It's been awhile... i'm still here, I promise!

I know, it's been awhile. I seem to do these streaks where I write, write, write and then stop for a month. Well - lucky for you I'm back on the writing streak!

First off i've been attending some really interesting conferences lately. I would like to tell you how interesting this conference topic is... Preschoolers and reading. My company has been working with David Matteson (http://dmatteson.com/) to create a reading program for the center. If you haven't read his work any teacher, parent or person concerned for kid's future could learn a lot of information from him. It's well worth registering for the site. I've been doing this program in my classroom for over a month now and the kids are absolutely enthralled with the whole concept!

Lately in my classroom the kids have been all about the glue. They want to glue anything and everything and if they can paint on top of the glue it's even better! Here's a project I haven't done with this room in particular but have done in the past. SHELLS !!

 The kids adore the fact that they get to paint something they haven't painted before. They have all handled shells (because they're in my sensory area & we do live in Washington) but having the opportunity to paint on the shells is very exciting.

To keep with the gluing theme i've developed a great Art area. The area consists of two tables. One table is for the art products (paint, buttons, straws, glue, bells, markers... the list goes on forever!). I usually limit it to about 10 different types of art medium but find about 15 things by the time we're done because the kids will add things from the shelves. I put the stuff on the table with some paper, this is the prep table. The kids will walk over, get their paper and materials and happily collage away at the other table. This works out so well because they don't have the opportunity to argue over items. If David has the sequins and they aren't available on the able then Suzi will just have to wait until they are returned. It's a great lesson in patience, while enjoying some wonderful creativity. I also find that the short walk between tables will diffuse some anger when Suzi is going to ask David for the sequins. Those few seconds just seem to help the words come out much nicer! I love to hear those kind words among my preschool friends!

Please remember it's the process that the kids use to make the collage that teaches the important things, if the product turns out to be one big sticky mess please think about the glue that was squeezed to make the sticky mess, or the pincer grip used to pick up those super small sequins. These are so important in the later development of the children. The product might not look like it belongs on Lakeshore Learning's Website, but the things learned by creating the product are irreplaceable.

Speaking of fine motor.... I just purchased these tweezers at Discount School Supply (www.discountschoolsupply.com). They are GREAT for those writing muscles!

28 Degrees makes for some good INSIDE ART !!

We're in the middle of a cold snap here in Washington, which makes it perfect for some good, indoor art!

a paper plate is the perfect background for a snowman... You could even take a nature walk outside to pick out some features for your snowman. Some twigs and rocks always compliment a good snowman & make the project memories that much more special.

While your inside on this blustery day make some play dough -- this is home made play dough and I wouldn't recommend keeping it for more than two weeks. It doesn't have any preservatives so after two weeks it *could* mold. Also make sure you put it in a zip lock or a rubbermaid to keep it moist!

In a huge bowl (with your kid helping, of course!) mix the following:

4 Cups Flour
1/4 Cup Salt
1 1/2 Cup Water
1 Tbl Oil (this really is important, it makes things WAY less sticky!)

Add flour or water to make it the consistency you want. You can always add anything to it for a unique experience. Our center added cinnamon to the play dough this week, but we've added vanilla, alm, nutmeg -- sky is the limit here! Also you can use just about anything to tint the dough different colors, normally I use food coloring or paint - but you can use juices too like carrot for orange or beet juice for red! You could also add a packet of your favorite Kool-Aid, but be careful it tends to stain easier than the others

Baby it's COLD outside!

So lets do some great projects inside... I reciently transitoned to an iPhone, so now I can take classroom pictures AND easily upload them. Whoo hoo -- if you could only see my happy dance right now!

  Lets start out with some cute hand and foot (not like the disease!) Reindeer. If you look closely you'll find out that the Reindeer head is a foot traced, the antlers are hands -- add some eyes and a Rudolph nose -- good to go! This is a great project and parents really love to keep a record of handprints, so it's a kid and parent pleaser.

This next project is a clothespin Reindeer. I admit it I haven't done this one yet, it's on my list of things I should do before Christmas (holy cow is THAT a list) I reciently saw it on a friend's (thanks Shelby & Chris) Christmas tree. I have a ton of these clothespins wandering around my classroom right now so it'll be a great low budget holiday ornament for the tree! Just take a couple clothespins, glue them together -- add some wiggly eyes and a pom pom. Your good to go! If you wanted you could always paint the clothespins brown or add some yarn.

We also made tie-die snowflakes - which I don't have a picture of... sorry... Take a coffee filter, cut it into a snowflake by folding it over multiple times. Allow the kids to drip water color paint or food coloring in water over the coffee filter. It will slowly expand out. This is a great lesson about colors combining too. If the filters get too wet they will rip, so make sure you are only dripping. You could add some small motor into the mix and use eyedroppers. Lets get those grips strong enough and ready for writing.

It's cold outside & Winter is on my mind...

Soooooooooo lets make some cool winter wonderland art projects!

This first project I call Picasso snowmen. It originally started out as a collage snowman, but I had to leave the classroom and my assistant teacher let the kids take over... (hey, why not!). So I pre cut the snowman parts and gave the kids some glitter and glue. Did you notice the snowman on the left has it's hat upside down? Plus I think both of these snowmen have at least 8 legs! Each snowman is happily mounted up on the board and I think it's one of my favorite projects this year, just because the kids had SO MUCH FUN.

It's a hand-y wreath. This one isn't quite finished and really the berries should be on the outside instead of stuck in the middle, but it's process of learning that is more important than the product anyway! A few more hands to fill it in around the outside and it will be a GREAT holiday art project to hang up at home.

Christmas !!

Okay, I admit it - I'm excited. This week is going to contain some super cute Holiday crafts - this particular blog focuses more on Christmas but I'll put up some Hanukkah and Kwanza ideas later.

First off we have adorable hand Santa Clause. It takes more prep on the teacher's part since they need some cutting out for the facial features, but they're super cute! The kids can glue everything - this picture was obviously made by an adult since everything is straight...

These Christmas tree ornaments are made out of yogurt lids. It's amazing the cute things that can come out of gluing on some seasonally colored buttons and adding some string. I'd recommend using super glue when you add the string as it doesn't like to stick with regular white glue.

This is my favorite Christmas craft. The kids can do EVERYTHING from gluing (or stapling the Popsicle sticks if the glue isn't holding, or your impatient like me). Add whatever is in your sequin / glitter bin and your good to go! Kids love doing this with Christmas sequins, you can pick those up at any chain store (ex: Target, Bartell Drug, Wal Mart...) or most craft stores (JoAnne Fabric or Michaels)

New Things !!

As most of you know I transferred to another center this week -- only after locking my keys in the running car and having a cellphone punk out on me did I finally get to start at the new center. Sometimes I swear this crap happens to me more often then not! I worked for a good 6 hours on Wednesday and from 10:30-4:30 yesterday to get this room in shape for a bunch of preschoolers on Monday. It was a ton of work but so rewarding at the same time. I am kicking myself for not taking before and after pictures... but as we always say in the classroom " you get when you get & you don't throw a fit ! "

  Sensory / Science area - with Holiday lights, of course...

 Our first art project ... GLITTER ART - it was great, some of the kids wanted to do the project over and over. I just kept the glue, glitter and paper coming!

 Home living - I picked up those great big stars on the ceiling from Dollar Tree. They are actually more stable than the star we picked up for my son's bedroom - which was a heck of a lot more expensive!

 Fine Motor -- what says fine motor more than sign language? -- Probably rubber band boards! Below is the wall of the fine motor area. It seems like just the right season to be practicing those coat buttons and zippers!

 Tempera paint on the window works wonderfully. It's a cheap and easy way to decorate windows. It does consistently need a little touch up, but so does everything else.

... all in a couple days work, a brand new classroom! This weekend I am looking forward to starting on the house - I promised my hubby I wouldn't put up Christmas till after Thanksgiving, now it's two days later and i'm ready for some decorations!

Gobble Gobble Gobble

It's November 1st -- that means Goodbye crazy Halloween and Hello Turkeys and being Thankful! This morning I spent the morning letting the kids "free play" while I ripped down the entire classroom. No more Halloween lights, ghosts, skulls and out into the dumpster went our haunted house. I always like the change of seasons, it gives me a chance to clean the room and start new... I also think it's great when all my parents come in the first week and comment how bare the classroom is. I think it reminds them of how much their kiddos actually do.

Today we discussed reasons why we are thankful. Tomorrow I am going to write those reasons on paper feathers and allow the kids to glue them on to Turkeys. Each kid should have at least three feathers of thankfulness, even if they are simple one word answers like friends, family and sharing. One child today told me he was thankful for his Halloween Candy - when we dove further into the discussion he was thankful because he got to share the candy with his older brother & they spent time together eating M&M's. He also told me he was saving all his M&Ms to share with his brother. It's amazing what kids will do just for a moment of time.

No pictures today as we haven't started any Turkey projects yet --- keep an eye out, it won't take long!