Teachers Pay Teachers Beginnings!

I'm not exactly sure what the catalyst was exactly but over the last week I've been inspired to create some new products for my Phonics and Math circles with my little Pre-Kinders. Most of them have their foundations from some activities that I've used in the past but have needed some rejuvenation to keep my kiddos interested. I would love to hear your feedback and to get any requests for new resources for Pre-K and Kindergarteners. Please follow me and rate my new products!

"I Have, Who Has" Domino Addition Game 

Greater Then & Less Than 'Skunked' Game 

Sight Word Tic Tac Toe Game

Numbers 1-30 Egg Match

Craft Room: Phase 1

With the new house, I've been creating quite a list of DIY projects and creating a terrifying mess in my spare bedroom. Note the chaos below...

Obviously, nothing constructive was coming out of this mess so before I tackled any new projects, I decided to put all my energy into turning this room around and getting my craft room underway. 

After moving out all the crafting madness, I painted! Yay for more painting...ugh. Note the sarcasm. I went with Behr Premium Plus Ultra paint in Pristine Petal. I only had them include 75% of the pigment though so it wasn't so dark.

Color Scheme Thoughts:

It looks a bit darker in these pictures but I love it and find it so dramatic!

I'm planning to free paint some kind of design on one wall in the lighter tan color (Smoked Oyster). I'm having some hesitation starting the next step so I moved onto the craft table. More to follow!! 

Valentine's Day Math Freebie

I'm always looking for new and inexpensive math ideas to help with my small group activities and with Valentine's Day coming up, the holiday became an obvious theme. My kiddos especially enjoyed a Roll and Color activity that I used last month so I started hunting Pinterest and the internet for a freebie combining these 2 topics. However, after some digging, I came up empty handed. 

Of course now I was determined to just create one myself that was suitable for my students and all of you can enjoy it as well!

Since my group is progressing very well, I made this one a bit harder than some that I have seen to keep them engaged and challenged. I hope my group and all of you enjoy this simple freebie!

Download at TPT

Eric Carle Inspired Caterpillar

I started this blog to also include some ideas from my classroom. I am currently teaching Pre-Kindergarten at an amazing private school and bring a lot of my ideas and creativity to my lessons. Some of my crazy ideas turn out great while others become learning opportunities for me as well... =) All I hope is that some of the ideas and lessons that I share on here can inspired creativity within your homes or classroom to encourage fun and unique learning opportunities for young children. 

Being an artsy and very visual person, I cannot help but fixate on illustrations on children's books before even reading them. A book can have the most amazing plot but it can be a complete disappointment without illustrations to appropriately convey the story's magic. A story is only as good as the illustrations that accompany the words. 

Eric Carle has always been one of my all time favorite children's book authors and it's his unique and colorful illustrations that make his books come to life. With my class learning about animal and insect life cycles, I wanted to use Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar as inspiration for our butterfly life cycle bulletin board display. I haven't hung the finished products yet as its Winter Break right now but I will be sure to post the final display once its complete. 

This art lesson was a two day project to create a caterpillar that resembled The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Unlike Eric Carle, I chose to use art paper instead of tissue paper. I teach 4 year olds and let's be realistic, they would destroy tissue paper if I told them to paint on it. 

As a substitute to tissue paper, I prepped for the project by painting our art paper in various colors to serve as a the background for the caterpillars. I have 22 children my class so that took some time to paint each sheet but this way the children could decorate their own paper.

Day 1:

To begin the lessons, I introduced the art of Eric Carle and explained how he used such a unique technique to create the collages for his books. For the first part of the lesson, I had the children customize their own papers by decorating them with different designs. I instructed the children to first choose a color and draw some kind of line (squiggly, zig zag, or straight) pattern across the whole paper. After completing their lines, they had to choose another color to draw dots all over the paper. Our art time is in the morning so I was able to prepare for the next day in the afternoon. 

I didn't take pictures of this but once the papers were dried, I traced 6 circles on the back. I just traced the inside of a packing tape roll since that size worked well. I also prepared the other elements for the collage elements for the head and body of the caterpillar. 

You can download a simple template that I created for the pieces needed to create the caterpillar's body here:
Backing for Body
Small Details


Day 2:
In my classroom, we highlight each child's name on their paper to allow them additional practice writing their names. This also serves as a way for me to strategically place the children so some of my boys are sitting at different tables. So as I was passing out the supplies, I made sure to give each child a circle piece from their original painting. It was an additional challenge to do this but I really wanted them to have part of their work in the finished product. I then passed out all the other pieces of the collage in preparation for the children to construct their caterpillar. 

I demonstrated the sequence of steps before having the children start and, as always, reminded to 'dot, dot, NOT a lot' when using the glue. =)

I had the children glue down 6 circles down onto the backing piece first. The backing helps to make sure that the whole class created a caterpillar that is similar in size and also helped me display them later without having to cut them out. The circles will need to be overlapped a bit. The circles are followed by the red head and then the collage is finished with the other elements being glued on (2 ovals for the eyes, 2 antennae and 6 little legs). I took the colors from the book but of course, they can be done in anyway you would want. 

The class did a fantastic job following directions and they really loved having circle pieces from some of their classmates. I wish I had more pictures of them putting the caterpillars together but my camera conveniently died shortly after this one picture was taken. Bummer...

Here are a few pictures of their finished caterpillars!

I love how the antennae on these 2 look like eyebrows. =) Makes them look confused or angry haha

  

I'll be sure to post a follow up of how the Butterfly Life Cycle Bulletin Board turns out. I can't wait to see these adorable little guys displayed. It requires some extra steps with the cutting but it's so worth it when you see the final product. Hope you try it out!

Spiced Up Candied Pecans

I can't believe its been 3 weeks since I've posted something...Not the best way to begin a blog! I have been so busy with all of my holiday plans that the blog posts came to a stand still. Thankfully, I have the next 2 weeks off of work (Yay for a normal teaching schedule!) and I will have lots of time to work on my blog! =) 

Here is a quick and delicious recipe that I made yesterday and wanted to share. 

I made the mistake of buying the bulk sized bag of pecans, even though I only needed a cup and a half for my Christmas pecan pie, so I was in desperate need to use up 32 ounces worth of pecans. Thankfully, I came across a simple recipe for Candied Pecans from another blogger, Kevin & Amanda. (http://www.kevinandamanda.com/recipes/appetizer/candied-pecans.html)

This great recipe served as such a quick and easy way to use up my extra supply of pecans! Not only that, but its was a perfect way for me to give something sweet and delicious to a neighbor of ours that is lactose intolerant. The only adjustment I made was to add a touch of Pumpkin Pie Spice that I had to jazz it up a bit.  

The only ingredients needed for this recipe are white sugar, pecans, egg whites, water, ground cinnamon, salt and pumpkin pie spice. Keep in mind, I had a giant bag of pecans so the recipe here is doubled what was suggested. I gave a lot of it away with Christmas cookies so if you are planning to make a small batch for your family, I recommend dividing the quantities in half. (See the original post from Kevin & Amanda for the recipe).

First thing, whisk white 4 egg whites and 4 tablespoons of water in a large bowl just to mix. 

Add your pecans to the egg whites & water mixture. 

 In a separate bowl, combine 2 cups white sugar, 2 teaspoons salt, 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon and 1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice. 

Now add the sugar mixture to the pecans. Be sure to gently pour the mixture over the pecans and stir to assure even coverage. Almost done!

Spread the pecans onto a greased baking sheet. I didn't have any cooking spray in the house so I ended up just spreading out my pecans onto parchment lined baking sheets, which worked fine and helped me avoid any mess. The pecans need to be baked at 225 for an hour and you should toss them every 15 minutes. 

Even after they were done, the pecans were still a bit sticky so I let them sit overnight before I transferred them. The next day they were crunchy and nicely coated, ready for sharing!

I'm so glad I found such a great solution for my excess pecans and 

will definitely be making these again!

Enjoy!! 

It's Officially the Holiday Season!

I absolutely LOVE the holiday season! The smell of cinnamon and pine trees, bright lights, holiday decorating, wrapping paper, baking, gift giving... I could go on and on...

With the holiday season also comes traditions that families continue or start to add excitement and memories to this special time of year. My husband and I haven't started any new ones yet since its still just the two of us but I am thankful that some traditions from my side of the family have continued.

The most memorable tradition would be our annual visit to the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco to see The Christmas Carol. The tradition started many years ago when I was a child and my dad would take me to the local theater to see the play. Teenage years halted our trip for awhile but it started up again about 5 years ago.

If you haven't seen this play, I highly recommend it, especially the cast at ACT if you live in the SF Bay Area. The ACT is right in the heart of downtown San Francisco so the day out to see the play always includes dinner, shopping and a trip to the Union Square Christmas tree. The play truly is the best story about family, friends and the holiday spirit of giving to others. For me, it is the perfect way to kick of the holiday season with my family and it's a great reminder about what this time of year is really about.

Whatever traditions you and your family have, I hope that they are as memorable as the ones I have with my family.

Happy Holidays!

Spin on an Ornament Centerpiece

To kick off the holiday season, I'm hosting a table at my church's Women's Christmas Dinner and I needed a festive but inexpensive centerpiece as my table's focal point. I went with a gold color scheme after I found this amazing gold burlap at the Joanns so wanted to incorporate it into the idea. I've seen so many ideas using ornaments so I just tied the two concepts together! 

This is what I used to create my centerpiece: 

Apothecary jar, leftover strip of burlap and 

shatterproof ornaments

I wanted to add some texture to the overall look so I created a ruffle using the strip of burlap. The strip I had was about 3 inches wide and maybe 30" long. To create the ruffle, I just found a strand along the center and gently pulled. Clearly I'm off center but those gold dots were impossible to deal with and I liked that it wasn't so symmetrical. 

As you are GENTLY pulling the strand, move the material to spread out the ruffling that you are creating and to help avoid any breaks in the burlap strand. 

Once you have completed a portion of the ruffle, identify the opposite end of the burlap strand and pull it out from the other end. I neglected to think of this beforehand so the end of the ruffle  isn't much of a ruffle at all... =) Keep moving along the burlap until finish the strand and complete your ruffle. 

I didn't take pictures as I constructed the actual centerpiece since it was a bit of a juggling act but all I did was layer the balls as I spiraled the burlap ruffle around the jar. I placed 4 balls in first and then tucked in the ruffle to secure it. Then I continued to put in more balls and wound the burlap around the jar until I reached the top. Simple enough! Quick, easy and inexpensive but provided me with the sparkle and appeal that I wanted for my centerpiece. 

I'll be sure to follow up with an overview of my completed table from the Holiday Dinner soon!