Motivational Monday

Ever feel like your aren't appreciated? Never rewarded for all the hard work you do? Well, you are changing lives of children, the best give you could give them. So here is some motivation to let you know you are doing a wonderful job!

Source: teachfactory.com via Chrissy on Pinterest

Source: google.com via Kassandra on Pinterest

Source: myteachinglife.edublogs.org via Marisa on Pinterest

Source: twopeasinabucket.com via Katie on Pinterest

Storytime Sunday

Today's story, inspired by my son who attempted to swallow a bug today and a twitter friend ;), is There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly. This classic book has a lot of appeal to preschoolers because well, let's face it, who doesn't think it's funny when an old lady eats a bunch of animals? Anyways, we can get so much out of this book, especially rhyming. Also, you can have the kids sequence the order of the animals she ate. Also, the repetition lends itself to the kids reading along with you.

Felt board pieces are a good visual and a way to get the children involved in the story. I couldn't find a photo of the one we used to have a center I worked at, but it was cool, there was a hole for her mouth and a pouch where you could put the animals in with a clear plastic window so you could see into her stomach. Here is a photo of another Old Lady prop with a hole in the mouth that you can put the animals in. 

And lastly, I found this fun video on Youtube that tells the story.

Mini Fall Cupcakes

Here are some fall cupcakes I made to take to my hubby's work today. Chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese icing and sprinkles. They are mini cupcakes and I used little cupcake wrappers with a pumpkin design.

Yum Yum!

Thinky Linky Thursday: Look What I Did with a Leaf!

This is the homework that we sent home this week. We read the book Look What I Did with a Leaf as shown in this blog post. The students were supposed to make a figure out of leaves such as a person, animal, etc. Here is what they came up with:

LOVE THIS ONE!

Also, we have been keeping track of the weather and charting it this week. We will continue this next week by drawing a thermometer and seeing where each of the temperatures are on it as the children did not seem to understand the concept of such big numbers and which was higher or lower than the other.

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Wishlist Wednesday: Frogs, Bees and Under the Seas

This week's guest blogger comes from Frogs, Bees and Under the Seas. Please take a moment to check out their blog and see all the great "Spooktober" activities that they have going on right now!




Hello, we're two of the ladies behind Frogs, Bees, & Under the Seas.  We are so honored to be here today at Cachey Mama's Classroom!  Lori is such a creative teacher who is so generous with her ideas!  Working with little ones every day, we are constantly adding new things to our wish lists.  Here are just a couple of things that at the top of each of our lists. My little one is 3.5 years old and LOVES playing on Daddy's ipad.  However, we worry that little hands and expensive technology sometimes don't mix.  So, I have been reading up on the new LeapFrog LeapPad Jr.  It has a touch screen and the lil' users can play games, read stories, write, and take pictures with it.  The possibilities are endless!  Take a look at this video to learn more about it.  I think that this would make an excellent Christmas present for my little one!  

Darling Dolphin, Jennifer, is a Kindergarten teacher.  She has a projector in her classroom that can be connected to her computer.  However, she would LOVE to have a Mimio Board that makes any whiteboard interactive!  Kindergarten and first grade (and even preschool) is the perfect time for little ones to be shown (as well as practice) the correct handwriting strokes for letters and numbers.  That is just one skill that can be accomplished with an interactive board.   Once again, the possibilities are endless!  

Thanks again, Lori, for having us a guests today!  Please come by and visit us sometime at Frogs, Bees, & Under the Seas!  

Painted Pumpkin Centerpiece

Here is just a little craft I made as a centerpiece. Just painted and glittered the white and black pumpkin and tied on the ribbon. They can be used with a candle as shown below or some other arrangement of fall items including pinecones, mini hay bales, etc.  Or you could sit them on a decorative tray.

Here are some close-ups.

Just to add some more fall, here is a photo of my back yard. Happiness :)

Storytime Sunday

I am going to be totally honest, I had no idea what I was going to post for Storytime Sunday today, so I decided to check out what I could find on Pinterest. Good old Pinterest, always pulls through. Here are some of the pins I found:


First, this pin links to Shannon's Book Nook. A wonderful read-aloud resource. She gives lots of tips about reading aloud, activities to do with different books and a great list of children's books. I would highly recommend checking it out!

Source: None via Kara on Pinterest

Second, this awesome idea to make placemats out of pages of books. This is a good idea for books that are falling apart, or you could photo copy the pages as well.

Source: realsimple.com via Cachey on Pinterest

Third, no party is complete without cupcakes! Check out these children's book cupcakes! So creative, I love it.

Source: amelialyon.net via Cachey on Pinterest

And lastly, here is something that I thought was just plain cool:

Source: Uploaded by user via Cachey on Pinterest

Happy reading (and pinning!)

Freebie: Family Tree

I think I have finally figured out how to share documents. So, I decided to try this out by posting the family tree pages that I shared on an earlier blog post: Family Tree, Graph and Class Book. Hope this works! Family Tree HW My Family Tree 1 My Family Tree 2 My Family Tree 3 My Family Tree 4 My Family Tree 5 My Family Tree 6 My Family Tree 7 My Family Tree Blank 1 Parent My Family Tree Blank 2 Parent

Thinky Linky Thursday:Apple Word Family Sort

Apple Word Family Sort

Simple to make, just cut out the basket.

Cut out apples with the words.

And label the baskets with the word family.

Have fun and link up!!!

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Wishlist Wednesday: Mrs. Will's Kindergarten

I am guest blogging with Cachey Mama's Classroom!  When  she asked what was on my wishlist, I knew what I wanted! I would love to have this Mama Jamba!

This is a 12" timer.  I currently use the timer on my SMARTBoard, but it is slow to load. I think this large timer would be awesome! I love the sweeping hand that gives a visual to help students see how much time is left. What is on your wish list?

Motivational Monday

Storytime Sunday: Finding Books on a Topic (with Linky!)

There are some excellent resources out there for finding children's books by theme, age level, etc. One of which is your local library. I, of course, can't speak for all libraries, but I know at mine, you can sign up for an educator card which allows you to check out more books and cancels up to $25.00 worth of fines per year. Also, for you can request a teacher's collection. If you call at least 2 weeks ahead and give them the details, they will come up with a group of books based on a certain topic.

Here are 2 of my favorite websites for looking up great books for my lesson plans:

1. Teachers @ Random This website by Random House Publishing is great as it allows you to choose the age level and then choose from any holiday or theme listed. It then comes up with a list of books along with a picture of the cover.

2. Database of Award-Winning Children's Literature (DAWCL) This site has even more categories for searching. You can be very specific. It is good for searching for books written in a certain timespan, multicultural books and even books with different languages. And best of all, every book has won some type of award!

I wanted to hear from you on this topic, so I decided to do this as a linky. Where do you go to search for children's books?

<a href="http://preschoolteacher81.blogspot.com/2011/10/storytime-sunday-finding-books-on-topic.html" target="_blank"><img alt="Book Search Linky Party" src="http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r103/loriajones/books.jpg"/></a>

ABC Fishing

Over the years I have been teaching preschool, this has been one of my favorite activities because the children really seem to like it and get involved. It is very simple to arrange. All you need is a dowel rod, yarn, a magnet, letter cutouts and paper clips. Attach the paper clips to the letter cut-outs (which I laminate). Then fix the rest of the items into a fishing pole with the magnet as the "worm."

I use the top of this sensory table as the pond, but you can just lay them on the floor or whatever container you can find that's large enough.

The children will take turns "fishing" for letters and when they catch one, tell what letter it is and what sound it makes.

Some other variations of this would be to use numbers instead or shapes, words, animal pictures, etc. It can pretty much be anything the children are working on. Also, you could have them try to catch a particular letter such as the first letter of their name.

Some extensions are graphing which letters were caught and how many times, arranging them in order in the pocket chart after they are caught, or asking questions about what words begin with that letter and even having them write the word.

I hope you have as much fun with this activity as we do!