This totally free Preschool Assessment Printable is exactly what you need to assess your preschooler's abilities. This set is a great starting point for kids starting at the age of three.

Colorful inspiration for your circle time routine I am so blessed each day by the folks over at Teach Preschool on Facebook! They are always giving me great ideas and when I hear of something really cool, I like to try it out. A few months ago, we were sharing ideas for sitting in circle

Yes, ANOTHER free printable this week. I know, if I could pinch you from here I would; free stuff is so dreamy! This is a quick matching manners worksheet I made tonight as a supplement to a Manner…

Creating A Classroom Community Through Art Part 1 Red, yellow, and blue are great alone, but when you mix them you create something beautiful. This is how lasting friendships are formed. Two individuals coming together to create something beautiful - FRIENDSHIP. The children pick a friend to work with and were given a large sheet of paper to decorate. We used tempera paint (red, yellow, blue), flannel sheets, and plastic plates. We diluted the paint with water to make it easier for it to pass through the flannel sheet. The children then placed one hand in one of the primary colors, and made handprints on the table. "What does the paint feel like on your hands?" "What do you think will happen if you hold hands and mix your colors?" "Can you create that color again?" "How many different colors can you make?" How can you make that color brighter?" Holding Hands to Mix Colors Color Mixing: Yellow + Blue = Green Color Mixing: Red + Blue = Purple One of the final art pieces. This is a working piece of art that the children will continue to add to, and extend their ideas. More to come very soon!

Have you ever been on a sound hunt? Your kids will love this simple & fun sound scavenger hunt! It's great for toddlers & preschoolers on up!

1-2-3 Come Do Some Constitution Day Activities With Me With a federal mandate that any schools accepting federal funds, need to do some educational activity associated with the Constitution, on September 17th, I wanted to think up something that my Y5’s could easily understand. With everything else that teachers have to cover, I also wanted what we did to be something simple and especially relevant to them. This packet does exactly that, because I've tied it into classroom management: jobs of students and teachers, as well as the rules and regulations they must follow. These activities not only tie in with the Constitution, they are quick and easy to implement. Children can wrap their heads around these Constitutional comparisons and the result will be a more caring classroom climate, with less inappropriate behavior. The Constitution is a document that serves as the foundation of American government. To help explain this to students, make a document of jobs as well as rules for your classroom and have all of the children sign it. The Constitution is broken up into 3 branches. (Legislative, Executive, and Judicial) They all have specific jobs. Like wise, teachers and students have jobs. First, discuss and make a list of all the jobs and responsibilities of a good student. Then make up a list of jobs (responsibilities) for teachers. I’ve included headers for you to put up on your board, so that you can brainstorm with your students and write things under the appropriate heading. Children’s discussion will often involve what they think the qualities of a good student and good teacher are. I’m sure some of their ideas will make you smile. ( “Teachers need to smell nice.” ) Write students’ ideas on the board. I’ve included a completed list of things we thought of to help you, as well as blank templates to fill in your own. I’d enjoy seeing what your kiddos come up with. You can e-mail me at: [email protected] Hang up your lists on a bulletin board. There’s also a poster that you can put in the middle of your board, after all of your students have signed it. Next, discuss your rules. Because students have been in school for several weeks, you’ve hopefully have already established a list of rules with them. If you don't have a set of rules posted, click on the link for my simple rules poster. Review the rules and make a list of them on the board. (Tie this in with the Constitution, as our country also has rules, which are laws that people must follow.) Discuss how things are going . Is everyone following the rules? Are they good rules; fair rules; necessary? Do you need to change, modify, or add any rules? (Tie this in with the Constitution by briefly explaining the amendments to the Constitution.) I've included a writing prompt page where students can jot down 3 reasons why doing their job and following rules is important. What are the consequences of not following the rules? What do they think would happen if there were no rules to follow and everyone adopted an “anything goes” attitude? (Briefly discuss the correlation of this to the Constitution’s checks, balances and punishment for breaking laws.) An easy way to make your classroom constitution is to make a social contract. Head your poster: “We the (kindergarten) students of (Orchard Trails Elementary) promise to . . .” and then list what students feel are important promises (rules, jobs and responsibilities). Have each child sign the poster. (Remember to have new students sign it too.) This is now a working document (like the Constitution). Discuss how signing something is a big deal. This is binding. Even young children understand the importance of a promise and following through. (“But you promised . . .) If the class as a whole, or an individual student, is not keeping their promises per the terms of your social contract, refer to the poster and ask: “Did you promise to follow the rules, be a good listener, be kind to one another? etc.” (Obviously they did.) After thy take responsibility for their actions then ask: “What would have been a better choice? What should happen now?” Click on the link to view/download the Constitution Day Jobs & Rules Packet. I found a cute social contract over at Corner Character blog spot. I like how she wrote each promise in a different color marker and then had students add their painted handprint to the side of the chart, adding their names when the paint dried. I designed my own social contract, tracing my students' hands on a variety of colors of construction paper. I glued our "promise poster" to the center of a piece of tag board, then "framed" it with the colorful prints. For more accountability, have children sign their own names, which makes them feel important & more accountable. For added pizzazz, when school pictures come back, copy, cut & glue one to each child's hand. Our social contract has been so successful, that I decided to share it in a "School Rules Classroom Management" packet. Click on the link to check it out. Follow up these activities by reading “We the Kids” by David Catrow. He makes understanding the Preamble to the Constitution accessible to children in a fun and humorous way. A glossary of terms and a foreword by the artist are also included. Since the Preamble is one of the most famous and familiar parts of the Constitution, I’ve included several trace and write worksheets in the packet. I find that a short video is often the best way to review and get more information into my students’ minds. A nice way to end your day is to choose a short video from this American history website. The first one is only 4 minutes, another on the Founding Fathers is 3 minutes and a final one entitled America Gets A Constitution is 4 minutes. They are easy for little ones to understand and include some good background information. Thanks for visiting. Time to go watch the Detroit Lions hopefully win a football game! "If you want to know where your heart is, go to where your mind goes when it wanders." -Unknown

Paint Paddles are NOT just for mixing paint. :) I Decided to make some Bible Facts Review Sticks. These are based off something I saw on Pinterest. (BTW, I love Pinterest!!!) I have by no means exhausted ALL the Bible Facts, List, People, etc. Matter-of-Fact, I need to finish the one I am making for the Kings of Israel, The Prophets of both the Northern and Southern Nations, The Beatitudes, Acts of Worship, Parables, Jesus Attributes, etc. These will be used as an EAA...for the first few weeks....However, I am probably going to be using them as I teach on the topics, too. Letting each one of the Kiddos ADD a piece as we talk about the subject. I am also considering using this method as a WAY of telling the Bible Story....If I do, You will see it here on the website. Enough of my rambling.....This is how I made these. I purchased these LARGER paddles for $0.28 each at Walmart. Then, I printed and laminated pictures from our Bible Flip Facts Charts....making sure to make ONE picture for the HEADER pic that I glued on the TOP of the paddle. I then attached the prickly side of adhesive VELCRO strips to the paddle. I then attached the soft side to the pics. My thoughts being... LITTLE HANDS would be holding the pictures and I did not want them to get stuck by the prickly Velcro. It really did not take much time to make these....Cutting out the little pieces took the longest time....but, I can "watch" more like LISTEN to a movie or the news while cutting out laminated items. :) Days Of Creation Paddle Putting It In Order. This is how we will use the Review Sticks. I will be handing the KIDDOS a Paint Paddle with all the Velcro pieces in a baggie. Then they will have to PUT the pieces on the Paint Paddle in the CORRECT ORDER. (With my help and encouragement, of course.) Completed! These are ready to go for SUNDAY. We will be using them as this weeks EAA!!!!! I love it when I get to give the KIDDOS something "NEW" to do. And, anything that helps them LEARN their Bible Facts!!!!! Hope you are excited about this FUN, EASY and CHEAP way to help our KIDDOS learn their Bible FACTS! Blessings, Ronda

Send students home from their first day of school with a special name crown. Encourage family communication and begin building a classroom community as children start to learn each other's names.

I am constantly on the hunt for any fun ways to get my students excited about therapy, especially articulation. I have a love/hate relationship with articulation therapy. There is so much room for creativity when planning your sessions, but the games and crafts can get old quick. (This post contains Amazon Affiliate links which means if you purchase something from my link, I may get a few bucks!) For years I have been playing a game called Kaboom! If you haven't heard of it, it is simply a game that requires popsicle sticks and a container. Target words are written on the popsicle sticks. Students take turns choosing a stick out of the container (I use a recycled 32oz yogurt container.) If they say their word correctly, they keep the stick. If they don't they put it back. (Now here comes the fun part!) If they pick a stick that says KABOOM on it, they have to yell KABOOM and put all their sticks back. So simple, right? But I swear the kids LOVE this game and you can elicit SO many good speech sounds in a short amount of time... data win!! I did not come up with this game, another fabulously creative teacher did, but I have seen this game used for letters, sight words, addition facts... anything! The best part about this game is that it can be used for SO many goals. The bad part about this game was that I was purchasing way too many sticks and running out of room to store them. You can check out my blog post about this game from 2013 here. This was when I first started using the game and my baggie method of organizing the popsicle sticks were working. Throw in some mixed articulation groups and 7 different Kaboom game versions and that method quickly failed me. So flash forward to 3 years later and I finally came up with a way to organize my sticks. In fact, the new and improved game I now call, KAPOW! Only requires 25-30 sticks. I created target pictures/cards that I organize in a binder and attach to the sticks with velcro. (I bought a giant roll of velcro dots on Amazon for under $15)The game can be changed in a snap depending on what goal you are addressing. I am so excited to have this new and improved version of the game and I am very excited to share it with you! You can download KAPOW from my TpT store by clicking, here!

Check out this list of tools that will help you organize differentiated instruction in your classroom.

I could never say enough positive things about using a work box system in the classroom-- for any child. I've used them with typically developing peers in the classroom as well and it's an amazing way

We have been working hard to learn our names! I have a helper of the day. So we cycle through everyone during the month. The first time we did King and Queen. Each person was the king or queen of the day. They got to wear a crown and cape. The crown was a paper one that they took home at the end of the day. We made a web of all their favorite things. We practiced asking and answering questions. Then everyone made a page for their book. So fun and cute. I took pictures of them all in the cape and crown for the cover. As we did this we added their name to the word wall. The second time through we did a name chart. We added names to this according to their first letter of their name. I did the first letter and different color than the rest so that they could really see their beginning letter. I put a box around all the ones that began with the same letter. Picture coming soon. The third time through did this graph. I cut 3 inch strips of cardstock. I made this chart. Everyday I had the helper come up to the front of the class and I wrote their name on a strip of their choice. Then I cut it up. Letter by letter. They would say "Oh No, It's broken" Then the helper would pick up the pieces and we glued them back together on the chart. I would then pick some names on the chart and we would compare ....Whose name had fewer and more letters than theirs. It really got them talking about their names more and the letters in them. Next time through we will be making "My book of Friends" The kids will actually cut up each name and glue it together to make a book of friends. Picture coming soon!

Hi all! Happy Monday! It's Amber from Mrs. Masters Kinder Love and I'm so happy to be sharing with you today! I can't believe that I'm already planning for the end of the school year! My head has been spinning with all the amazing ideas I see on blogs, Pinterest and instagram! Today I am sharing 5 ideas with you that I think are AMAZINGLY, AWESOME and they DO NOT break the bank!! Enjoy!! Class Pic Collage I love this idea from Jo's PhotoMojo! A lot of us have done this individually with students and sent it home for each child's family at the end of the school year. BUT this would be such a memorable piece for students to look back on when they are older and remember each of their classmates! Slideshow If you are anything like me, you take a million pictures of your kids throughout the year, and then don't really know what to do with all of them at the end of the year. Then you end up with thousands of pics on your computer that are slightly (or majorly) unorganized and just a bit of a mess. By creating a slideshow, you pick out the most memorable pictures of the year. Then you don't have to feel bad about getting rid of the 500 that you probably don't need. This idea from The Littlest Scholars is a thoughtful gift for students and families! QR Code Gift Cards! Can I just say GENIUS!! This idea from FlapJack is an easy twist on making video slideshows for your kids! You can create cards with QR codes to the videos that you've created throughout the school year! It's easier and much cheaper than buying cd's for every student in class! You can give each student a few cards to share with their families! Name Frames I am absolutely in love with these name frames from Mrs. MeGown's 2nd Grade Safari! I love the process that she used by having her students write down a word to describe each person in the class! She even included it as a freebie! You can grab her freebie and read all about this gift here! You can find frames for a dollar a piece at the Dollar Tree! Such a meaningful gift that students will be able to enjoy for years to come! Beach Balls! I've seen a couple different things you can do with beach balls for the end of the school year. The first is just using it as a fabulous/inexpensive summer gift! Check out Read Write Sing A Kindergarten Story blog post and pick up the free tags!! I have also seen this idea floating around Pinterest and think it's such a cute take on the memory book. Mrs. Patton's Patch explains it all here!! Each student gets a beach ball. You can write "We had a ball in ____ grade!" in Sharpie. Students can sign their names to the beach balls! This idea goes perfect with the popular "Beach Party" theme on the last day! Here's the great news....you can get 12 pack of beach balls for about $7.00 on Amazon!! I hope you were able to find a few fabulous ideas to get you thinking about the end of the year! Have a wonderful week!

Have you ever wondered how to mail something crazy? I got so excited when I realized there was a whole bunch of weird things that you can mail someone

considerate adj: showing concern for the rights and feelings of others Being considerate is being polite and caring. People like it when you’re considerate of their feelings. We could all pro…

Looking for a fun kids summer printable craft to do with your kids? This Snorkel Diver Craft Printable is the perfect summer activity to do inside.

Letter C worksheets and printables for preschool and kindergarten students. Our free letter C preschool printables cover important literacy skills and standards such as letter recognition, tracing, handwriting, ASL alphabet, uppercase and lowercase letter formation,

We have had a lot of fun doing our Stone Soup Unit with our first (of what I hope to be many) lap book! Mr. T has learned all sorts of new things! We made St(...)

This is a great craft for a study of Paul's missionary journeys or the Great Commission, or use it when learning about missionaries supported by your church. Homeschoolers could use it when studying about missionaries throughout history. Included are templates for the suitcase and handles and a smal...

Here is a collection of the absolute best rhyming songs for kids! They're perfect songs to teach rhyming in home or in the classroom.

These handprint lilies are so beautiful and surprisingly easy to make! They'd make such a thoughtful handmade gift idea for Mother's Day if you make a small bouquet and tie them together with a ribbon. Or you could make a bouquet of handprint Easter lilies if you use white paper. Can Easter lilies be pink? I think they're just white? Either way, they're adorable for spring and they're a wonderful low mess craft to make with the kids! I had such an awesome helper when I made these paper handprint lilies! My spunky 5 year old loves crafts, and she

Have you ever had a class that just tried your patience day after day? Have you ever felt like you could walk away from teaching forever tom...

A sweet twist on worry stones for kids! These hearts are easy to make and perfect for the first day of school.

Teaching little learners to write their own name is one of the basic skills parents, preschool and kindergarten teachers alike are always looking for ways to practice. There are so many name activities out there to help little ones learn their own name. But name tracing is one of the easiest ways to get learners

Hi all! Sorry I've been M.I.A., but WOW can the end of the year get the best of you! I have been getting several e-mails about how I organize all of our classroom materials. I took pictures in March when we packed up our March materials and then didn't have a chance to post until

Preschoolers bite for a variety of reasons. Whatever the reason, parents are usually concerned with this behavior and want to encourage their children to act differently. Check out this post for 5 actions a concerned parent should take if your preschooler is biting others.

Jack is your standard three year old...crazy about superheros and rockets, loves to throw things, and can run around until you're exhausted ten times over. Yes, my hands are extremely full but so is my

A great theme to start off the new school year is All About Me/Family/Feelings/Friends! There are so many things you can do and talk about. All kids get excited talking about their families and want to tell you all the fun things that happen at their house. Use this time at the beginning of the year to really connect with your students and you can find out a lot of their strengths and weaknesses this way. BOOKS! I Like Me - Nancy Carlson When I Get Bigger - Mercer Mayer What's Inside My Body - DK Publishing I Like Myself - Karen Beaumont All By Myself - Mercer Mayer I Was So Mad - Mercer Mayer The Feelings Book - Todd Parr CIRCLE TIME! 1. Clap out the syllables in each students names. Who has the most? 2. Ask each student to think of a word that rhymes with "ME". Use all the words they come up with to create a silly class poem... Example: This poem is about ME! One day I climbed a TREE, In the tree, I found a BEE He stung me on my KNEE! My sister wanted to SEE But she is only THREE She looked and said ,"Oh GEE! That's the story of ME and the BEE that stung me on my KNEE! 3. Have children bring in a few pictures of their family to share with the class 4. Talk about the differences in people....such as hair color, eye color, boy/girl, etc Graph those things with your class: 5. Talk about feelings and go around the circle and ask how each child feels that day. We used Happy/Sad pictures on a chart that the kids would put under their picture each day when they came to school, so we would know if they were having a good or bad day. 6. Talk about fun things to do inside and outside with your family. Look in magazines or online for pictures of families doing different activities. I cut them out and laminated them and added velcro to use at our circle time flannel board. Give a picture to each child and make up a poem to go with the pictures you have. As you read the poem and they hear the activity on their card they can bring it up and place it on the flannel board. Here is my poem to go with my pictures: All families like to have fun, This one likes to swim in the sun. Another one likes to camp outside, And this one likes to take a bike ride. Reading a book is a nice thing to do, Grandpa blowing bubbles is a lot of fun too! One family is really wishing that they can do a lot of fishing! Sweeping, washing, dusting and mopping Cleaning sure keeps this family hopping! Sisters fixing a tasty treat, YUM, that sure looks good to eat! These two brothers never get bored, they have too much fun on their skateboard. This last family is cooking some stew, Do you think they'll make enough for YOU?! ART PROJECTS 1. The People in My House Copy and cut out a bunch of clipart pictures of a woman, man, boy and girl (you can also do pet pics too if desired) During center time, call a student over and have them pic out a picture for each person that lives in their house. They may have grandparents or other aunts and uncles living with them, so make sure they tell you the names of each person so you can write it on the picture. Once they have all their people...lay those aside for later. You can either draw a big house on a pic of easel paper or let them draw their house. Make sure they add windows and a door. Let them paint their house at the easel. Once it is all painted and the paint is still wet. Have them add their people to their picture. 2. Life-size ME! Use white bulletin board paper. Have each student lay down on the paper and trace their outline. Have them lay on the floor and color their clothes like they are wearing that day and add their hair and facial features. Cut out their bodies and put up in the hallway by your classroom. 3. X-Ray of My BONES! Use a black piece of construction paper to trace an arm, foot, or chest of each child. Let them pick which x-ray they would like to make. Once traced, let them glue bones (Q-tips...can cut some in half too for smaller bones) onto their x-ray. Once they are all dry.....you can use them in an area of your room that can be a doctor's office. They can pretend to take different x-rays of each others bones and see if anything is broken. 4. My FINGERPRINTS! At your art table, have an index card with each child's name on it. Have them find their name and then use stamp pads to put their fingerprints under their name. After the cards are dried.... put a few magnifying glasses at the table and let children study the prints. Explain that no two prints or are same...that everyone is special and unique with their very own set! 5. I'm so SMART! Ask each child to think of 4 things they can do really well. Write them down on a small paper like this: If they can, have them write their name at the bottom (or you can). Cut out some people shapes from manilla paper: Use templates like these and have them decide if they are a boy or girl. Let them pick colors of construction paper to trace the template on and cut out their clothes. Have them glue the clothes to their body and add hair and facial features. Last have them glue the list of 4 things they do best onto the front. Display these on a bulletin board or use for locker tags, etc. 6. We are Growing Flowers! Trace or paint child's hands (I showed both paint and construction paper hands). Cut them out. Trace child's feet onto green paper or we have painted them green before. Cut out. Paint their forearm and press onto paper. When dry...cut out. Put all the pieces together to create each child's flower. You can also glue their picture to the middle of the hand too. These make a great bulletin board! 7. Silly People Cut out a supply of eyes, noses, and mouths from magazines. Let the kid's sort through and glue them onto face shapes to create different people. Let them cut strips of paper for hair. Let them use lots of different ones until they find the ones they like best. The kids have a blast with this! CENTER ACTIVITIES! 1. BIRTHDAYS! Talk about the birthdays in your classroom and how you celebrate your special day. Find some pictures of birthday cakes online or in magazines. I laminated mine for longer use. Place the pictures and a bowl of candles at a table. Have the child match the correct number of candles to the corresponding birthday cake. 2. Expressions and Emotions Find great pictures of people's expressions and reactions online or in magazines. Laminate. Add these pictures and a mirror to a center. Have child pick a card and imitate the expression in the mirror. Let them make some of their own silly faces. Take pictures of some of their faces to use the next time. 3. Sponge People Draw a body shape onto a sponge and cut out. (This can be a little harder than it looks). Use permanent marker to add a face. Place several of these in your water table for kids to pretend it is them and their family or friends swimming or them taking a bath. You can add styrofoam trays to use for diving boards, or boats. Add whatever you think the kids would enjoy. 4. Patterning Use different people stamps and ink pads to stamp patterns onto paper.. 5. All About Me Books! At the beginning of the year, start making their books. During the first week or so, during centers, call each student over and fill out a sheet with them: (These are some that I use) Page 1 : Can they write their name at top? (All these questions will need 2 boxes for their answers - beginning of year and to re-do at end of the year) Where do you live? (address) What's your telephone number? What's your name (do they know first, middle, and last?) How old are you? Page 2 : Trace their hand under this poem: This is my hand, My hand will do, A thousand loving, things for you. And you will remember When I am tall That once my hand Was just this small! Page 3: Have child draw a self portrait of their head (eye and hair color) above this poem: There are millions of people All over the place But nobody else with exactly my face! Page 4 : Ask these questions: (You can add any you want) What sports do you like? What fruits? What animals? Colors? Cartoons? Etc...... Page 5 : Skip around the letters and circle the ones they know (have another page like this for end of year) Page 6: Skip around the numbers and circle ones they know. Also have them count as high as they can without help and post that number at the bottom. (2 copies of this also) Extra pages you can add during the year: When you do different themes, you can add a page such as : I went on a bear hunt and........ (let them tell you their story and then have them illustrate a pic for you. I saw pirates and they....... I'm proud to be an American because.... You can add all types of things to your books and then send home at the end of the year! I am sure there are many, many more things to be done with this...but this blog is getting long! I will leave you with a few little odds and ends ideas to throw into your theme! Puppets, Make Play-doh people, Blocks/Legos (to build their houses) Watercolor/paint pictures of family and friends coloring pages of people Colorforms or Magnetic Paper dolls Have fun getting to know your new students!

What a cool toddler science experiment! Check out the cool twist on this old classic and how to make this simple experiment into a lasting toddler activity.

Get to know your students and help them get to know each other this new school year with this printable All About Me poster. You can even fill out your information on one of the All About Me worksheets too so they can get to know you as well! Your students will love sharing fun things about themselves like what they want to be when they grow up, their favorite food, color, animal, and much more! All About Me Worksheet If your students want to make their All About Me worksheet even more unique and special, they can color and decorate the word 'Me!' too. This worksheet is great for toddlers, preschool, kindergarten, and 1st grade, but it can really be used for any grade level - elementary, middle school, or even high school. There are almost an endless number of ideas and ways you can use this All About Me activity sheet in the classroom at school, childcare and daycare, and church. It could be used as part of an All About Me book or journal. The worksheets from each of the kids could be strung together to create an All About Me banner or pennant that can be hung on a bulletin board for decoration. You could even incorporate them into a fun classroom game, and list goes on! The printable template is in a PDF format making it super easy and convenient to print. Not what you were looking for? Try these related ideas: all about me poster all about me worksheet all about me preschool all about me book all about me printable all about me ideas all about me bulletin board all about me banner all about me journal all about me kindergarten

These insect-themed printable puzzles contain 2 and 4 piece puzzles for preschoolers. This activity is great for toddlers working on visual perception too! Materials Required: Please note that affiliate links may be used in this

Teaching Habitats to your primary students will be a breeze with my collection of resources to help make your life easier. There's even a freebie!

The first week (ok, the first four weeks) of kindergarten are always hectic, crazy, fun, draining and...entertaining. My group has 2 weeks under their belts now....Zero the Hero will visit us for the first time on Tuesday! I know there are probably new kindergarten teachers everywhere wondering...what did I get myself into? =) It's ok, we all get it, don't panic! I can promise you they do calm down (a little) they do love you no matter how frazzled you are on the inside and they do LOVE everything you do for them. With that in mind, here are 5 things I could not have survived my first two weeks without: #1 These absolutely necessary posters were created by Peace, Love and Learning and she has them for FREE on her blog! Click on the pic to go to her blog...it's fabulous!!!! #2 Rules! Rules! Rules! We go over them every...single...day. Love Whole Brain Teaching! If you're interested you can get these cards FREE by clicking the picture. Sadly these card were created by me and the original file I created them with was corrupted on my computer...gah! I've had lots of requests to "modify" for individual use but I can't because the file is kapoot! =( This download is safe though!!! =) #3 Again a FREE download from Growing Kinders! It's a great discussion tool and helps kids identify above and below the line behavior. LOVE! #4 Candy? Prizes? Uh...no....all they want is to be cheered for! Look how nicely you lined up...hip hip hooray! Did you see how Susy helped Brian...seal of approval! Trust me....it's a high better than tootsie rolls! And again...FREE from Dr. Jean! #5 GoNoodle is a must because....they can't sit for longer than ten minutes! Get them up, move them around, cheer for them and you're good to go for another ten minutes. Best part....it's FREE (sensing a theme here?) Hope your first few weeks were as....entertaining as mine were!

The Charlotte Mason approach is very different to the Montessori approach. However, I love the Charlotte Mason focus on nature study and the significance of the 'atmosphere'. Miss Mason wrote “Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, a life.". Here are a few really lovely Charlotte Mason inspired learning spaces. Above the homeschooling room at Wildflowers and Marbles. Pyjama School Learning Space. These are good examples of setting up a home schooling space in a home, Charlotte Mason or otherwise. Farmhouse Schoolhouse - which has an amazing range of environments and materials, including some Montessori influences. You know I love this...

A great way to use recycled materials and save money in the classroom! I love dot dabbers and as I prepare for the up and coming preschool year, I have been making my list of things I need to restock. I use up dot dabbers pretty quickly so I added them to the list but then