I am excited to partner with Oak Meadow today to bring you this post on teaching kids to knit. Teaching your child to knit might sound a little daunting. It certainly did to me a few years ago when it was time to teach my son. I learned to knit myself when I was very
This can be used to teach the story of Jesus Transfiguration. ...
Teaching Honesty in the Classroom; character education; classroom community; honesty for kids
Wondering about the order for teaching letters to your little ones? I'm on it! I feel as though I am always writing about waiting to teach letter recognition. Wait and let little hands get strengthened by other activities. Wait until little minds have had ample time to hear different words and sounds. But a day
The ultimate guide to teaching toddlers scissor skills from the best blogs. Tips and easy practice activity ideas.
Today I'm excited to have Corrina from From Mrs. Allen's Teaching Files here to share a really fun and exciting activity to use when talking about self control. Self control is such a hard
I thought it was time to share some alphabet activities for preschoolers. Alphabet activities and How Wee Learn definitely seem to go hand in hand! I have shared with you oodles of letter activities before AND a (rather lengthy) post about why I don't actually suggest teaching letters in ABC order. But I have not
Crossing the midline activities for kids. What on earth are those? Sometimes in the educational world we start speaking a slightly different language than 'normal' people. Not that teachers aren't normal ... though ... you do need to be a little insane to work with small children all day long, don't you? Anyways. I had
These Jonah activities can be used in Christian Preschool programs and Sunday schools. Jonah Sequencing Print these story sequencing cards for
As a teacher, one of the things I get asked the MOST about is teaching kids to read. For some children, it comes so quickly and naturally. And for others... it doesn't. So this post is for the mama of one of those "others" (and I say that in a kidding and kind way, of
Wondering about the order for teaching letters to your little ones? I'm on it! I feel as though I am always writing about waiting to teach letter recognition. Wait and let little hands get strengthened by other activities. Wait until little minds have had ample time to hear different words and sounds. But a day
...a lot of frustration for parents and kids alike. Teaching kids patience is possible, though, and can even be done through fun activities.
Sin, sin, sin. We are just pressing through the Children’s Catechism and right now we want to make sure we have a grasp on what sin is, how it entered the world, and what the effect of it was in the garden.
Why we use the Montessori approach to the alphabet and language with our preschooler, plus three easy Montessori-inspired language activities.
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
Sometimes it is fabulous to have a trick or two up your sleeve for when you need a quick craft or activity to save the day. My ULTIMATE, Easy, No Cook Playdough Recipe is definitely one trick that needs to be up there friends. Five minutes to make, and lasts for 6 months! I am
Salad spinner art! How amazing are these Halloween cut outs using the @ikea_australia salad/lettuce spinner with their paints.Watch the magic unfold of these spinner patterns. We add some blutac on…
I am making this post because I couldn't find a tutorial ANYWHERE online. I visited my best friend a few weeks ago and her 3 year old had this book that her pre-school teachers made. Sawyer fell in LOVE with it, so I knew I had to make one for her. It was fairly simple once I had all of the supplies. To make it you will need: CD sleeves (Office Depot) 1" album rings (Hobby Lobby) reinforcement labels (Office Depot) Hole Punch Double Sided Tape Different materials for texture. I used: Silky-silk fabric Leathery-leather scraps in the jewelry making section at hobby lobby Bumpy-snakeskin scrapbook paper Crinkly-plastic that I removed from the CD sleeves Furry-fur in the craft section Foamy-foam sheets Scratchy-glittery foam sheet Rough-cardboard scrapbooking sheet I first (very carefully) removed the plastic from the CD sleeves. This was tedious because the paper rips easily. Once I had the plastic removed, I made three holes on the side of all the sleeves. I then put reinforcement stickers over the holes. Next I cut each texture to the size I needed to fit into the sleeve. I then put pieces of double sided tape on the back of the material and slid it into the sleeve. Then I taped the flap shut with clear packing tape. After I had all of the sleeves finished, I put them together with the album rings. I printed a label to go in the front sleeve, and that was it! I went through and wrote in sharpie each texture. I wanted to print cute ones, but the space is pretty small so I just wrote them. It's a HUGE hit! She has been playing with it for a few days now, and it's holding up well. I have gone back and reinforced some spots with more clear packing tape, but so far she's being pretty gentle with it! I hope this helps anyone who wants to make one of these for their little one!
Parable of the sower craft printable Jesus used parables to help us understand the lessons he was trying to teach. In the case of the parable of the sower, he used imagery people were very familiar with. We can use this parable to show children we can all have our own individual responses to the ... Read more
When you were a kid people told you "sticks and stones will break your bones but words will never hurt you." Wrong. The one word project...
Before you go running off to some other article that’s not talking about DooDoo and CaCa, hear us out: a teacher went viral on the internet after using balloons to teach her preschool students how to wipe their behinds.
This wee machine from John Lewis has been perfect for the girls as they each started to sew on a machine. Over the course of the last week I have been plagued with the phrase…’Can... Read The Post
Here is a sub lesson adapted from a handout in Ande Cook's Art Starters book called "A Fun Game." Basically, the artist is being asked t...
I usually start the year with kindergartners learning about and using lines. In previous years we have made line paintings and line sculptures with wire and pipecleaners. Another fun project we made was line windsocks by rolling up line paintings and adding tissue paper streamers. We’ve done line drawings (check out what my old blog used to look like before I moved it over to this website.) This year I was reminded by Cassie Stephens of a project I used … Read more... →
This is a guest post written by Kim! I hope you enjoy all of her encouragement and insight as she details a typical homeschool day with her two little ones. Find out more about Kim below. With two boys, three and five, our days are usually full of a lot of energy, a lot of noise, and a whole lot o
Warhol soup cans art project with easy step-by-step drawing guide. Your kids will love making their own Warhol soup cans!
Today was all about kangaroos, wallabies, and wallaroos! After teaching about them, we listened to the book Marsupial Sue by John Lithgow. I said listened to because the book comes with a CD of John Lithgow singing the story. The kids really enjoyed it, and it provided a wonderful lesson for them: Always be true to who you are. (Thanks for letting me borrow the book, mom!) And then after the story, the little girl whose grandma lives in Australia (I mentioned her in yesterday's post) had more surprises for us! She brought in Australian money and a real kangaroo hide! I have no idea how her grandmother got this, but it was very cool to see. All the kids had a turn at touching the soft furry side and the smooth leathery side. OK, now on to the art project. I found a coloring sheet of a kangaroo and joey. I cut out the mama and baby so the kids could color them. And then instead of using a paper pouch, I cut them out of felt and let the kids decorate them with glitter glue and sequins. I would have used all different colors of felt, but brown was the only color I had on hand. One girl made her initial (E) on the pouch. How clever! When they dried, the pouch was glued onto the mommy kangaroo, making sure to glue only the sides of it and not the top. That way the joey could fit right inside. As a special surprise, when I put these in the kids' mailboxes at the end of the day, I added a sucker to the pouch! Fun Fact: A kangaroo cannot run or walk on land because its back legs do not move separately. It can only hop. However, if the kangaroo is swimming, the legs can move independently!
Discover inspiring ideas on Your Crochet's free patterns blog. Read our post, 'How to Teach a Child and 10 Easy Crochet Projects for Kids or Newbies'.
Can boys love handicrafts as much as girls? Absolutely! I have two girls and one boy and I can say without a doubt that boys can love handicrafts just as much as girls. I’ve also had thousands of families across the globe use the Rooted Childhood monthly collections to bring the joy of handicrafts into ... Read More about Handicrafts for Boys
The Armor of God can be a big subject to teach little ones. This printable activity will help make it more understandable and fun!
If your kids are interested in Pokémon, be excited! You will be amazed at the ways you can capitalize on their interest by homeschooling with Pokémon. Have you heard your kids talk about Pikachu, Squirtle, and Charizard? Do they discuss attacks, trainers, and “evolution”? Sounds like your kids might be into Pokémon—which is great for …
Scripture Reference: Acts 18:1-28 Suggested Emphasis: In whatever career or job we choose, we can play our part in helping others know about God. Memory Verse: “In all the work you are doing,…
Looking for fun kids yoga class ideas? This collection of yoga ideas is for your home, classroom, or studio. Each theme has 5 books + 5 yoga poses for kids.
30+ anti-racism activities for kids that you can do at home or in the classroom to help start the conversation of race and racism.
Teach kids about blueprints and architecture with this fun dream house project. Print out blueprints and create and design a house. STEM project idea
The Holy Spirit can be a daunting concept to convey to kids. Learn how to make this lesson come alive using the wind and a beautiful picture book.
When trouble is abound in your Preschool or Kindergarten classroom, Sandi is here to save the day! Sandi is an incredible, seasoned, and passionate Kindergarten teacher here to solve your preschool classroom management woes once and for all! Here are Sandi's 7 tips for making sure your Preschool classroom is running smooth and peaceful. Preschool
