Community Helper Unit

Community Helper unit is by far my favorite unit in preschool. 

With our curriculum we had to create a 'Shops-A-Lot store' in our dramatic play area. 

Here is our little store. 

I set this up on Friday and the kids were really excited to explore their new shop. I can't wait until Monday to watch them become store owners, cashiers and customers!! 

So this next project I'm pretty excited about because this idea came to me when my wonderful hubby was about to throw away a wrapping paper tube......HELLO....have you forgotten I'm a preschool teacher babe, don't you know paper towel rolls are like gold in preschool! Anyways, I had this idea to print our community helpers and tape them onto the wrapping paper roll and cut them. I'm going to place these in the block area so the kids can build a community and incorporate the community helpers in their play! 

I opened a word document and found clip-art of community helpers. 

I cut them all out,

 and taped them to the wrapping paper tube. I am going to use clear packing tape to wrap around the tubes so they will last longer in little hands!

    

I really love these and I can't wait to see how the kids incorporate them into their play! 

I also found these ADORABLE printout coloring sheets, you can find them and print them HERE!

 

 I am going to put these out on the table during Learning and Discovery time (free choice) along with cut paper towel rolls so the kids can color, cut and create their own community helpers!! 

I also made a mailbox with a box I found in our staff room. It conveniently had these spacers in it already! 

In our writing center I am going to put out envelopes and paper for the kids to write letters. I am going to label each section with their names, so their friends know where to send their mail! 

 

 

I also plan on using a reward system this month which includes earning 'play money' for being a 'good citizen in our community' my plan is for each student to have a small pocket on the wall and when they are doing a great job, they will earn a dollar, when they have earned $5 or $10 they will get to buy something from the treasure chest or maybe from the "Toy Store!!" oh my mind is spinning with ideas now ;)

 

We have great community helpers signed up to come talk to the kids and lots more planned for this month so check back to see what other fun things we will be doing! 

 

   

Magnetic Trays: Letter matching

Today in my preschool class at table time our curriculum activity was a letter hunt game. We extended this into our free play time and the kids really got into it! 

These are uppercase foam letters with magnets on the back. I wrote uppercase letters on paper and placed them on the table and on the cookie sheets for the kids to match. 

Here is a link to buy the Uppercase foam magnetic letters similar to the ones we use.

 Some kids spelled out their names 

Others found their name cards and friends name cards and copied the letters from there.

 They even started to write their own letters on the small paper to then place the magnets on!

 Lots of learning going on today!!! 

Here is a link for lowercase letters if you have older children who can use them for spelling practice!

I love using cookie sheets because it gives the kids their own work space and of course it makes using magnets even more fun!! We use these cookie sheets at our independent table for all sorts of activities! 

TALL PAINTING pumpkin style!

 

Today we did a site wide group project....TALL PAINTING pumpkin style!!

 

We started with a large pumpkin, paints and a box

 One by one the kiddos waited for their turn, picked a color and squirted it over the pumpkin!

So easy and fun, and look how COOL it looks!!!

The end project turned out pretty awesome!!   

Dress Up Clings

 Dress Up Clings

 I bought these adorable Halloween Dress Up Clings at Target the other night for $3 each!!

I wanted to set up a fun 'invitation' for my son so I taped the boards onto our giant magnet board and put all of the cling onto the board. 

 When he came down stairs the next morning he was so excited to dress up the kids for Halloween. 

We have had so much fun with this I had to share!!!

Have a Great Day.

Spooktacular October activities!!!

Spooktacular October activities!!!

   

 
It's Fall....and it's still 100* here in sunny Southern California. It's hard to get into the season when it still feels like Summer all the way into October, but I am determined to make it feel like fall! I bought some pumpkin spice febreeze, got out the decorations and of course made a trip to the dollar tree to get some fun items for our fall activities! 

So I like to go to the dollar tree and see what everyday items I can use in an unconventional way. This trip the cashier scanned chopping mats and she said, "Oh, have you used these? How do they hold up after cutting?" I said, "I'm not sure, I use them as playdough mats, they work GREAT for that!" She looked at me strange. I smiled, little did she know she made my day and I succeeded in my mission.This trip this is what I found and what I used them for:

  2 chopping mats for $1 I use these as playdough mats!!! (I use these in my preschool class as well) 

 These pumpkin decorating kits are all over the place during the Halloween season, they are essentially Mr. Potato head pieces that you put into a pumpkin to decorate them.....anywhoo...they were a dollar so I grabbed a bunch of different sets (pirate, cat, witch, Frankenstein) I bought these to play with our home made pumpkin spice playdough. 

So now I have the playdough mats and fun decorating kits....so now onto the BEST playdough you can ever make! 

1 cup flour

1 cup water

1/4 cup salt

2 tsp. cream of tartar

1 Tbls. vegetable oil 

food coloring

pumpkin spice (optional)

 

for neon food coloring  8 green + 4 pink = orange

throw it all in a bowl and mix it up, then throw it in a pan and cook on medium low until it starts to mold/form together, you will need to stir and flip the dough a few times. Let cool and enjoy.  This recipe makes a small batch, for a LARGE batch click HERE  

This was my playdough invitation in my classroom. 

I also found this insta-snow at the dollar tree, my mind started spinning and I thought it would be fun in the sensory bin with plastic spiders. 

We made the insta-snow and then added a lot more water to give it a gooey feel. Then we used food coloring to turn it orange then added a few spider rings I bought at the dollar tree.

Oh yeah.....AWESOME mad scientist goggles....THE DOLLAR TREE!!

He loved being a mad scientist! 

Here are a few other things I have been doing in my classroom. 

Counting Pumpkins (thanks Ms M.)

These are like Easter Eggs but in the shape of pumpkins. I wrote on the back of each one. On the top I wrote the number and I wrote the corresponding number in dots on the bottom half. I put them all in a bin and the kids have been dumping them out and matching the tops and bottoms!

On our magnet boards I simply cut out and laminated a few different faces and a pumpkin. I put magnets on the back and the kiddos have been making fun jack-o-lanterns.

On the other side of our standing magnet board I had the kids color tongue compressors, then I put magnets on the back of each one. A few kids have formed letters with them, others have created shapes.

And of course our beloved water beads!!! I had orange water beads and spider rings in the sensory table last week....fun fun fun!!!