Tuesday, December 25, 2012

The end is near....of 2012, that is

First of all, a very Merry Christmas to my blogger friends and fellow teachers. I hope the holidays find you well and getting some rest.

I can't seem to find time to do all that I need to do and keep my blogging up to date. In August I moved back into the 2's and 3's classroom at our daycare center. I have finished my Start a Preschool training by Joy Anderson and bought a new training called Open a Preschool. I have been continually working on training myself in this area so when I graduate with my ECE degree I will have the option to work from home as a family preschool owner or a public or private school teacher. In September I started my third semester at Western Governors University and my husband and I signed on as volunteers in the church youth class. In October we moved into a new house and celebrated my daughter's 8th birthday. In November and December we celebrated my two teenage son's birthdays and began prepping for Christmas. I also try to maintain my family blog over at www.noplacelikehome-lynn.blogspot.com . So it's been pretty busy. But  here's to the little effort I can muster.

Unfortunately, TN has been hit hard with the flu. Our county is saturated with illnesses ranging from the flu itself to strep throat and  gastroenteritis (aka "the stomach bug"). Despite surrounding myself with cute little runny-nosed munchkins all day at work (to expose my system gradually--not that I had much choice) and eating Airbourne vitamin tablets like candy, I still managed to catch something this week. I guess you can't take care of your own sick without catching the nasties, despite precautions like Bath and Body Works Hand Sanitizers at every corner (hey now, I know you're thinking any old Germ X would do but there was a SALE) and Lysoling the house down on an hourly rotation; it still got us. It hit us hard. At least my husband and one child and I were spared until after our church Christmas play. I remember feeling the tickly throat on Saturday night, knowing I had to help direct the play and sing a solo, and praying a desperate prayer, something like, "Please Lord, just help us get through the play tomorrow morning."  We got through the play just fine; during the service my nephew fell ill and later that day my husband, mother-in-law, and I all got sick. Between hacking coughs exchanged on the phone by my MIL and I this morning, she informed me that the next time I pray, I might want to be a little more specific in my deadlines. lol

Anyway, it's been a busy month at daycare and loads of fun. We got three stars on our assessment (my first time to be assessed--thought I'd die from nervousness!). At least now I know more about what to expect from the ECCERS scale and what all this stuff means. Getting ready for assessment is always a good thing as we make new items for centers, revamp what works and what doesn't, and get a fresh start on the new school year.

I have been thinking as funny as our kiddos are lately, we should compile a little booklet with their sayings. I'll never forget how we'd been asking one little boy, "B." to work on recognizing his shapes for us at circle time. He just didn't seem all that interested until one day, we held up the flashcard of the octagon. Miss Amanda asked B. what shape it was it, and you could just see him trying so hard to think of it, when he excitedly yelled out, "Octopus!".

Another day we were on the playground, enjoying the fall weather and sunshine. Little Miss B. was twirling around and around the swing set pole by herself, spinning herself dizzy. After quite a few turns, she let go and looked at me and said, "Whew! Mrs. Lynn...I feel fizzy!"

I've been hitting Pinterest every couple of days for holiday ideas. We used The Elf on the Shelf  again this year at daycare. Our class and the 4's and 5's class worked together to name our elf "Sneaky Charlie Snowflake". How cute!

We added three portable themed centers to our room just for December.

The first was the "Letters to Santa Mailing Center". This was a big hit and was made easily by using a three-drawer storage container. In the drawers were colored pencils, the fronts off of old Christmas cards, stencils, labels, leftover scrap booking paper, rubber stamps, ink pads, and holiday stickers. The 2's and 3's had a blast "writing" letters to Santa and their families.

Our second center was the "Decorate a Tree" center and it was also a hit. Just a Sterilite container with room for two children's name tags (we velcro ours to the center we're using) with a mini tree and some mini decorations inside. Voila! instant fun!

Our last center for December was the "gift-wrapping center". Co-teacher Amanda used two small jewelry boxes and some scraps of wrapping paper, safety scissors, plus mini bows, and tape in another Sterilite box. The children cut and wrapped the gifts over and over. They gave gifts to us and to each other and really used their imaginations! They were so excited when we opened our gifts and commented on the "beautiful diamonds earrings" we'd received. :)  


To our art center we added winter-themed cookie cutters, and to our house center we added a mini gingerbread pan and some empty cookie tins to encourage holiday baking. I wanted to find time to make homemade Playdoh in peppermint and gingerbread scents but alas, too little time for so much fun.

This age is so neat to teach because they find pleasure in simple things and to them, learning is still fun.

What kinds of things did your class do to celebrate the holidays? I'd love to hear to from you.












Tuesday, August 28, 2012

a new school year, back to my old room

Last post found me finishing up my year in the preschool four and five year old class at our daycare. I stayed the summer with that group but decided to take the offer to return back to the two's and three's as an aide and fill-in teacher. It's a great age to work with, plus there are two teachers  for sixteen kids verses me alone with sixteen all day. With my busy life of raising my own kids, plus finishing my ECE degree plus working full-time at the daycare, plus an upcoming move and house hunt, I needed to *only* be an aide for a while. So watch for more posts about my adventures in the 2's and 3's room.

This week we are preparing for our yearly assessment. It's a nerve-wracking time but it gives us the urge to really get in there and purge the room of unwanted items. It's a chance to remodel, repaint, and rearrange our centers plus shop for new items for our kiddos. I've been really enjoying the organization ideas I find on Pinterest. See my favorites at http://pinterest.com/iteachpreschool/ 
 I'll try to make some photos of our room once we're ready and post them on here this week.

Blessings to teachers everywhere as you touch new lives this school year.

P.S. Don't forget to check out my other older blogs as I may try to update them as time allows:

For family, home, and homeschooling information, visit www.noplacelikehome-lynn.blogspot.com

For crafts and soap-making ideas, visit : www.whimsylanecreations.blogspot.com and www.SugarSweetBathShoppe.blogspot.com

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

More preschool graduation photos


graduation display table



half of our line of graduates getting ready to enter




waiting outside the banquet room



class award ribbons




presentation of diplomas


the best part was the crowd singing and dancing along to Tooty-Ta with us! :)

Goodbye and blessings to my class of 2012. I wish you much success in the future 
and can't wait to see how you impact the world. 



Graduation and new center


Graduation May 2012
It was a wonderful day. Will add more photos later.









always adding to my meeting area


yay! my new computer center (for as long as my old dinosaur of a machine lives)


a clean cabinet...thanks to the little organizer I can actually find things now ;)

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

New ideas and math mats

Our preschool class recently had fun learning to add using their math mats and some dry cereal. First we rolled our large foam dice to see what numbers we would be adding. We then put the correct no. of cereal pieces into the adding circles on the mat. Lastly we scooted all the pieces of cereal together after the equals sign and added them up. We then ate our numbers. Yummy early math skills!






Thank to my friend Donna for alerting me to the wonderful pile of $1 Big Books at our local Goodwill, I came away with $25 less than before I went in, but came back rich on books! Before nap time my class loves to sit on their nap mats and look at their books. Their favorite book is probably Ten in the Bed.










I attended our monthly childcare association training to night and came away with fun ideas. One was called Traveling Suitcases. A provider in the group packs a story book and puppet/activity into mesh zipper laundry bags for her home-care children to check out on Friday afternoons. She had some really cute ideas. She also included a journal in each bag for parents to record their fun. In the bags with books associated with cooking she placed a small bag of cookie mix or pancake mix so the parent and child could bake together over the weekend.

The next idea (which was just adorable) was from a lady who made a photo album featuring  Mr. Manners and Mr. Rude. Manners and Rude are her own children, dressed up and photographed for the part. Rude is shown displaying rudeness in comedic scenarios around the classroom. Manners, is of course, shown using good manners in the classroom. The book was so funny to look at, and I can see where the photos would really appeal to kids. When someone displays rudeness in her daycare, she asks if the class should review the story of Mr. Manners and Mr. Rude (and of course, they say "Yes!"). 

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Farm Day


What a difference a new rug can make!


Added a dry erase board to our book center, along with some sight word cards to copy.



Our ear buds that we use for our Leap pad collection always get tangled. This hook system is cheap and keeps them separated.


We've never had a rug under here since I came into the room. Hope to get a new one someday but large preschool rugs are just so expensive!


Rugs are supposed to help with noise.


Farm Day!!!


Thanks to Mr. Darrel and his wife for bringing a tractor and goat to see us.



Lots of climbing fun.


Not sure what to make of the goat....




The kids really enjoy seeing animals.






Mrs. Brenda is our wonderful cook (and impromptu singer).


Yee haw!













My class (plus a furry addition--she's not officially enrolled  ;)  )


My boss, Mrs. Leeann and her daughter