Splish Splash: Summertime Blog Bash!

It's almost summer for me, and many of you may already be on summer vacation!  I have less then a month left, but tons of fun activities to try to squeeze in.  I'm kicking off the summer with a fun blog hop hosted by The Classroom Game Nook!  Be sure to continue clicking through the hop...there are over 40 bloggers participating with freebies and giveaways! 

Today, I'm sharing (and giving away) one of my favorite units to teach and it's so perfect for spring and summer...BUGS! We had so much fun with the unit, I stretched it out for two weeks and we even enjoyed a presentation about insects from our local Science Museum. Here's a look at what we did...

Check out this unit on TpT!

Hunting for alphabet matches in the sensory tub, shredded paper is cheap, quick, and easy to clean up!  You can grab this activity for FREE in the preview of my BUGS unit!

The writing center is always popular in my room!  We used circle stickers to decorate butterflies, it's great practice for little fingers! 

We added some grass from the Target Dollar Spot and some plastic bugs to our Block Center and it was a hit!  The kids happily built houses around the bugs all week! 

Who knew "Write the Room" was so much fun!  This activity was differentiated to meet the needs of my students, but by the end of the week everyone was searching the room for the vocab cards and copying the words! 

These ladybugs are adorable!  The patterns are included in my BUGS unit, just print on colored paper and allow the students to cut out! The students rolled two dice, and added them up to determine how many spots to put on their ladybug. We used black paint and foam pouncers for the spots!

Here's your chance to win!  Enter using this rafflecopter, I'll select two winners to receive my BUGS unit!  Make sure that you're following me on FB, that's where I'll announce the winners! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I'm wrapping up the school year, so it's time to start planning the summer!  I'm looking forward to watching my kids play in the backyard, working in my garden, and taking a break from our busy schedule.  If you need me, I'll be sitting here...

What are your plans for the summer? Leave me a comment, I would love to hear about it! I hope that you enjoyed this freebie and good luck with my giveaway. Now, keep hopping to grab some more freebies and check out new bloggers!  Click on this picture to head over to Knowledge Mobile! 

 Have fun!

TpT Meet-Up and dollar deals!

 

I can't believe that May is here!  I'm so excited that spring has finally arrived in Western NY and it's time for the Northeastern Regional TpT Sellers Meet-Up!  Tons of my awesome TpT friends are getting together this weekend to collaborate, share ideas, and meet JEN JONES from Hello Literacy!  I'm so jealous that I'm missing the fun, but I'll be having a great time on a family trip.  I will definitely be there for the next one!  In the meantime, you can follow the fun on social media using #tptflock.  The participants are also posting DOLLAR DEALS on TpT all weekend long!  Just enter: TPTFLOCK in the search bar to view the deals. My best seller SHAPES unit it included!  

  I'll be back with some pics and news from the event soon! 

Magic, Sparkly, Crystal Shamrocks - A St. Patrick's Day experiment!

 I absolutely love St. Patrick's Day!  In New York state, it feels like an end to winter and a bright and cheery way to welcome in spring.  My classroom will be decorated with shamrocks and rainbows, and I added a new project to my list this year!  These sparkly shamrocks are so much fun, and you  probably have all of the supplies that you need on hand!

I tried this experiment using a rainbow and shamrocks, and the shamrocks turned out great!  You will need Borax, boiling water, pipe cleaners, and string.  Borax is found in the laundry aisle, it's a laundry detergent booster and multi-purpose cleaner.  Obviously, small children are the observers in this project and should not handle Borax or boiling water.  My kids were happy to watch me prepare everything and excited to see what would happen!  

I mixed about a cup of Borax in 5-6 cups of boiling water in a large bowl.  Twist your pipe cleaners into any shape you wish, I made shamrocks using a cardboard cylinder to form the loops. Use sting or dental floss to tie your shamrocks to a pencil or craft stick that can rest on the top of your bowl, the shamrocks should be free to dangle in the Borax and water mixture. Leave your shamrocks in the bowl overnight and check in the morning.  Our shamrocks were covered in beautiful, sparkly, crystals!  My preschooler is convinced that a leprechaun had something to do with it!  Hang your shamrocks in a sunny window and enjoy the sparkles!  

I would love to see pictures if you try your own shamrocks!  Check out my Facebook page and St. Patrick's Day Unit for PreK and Kindergarten for more fun St. Patrick's Day Fun! And...decorate your classroom with this Sight Word Freebie!

Dollar Tree Giveaway!

            

So, I spent way to much at Dollar Tree, but it's for a good cause! The Housekeeping Center in my classroom needs some major refreshing and I like to go all out for St. Patrick's Day! Here's the rundown of what I grabbed...
- Kitchen utensils, measuring cups, placemats, oven mitts, and dishtowels for the Housekeeping Center
- A pack of six toothbrushes to use in our Sensory Table this week
- Four really fun little trashcans with swinging tops...I want to make a sorting center with these
- Three reusable shopping bags for the "Shamrock Shop" that I'll set up in a few weeks
- Gold coins, foam shamrocks, tinsel, a green tub, and RAINBOW glow bracelets

I'll post about my updated Housekeeping Center this week, but in the meantime I want to help you refresh your classroom, too!  Click on the rafflecopter to enter for a chance(s) to win a $10.00 gift card to Dollar Tree (continental US only, please).  I'll send the winner a fun little package (so you'll have to provide me with your mailing address).  Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thankful for PreK- Huge Giveaway!

It's been a wonderful year on my little blog and TpT store!  Although I don't have as much time to spend here as I would like, I've seen such an improvement in my teaching materials and lesson planning from making online connections with other teachers.  I'm so thankful to be teaching Pre-K in my hometown district with great colleagues and students.  I'm so lucky that my own children are able to spend their first year of school in caring, happy, and educational classrooms. Quality Pre-K and Kindergarten classrooms are setting up our students for a successful school careers, and that deserves some celebrating!  I reached out to other Pre-K and Kindergarten teachers to throw a little party and have some fun with some GREAT giveaways!

This first giveaway includes some of my classroom favorites and I'm actually going to mail it to you!  In the real mail with stamps and everything!  The winner will receive Mr. Sketch Scented Markers (vital), Scentos Twistable Crayons (you need these), and a 2 oz. package of 4000 JELLY BEADZ (these are awesome)!  You might remember this post and the JELLY BEADZ fun I had with my children. My students loved these in our sensory table!  You will also receive a $20.00 spending credit at my TpT store, just email me your selections.  The winner of this giveaway will have 48 hours to email your home address so I can send you a package of FUN!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

On to our second giveaway... courtesy of some really great Pre-K and Kindergarten teacher-authors!  Pre-K resources are unique, and this prize will help you tremendously for the rest of the year! Lots of alphabet, number, and seasonal goodies for you! Thank you so much to all of the authors that donated, I love making connections with other early childhood teachers!  Here's the line up...

KinderMyWay

That Creative Teacher

Teaching Tykes

Lil' Sprouts Preschool

Kinder Dayz

PowerPoint Gaming

Fun in ESCE

Mrs. Schlachter

Kinders in NY

PreK Partner

The Kindergarten Connection

Mrs. Plemons' Kindergarten

A Neighborhood Kindergarten

Mrs. Jones' Creation Station

PreKinders (Karen Cox)

Pocket of Preschool

Miss D's Classroom

Pink Polka Dots and PreK

The Weekly Sprinkle

 

The lucky winner of this giveaway will receive a huge bundle of resources from these generous authors!  Enter using the rafflecopter below, the more you enter, the greater the chance you will WIN! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks for celebrating with us!  Check out my Facebook page this week, I'll be highlighting the resources in the bundle. Good luck! 

Interested in a giveaway?

I'm finally getting ready for a giveaway! Stayed tuned for Saturday, November 22 for my "Thankful for PreK" post! Are you a prek or kindergarten blogger who would to participate? Leave a comment or email me at yayforprek@yahoo.com and I'll send you the details!

Tricks and Treats Blog Hop: Painting in PreK!

I'm participating in a fun blog hop to welcome in October, thanks to Mrs. Plemons' Kindergarten!  Check it out this weekend for great teacher "tricks" that will make your life easier and a "treat" from each blog!  I'm sharing a trick I just recently starting using in my class...and I'm not sure why I haven't been doing this all along!  This is a simple idea, but I often forget about it every time we begin a new theme.

My kids love to paint during our center time, I normally supply them with large paper, paintbrushes, a few jars of paint, and let the creativity fly.  Lately I've been reading lots of posts on directed drawings...an interesting idea but not age appropriate for all of my students (yet).  I decided to start simple, with directed painting!

Let's paint an apple! Sitting down with the kids and painting this apple step-by-step made a huge difference, compared with just displaying  a picture of an apple in my painting center.  I'll definitely allow the kids to paint freely from time to time, but they have such a sense of pride in their pictures when I give them a little direction. Check out these apples...

This little guy was having some fun!  

I'm loving these paintings, not bad for pre-kindergarteners in September! I guessing that the "Art Center" will be probably popular this year!  I hope that you're able to use this trick in your classroom, and here's a little treat for you, too!

Check out this FREE Apple ABC Pocket Chart Game in my TpT store.  My students love to "hide the worm" behind the letters, then take turns identifying the letters to find the worm!  We play this game together as a group, and then add it to our literacy center for independent and partner play. I hope that you can use this game in your classroom.  Enjoy hopping through for more tricks and treats!

An InLinkz Link-up