Sunday, March 22nd, 2020 READ Read Mark 2:1-12 with your family. WATCH Watch one or both of the videos below created just for kids. The first one is great for toddlers and the second touches on concepts that are good for pre-k to elementary age. https://youtu.be/8cmppSIQUX4 https://youtu.be

There are so many fun things out there to explore! It's easy to feel like there isn't enough time to fit art history into your schedule consistently. But, consistency is so important! Here's the good news... you don't need to consistently spend hours prepping and planning and doing and t

Tallahassee has been our daughter's home for the past 2 years while attending Florida State University. It is known for being the capital of Florida and home of FSU, a bustling college campus with an enrollment of over 40,000 students. Even though Tallahassee isn't usually considered a tourist destination, there is still plenty of interesting things to do and see in this beautiful city!

I love teaching young kids about the 10 Commandments. I believe it gives us a framework to talk to kids about what is right and wrong and to talk about

A few weeks ago I welcome my first guest blogger to MiniMatisse, Mark Rode. His Paper Dinosaur Sculptures are adoreable, be sure to check them out. Today I'm honored to present you with an Art Teacher I have admired for years. Lauralee Chambers has been an Art Educator for 25 years in Westchester, New York. She teaches over 900 students, 6 sections a day at two different schools with a total of 36 sections in a 6 day cycle. Yep, you read that all right. This woman is a rockstar! Lauralee not only teaches to the masses but also shares, shares, shares on her Instagram, @2art.chambers and on her Pinterest account, Lauralee Chambers. This is how I recently saw Larualee's latest and greatest lesson, Alphabet Soup. She was happy to share with us the process of this adoreable project right here on MiniMatisse. Lauralee writes: I have 6 sections of first grade and our classes are 45 minutes every 6 days. I begin this project by telling them that “I know first graders are alphabet experts” and ask them to recite the alphabet to me. I ask them if they know any alphabet books and I tell them that I have been collecting alphabet books for a very long time because I love letters! I share some books in my collection and show them my other assortment of letters objects that I have including my alphabet necklace. I also created a smart board document with many, many images of letters on things, with the last slide being a bowl of alphabet soup. Day One: Materials: 9x12 white drawing paper 90lb, or other for painting, with a pre-drawn pencil circle outline Oil Pastels Alphabet letter sheet visuals on tables to help them remember Process: After looking at many alphabet visuals and resources, teacher will demo how to draw letters of the alphabet in the circle (bowl) by pressing VERY HARD to put oil pastels down onto the paper. If not done thick enough, soup will cover their letters! I show students how to scatter their letters, rather than putting them in a line like they do for writing. They can go ANYWHERE, upside down, sideways, etc. Rotate the paper for each letter trying to keep them all large enough and thick enough. Colors should be repeated and if there is too much white space left after doing each letter of the alphabet, I have them hide their names in the bowl! Day Two: Materials: Liquid watercolor: I mix up a batch of broth color using yellow and orange and pour into containers for each table to share. This will wash over the letters from last class. Going outside of the lines is fine because teacher will cut circles out so they stay round! This should not take long. Put these away on drying rack and start plaid background “tablecloths”. 12x18 white drawing paper with a larger circle, pre-drawn with sharpie. I traced these circles over to one side of the paper. (This is where they will glue down their soup in next class, as flat and centered as possible.) Water based markers Water containers paint brushes, I like size 10 or 12 The Process: Add any needed letters, prep for painting, demo washing broth over letters quickly in long strokes. Put these away on drying rack and begin plaid backgrounds. Each student has 12X18 with a sharpie circle. Gather them around to demo a plaid pattern of vertical and horizontal lines leaving spaces between lines as you wish. I ask them to choose 3 or 4 colors that work well together. Students will need directions on how to JUMP over the soup bowl and continue their line on the other side. A bit challenging for some, but the irregularities add charm! Once drawn, students take a paint brush dip, and wipe, in water and trace/drag over the marker lines. Some chose to trace only over the vertical lines, others did all. Lots of options. Put on the drying rack. Don’t forget names on the back! Day Three: Materials: Soft black vine charcoal broken into small pieces Off white paper or tag board, cut to the size of a folded napkin Glue sticks Plastic metal imitation spoons Glue gun for teacher use Plastic alphabet beads, stickers (optional)-- The beads the photos are from Roylco Process: Everything comes together. Students glue their already cut out soup circle into the center of the larger circle and then glue down their napkin paper. Teacher demos the placement of shading. Students apply charcoal to the bottom and one side of the napkin and run along that line with a finger to soften or blur. Also apply charcoal around side and bottom half of the sharpie circle and smear with finger. Teacher will glue on spoons with hot glue. Before the shadow is added: After the shadow is added: Lauralee writes: The focus of this lesson combines literacy and letter formation/identification with an understanding of mixed media, using more than one art material in a lesson to create something that looks like real life objects. This lesson is truely a treasure! I adore the end result. I want to thank Lauralee Chambers for sharing and celebrating on her Instagram so often. A special thank you for being a guest blogger for MiniMatisse. It was so great to learn the process. For more on the happenings of Chambers classroom visit her Instagram or email her at, [email protected]

We glued the 7 continents and 4 oceans onto a painted paper plate. The best part was singing "We've got the Whole Globe in Our Hands" by Dr. Jean. They wanted to hold their paper plates and sing and dance. The catchy tune makes learning the continents easy! There's also a cute ocean song on her Sing to Learn CD. Continents Printable from The Mailbox Magazine Click HERE to go to her website. Click HERE for printable lyrics. The song is called The Continents.

St.Mary mother, maquette for color. Paper on wood maquette for kids to teach them about our Coptic Orthodox Church. High quality colors and shape, come with 3 colors and brush with the wood maquette shape of St. Mary. Can used for Sunday school, home and many other activities. Made by Kethara Toon Team St. Mark’s Church in Heliopolis.

I don’t have nearly as much creative time as I used to, but every once in a while I come up with a unique idea. My latest creation is...

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Share Wildflower Ramblings! My son loves music. John has two things he loves most in this world: playing with tractors and playing guitar. We have bought him several “kid” guitars, but he also received a “real” one from his Grandma and Grandpa — which he adores. Or, if he has to, he’ll use an “air”...

This Free printable coloring page is based on Mark 11:25. Great for homeschool, one-on-one, or in a classroom setting like Sunday School. Click here!

Use the Touching Jesus Coloring Page as a fun activity for your next children's sermon.

If you want to know how to teach kids about germs and the importance of proper handwashing, this collection of germ activities for kids will not disappoint!

Gigantosaurus Brings Preschoolers Prehistoric Life Lesson on Disney Junior

This free Bible lesson is based on Mark 9:30-37 when Jesus talks about being first and last. It is designed for children’s church or Sunday School. Please modify as best fits your ministry.

Ideas for teaching about the saints to kids. This is perfect for All Saints' Day and has lots of ideas for Catholic schools and homes.

" International Dot Day ", a global celebration of creativity, courage and collaboration, began when teacher Terry Shay introduced his cl...

This activity is a fun way for you and your child to re-enact Gideon's battle! You only need two items: Cups and glow sticks... and a darkened room or go outside after dark. Let your child "break and shake" his glow stick so it begins to shine. (let him do yours, too. It's fun to break something and not be in trouble) Put the activated glow stick under a cup and march around in the "dark". On your signal, blow your trumpets; your clenched fist works well, or you can make one. (we made some for a previous activity here) Shake off the cup and hold the glow stick high in the air and shout, "For the Lord and for Gideon!"

A tutorial on how to create a magnetic chalkboard wall in your youth ministry office for displaying the names and faces of your volunteers.

Here we are.... today is officially November 1st! I love November---its the month when fall is in full effect, scarves and warm drinks are starting to make their appearances and most importantly.... it's my birthday month! Yay!! Besides scarves, warm drinks, fall and celebrating my birthday, November is also awesome because it's when students really start to fall in the groove of the classroom. Bad behaviors seem to start settling down, students understand the rules and centers and work stations seem to start flowing nicely, with little guidance about what is expected! November seems to bring growth and with conferences right around the corner, it's nice to be able to share all the good things with parents!! Now on to the planning of some pretty cool activities that your students will love in November! As always, Pinterest is my go-to site for ideas!! Here are some awesome ideas that I recently found! Look at these awesome colors on the rice!! I love the natural items found in this sensory bin!! Most of which can be easily found outside. Here is an array of ideas to fit any of your needs! How cute are these turkey's?? I love them! This is a great teacher-directed art lesson. This would make a great hallway display or a writing lesson below the pictures! Here is another cute and super easy turkey craft for kids! Here is an AMAZING list of 100 books that are great for November and fall! Take a look at these great titles! In addition to these great ideas, I have a created a pack of "save your ink" printables! This unit is filled with sheets that will help your kiddos practice those skills that they have been working on in class. All the sheets included are black and white---no color--which saves you money! Take a look at some of the sheets included! I hope these ideas and my 'save your ink printables' are useful to you this month! Click on any picture to view the link to each picture!!

Cute ending punctuation activities for first week of school! Print worksheets, cut into pencil strips. Add marks to punctuation exercises.

Subitizing, being able to quickly identify the amount of objects in a group, is a very important skill for early learners.

4 Fun Games for Teaching Tally Marks Tally marks are fun to teach and a very useful tool! Here is a round-up of the tally mark games we have shared over the past two years. Tally Mark Memory and I Have...Who Has? Tally Marks Tally Mark Dominoes FREE Tally Mark Practice Printables * * *

Guide and list of free things to do in Venice with kids. See various attractions to visit that are free for the whole family.

Just recently, as I observed ALuv {my 3rd grade son} writing, I noticed that he was including commas in his writing {Yay!}. As I looked closer, I noticed that his commas were not in the conventional places and sometimes they even took the place of periods. Was I upset? Nope. I was actually super excited, and here’s ... Read More about Using Pasta to Learn about Commas {FREE Printable}

Here's my guide to the top must visit attractions on the Grand Canal in Venice. Cruising down the Grand Canal is a classic, unmissable thing to do in the floating city of Venice. As you sail, you can admire Venice's must see sites and dreamy palazzos. I also give you tips and tricks for riding the Vaporetto, which is Venice's water bus.

I have no idea where to start with writing tonight. I took one day off and now I'm thinking, "Oh, my goodness! Why do these people all want to follow me?" I keep trying to think of a funny story and honestly, I can't think past the football game in the background. I'm a Georgia fan at heart (sorry Dad - it's not my fault), but ultimately I'm an SEC fan! I like the guy from Hawaii on Notre Dame, but I have to say, I hope Alabama slaughters them. Now, changing directions, this week we are working on types of sentences, so I threw together a quick sheet. If you guys are anything like me, we have the new common core standards, but our old resources don't align. At the beginning of the summer, I took apart every resource I had and realigned all of my notebooks. It took 4 days to do, but they are a work of art and MUCH better than a filing cabinet. However, many times there are only 5 problems on a page or the page is too easy or too complex. So, now I'm obsessed with creating my own sheets. Anyway, I'm saying all of that to say I have three new freebies for you. The first one is a rounding sheet. Honestly, I'm not sure it's a first grade standard anymore. I thought it was when I created it, but I've looked through all of the standards and our first grade teacher's guide and I can't find it, so I'm not sure. I do know the other two sheets are in our standards. One of them covers true/false addition problems and the other one covers declarative and interrogative sentences plus punctuation marks. If you like them, CLICK HERE to get them. Oh, and for all of my cat lovers out there (See Saturday's post), my hubby has changed my picture on his phone to that picture. Now, every time I call him, the picture of the cat pops up. That's okay... I'm sure I deserve it. I did sneak a boiled egg into his work boot a few years ago ;) Hope you guys are off to a good week!