When I was a child I remember my family snuggling in my mom and dad’s bed and playing this game. We would say, “There were 5 in the bed and the little one said, ‘Roll over’”. Slowly but surely each family member would roll out of the bed until finally only one remained. It is […] Read more…
The Napping House
Throughout the month of January we have been enjoying stories and activities that have to do with Night Time. This week, the preschoolers really enjoyed the story The Napping House by Audry Wood. After introducing the story we added some story props to act out the story. We used my old lady from “The Old […] Read more…
Teaching Kindness…It's Like Magic
I was at my favorite store this week, Target, and low and behold found another treasure in the $ Spot! As a part of Conscious Discipline, we encourage children to look for ways to be helpful/kind. I found this little Valentine Tree with heart shaped ornaments and knew right away that it was the perfect […] Read more…
Making Commitments
This week I began teaching my first Conscious Discipline class for parents. As a part of our “Brain Smart Start” we make a commitment. Since Conscious Discipline is a journey, I chose to use the vehicles to represent each of the class participants. They chose their preferred “mode of transportation”, read the commitment for the evening, and […] Read more…
Senses of the Season
Each year our Gingerbread Man unit of study is a big hit! It is a perfect opportunity to explore the five senses. Next week I will be using a couple of new activities I’ve created.On Monday, when I introduce the 5 Senses, we will be singing the following song and doing related activities.“Senses of the […] Read more…
Christmas Greetings
I have recently created some new Christmas greetings for you to use in your classroom to help with “making connections”. One of my classroom jobs is a “greeter”. Each day, the children are greeted by me when they arrive. They are also greeted by another child at circle time. They love trying out new greetings! […] Read more…
Planting a Pumpkin
This is a very relaxing and gentle way to connect with someone you love. This is great just before bedtime or during quiet times of day. The original idea of “Planting a Flower” came from Mary Jo Huff at a recent early childhood conference. My daughter and my students love it so much that I wanted to create […] Read more…
Pumpkin Crayons
My daughter wanted to do a fall craft today. We looked on Pinterest for a fun activity. The idea we found was for using old crayon pieces and melting them into heart shapes for Valentine’s Day. Since it is almost Halloween we decided to make ours into pumpkins. We chose to use mostly orange, yellow, […] Read more…
Showing Appreciation
Last week was Pastor Appreciation Sunday at our church. I have been working with the children’s Sunday School class this month on making a gift for our pastors to help show our appreciation for all they do. We made fall wreaths for each of them. The children and adults traced their hands on colorful scrapbooking […] Read more…
Fall Greetings
Each day in our classroom as a part of our “Brain Smart Start” we share greetings. Greetings offer a great opportunity for students to connect with one another and for teachers to connect with students in a fun and playful situation. One of my students is the greeter each week and giving greetings is a […] Read more…