Meet Grace our featured Stunning Summer Senior from Carmel Indiana in her summer senior portrait session in downtown Indianapolis Indiana
It's been a while since I've posted a project - it always seems to be that I'll have a couple of weeks where we are "in process", then sudd...
this page has a lot of Free printable Astronaut coloring page for kids,parents and preschool teacher
Whether you are teaching the beatitudes at home and in Sunday school. Make it easier with this free printable Beatitudes craft for kids.
A preschool teaching blog about preschool activities. My hands on activities can be used for 3-5 year olds ina preschool classroom.
Part of the lesson on camouflage is for students to "hide" their creature. I let them choose from butterflies to zebras. I use scrapbook paper or sometimes old wallpaper books. We staple them on our classroom walls for a few weeks, then place them in our science journals. These are 2 examples.
Lesson: Jesus calls us to follow Him 1. Story: Tell the story of Jesus calling the fishermen to be His disciples from Luke 5:1-11. One day, Jesus went to the Sea of Galilee. People crowded around Him and listened to the word of God. There were two fishing boats at the shore, one belonging to a fisherman named Simon. Jesus got into Simon’s boat and asked him to put the boat a bit further from the shore. Then Jesus sat down and taught the people from the boat. After he taught the people, he told Simon, “Go to the deep water and put down the nets for a catch.” Simon wasn’t so sure. After all, he was the fisherman. “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything.” Simon was tired from being out all night. He didn’t want to try to catch fish again. Yet, somehow, this strange man Jesus seemed to know something he didn’t. So Peter said, “But because you say so, I will let down the nets.” So Peter and his friends cast the net into the water. And guess what happened?! Suddenly the whole net was full of fishes! There were so many, that the nets began to break! So they called their partners, James and John, to help them! And both boats were soooo full that they began to sink! Suddenly Simon fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” Jesus told Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on, you will fish for people.” So Simon, James and John pulled their boats up on the shore, left everything and followed Jesus. Act it out: Props: Long table, 2 badminton nets, many cutout card fishes (can be reused for craft) Set up a long table on its sides on the stage to resemble the side of the boat. Pin the cutout card fishes to one of the nets; fill up the net if possible. Hide this net between the table and the wall. (You may want to stick one edge of the net to the back of the table for easy access). Place the other empty net on the stage, visible to the kids. Teacher sits on chair on the stage, as if in a boat, while telling the story. When it comes to putting down the nets, take the empty net and cast it behind the table. Then do a “switch” and pull up the “full” net, slowly, as if it’s very heavy. Call 2 boys to come on stage to help you pull the nets too. When the “full” net is on the stage, let the boys sit down and continue with the rest of the story and lesson. 2. Lesson: Good news for today! When we do things on our own effort, sometimes we get little or no results. Like the fishermen who worked long and hard, through the night. But when Jesus tells you where to go and what to do, the result is more than you can ask for or imagine. Like Simon, we have to realise that no matter how good or clever we are, we cannot be good enough to meet God’s standards. But the good news is, Jesus is good enough! And when we trust in Him, He makes us good enough too. Isn’t that good news? Don’t you want to tell other people how good Jesus is? Once you know how good Jesus is to you, you will be like the fishermen — you will leave everything (your own efforts, your achievements, your strengths) because Jesus is better than whatever we have. And we will want to share His love and grace to all your friends too! 3. Activity Ideas: a. Song: I will make you fishers of man b. Activity Sheet: Fish Maze c. Fishing Memory Verse Prepare 3 sets of 9 fish cutouts (total 27); write on each one:| From | now | on | you | will | fish | for | people | Luke 5:10b | Divide kids into 3 groups. Pass each group a set of jumbled up fish cutouts and let them arrange them to form the verse. d. Craft: Fish Card Each kid gets a cutout card fish (can use the same ones used in the story telling). Have them write the memory verse on one side of the fish. On the other side, let them write the name of a friend that they’d like to share the good news of Jesus with. Lead them to pray for the friends who do not yet know Jesus’ love and goodness. ***** Youth Bible Study Leader's Guide Jesus calls us to follow Him Read Luke 5:1-8 Jesus' Life: Jesus calls us to follow Him Read Luke 5:1-8 1. Where was Jesus in this story? By the Lake of Gennesaret (or the Sea of Galilee) 2. Where did Jesus preach from? Simon’s fishing boat. 3. What did Jesus tell Simon to do after he finished speaking? To put out into deep water and let down the nets for a catch. 4. How did Simon Peter respond? How do you think he felt? “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.” Simon was tired from being out all night. He didn’t want to try to catch fish again. After all, he was the fisherman, the “expert”. Yet, somehow, this strange man Jesus seemed to know something he didn’t, so he obeyed. 5. What happened next? They caught a large number of fish until their nets began to break. Then they signalled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and both boats were so full until they began to sink. 6. What was Simon’s response to this miracle? He fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” 7. What did Jesus say? And how did the fishermen respond? “Don’t be afraid; from now on, you will fish for people.” Then Simon, James and John pulled their boats up on the shore, left everything and followed Jesus. · Lesson: o When we do things on our own effort, sometimes we get little or no results. Like the fishermen who worked long and hard, through the night. But when Jesus tells you where to go and what to do, the result is more than you can ask for or imagine. o Like Simon, we have to realise that no matter how good or clever we are, we cannot be good enough to meet God’s standards. o But the good news is, Jesus is good enough! And when we trust in Him, He makes us good enough too. Isn’t that good news? Don’t you want to tell other people how good Jesus is? o Once you know how good Jesus is to you, you will be like the fishermen — you will leave everything (your own efforts, your achievements, your strengths) because Jesus is better than whatever we have. And we will want to share His love and grace to all your friends too! 8. Who is one person whom you would like to tell about Jesus? _________________________________________________________________
Start the year off right with these adorable Back to School Kindergarten Worksheets. Preview and get your FREE printable worksheet today!!
Well, school has officially started! We’ve had one joyful day and, I have to say, it was fantastic seeing my students again! Aren’t those end of summer reunions wonderful?! I just love it when all of the anticipation of the summer prep is over and we finally have our first day back at school. Don’t […]
Summer No Prep Preschool and Kindergarten 130 Page Worksheet Book 130 pages of Kindergarten and Preschool worksheets! I was going to wait a little before posting this but decided I would go ahead s…
Q-tip painting printable templates are a creative way to engage in art without needing brushes or specialized equipment. By dipping Q-tips in paint, you can follow these templates to create beautiful pieces of art that encourage fine motor skills development..
A summer review packet for rising first graders. To get a FREE copy of this summer review packet with your students, when you get to the blog, click on the picture.
On a double chromatic gradation painted with acrylic paint, was pasted the skyline of a city cut out from a black cardboard. The color gradation was painted starting from a central yellow stripe, w…
Free printable summer tracing worksheets for preschool or toddlers. Easy to download and print. Perfect summer boredom busters.
If I Were a Superhero Identify a few well-known superheroes with your students and brainstorm adjectives that describe these superheroes and their actions. After reviewing the list, ask students to identify people in their real lives that possess these characteristics. Ask students to complete this thinksheet and describe what kind…
This lesson combines many techniques: drawing, cutting and shaping with paper, painting waves and composition. I chose to do this lesson with an upper grade class but it’s suitable for much younger children as well. Supplies: Brown, black, white and gray construction paper (I cut the white, black and gray paper in 4″ x 6″
A ton of free printable worksheets for kindergarten you'll love to use in your class or at home. Fun kindergarten worksheets to download!
A collaborative blog by Pre K and Kindergarten specialists. Child growth and development, information, free printables.
I took photographs of the students and used a computer drawing program to convert them to high contrast image. The portrait image was tra...
Students learn how to practice drawing quick rectangular shapes and paint warm and cool colors into those shapes using Paul Klee art inspiration and
"Find someone who..." ist eine tolle Gruppenaktivität, bei der die Schüler zum Sprechen angeregt werden. Die "Summer Break Edition" eignet sich perfekt als Ice-
We had a blast with these Gideon activities for kids, they especially loved our craft this week.
Summer Packet Send home this Summer Packet at the end of the year for parents and students to work on during the summer, if they choose. Many parents
This is a pretty spring craft for kids. Free printable hummingbird template available for painting, coloring, mixed media and more.
Two Points: This is MY method, and not necessarily right for you, your teaching or care philosophy, your set-up, or your students. Curriculum participation by my students is VOLUNTARY. I invite them to participate, but if they choose not to, then that is fine. I usually offer them a choice of a few of the activities and let them decide where we start and where we go. An engaged child learns, a dis-engaged child rebels. The 3-year rotating curriculum is theme based. Some times we stick to the plan, but usually I observe what they are interested in learning about, what they are asking questions about, and suggest up to three different themes they can choose from for us to study. I make my own 3-year rotating curriculum for many reasons: Packaged curriculum is often only one year. Since I teach for 3 years, this would be redundant. Most packaged curriculum focuses on skills my students master early. My 2s count to 20, know 11 colors, know most of their phonics, uppercase and lowercase letters, 10 shapes and some of their numbers and I still have 3 years of curriculum to teach them. They often are worksheet intensive. My students usually are cognitively advanced from their fine motor skills. I have 4 year olds that still can't write well. If I had relied on worksheets for the last 2 years, there is no way they would have the skill sets they have. Worksheets are also not considered Developmentally Appropriate Practice [DAP] for children under the age of 8. We use them here for writing practice starting at age 4. [Yes, worksheet-intensive public schools are not using DAP for kindy through 3rd grade!] They can be expensive. If you are purchasing worksheets, why would you spend even $1 a week/$52 a year when you can purchase a 400 page Scholastic preschool workbook from Sam's Club for $8 that covers probably more material, is most likely aligned with the public school expectations, and is colorful. Colored copies are NOT affordable to make from packaged curriculum. Most [ALL!] preschool learning should be interactive. Pinterest is a better source for ideas. My students change every time I do a theme. I have to be able to tweak it to the interests and capabilities of those currently in my care. Plus, I'll find more interesting activities on Pinterest, have an idea for a new game, etc. It's a constant evolution to keep my curriculum relevant to our current group, situation and resources. However, curriculum planning and creation is very time consuming. Even with older curriculum I spend several hours going over it prior to teaching - updating, creating new materials, purchasing and setting new classroom decorations. While I have had my 3 year curriculum, this year I found myself wanting a more specific schedule to focus on specific skill sets for this particular group of children. Most of these skills can be incorporated into our themed curriculum, or they take 5 minute sessions to pop into our day. I have two groups, the younger preschoolers are 2-3 years old and the older ones are 4-5 years old, all at the same developmental and skill set level within their group. This makes it easier, as I can tailor everything to just 2 groups. If I were to have additional levels of children, then it would be tailored to each level. Children here are taught at their developmental level, not age. Asychronastic development is normal, so I may be teaching a child at various levels depending upon the subject matter. For the younger preschoolers, I came up with this structure. For the older pre-k students, I came up with this one. For instance, both of them have Measurement & Comparison on Friday for Reasoning. However, for the younger students, this would be a more/less, longer/shorter, big/little, etc. activity, while the older students would be measuring with rulers, yardsticks, tape measures, measuring cups, unit blocks, foot steps or themed units, and graphing the measurements to compare. Same skill set, differentiated at vastly different levels. Even this needs conditional tweaking. All the pre-k's know how to spell their last names now, so that is no longer a relevant skill activity for music and will be changed out. In another post I'll get into the curriculum components and the importance of each. For instance, how counting on Friday teaches 1-to-1 correspondence and creating method processes for counting groups of objects. CLICK PICTURES TO VIEW LARGER I use this MS Word template, available for FREE on TPT, for curriculum planning. Often, the daily skill sets above are either already incorporated, or can easily be incorporated, into the theme planning. For an example of a completed curriculum unit, check out our Owls Theme. Each monthly theme is broken down into 4 sub-themes. For instance: SPACE Astronauts & Rockets The Universe Our Solar System Aliens & Robots We also have a musical component, often classical, and an art component, often a master, and Spanish vocabulary component that we incorporate. This planning form may not include all games, file folder games, manipulatives, room-set up, etc. that I utilize. For those of you trained in curriculum creation, I do NOT do a full curriculum development for each activity. With having these children usually from infant to school-age, I keep an internal evaluation of progression and plan out only weekly learning objectives. Since I am creating the activities for my personal use, I do not need to create written procedures and evaluations. My curriculum is stored currently in file folders in a large office bookcase unit. I would like to get it into boxes so that I could have EVERY theme-related item, including dress-up, room set-up, manipulatives, etc. together for an easy pull. File boxes will most likely be the easiest, but they do take up a lot of space. In each file some of the things I probably have: Completed planning sheets All the books I own for that theme Flannel board Sentence and word walls File folder games Samples of previous crafts DVDs CDs Coloring pages Mini-book(s) Build-a-[theme item] game Curriculum creation is one of my great joys. I love the research and compilation, the creativity and excitement of bringing something fun and educational to my students. Learning is rarely linear. Children take developmental leaps, sometimes in odd directions. As a teacher, it is important that I keep each one challenged without pushing or inhibiting their growth, and that takes constant evaluation and a good eye for when those leaps happen so that we can move on to a higher level of instruction. When we do an activity, I constantly question if they WANT to do another round, another activity, and I usually cut them off while they are still engaged. I want them wanting more, and they will usually ask if they can continue. One of the most important desires and abilities I can instill in them is that of self-directed learning. So as they choose to go off with their rulers after we've spent several minutes doing a measuring activity, conferring between themselves as to procedures and what to measure next, I step back and let them. They know I am here as a resource, rather than an intrusive director. It is my job to ensure that when I invite my students to learn, they glow with excitement and anticipation of a fun, interactive, playful time. The results, so far, have been astounding. A few of my complete curriculum units are available through my TPT store. Apples Dental Ice Cream Penguins Rainbows St. Patrick's Day Valentine's Follow Connie -'s board Classroom on Pinterest. Tags: preschool, child care, pre-k, curriculum, development, teaching, education, homeschooling, homeschool, home, school, preschool curriculum development, planning
Flowers, insects, and sunshine! Just in time for the month of May, and these Transitional Kindergarten May Worksheets! These printables have been a life saver for me! In the midst of distance learning, I have been sending these electronically to my parents to help my TK students continue their learning at home. You can also...
Geometric Art
I LOVE these flowers!!! I also think this may be my new favorite art lesson to teach! 2nd Graders did such a fabulous job creating them– SO proud of their work!! Step-by-step directions with…
Inside: Nazca Lines craft for kids learning about Peruvian culture and history. It’s Hispanic Heritage Month, 2017! At the end of this post, find our Multicultural Kid Blogs HHM giveaway for some fun prizes. Today I’m sharing an exploratory Nazca lines craft. The project gives hands-on feel for these marvels of Peru, and how they were
FREE geography matching activity with the 7 continents of the world. Perfect for toddlers, preschoolers and kindergarten to introduce the continents.
Knowing that so many of us are teaching and creating remotely, I thought it would be fun to do a little art teacherin' online. I shared yesterday all of the resources of mine that are free and able for you to use if you need to prepare art lessons for at home artists. However, I wanted to create something fresh and new and do a little LIVE art teaching as well. So...here's what I came up with: Robot Week! What's Robot Week? Well, it will be a daily dose of creating centered around the theme of Robots. I'll kick it off on Monday this this lesson that I'll be doing LIVE but I will also attempt to archive to my YouTube channel. For this first LIVE, I'll probably go for about 30-45 minutes. We'll just play it by ear. If you and your young artists can make it, great! You can join me on my Facebook page here or on my Instagram here! Big thanks to our sponsor Dixon Ticonderoga for joining the fun! Free How to draw Robots resource for you! To practice, inspire or color! In my art room, we call these Idea Sheets. This one is yours here! Mitch said I should make y'all a coloring sheet...so here you go! On Tuesday, I won't be live but I will be posting a video on how to create robots that look more three-dimensional on my YouTube channel! Again, simple supplies can be used or swapped out for whatever you have on hand. I am super stoked about this one, stay tuned! I know we probably all have a couple of cereal or snack boxes laying around. For that reason, why not try your hand at a collagraph rubbing? It's when you cut and glue shapes to a surface, lay a piece of paper on top and then, using a "sleeping" crayon (one on its side), rub over your design. I then added a watercolor wash to some of mine! It's a Build-Your-Own-Bot kind of Wednesday! What to do with that cereal box collage? Well, on Thursday, I'll show you how to cover it in foil and make a print with just markers and water! Oh yeah, this one's magical! On the final day of Robot Week, we'll make a collage with one of my favorite papers to collage with: business envelopes! They have the coolest patterns and designs. I do hope you'll join the fun! If you do, I would love to see what you and your awesome artists create. You can email me your images at [email protected] and I'll try to feature them right here!
If you are wanting to teach kids about countries around the world this is a fun, free printable to teach kids about 18 countries - perfect for preschool, kindergarten, 1st grade, 2nd grade, and 3rd gr
