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Showing posts with label free-play. Show all posts
Showing posts with label free-play. Show all posts

Saturday, April 13, 2013

Prep, Play, and Punch!

Welcome to my smorgasboard of RANDOM.
This week has been one of those weeks.  Unruly parent, allergies, a little pink eye, arts and crafts galore, meetings, and whole lot of fun!
Grab a cup of joe, I've got a lot to show ya! :)

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Next week begins our state wide testing.  Our *fun* test is called the FCAT.  I have kids I taught in K who are now in 3rd and 4th grade and I get the pleasure of proctoring a huge group of my kiddos next week.  One of my dear teacher buddies got a little crafty this week to really pump the kids up. 
Here are the fun crafts her 3rd graders made:



F "cats"
Here they wrote all their test-taking strategies!


Their "I'm going to 'ace' this test" letters to themselves.



And the one I love most... "I'm gonna knock the FCAT out of the park"  Each baseball has a letter from parents, siblings, friends, and former teachers with words of encouragement to each student.  I just love this idea!!! So stinkin' cute!
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This week was our second week spent learning about the ocean.  My group of kinders absolutely LOVED learning about the ocean this year and were all into it!  We made the usual crafts for each animal we learned about, did a lot of hands-on exploration, and learned about the layers of the ocean.  
As a culminating activity, I had the kiddos create their own aquarium.  I originally saw this adorable craft on Pinterest and I absolutely love how they turned out.  Each hand print is a different sea creature; fish, octopus, jellyfish, and one even made his hand print into a shark {but I forgot to snag that picture}.



I also turned my housekeeping area into Yummy Pizzeria.  I set up most of it this past week and still have a few fun things to add {pizza boxes, Velcro pizza parts so they can "make" the pizza according to their "orders," etc..}  The kids are BEYOND excited about getting to play in this center next week.  I love changing the center every month or so.  

You can find all the fun things needed to incorporate this center here:

I'm still working on fine-tuning my doctors office and then I will begin working on my grocery store, bakery, and vet office packets! :)  


Now I'm off to sip on this delicious drink!
To bad I will also be carrying Sinex, Clariton, nasal spray, and allergy eye drops with me! Oh the joys of being allergic to the outside world during spring time {my favorite season nonetheless}.
Happy Saturday, friends! :)


Thursday, December 27, 2012

a sweets coma

What an amazing Christmas break this has been for me so far.  Sure hope you are all able to enjoy it as well.  For the past five days I have been at my parent's house, two hours south of where I live.  Since my arrival I have done nothing but sit and eat. Then, after awhile of relaxing I eat some more.  
I am in a sweets coma and finding it difficult to get out! Not sure how I'm going to get my groove back come January 7.  Maybe I'll give Stella a call and see how she did it! ;)

Okay, so I lied stretched the truth a little.  I have been somewhat busy. I've been trying to figure out my new CAMEO {!!!!!!!!!!!} and creating some new goodies to use in my classroom {and share with you}!

Here's what I've been up to:
I have been wanting to "jazz-up" my free-choice centers for awhile.  Through the years I've added "real-life" inspired pieces to my "housekeeping" area and have loved changing housekeeping to something else like a "restaurant" or "doctor's office," SO...I came up with this:



TPT STORE
Pics to follow soon!

I'm in the process of creating the following as well:
Doctor's Office
Vet's Office
Bakery
Grocery Store
Shoe Store
Clothing Store
Beauty Shop


My kinders absolutely love when I change out the centers and now they will be super excited with all the 'souped-up' goodies!  The added bonus is they are learning WHILE playing.  Reading, writing, and math {along with social skills} are easily incorporated into each center! Love when that happens!

I also updated my Primary Number Sense Games Pack {added a more/less spinner...a lot, I know} and made a Mega Pack you can check out HERE!


What a great year 20-12 has been.  I'll be back later with a resolution and a holly bloggy linky!

Off to curl up and go back to my sweets coma!