Motivational Monday

Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement, nothing can be done without hope and confidence.

~Helen Keller

Storytime Sunday: Parts of the Body

This week, since I am returning from being on "blog leave" LOL, I am going to talk about a few things my son has been really into recently. He loves the book "From Head To Toe" by Eric Carle, and of course, I am a huge fan of Eric Carle. Since I realize I haven't even mentioned his name on this blog for a while, I decided to go ahead and go with it. He loves more than anything I think, watching mommy and daddy be silly and do all the animal movements. Some of which he will imitate, but mostly he would rather laugh at us. 

Also, though the doctor recommends no screen time under the age of 2, and we were pretty much following this rule up until a couple months ago if for no other reason than he wouldn't even look at the TV when we turned it on. But now, he is obsessed with Baby Einstein. He will even go to the TV stand, open the drawer and take out a video and bring it to one of us. Also, we have a long drive to and from his school/my work, so I have installed the portable DVD player in my car as well for him to watch.

Made out of an old pair of jeans :)

Anyways, one of the videos is Baby Da Vinci. It shows a hand drawing different body parts, kids displaying said body parts and them performing "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes." My son has recently taken to doing it as well. It is so funny to watch him try and do it by himself.  So in short, I highly recommend these 2 items for any baby/toddler!

Here he is totally fascinated by the baby on the screen!

Happy Reading/Watching ;)

CLICK HERE TO SEE WHERE I LINK UP

Wishlist Wednesday: Taming My Flock of Firsties

Hi! It's Beth Ann from Taming My Flock of Firsties.

I feel so fortunate to be asked by Lori to be a guest on her blog. 

{{{BLUSH}}}

When we first took on Guided Reading, so many years ago, our school bought so many books in every level. We have a book room with thousands of books. I wish that we could have all the books leveled the same. Some are Reading Recovery Levels and some are Fountas and Pinnell. When we go to borrow books, we have to look up the corresponding levels for each book. I know it's something little, but it would save me that little bit of time. :)


I would LOVE one of THESE pencil sharpeners.

I have seen them mentioned on many different blogs. My kids are obsessed, as I am sure they all are, with the electric pencil sharpener. It doesn't work correctly. We actually have two in one area. They have to begin with one and finish with the other. Not distracting at all!


Another thing I wish we had in our classroom was a real rug. Ours is actually carpet squares, duct taped together, into a big rectangle. I know it serves it's purpose and we get along just fine, but it would be so nice to sit on a real rug to have our Morning Meeting.


Thank you to Lori for letting me post. 
I had so much fun thinking of things I wanted. 

Bloggy Break

I am so sorry I have not posted anything new in a few days. I have been having some personal issues and also I have my Checkpoints due at work so I have been really busy. Still have some things to take care of, so I will not be posting anything new this week except Wishlist Wednesday. I have extended Thinky Linky Thursday for another week, so continue linking up and I will have the winners for these 2 weeks most viewed link next Thursday! Again, I apologize, but I am building up a cache of things to post when I do get back. Thanks for reading and for your continuous support!
PS. All the links you've been adding to Thinky Linky Thursday are wonderful!!!

Thinky Linky Thursday

The 3 top most viewed links from last week's Thinky Linky Thursday are: (It was a 3-way tie!)

Respect Heart Chain by Meaningful Mama

Valentine Playdough by H is for Homeschooling

Valentine's Day Sensory Bin by Teaching My Blessings

Such wonderful ideas! I'm telling you, each Thursday after reading all of your links, I swear, my lesson plan practically writes itself! And all the hearts just make me feel so warm inside. Also, just F.Y.I., I am pinning most of the ideas that are being linked up on my Pinterest boards. You can check them out HERE.

Have fun and link away!

Please grab the "featured" button if your link was featured this week :)

<a href="http://preschoolteacher81.blogspot.com/search/label/thinky%20linky%20thursday"><img alt="Preschool Teacher" src="http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r103/loriajones/ThinkyLinkyThursButton.jpg"/></a>

Clarification on Viruses

Hello again,
I would like to clarify some statements I made on an earlier post about viruses. I am not sure at all what happened or where the virus came from and I should not have mentioned any blog names until I was sure. The only thing I can say for sure is the message my browser gave me when going to my Blog Love page and even when I attempted to edit my Blog Love page was that there was a possible threat and that it mentioned Dreamlike Magic. Other than that, to my knowledge, none of the blogs I follow including Ms. Kerri and her Krazy Kindergarteners have any viruses. Please keep on visiting there as you normally would :)  Just be cautious, as I said, if you ever get a message about a threat anywhere on the internet. I would hate for anyone else to lose any of the content on their blogs. Thank you!
Lori
PS. Another downer... The Pinterest App for Android turned out to be a scam. They spam your alerts bar, so I got rid of it. I guess Google even took it off the Market. I am really bummed about it!

Wishlist Wednesday: Swamp Frog First Graders

This week's guest blogger is from Swamp Frog First Graders. Please "hop" on by her lovely blog to see wonderful learning ideas, educational discussion and lots of awesome freebies for you to print and use with your class!

Hello Everyone!

I'm Heidi from "Swamp Frog First Graders" blog.

 I'm so excited to be a guest blog posting for Wishlist Wednesday on Cachey Mama's Classroom today!

I enjoy creating math games for adding, subtracting, and more with things my son used to love to play with as a young child....(and so we bought a ton of them)

 and now he's grown and I NEED to find a use for them!

My kiddos LOVE putting together Mr. Potato Head 

even when they have to do math to do it :)

I found patterns for Mr. Potato Head at "play2learnprintables.com"

It's a great pdf pattern for a simple game of rolling the die, counting the pips, and adding the body parts to the potato head :)  I ran them in color on cardstock and laminated them before I cut them out.  

I also have a box of Mr. Potato Head game pieces that some of my firstie friends get to play the Roll a Mr. Potato Head game with .... luck of the draw or best behavior...hmmm.  

I've added a twist for my firsties by having them use two 10-sided dice.  I had to manipulate the code sheet to include all the number combinations, but it seems to work.  I added things like: roll a 14, loose a turn.  Roll a 18, get an extra roll.  Roll a 1 or a 6, choose an arm.  Roll a 2 or a 17, choose a mouth.  

I also have a code card for using two 6-sided dice. 

 Same idea....just adding two numbers for each body part from the Mr. Potato Head printable.

I don't remember who came up with the recording sheet that my firsties write out their number sentences on.  I'm sure it was one of my wonderful team mates 

or maybe...a crafty teachers from

 the "First Grade Teachers in TN" blog....but it's not a necessity.  

You could always have them record their rolls on a dry erase board.

If you want the sheet, you can download it HERE.

Hope you enjoy Mr. Potato Head!

Hop on over to the swamp if you get a chance!  

I'd love to share some more ideas with you!

Cheers,

Heidi

TAG, you're it!

So I've been tagged by Herding Kats in Kindergarten. There are like a million rules to this game, LOL! Here goes:


Here are the rules for playing this game of tag:
1. You must post the rules.
2. Post 12 fun facts about yourself on the blog post.
3. Answer the questions the "Tagger" sent you in their post, then create 12 new questions for the people you tag.
4. Tag 12 people and link them on your post.
5. Let them know they've been tagged!


12 Fun Facts about Me:
1. I love cheese.
2. I love to geocache.
3. I play Sudoku and Angry Birds on my phone.
4. I scrapbook.
5. I like hiking.
6. I wanted to be a teacher since I was little.
7. I like to play Wii.
8. Especially DDR (Dance Dance Revolution) on the Wii.
9. I love watching cheesy horror movies.
10. Especially cheesy zombie movies!
11. I love to eat BRAAAAINSS! (Ok, not really)
12. I played clarinet in high school marching band and I was the biggest band geek ever!


Here are the answers to the questions Herding Kats in Kindergarten asked:
12. If you could meet anyone in the world, who would it be and why? James Spader, because I love him :)
11. If you could visit anywhere in the world, where would you go? Scotland
10. What's your favorite school night dinner? Chicken Enchiladas
9. What one item could you not do without in your classroom? Finger Pointer
8. What one item would you love to have in your classroom? Smartboard!
7. If you could change one school rule, what would it be and why? Parents and teachers could bring food!
6. Which subject do you like to teach the most? Science
5. What one accomplishment are you the most proud of? M.Ed.
4. Where's your favorite place to shop for school stuff? Target
3. Describe your ideal day in the classroom. Children all engaged and learning and not beating each other! LOL
2. Name a secret vice. Starbucks (I guess it's really not that secret though.)
1. What adjectives would your closest friend use to describe you? quiet, easygoing


My Questions for You:
1. What is your favorite drink?
2. What would you do for one day with your students if there were no curriculum to follow?
3. What is your ideal vacation?
4. Who do you most like to relax with?
5. When did you decide to become a teacher?
6. How would you describe your class in 1 word?
7. What gives you the most satisfaction about teaching?
8. How much would you have to win in the lottery to quit your job?
9. What one thing would you give to every child in the world if you could?
10. How many tattoos do you have?
11. How many piercings do you have?
12. What was the last good book you read?


Ok, here is who I'm tagging:
1. Jamie from For Love of Cupcakes
2. Robynn and SueBeth at Busy Bees
3. Fern at Fern Smith's Classroom Ideas
4. How Long is this Hall?
5. Yolanda at Oceans of First Grade Fun
6. Lori at LaLa's Home Daycare
7. Clutter-Free Classroom
8. Brenna Phillips
9. Mari-Ann at Counting Coconuts
10. Christine at Hopping into First Grade
11. Mrs. Shininger's Blog
12. Ms. Patterson at Pocket Full of Kinders

Bubblegum Scented Water Bead Play

CAUTION! Before I begin, I want to warn you that these water beads are not meant for children to play with. The pack even says keep away from children. I am not sure what they are made of or how harmful they may be if ingested, so please use these at your own risk!

I have been seeing these water beads all over the blogosphere and wanted to try them out. I happened across some the other day at Joann's, so I decided to get some to make a sensory bin for my son.

Here is what I used: Bath Fizzy: $1 in dollar section of Target

Water Beads (about half a pack): 2.99 at Joann's

Medicine Dropper and Scoop: About $1.50 at Walmart

Here are some close-ups: 

As you can see, when I added the bath fizzy, the beads began to absorb it and shrink up. They were floating in the water, so I drained some of the water out. I am not sure how much scent there actually was since the beads were absorbing it!

 He LOVES pouring and the duckies are also faves of his!

He had lots of fun until he began to smack at the beads and make them fly all over the room, so we had to call it a day :)

CLICK HERE TO SEE WHERE I LINK UP

Motivational Monday

Love puts the fun in together, 

the sad in apart, 

the hope in tomorrow, 

the joy in the heart.

~Unknown