Sensory Tub

     I've been looking for some different, fun, fine motor activities to use in my classroom.  I did some investigating and researching over the past few weeks and the sensory tub craze caught my eye.  Let's face it, kids love to play and they love all that little stuff that we love to throw away!  I found lots of sensory tub ideas on Pinterest and knew I had to make one.  Today was the test.  If it was successful, it will be a staple during my center time.  If it wasn't, time to move on and find something else!  Drum roll please.....HUGE HIT!!!!!  Now I'm probably going to live at the Target Dollar Spot and Dollar Tree.  It did take some time to put together, but it was well worth it!

This recipe is the same one that I use to dye pasta. I used a 10 pound bag of rice, you can definitely use more or less.  Mix together 1 teaspoon rubbing alcohol and 2 teaspoons of food coloring in the Ziploc bag.  Pour rice into bag and shake well.  (I divided the rice into 4 cups per Ziploc bag.)  Make sure all rice is evenly coated with the food coloring mixture.  Lay out on baking sheet or aluminum pie pan and dry out in sun for about an hour.  

You might need to add a drop or two of food coloring to make sure it is completely covered.  

I love color, so I made several bags and then mixed it all together in the tub.

This is not the best picture, but it has tons of stuff in there.  I put mirrors, candles, small diaper pens, bottles, rattles, alphabet beads,magnetic numbers,  play phones, brush combs, and some small manipulatives (house, pets, people) for them to find.

The trick was they could not pick up the items (except the mirrors) with their hands.  They had to use the large plastic
tweezers.  I was really surprised how well they did with this!   Next week they will use the All About Me Count sheet.  They will take the items out of the tub with the tweezers and write down how many items that they find on their sheet.

     This week I'm allowing them to explore and play before doing the "work" part of the activity.  Be on the look out for more upcoming sensory tubs!

If you take a teacher to Target...

 If you take a teacher to Target for one item, you know she has to take a quick peak at the Dollar Spot.  When she goes to the Dollar Spot, you know she will find

these fabulous little rugs!  Even though they were $2.50 she knew she could find a good use for them.  Thinking about what she could do with the rugs

she found these felt apple and leaves that could be used for counting, crafting, or sorting.  When she started thinking about counting she found these

cute little pumpkin cups.  Write the number on the cup and then use

these cute little erasers!  Counting can be a lot of work so little ones need something fun to do with their hand and help improve fine motor skills, so

she found these cute little pumpkin magnet and candy corn game that would do just the trick.  Speaking of tricks the teacher found these

glow in the dark spiders that could be used in a sensory box or just for fun.  This teacher likes to have fun

and thought that spider could be a lot of fun on a big web in the classroom, and the pin the nose on the pumpkin could be even more fun!  You know who is fun, Snoopy is Fun!  What could be more fun

than Snoopy puzzles!  Something to do when morning work is through.  Now that got this teacher thinking about working again and she spotted these

spider counters.  She bought the leaves last year and found so many uses for them, she just had to have the spiders too! All this thinking that Halloween is right around the corner made her think Thanksgiving is not that far away and low and behold there was the

cutest turkey hat!  The turkey hat was also in the $2.50 pin, but thought she needed to have it anyway.  Now if she was finding all these fabulous things at the Dollar Spot, what would the Dollar Tree have?  So, she made a quick trip to the Dollar Tree and found

these plastic leaves that would be perfect for sorting!  Well, all of these wonderful finds made this teacher think she
better get busy on her lesson plans, so she can put them all to good use!

     But you know once she starts working on those lesson plans, she will probably need to go back to Target!  If she goes back to Target, she will probably have to go back to the Dollar Spot! :0

   

Trying to Catch Up!

     I really need for life to slow down!  I feel like a hamster on the wheel that never gets off sometimes! I brought home lots of homework for the weekend and hopefully will get a lot accomplished and posted on the blog.  We've had some really nice temperatures this week which makes me want to decorate for fall, not do homework.  Maybe I can work both in... :)  I have to tell myself like I tell the kids, "when you get your work finished, you can play."  So here we go!

     Last week was a really short week for us, so we had to finish up a few things this week.  I'm always overlapping themes, but as Pete the Cat says, "It's all good."  It's amazing how you can tie some things together! LOL!  Most of these projects were started last week and then finished up the beginning of the week. 

      I really do spend a lot of time going over our supplies.  I really want them to know how to properly use them and to take care of them, so they will last at least until Christmas! :)  I read a book to go along with each tool, we do an activity to go along with it, and then color a page that we made into a book and put in our backpacks.  The little books were from an old Mailbox, and the pattern for the backpack is somewhere in the abyss.  I drew out a simple little pattern for them to cut out and piece together, and then we put the little book in the pocket.  The handle is ribbon.

We began our Cat in the Hat at Open House.  They made the hats on that day.  We painted the faces one day and then the next day finished them.  I love how they all have their own personality!  I saw this on Pinterest and then pieced it together from different patterns that I had in my files.

We had to squish to get them all in! :)

This group is working on a page in their Creation books.  There is a post from last year that has the completed Creation Books.

This was a center that we did this week.  I found this box of manipulatives when I was cleaning out my basement.  I think it was from an old curriculum many, many years ago.  They sorted the objects by color and then by attribute.  I have a plan for these little manipulatives that I hope to get on here this weekend!

Play Dough Center-  Number Stamp

The Letters on the Bus-  I used the little buses with letters on them to introduce the letters of the alphabet.  This is not all of them, but this was the only picture I took.  This is the tune to the Wheels on the Bus
The A on the bus goes "a", "a", "a",
"a.","a","a",   "a","a","a"
The A on the bus goes "a", "a", "a"
All through the town.

This idea came from Deanna Jump.  They cut out the bus and wheels, glued the first letter of the name on the bus and filled in the blanks.

     I'm hoping to get more up this weekend, so stay tuned!

     

Pete Rocking in His School Shoes

     Oh my goodness!  Pete the Cat was a HUGE, HUGE, hit.  They LOVE this story!  They wanted me to read it over and over and over again! :0  I'm in the process of making a class book with our first day of school adventure.  I still need to take a few pictures and finish typing everything up.  I'm checking to see what the copyright rule is before I put up our clues on the blog for our walk, so for now, I will give a different version. Pete the Cat lost his shoes, so we had to try to find them.  When we found his shoe we sang our little song.

Pete the Cat lost his pink shoe.  He was listening to a Bible story and singing a song about Jesus.  Where could it be?
CHAPEL ROOM
I'm planning on taking a picture on Monday when we have chapel to go in our book.
We are rocking in our chapel shoes
We are rocking in our chapel shoes
           We are rocking in our chapel shoes...HUH

Pete the Cat lost his yellow shoe when he was talking to a lady who always has  a smile on her face and was sitting in the office up front.  Where could the yellow shoe be?
MRS. LISA
We are rocking in Mrs. Lisa's shoes
We are rocking in Mrs. Lisa's shoes
            We are rocking in Mrs. Lisa's shoes...HUH

Pete the Cat lost his red shoe when he was getting out of the car this morning.  Then he stopped by the desk to play on the computer.  Who could he have lost his shoe with?
MRS. CRISTEN
We are rocking in Mrs. Cristen's shoes
We are rocking in Mrs. Cristen's shoes
           We are rocking in Mrs. Cristen's shoes...HUH

Pete the Cat liked Ms. Cristen's computer so much he wanted to go to the computer lab.  Where do you think he might have lost his green shoe?
COMPUTER LAB
(Our computer lab is not set up set, so we just took a picture with Mrs. Walter our computer teacher.)
We are rocking in our computer shoes
We are rocking in our computer shoes
We are rocking in our computer shoes...HUH

Pete the Cat went outside to slide and swing.  Where do you thing his blue shoe might be?
PLAYGROUND
It was raining on the first day of school, so we improvised!
We are rocking in our playground shoes
We are rocking in our playground shoes
We are rocking in our playground shoes..HUH

The next day!

Pete the Cat was playing in the construction paper, glue sticks, and scissors.  When he came out, he had lost his orange shoe!  Where do you think he might be?
RESOURCE ROOM WITH MRS. CONNIE
We are working in our resource room shoes
We are working in our resource room shoes
We are working in our resource shoes..HUH

Pete the Cat was singing and dancing and having a great time!  Where could he have lost his purple shoe?
MUSIC ROOM
We ar rocking in our music shoes
We are rocking in our music shoes
We are rocking in our music shoes..HUH

Pete the Cat was learning some new words in a different language!  I think they call it Spanish.  Where could he have lost his white shoe?
SPANISH
We have not yet had Spanish, but we were able to meet Señora Bennett.  We will take a picture on Monday for our book.
We are rocking in our Spanish shoes
We are rocking in our Spanish shoes
We are rocking in our Spanish shoes...HUH

I think we've found all of Pete's shoes, but where is Pete????

Pete was chilling in our classroom waiting to hear a story!  This was so much fun!  I cannot wait for them to read our class book!

Learning the Rules

    Whew!  What a busy week!  Even though it was a short week, I'm ready for the weekend!  This week we worked on learning the rules and routines.  We also learned the consequences for breaking the rules and our traffic light system.  We began learning how to use our school tools and how to treat books properly.  I'm going to try to break it down a little every day over the next few days to see what we've been doing this week!
     I read on Julie Lee's blog about how she used Mr. Potato Head to introduce working together in groups and as a community.  I thought that was a great idea and decided to make use Mr. Potato Head to teach the rules and then make a rule book to go along with it.  I'm going to try to attach it, but I'm having problems uploading everything!

To introduce the rules, I had Mr. Potato Head without any of the pieces.  We discussed how sad Mr. Potato Head was without anything and how he really couldn't do anything because he didn't have any parts!  Then we discussed what could make him better and what he needed to make him be the best potato that he could be!

I introduced each piece individually, and then we completed a page in our book to help us remember each rule.  We will continue to go over the rules everyday for the next couple of weeks.

I am definitely not an artist!  Fortunately I found Mr. Potato Head printables at play to learn printables!  Here is the teacher version that I printed and put on the poster board.  I cannot get the student version to load, and I just don't have the energy tonight, so I will try tomorrow!  Here are some students working on the individual pages.

After we finished each individual piece, we made a cover including all the pieces.

We also played with Mr. Potato Head in groups to help reinforce what we had learned.

I don't know why this is sideways!  This is the cover of our rule book.  This took us several days to complete, but they did a great job and hopefully will know the rules!

Another sideways pictures!  Finally remember to take a picture of the door!  Loved how this turned out!


Now, I am off to relax a little bit with House Hunters and then off to bed!  

New Year, New Room

     I can't believe it is time for a new school year!  I loved meeting all my new friends at Open House!  They are super duper cute, and I can't wait to get started tomorrow.  I forgot to take pictures of several things in the room, so hopefully, I can get those up tomorrow (depending on how exhausted I am!)

I've had the privilege of attending a few of Pat Leonard's seminars.  She is a rock star in the preschool world here in Georgia.  One of the activities that she has up as a free center is a number line.  I decided to do an alphabet and number line on the back of one of my cubbies.  On the pockets are the upper case letter and the lower case letters are on sticks with a Dr. Seuss hat.  I'm planning on changing the letters out thematically.  On the bottom pockets are dots to represent numbers, and on the hats are the numeral.  I'm going to introduce this the first week of school, so that when they are finished with their work they are able to do this.  Eventually, they will also have the option of reading books, but we have to learn how to properly use books! :)

Each student has the opportunity to be the Star Bellied Sneetch of the Week.  They take home a poster that is completed and returned back to school that is then hung up on this wall.  Everyday they have a special activity to do.

The Reading Center-  I did not realize you could see my mess in the background when I took this picture!  I made the red crates last year that they can sit on while reading.  I'll try to get a better angle tomorrow!

Calendar Wall-  I was so excited to actually find a Dr. Seuss calendar at Michael's this year!  

Our Class Wish List-  They take a fish off the wall to donate an item to the classroom.

Can't wait to put up our first craft!  We did the first part at Open House and will finish it up the first week of school.

I do not have room for a Word Wall, so we have a Word Door! :)  

Yikes!  I realized my o fell off the wall!  It should read Horton Hears a Helper

I'm off to finish getting ready for our first day tomorrow!  Can't wait!