the crock pot. Then I tell the story as if they are the villagers. They get all excited when I mumble to myself "It tastes all right, it just needs a bit of corn." "Oh, I have corn Miss Jenni!" Then, after the story telling, I have to leave it hanging because the villagers all dance and sing and have a party (in this version: "while they wait for it to cook"). And we have party games and I always include a dance lesson (square dances or line dances work well). We play musical instruments and it is a VERY busy morning hopping from one activity to the next. Then, of course, lunch time comes and we enjoy our soup!
This is a fabulous activity that totally wears them out (nap time is a dream!). It also takes some preplanning on your part. You have to introduce the story at a time that they are ready for it; and you have to get them so enamoured with the story that they ALL are eager to hear it and experience it. During this process, you also have to pick your window of opportunity. Have your soup party too early, and only some will be interested; have it too late, and they'll be tired of the story by this time and won't be interested. It is a great language and literacy experience; it's great for sharing and community; and it's fabulous for introducing some dancing and singing that maybe some of them would never try otherwise.
It's also a very busy day that, for the most part, the whole group seems to travel together (no one really breaks off into their own areas for fear that they will miss the magic of the soup).
In the end, however, it is well worth it!

Book of the Week-The Blue Day

The Blue Day Book for Kids by Bradley Trevor Greive is an absolutly fabulous book! I ran across this book for the first time yesterday as I was inventoring some new books purchased for our center. This book uses photgraphs of animals to illustrate the words; and the pictures are perfect! They are absolutly adorable first off; and I am sure that the animals had to have been posed for these shots they so perfectly go along with the words. Okay, they are definitely not posed, but I am still trying to figure out how he captured them so well.

It so happened that yesterday I had a child in the center who was very blue. So blue that he was bringing me down! I told him to "Seth, you're making me want to cry. How can I help you?" He was just having one of those blue days. I ran across this book just before I was getting ready to leave, but I had to give it to him. When I went into the classroom he was just standing up in the loft, hand holding his head, still looking blue (he had been in this mood since his drop off 4 hours earlier. I really felt for him. I brought him the book and told him that it might help. He took it over to the assistant teacher to read to him; I only got to stay and watch for the first few pages, but it really seemed to help him.

Now, I don't know the end result of this helping him, but from what I witnessed, it was beginning to help. I know a book isn't going to make all his problems go away; but it might help him learn some ways to cope with it.

This book cheered me up as I was reading it, and I was already in a pretty good mood. I could look at the pictures all day! I would say that this is a book any classroom or parent should have on hand just in case of those blue days...we all have them!

Another plus to this book (can you guess what I'm going to say?) The author's picture is on the inside back cover! BONUS! Of course, I can't find a picture to post here of him, but you won't be needing it as it is already in the book!