Conversation Hearts

Valentine's Day is right around the corner and this lovely holiday is perfect for learning!  One of my favorite things about Valentine's Day is conversation hearts!  They are inexpensive, super cute  and pretty tasty if you get the right brand.  They can be used in the classroom or the home classroom in many different learning areas including math, science, language, and fine motor.  The children in my classroom love to graph, so I always make sure to have the conversation heart graph in my math center.  A favorite activity anytime is making things fizz.  So, I use conversation hearts, baking soda, and vinegar to make a fun, fizzy science tray.  Both of these activities are simple, cheap to make, and offer children fun and educational experiences. 

Conversation Heart Graphs: You can make a graph or you could print one off of several websites.  Once you have your graph color in the bottom rectangle to match all the colors of the conversation hearts you have.  Place the hearts in a bowl and encourage your little owlet to pick a heart, name its color, and place it in the matching column.  If you want to add fine motor practice to this activity hand your child a pair of tweezers to use to pick up the hearts. 

Fizzy Hearts: Place conversation hearts on a tray (I always used a cookie sheet) and sprinkle baking soda over the hearts.  Put vinegar in a cup and give your little learner a turkey baster.  Have your child fill the baster with vinegar and drop it onto the tray.  Watch the magic happen, colorful fizz everywhere!  It gets even better as the hearts melt!  This was always a favorite in my classroom.

Have fun! 

What's in the Box?

This mantra runs through my head...a lot...more like everyday...and it makes appearance mainly during art..."It's a process, not a product."  I find the most adorable art activities on one super addictive website, I envision these beautiful creations decorating the walls of my classroom...and then we do the activity...it never turns out like the picture, but that is 100% OK because, well, it's a process and I have to step back and let the creativity happen!  Every single person that works with children knows that art, creativity, and imagination are huge parts of the early childhood experience and the majority of children love to paint, so I have the painting box.  My calendar is broken down by themes and of course in those themes are art activities.  Each day of the week brings a new art experience: Painting, Drawing, Prints, Clay, and Collages and we follow that general rule, but sometimes, my kids just need to create without me telling them what they can use or giving them an idea of what to draw, during those moments the painting box comes out.  My painting box is just a cardboard box full of things other than paintbrushes for the kids to use.  I have found items in dollar bins at box stores, had parents donate items, and just collected things I found that I thought would make a unit painting experience.  There are no rules when the painting box comes out...the children can use whatever they choose in whatever way they choose (so long as nobody is getting beaten with a dish scrubber!).  The painting box comes out once every couple of weeks, it is especially helpful on rainy days when we have run out of theme related activities.  So, what's in my box?  Here is a list:

- Dish Scrubbers (long handled and round ones)
-Wine Corks (purchased at the craft store)
-Newspaper
-Bath poufs
-Paper towel rolls
-Bubble Wrap (both small and large bubbles)
-Milk Jug Lids
-Lids off of plastic bottles
-Egg cartons

I am always on the lookout for more fun things to experiment with and add to our box!

Happy Painting!!

Water Play Bubble Day

 

 We have been doing a unit on bubbles and I wanted to incorporate bubbles into our water play day, so I got out the bubbles for us to blow and added dish wash soap to water, put out washcloths, babies, and even some of our riding toys to wash...but I wanted more!  So, I searched for bubble recipes...and found two pretty cool ones...bubble dough and bubble foam.  I made the bubble dough, and even though it didn't turn out exactly like I thought it would, it was fun for the kids.  The next project was a huge hit!  Bubble foam!  I have never, in my 20 years of teaching preschool, used a mixer to make a sensory activity...that changed today!  The recipe was super simple and the kids thought it was awesome!  All you need to make this foam is dish wash soap, warm water, food coloring (gel or liquid), and a mixer!  In the bowl of the mixer add 2 tablespoons of dish soap, 2/3 cup of warm water, and 2 drops of gel food coloring (more of the liquid kind).  Turn the mixer on the highest speed and let it go for a full 2 minutes (I did mine for about 4 minutes though so the peaks would be stiffer).  When it's done, it's like a colorful meringue!  I added it to the container I use for sensory play and let the kids go to town!  This will definitely be a go to for bubble week from now on! 

Get in Shape, Girl!

When we lived in Alaska working out was a normal part of my day.  I loved it, Jillian Micheal's was someone I spent about an hour with everyday even though she loved kicking my booty...it helped me deal with the stress of a deployed hubby and three little kids!  Once we moved to Alabama it seems like my love affair with weights and cardio has died!  I opened my FCC, still working on my degree, have a family, and have this crazy hip issue that sometimes has me in so much pain I can barely move.  Sounds like I'm making excuses, right?  Well...I guess I did for a while, but not anymore.  I know I have to take care of me in order to take care of everyone else and that is what I am doing!  I have been going to the gym on post every other night.  Pounding the treadmill with my ear buds in is still the best stress reliever I know of!
I have been eyeing the Bowflex Tread Climber for a while and I finally took the plunge and ordered one!  I am excited and filled with anticipation for it get here! On top of that, I got some new workout gear...my old Polar heart rate monitor watch finally gave up, I've had it for ever...so I ordered the Polar FT4 Heart Rate Monitor from Amazon.  I like it, it's easy to use, but I am not super crazy about the chest strap...oh well, I'll deal!  I also ordered some Diva Bands to keep my hair back during my sweat sessions...I love them, they don't slip and they are adorable!  Finally, I got really good shoes and a pair of calf compression sleeves which I am hopeful will help with the crazy painful shin splints I have.  I am committed to changing my eating habits, making my workouts a priority, and getting back in shape! 

 My adorable Diva Bands and Polar Heart Rate Monitor Watch

New shoes and calf compression sleeves to bring a pop of color to my mostly black workout attire! 

Sweet Sugar

I love sugar scrubs and I have spent large amounts of money in bath shops on their versions of them.  The day I walked into my favorite bath shop and discovered they no longer carried the yummy smelling pumpkin scrub I loved so was a sad day my lovelies!  During the week my showers are super quick, but Saturday is my long, hot, indulgent shower day complete with a sugar scrub exfoliation.  Since I can't buy the yummy pumpkin scrub anymore, I have been making my own combinations of delicious scrubs!  I made a pumpkin spice scrub that I felt was pretty comparable to the one I was spending about 20 bucks on!  Recently I made a brown sugar and honey scrub and I like it, but I used olive oil and it seems a little too greasy!  I need to play with the measurements a bit.  Today I made these two sweet sugar scrubs!  I am already in love with the sugar cookie scrubs, it uses both white and brown sugar and smells like a batch of sugar cookie dough!  I also made coconut lime scrub, it was so simple and smells like the tropics!  I can't wait to use it!  I have so many more combinations that I can't wait to try!  Another plus to making my own, they are so inexpensive!  I think the sugar cookie scrub cost me about $10, but I was able to throw it together today because I already had all the ingredients in the pantry!

A Monster of a Week

While Halloween is not one of my most favorite holidays on the calendar, my children and my daycare kids love it.  Instead of doing a Halloween theme this year I chose to do a week of Friendly, Fuzzy, Adorable Monsters.  I had so much fun making games and researching for activities.  Even though this was only supposed to be a week long theme, it ended up being two weeks thanks in part to a nasty stomach virus that wiped out my whole FCC for four days and kept us from taking a very cool field trip to the pumpkin patch.  I took lots of pictures of the things we did, but something happened and I can't find them...ugh.  So I will try to re cap the week with a couple of the pictures I do have and tell you about some of the cool monster activities we did! 

We made Monster frames.  I bought some Crayola Neon paint and the kids painted the frames and then they glued lots and lots of wiggly eyes on it.  I thought it would be perfect for pictures of them in their Halloween costume!

For one of our group activities I covered a box with paper, added eyes, a nose, rainbow hair, and cut out a where the mouth would be.  It turned out quite cute, just wish I could find the pic I took!  I cut out shapes and passed them out to my kids at morning meeting.  When I called out a shape the kids that had that shape "fed" our monster.  Of course the box monster needed a name, so after much deliberation over names staring with M we decided to name her Merryweather!  

The most popular table activity was based on the book Even Monsters Need Haircuts by Matthew McElligott.  I made a simple monster head and taped yarn to it.  I placed scissors on the table next to it and encouraged the kids to give the monster a haircut.  We played a monster math game too, my kids really enjoyed it because I played it with them!  I made two simple monsters without noses and put a bowl of colorful pom poms on the table along with a die.  We took turns rolling the dice, counting the dots, and adding that many noses.  

Of course during Monster week we had to listen to The Monster Mash!  One day while listening to it the kids painted with potato mashers! 

It was a great week full of cute monster art, songs, and activities.  I think adorable monster week will have to make a regular appearance every year around Halloween! 

 

Creepy Crawly Spiders

What a great week we had learning about and doing spider activities!

 Painting with spaghetti...a new twist on string painting...to make a spider web

 Painting with plastic spiders.  I attached yarn to spider rings and the kids dipped the spiders into orange and black paint and "danced" across the paper.

 

Spider Math...practicing one to one correspondence.  I cut out the webs, colored the spiders, and added the dots.  When a child chooses this activity they put a black pom pom on each dot.  I also encourage them to count the pom poms. 

We did a group mural, more spider art, two spider related science activities, and more!  I plan on leaving some of the activities out and adding to them until the end of the month!  

 

Spider Fine Motor

The kids and I love this adorable fine motor tray!  They have played with it all week and have even learned how to put the glove on!  I drew a web on a piece of construction paper and laminated it.  I added tweezers, plastic bugs, and a black glove.  When the kids would choose this tray I encouraged them to put the bugs on the web with the tweezers, slip on the glove, and take the bugs off using their pincer grasp. 

Gr8 Spiders

This week we are doing lots of spider activities!  The spider theme is one of my favorites and one that all the kids really enjoy.  Today we did a creative math activity.  I cut out a number 8 and 8 rectangles for each child.  When they chose the math center, I armed them with a glue stick and they glued the 8 rectangles (legs) to the 8 shape.  Then they got a cup of glue, Q-Tip, and six wiggly eyes and they glued the eyes to the 8.  In the end it was a spider!  I had them trace the number 8 with their fingers to reinforce the concept of the number 8! 

Fabulous Fine Motor Activities

Fine motor activities are such an important part of the early childhood experience.  Fine motor activities do not have to be nor should they be confined to the table.  By adding dolls, doll clothes, and dress up clothes children have the opportunity to practice snaps, zippers, and buttons.  They are not only working those small muscles, they are also practicing self help skills.  Even simple finger plays and sign language help develop fine motor skills.  Clay is also a wonderful way to incorporate fine motor skills into your classroom.  I like to make different scents of play dough or add items to it so it has a variety of textures. These are a few of the fine motor activities I have put out at the table. 

 Normally, I try to make my own activities, but I found this cute bee in the hive game on http://www.amazon.com/PlanToys-Plan-Preschool-Bee-Hive/dp/B003COZJXO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1380568688&sr=8-1&keywords=preschool+bee+hive+gameand had to have it for Bee week! 

 We used this during Apples week, the kids put cloves in the apple.

 Using tweezers to put apples on the tree

 This is a favorite fine motor activity, I put it out during Colors week or when I'm struggling to find a fine motor activity.  The tweezers aren't pictured, but they use them to drop the pom poms into the matching tube.  I painted the tubes myself, but you can buy them pre colored at craft stores. 

Marble transfer, we used this during Space week.  The kids used a melon baller to put a marble into each section of a clean egg carton. 

Apple Books

These are the books I am using for my Apple theme.  

When we read Ten Apples Up On Top we made a matching art piece.  The Owlets drew a self portrait at the bottom of a piece of paper and then glued ten apple cutouts onto the paper.  

Apple Theme Books

____________________________

Ten Apples Up on Top by Dr. Seuss

Amelia Bedelia's First Apple Pie by Herman Parish

The Apple Pie Tree by Zoe Hall

Johnny Appleseed by Steven Kellogg

Apple Picking Time by Michele Benoit Slawson

Ten Red Apples by Pat Hutchins

How Do Apples Grow by Betsy Maestro 

Orange Pear Apple Bear (not pictured) by Emily Gravett

 

My Love Affair with Books

It is no secret that I love books..especially children's books.  My mama read to me from the day I was born up until I could read on my own and once I could that I enjoyed spending time at the library searching for the perfect book.  I have been reading to my own kids since they were in the womb and I had a collection of kids books long before I even had my first baby!  When baby showers come along I have no trouble picking out the perfect gift...a baby robe (cause let's face it, they are just so dang cute) and a few perfect books, Good Night Moon always being one of them!   I mean, I love to read books that are meant for adults, but I am drawn to the children's section at the books store and then wander over to the fiction and religion sections.  I am never reading just one book at a time either, I usually have a stack that I choose from depending on my mood when I get a few moments to read!  I rarely leave the bookstore without a bag full of books, a couple for me, a couple for the hubs, a couple for each of our own Owlets.  All of the bookshelves in our house are spilling over with reading material...some books have been sentenced to life in boxes in the garage...waiting until their services are needed. 
When I am book shopping I have the upcoming themes for FCC in the back of my head and I'm always on the lookout for books that I can use.  Sometimes, though, a cute cover catches my eye and it ends up in the bag...eventually I'll get to use it...right?? 

The stack of books I am currently reading

My Melting Pot Curriculum

I have taught preschool for years, since I was 18 actually, and in those 17 years I have come across  different curriculum's.  Creative Curriculum, ABEKA, HighScope,  My first job as a lead teacher came at the age of 19 at a daycare that had just opened.  I had only worked as an aide in classrooms so this world of lead teacher was new, exciting, and a bit scary for me.  I was thrown into a 3 year old classroom, no instruction, nothing, just me, my classroom, and adorable three year olds, and I was expected to do something...anything to teach them!  I had the basics down; we needed to do art, we needed to have centers, we needed a schedule..but how did I figure out that art, what activities did I put in those centers, how did I go about making a daily schedule that met the needs of the kids in my class?  Sadly, this daycare provided me with nothing...so I went to the off campus bookstore and looked through books for a good deal of time...and finally bought my first, of many, Mailbox books.  It had everything...art, centers, tips, themes..it was a start!  I was not at that daycare very long and it closed its doors shortly after I left. 
After leaving the failing daycare for something better...and trust me, anything would've been better..I found another job as an assistant teacher in a 3 year old class.  They provided a curriculum, materials, and monthly meetings and training.  I learned so much working there and had the opportunity to be the lead teacher of the 3's for a while.  I moved on when a better opportunity presented itself and fell in love with my new job as, again, a lead teacher for 3 year olds.  I was introduced to the Creative Curriculum and was instantly in love with it!  I had always believed that children learned through play, but now I was looking at a whole curriculum based on that belief!  How awesome!!  The Creative Curriculum quickly became my favorite! 
Fast forward a few years, three kids and three moves later, to the opening of my own Family Child Care.  The FCC uses the Creative Curriculum, so it was easy for me to fall into making lesson plans, creating activities, and setting up learning centers.  Being in school to finish up my degree, I have been studying curriculum's and my addiction to Pinterest, has shown me activities based on Montessori, Reggio Emilia, and others.  I am drawn to these activities because they, like the Creative Curriculum, encourage play and exploration, hands on activities that are fun, but still encourage learning.  I am a huge fan of the natural approach of Reggio Emelia and think about that when decorating my classroom and when setting up activities.  I put Montessori's learning trays into play when setting activities out at the table.  I consider the multiple intelligences theory when creating activities. 
I like to pull bits and pieces from many different options to create a unique learning experience for the kids I care for.  I do not believe that one size fits all when it comes to curriculum and I think it's an important job of the teacher to research different ones to find what works in her class.  What works for me and my FCC?  This melting pot curriculum! 

Fall...Fabulous Fall!!

Holy Cats Batman!!  I can't believe I haven't blogged since March!!  As always it's been crazy busy at The Owls Nest and at my house in general!  Summer was tons of fun as we explored the ocean, the rainforest, bugs, ice cream, and possibly the coolest theme ever, Mad Science!!  Our Mad Science theme deserves its very own post...it was that awesome!!
Our academic year started the first week of August and we kicked the year off right with our Back to School theme, followed by All About Me, and Colors.  We implemented share days, so the kids can bring something special from home to share with the group.  The Owlets think it's pretty cool and they do a great job of sharing their treasures.  I try to ask questions, one of them being "Where did you get your ____________?"  The answer...from all of them...is always...."From my home!"  Well, yes you are correct, that treasure did come from your home!!  I love conversations between 3 year olds...they are the best! 
Finally, we have made it to Fall...my favorite time of year.  The temperatures aren't as miserable, although, I would welcome a day in the low 70's compared to the mid 80's...the leaves are turning,  pumpkin patches are opening, the wonderful smell of pumpkin is filling the air...oh so many reasons it's my favorite time of year!!  I also think the best preschool themes rear their heads in the fall...apples, pumpkins, popcorn..This week we are doing our Apple theme!  This is probably one of my favorite themes during the year.  I only wish there was an apple orchard close by so that I could take the Owlets to pick their own apples!  That would be a wonderful adventure for us! 

 This is our Apple sensory tub. It is full of oatmeal, cinnamon sticks, and plastic apples.  I added spoons, scoops, and bowls.

 Welcome to The Owls Nest Orchard!

 This is quickly becoming a favorite table tray activity.  Sticking cloves into an apple...smells amazing!

Dramatic Play Apple Orchard.  I added an  apple tree so customers can pick their own apples, added baskets of plastic apples, jugs labeled "Apple Cider", a pretend apple pie, bowls, cups, forks, and a cash register with scale. 

Just go to Alaska!!

The FCC requires each home to have a quiet area, it's a great idea for when a child needs some quiet time away from the group for a variety of reasons.  I have been trying to come up with a cute idea for my quiet area and have been coming up empty.  I am addicted to www.pinterest.com and I was ecstatic when I found an idea pinned by madeintheshadeinsecondgrade.blogspot.com.  Having the opportunity to live in Alaska for four years was an amazing experience and I miss it every single day, so bringing a little bit of the beautiful state to The Owls Nest just seemed like the perfect idea.  I bought a green bathroom rug from Target, printed off some pictures from Alaska, and made a sign that says "Alaska: A place to chill".  I'm going to add a basket of books, stuffed animals, and quiet activities for a child to do when they are in Alaska! 

Marbled Eggs

Start with shaving cream

Add paint 

Use a spoon, toothpick, or fork to stir the paint into the shaving cream.  I like the marbled look!

Press paper (ours was cut into an egg shape)...remove from paint and remove excess shaving cream...we used the edge of a piece of paper and jumbo craft sticks

Let the paper dry

We made our into a pretty garland decorate for Easter! 

Light Box

This recovery has been pretty boring...OK, really boring!  I have been pretty productive though or as productive as one can be from the couch!  I have created calendars and made lesson plans through May..I've made a list of bulletin boards I want to create and of a thousand projects I want to do for and with my Owlets. 
This is the first one on my list.  I have read some articles about light boxes and decided that my school needed one.  If I can, I like to DIY, so after researching them on a few websites, I found a tutorial for a DIY light box on www.pinterest.com from http://www.teachpreschool.org/2011/06/diy-light-table-for-preschool.  I used a smaller container than the website used, but added black poster board around the sides, parchment paper on the lid to diffuse the light, and two tap lights that I secured to the bottom of the tub with Velcro.  This light box will be easy to store when not in use and I think the Owlets will really enjoy using it!  I have found a few activities for the light box, but I need to look for some more!  I'm super excited about this new addition to The Owls Nest! 

Awesome New App

Books...I love them, my kids love them.  I think that reading to children from a very young age is so important and teaches them to love books and reading when they are able to do it on their own.  We are constantly going to the bookstore or local library to get books based on something my kids are interested in or something that we are doing at The Owls Nest.  I have bookshelves full of books for kids that my own kids read and that I use weekly for FCC...and I am always searching for a way to organize them so I know what I have and so I can avoid buying duplicates (which I'll admit I've done more than once...)
Years ago when I taught at a CDC I tried to go through all my books, sort them by category, and make a list...I think I made it not even halfway through my stacks before I was over that idea.  I put them in containers with theme related items but realized that some of them were books my kids liked to have read to them before bed, so that didn't work.  I have relied on my memory (bad, bad idea) when I am in the bookstore or library...I knew I needed a better system!
Tonight, while sitting on the couch (because I can't do much else while recovering from surgery...ugh) and pinning educational pins on my most favorite website ever I found the solution to my book problem!  I was so excited and I had to share it in case you too have a ton of books and need a database to keep track!  The app is free and is called BooksApp2.  You can add books by scanning the ISBN number (it has a built in scanner), typing in the ISBN number, or snapping a pic of the cover with your phone..the app does the rest, sorting the books by author and subject!  This awesome app is exactly what I needed and I will always be able to open it up and make sure I don't already have a book before checking it out or purchasing it! 

Playing Catch Up...Again

I can't believe that I haven't posted on here since November...that's insane!  To say it's been crazy around here would be an understatement...with family, friends, FCC, homework (mine and Clever Owl's), and as of last week surgery and recovery...crazy doesn't even begin to describe it!  My FCC is full and those cute little Owlets keep me super busy!  We've done a lot of fun things since November...and I have lots of pictures on my Facebook page of all the things we've been into.  I was sad to have to close for three weeks to have my hysterectomy and recover some...I miss my little friends and can't wait to open back up and get back to normal.
 My plan of being up and back to my old self two days after surgery didn't happen and having  to sit and be taken care of is driving me a little crazy.  I am blessed though to have such an awesome hubby, he took two weeks of leave to take care of me.  I think I'm driving him up the wall though trying to do things I'm not supposed to do...I joked today that if I wanted to do something that I shouldn't I'd have to wait til he wasn't looking!  

I was happy that my last week of FCC we were able to celebrate the amazing Dr. Seuss and all his wonderful works!  The kids enjoyed the activities that were in the learning centers based on some of his best works.  My first week back will be the week before Easter, so the theme will be Eggs!  One of my friends, who is also a FCC Provider and I will be planning an egg hunt for our little friends!  It should be a lot of fun!
I am going to make an effort to do much better at posting activities that we do during school!  Well, I guess I'm off to pin more educational activities, exercises (can't wait til I can do that again!), and recipes to experiment on the family with! 

  

Anastasia

Meet Anastasia!  She's our very sneaky and much loved Elf on the Shelf.  We adopted her last year and my girls could not wait for her to come back!  Most elves come on December 1st, but Anastasia likes to come to our house on Thanksgiving!  We really don't know why, our family tradition for the holiday is to go out to eat, so there are no leftovers or yummy sweets here...maybe she just misses hanging out with us and can't wait to come back!
This year she made her much anticipated return by repelling down the air vent into the tree!  My Clever Owl had spent the night with her friend next door and I laughed because she came home at 8 am to see in Anastasia had returned!  We look forward to seeing what crazy antics she will pull while she visits with us!!

Even elves need a sugar high

Peek a boo