Jumping on board for a new school year!

Hey everyone! Kindergarteners arrive tomorrow morning which means I have been spending the last few days adding the finishing touches on the room I am teaching in this fall (as a maternity leave sub). This bulletin board is one of two that were passed on to me. Positioned at an angle high above the cubbies, this was nothing short of a challenge to assemble, so of course I tried to be as creative as possible to push the challenge level just a bit higher!

The original idea came from a photo I saw online. I designed a t-shirt template and copied it on colored paper. The t-shirts are laminated with names written in Sharpie (to be removed with an alcohol wipe and re-used in the future). I was able to find mini (1") wooden clothes pins at AC Moore to add a little finishing touch- this is my favorite part!

Other slogans you can use are, "off to a tee-rific start" or something about having a "tee-riffic year." I am using this board for a Kindergarten classroom so I am always careful about being creative with spelling words in funny ways.

Happy Boarding!

Classroom Art Gallery

I am a big supporter in displaying student work in a 'formal' setting. I have used an art gallery set up in three different classrooms now. Each year the set up looks a little different but it always gets a great response from students and parents (and fellow teachers).

To construct the art gallery you will need (per student) one 8.5" x 11" plastic sleeve, one piece of black paper with a small photo and student's name. I like to take photos of the students on the playground or 'in action' in the classroom, just be sure to have a clear image of each face.

Tip: This is a great set up for a monthly project. I have used this to display monthly portraits a few times. At the end of the month we have stored the portraits in a file and have assembled a book or calendar to send home at the end of the year. Parents have always been thrilled to see the end result and compare the work.

This is the art gallery from my 3-year-old Reggio inspired preschool class. I'm posting this idea now because I know there are many teachers searching for something different while setting up classrooms. Let me know how it goes!

This one just rocks!

While this idea seems best for Spring, a piece of it is perfect for Summer and Fall. One year, my 3-year-old preschool class spent most of the year working on plants. When the ground finally became soft enough to dig in we put shovels in small hands and went to work building a 'backyard garden.' We were searching for a project to help include the classroom families and came up with the idea of decorating the beach rocks we were using to form a boarder around our plants.

Each family took a turn taking home a plastic bin with the following items:

3 paint brushes (approx 1/2" size)

3 tubes of heavy acrylic paint (red, yellow, blue)

1 small paint tray (mixing your own colors was encouraged)

1 child sized smock

1 set of directions taped to the inside of the lid

The only request we asked of the families was to work together to pick a word that meant something to them. The words were painted on what would be displayed as the 'top' of the rock. Some of the words were love, adventure, discover, chillax, play, and explore.

When each rock was fully dry it was sprayed with a sealer (all sides) and placed in our garden. We hosted a garden party breakfast when all of the rocks were complete and welcomed families in to check out our beautiful new garden, featuring their rocks.

Here's the part that is suitable for this time of year. On one of your summer beach trips pick up some extra flat beach rocks. Spend some time this Fall thinking of a meaningful word and paint it on. If you don't have a garden, you can use your rocks to outline a piece of your yard or as a fun addition to your block collection.

Liquid Chalk (Homemade of course!)

Here's a fun outdoor activity good for late summer days and early fall afternoons. Liquid sidewalk chalk. Mix corn starch and water until you get a watery-ooblek (about equal parts corn starch and water). Add a few drops of food coloring- be careful as too much will stain the ground. I use 1in 'house' paint brushes and sand pails to mix my chalk and hand it off to the awaiting artists.

TIP: Using this chalk is a little like mystery ink. It does not look like much when it is wet. However, as it dries you will see bright, vibrant colors.

This picture is from the deck of my old preschool classroom, welcoming parents to our spring breakfast. Leading from the gate to the classroom were also paintings done by the preschoolers.

Too excited to only post weekly!

I am big supporter of messy-sensory experiences (as you will soon notice a trend with my posts) and like to 'spice-up' the Discovery Table as often as possible. Undoubtably, shaving cream is not a new idea in Preschool classrooms. We use it on trays to write words, to cover objects for children to scrape clean, in buckets of water to make 'mush,' to name a few. This time I decided to see how much shaving cream was actually in a bottle. At the bottom of this bucket are a collection of small items (gems, small animals, game pieces, etc). At first the shaving cream does not look like much and will require some 'mushing', this is an activity in itself!

1. Have a child mix/fluff up the shaving cream.

2. Hide (or have a child hide) items in the shaving cream.

3. Have children search with their hands to pull out and clean off the hidden items. (Provide tongs for children sensory challenges).

Tip: Use a clear tub/bucket so that children can see what's happening/hiding in the tub. Also, put out large popsicle sticks to help the children clean off the larger objects and their body.

This idea was part of a "Letter of the Week" program, not for letter S but for letter L as we called it, "Looking in Lather."

Here's an idea to kick off with

Baby Oil Painting- An awesome accidental discovery. Mix water and food coloring (or use liquid watercolors) in a small cup. Take a small tray and put a large drop of baby oil. Have children coat the tray with the oil (using fingers or by moving the tray). Have each child use an eye dropper to make a 'design' with the colored liquid. When design is ready, take a piece of thick white paper (we used watercolor paper) and place it on top. Wait 10-20 seconds and then peel the paper off carefully. Tip: Use a perm marker to write the child's name on the paper BEFORE getting it wet! Also, beware, these masterpieces take over 24 hours to dry.