2care2teach4kids

Oh the Places We'll Go! - A Space Exploration!

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Kelly) — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 00:59:00 +0000

My preschool students were showing a strong interest in

SPACE EXPLORATION

so we decided to do a Space Study during the month of March.

Check out all the fun "Space" inspired activities we have been doing while we have been learning all kinds of facts about

OUTER SPACE...

The kids have been so creative!!!!!

Check out these great books we have read and other products from AMAZON!

Bubbles, Bubbles, Bubbles!!! Is it Spring Yet?

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Kelly) — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 17:43:00 +0000

I am on Spring Break here in Minnesota and we are having ANOTHER snow storm!!!!! So I had to share this activity we did last week in my ECFE class. We all have Spring Fever up here so I like to bring some fun outdoor type activities into the classroom during the long winter months. Bubbles are a classic spring/summer activity we do outside. But in the winter bubbles blown outside just freeze... They really do you should try it. So we used our bubbles in our paint and did some Bubble Painting!!!! I love this activity because it is soooo messy and it really helps some of the parents get out of their comfort zones and really have fun! It also makes a cool painting but it is more about the process then the product of course! The kids have so much fun blowing bubbles in the paint and they get so excited! Just a word of caution... Make sure you keep an eye on the kids blowing bubbles most kids are used to SUCKING through a straw! If you see the paint start to go up the straw stop them right away and remind them to BLOW!!!! Or they will get a mouth full of paint!

Supplies Needed:

1.Short sturdy bowls

2.Different colors of tempera paint

3.Store bought bubble solution

4.White paper

3.Markers- for writing names

4.Straws

To Make Bubble Paint:

I simply mix tempera paint with bubble solution. I would say about 1 part bubbles to 4 parts paint. You will have to experiment with it because you need enough bubbles to get a good bubble effect that will "rise" in the bowl but also you want enough paint to be able to pick up the color.

Here are the directions I give the families:

1. Write name on paper.

2.Choose a straw.

3.Place straw in bubbles and blow!

4.Place paper on top of bubbles to make a print.

5.Throw away straw!

Follow up this activity or introduce it with a fun Bubble Book!

Books from AMAZON:

Enjoy!

Mittens Warm My Hands ~ But You Warm My Heart

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Kelly) — Sun, 03 Feb 2013 21:02:00 +0000

Check out this cute activity we did in preschool and ECFE last week after reading The Mitten by Jan Brett and The Missing Mittens by Stuart Murphy.

I offered the children die cut mittens to decorate and glue on the activity sheet. We help the children learn glue conservation by teaching them the saying "Dot Dot Not A Lot." As you can see they do quite well.

We also did some patterning activities.

I used a die cut to make the mini mittens too.
You can download a free copy of the Mittens Activity Page at my Teachers Pay Teachers Store.

You can find these mitten books and others at Amazon.com!

Enjoy!

"Snow Much Fun"... Winter Inspired Stories and Activities

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Kelly) — Sun, 13 Jan 2013 14:33:00 +0000

The past few weeks we have been doing some fun winter inspired activities in our preschool room.

First we read Snowmen at Night by Caralyn Buehner

After reading the story I invited the children to create a crayon relief picture by drawing a snow scene on blue paper and then painting over the top of it with blue liquid watercolor. Then I put them all together with a book ring to make a quick and easy class book.

We also read The Biggest Best Snowman Ever by Margery Cuyler. Then I paired up the children and gave them a stack of construction paper snowballs. I told them they could use the snowballs to measure each other and see how many snowballs tall they were. *I actually demonstrated this to the kids first showing them how to lay on the floor on their back and then their partner would lay the snowballs end to end beginning at their feet and ending at their head. Then I showed them how they could count the snowballs with their partner.

After completing the activity I had the children draw in their journal a picture of how many snowballs tall they were and we helped them write the number on their journal response. I have created this FREE Snowball Measuring Activity Page for use with this activity. You can find it in my TPT store.

My favorite activity was having the children create "Snow Beings", after reading the book Snowballs by Lois Ehlert. I provided them with blank paper plate snow bodies, white glue, and lots of "Good Stuff". They were so creative! They made snow boys, snow dads, snow dogs and more.... :)

It was SNOW MUCH FUN!

You can find these books at Amazon!

Enjoy!

Social Problem Solving- Solution Kit!

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Kelly) — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 19:29:00 +0000

Check out our new Solution Kit!

We made this to help the children learn positive problem solving skills. You can read more about how we use these in our classroom here and find all the links to the TACSEI website where you can download the visuals for free.

You can fins all kids of printable resources from CSEFEEL: Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning! Including the Solution Kits !

In my kit I have printed the Solution Cards, laminated them, and hung them on a key ring. I also have put them on Popsicle sticks so that they can be taken out of the kit and brought to the situation. I teach each solution to the students so they understand how each one works. By far the most well used solution is "Get a Timer." There are several sand timers and kitchen timers in the kit for the students to use. ***We teach the children that these are TOOLS! not Toys! They do not "Play" with the timers. They also know they must return all the item to the kit when they are finished.

Save this graphic to your computer to use to make your own labels! (Right mouse click and save to your hard drive.)

Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons! - Free Printable Activities

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Kelly) — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 18:59:00 +0000

Love, love, love Pete the Cat! We read Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons created by James Dean written by Eric Litwin. The kids loved it! I created this Kitty Cat Button Sorting Mat and this Kitty Cat Sorting Take Home Activity Sheet to use as follow up activites to this great book!

These activites will help children practice visual discrimination and classifying skills.

You can find it in my Teachers Pay Teachers Store for FREE!!!!! It's an early Christmas Gift! :)

Please click over to Amazon from these links if you are interested in purchasing any Pete the Cat Books...

Enjoy!

Tucker Turtle - Solution Kits- Social Emotional Learning in Early Childhood Classes

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Kelly) — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 01:41:00 +0000

Meet Tucker Turtle...

Tucker Turtle is the newest addition to our classroom social curriculum. He was given to me during a training session at our school this fall. Our district received a grant from the Technical Assistance Center on Social Emotional Intervention for Young Children (TACSEI). The resources we are using can be found for free on their website http://www.challengingbehavior.org/

There are tons of resources to use to help children build healthy social/emotional skills.

Tucker is a turtle puppet we use to help children learn a calming technique to aid them when dealing with strong emotions like anger. There is a great little social story you can download from the website as well to read with the kids.

We teach the children how to "Think Like a Turtle."
Here are Tucker's Steps:
1.When you are angry you need to STOP! Keep your hands, feet, and yelling to yourself.
2.Tuck inside your shell, and take three deep breaths.
3.Once you are calm think think of a solution or a way to solve your problem.

You can find Tucker Turtle resources here...

http://www.challengingbehavior.org/do/resources/teaching_tools/ttyc_toc.htm#turtle

After teaching the Tucker Turtle technique we set up a "Calming Corner" in our room where Tucker lives. This is a place our friends can go to calm down. Tucker is available to them along with some stress relief toys. We have the "Tucker Turtle Steps to Think Like a Turtle" posted on the wall next to this spot. There is also a Solution Kit!

The Solution Kit contains a bunch of visuals that offer the children ideas for how to solve their problems. There are ideas for ways to share and for what to do when people are not listening to you.

•Get a teacher

•Ask nicely

•Ignore

•Play

•Say, “Please stop.”

•Say, “Please.”

•Share

•Trade toys/item

•Wait and take turns

Read more about the Solution Kit in our classroom!

You can fins all kids of printable resources from CSEFEEL: Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning! Including the Solution Kits !

Enjoy!

Caution! Twins @ Play

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Kelly) — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 04:07:00 +0000

Hey friends... Remember that cute apple basket counting activity I posted awhile ago? Well Kristen at CAUTION! Twins at Play featured the activity on her blog! How cool is that! You all should go check out her Blog, she has great ideas for early childhood activities!!!!
Thanks Kristen!

Oh and download a free copy of the Apple Baskets!!!

Enjoy!

I am Special!~ Free Activity Page

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Kelly) — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 01:01:00 +0000

Wow! It is already October! Crazy how busy the first month of school can be. I wanted to share this I Am Special activity page we did to go along with our "All About Me" themed month.

We read the book It is OK to be Different by Todd Parr and talked about how unique and special each of us is... Then I had the kids draw a self portrait and tell about what makes them special. I am keeping this for their portfolio! You can download a free copy from my Teachers Pay Teachers Store! Enjoy!

My MelonHead

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Kelly) — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 19:07:00 +0000

Hi all! Did you notice my new "signature" graphic? It's me!!!!!

Don't ya just love it? I do! I was so excited when I won a contest over at MelonHeadz, which is graphic artists Nikki's blog, where you can see all kinds of her grahics! They are so cute and they are popping up in many of my new products in my TpT store! So stay tunned!

Thanks again to Nikki! I love my MelonHead!

Back to School Freebies

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Kelly) — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 15:15:00 +0000

Friday is Back to School/Open House Freebies!

I like to do this activity with my preschool students on the first day of school to help them share with their families what they did on the first day of school, as often they are still very overwhelmed and find it difficult to "tell" mom or dad what they did. So click over to my TpT store and grab "At Preschool I like to..." for FREE!

Bulletin Board Photos

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Kelly) — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 14:50:00 +0000

It is Open House Week at TBA (Teaching Blog Addict).

Thursday is Bulletin Board Photos!

I have a Woodland theme in my classroom and I am big on OWLS right now as a lot of people are! LOL They are just too cute!

Here are a couple of my bulletin boards.

These stars are post it notes! I wrote each child's name on one. I have four sections of preschool so that makes for one very starry night!

The tree is Three Dimensional!

The sign on the last one says, "Look What We Are Learning!" I post quotes here that the children tell me after we finish a unit and talk about what we have learned. The leaves around it are simple post it notes I found at Walmart too!

Parent Handouts- "I Played!"

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Kelly) — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 04:53:00 +0000

It is Open House Week at TBA (Teaching Blog Addict).

Wednesday is Parent Handout Day!

This worked out perfectly for me because we just did our Parent Orientation Night for our families. One of the things we discuss at this meeting is our curriculum and how children in early childhood learn through play!

Check out this handout I created for our parents called "I Played!" it is about What Children Learn Through Play. Feel free to share it with your families! You can download it for FREE from my Teachers Pay Teachers Store.

Classroom Photos

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Kelly) — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 03:00:00 +0000

It is Open House Week at TBA (Teaching Blog Addict).

Tuesday is Classroom Photo Day!

The following are some pictures of some of the areas and signs I am using in my classroom this year. I have worked really hard to promote parent understanding of how children learn in my different Learning Centers. I have also developed signs to help teachers and assistants know the Classroom Expectations for the students and also how they can provide Teacher Support. These signs are all available in my Teachers Pay Teachers Store. I have not really changed my room arrangement much and you can see a slide show of my whole classroom by clicking here.

This is my Language and Literacy Area.

This is the Writing Center. In the beginning of the year it is stocked with just some basics. As the year goes on we add more and more materials to this area.

Classroom Expectation Signs

We love books in PreK so I like to add our favorite book characters to our decor!

My sister had these little guys made for me! Aren't they cute?!

Pintrest

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Kelly) — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 03:35:00 +0000

Hello friends! Come join us on Pintrest! Click the button and choose to follow 2care2teach4kids on Pintrest!

Open House Week @ TBA

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Kelly) — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 00:04:00 +0000

It is Open House Week at TBA (Teaching Blog Addict). Monday is "Meet the Teacher".

Meet me...

My name is Kelly Kazeck, my students call me Miss Kelly. I am a School Readiness Preschool Teacher in MN. This is the beginning of my fifth year at my current program and I have been working in early childhood programs for the last 16 years. Here in MN we also have what is called ECFE or Early Childhood Family Education, which is state funded and serves families with children from ages birth to 5 years old. I teach several of these parent/child classes in our district as well.

I am a huge believer that in early childhood, children learn best through play. I work hard to help parents understand the benefits of play and see just how their children learn when they play. You will often see me post products like my Learning Center Signs with Objectives to my TPT store because I think it is so important that families understand what their children are learning as they work in the different Learning Centers in my classroom.

I also believe in setting clear consistent expectations for students and helping them build their self confidence and independence!

We have a lot of fun in our classroom! I want children to know that learning is FUN!

New Programmable Printable Calendars for Newsletters

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Kelly) — Sat, 25 Aug 2012 16:06:00 +0000

I just finished a years worth of Programmable/Printable Calendars and added them to my Teachers Pay Teachers Store!. This zip file contains 21 PDF files. Each file is a programmable calendar featuring ThistleGirl Designs graphics that is perfect for school newsletters. What that means is you can either type in the text fields and print the calendar or just print the calendar and write in the dates/info by hand. ***Please note you can make as many copies as you wish but Adobe will not allow you to "save a copy" of the calendar with the text you typed in to the text field. Therefore they can not be saved and redistributed through email with your text. However, you could print them with your text added and scan them and then have a digital copy!
There are a complete set of 12 months with generic themes, I have also included additional calendars that depict holidays. We do not do holidays in our program so I always try to make these inclusive, but I know many of you still do.... so enjoy! P.S. I have also included extra calendars for August and September as I know some of you start school in different months. Please don't hesitate to ask questions.

Jumbo Pack of Early Childhood Learning Center Signs

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Kelly) — Sun, 19 Aug 2012 15:24:00 +0000

I have just added a new pack of Early Childhood Learning Center Signs to my Teachers Pay Teachers store. It is a combination of all of my other signs with the headings all changed to use the term "center". There are 21 signs all together. Some are duplicate signs with different headings as I tried to include signs based on common names for different centers. So for example there is a Math and Manipulative Center and a Math Center.
These are the centers included in this pack:
Art, ABC, Block, Computer, Dramatic Play, Language and Literacy, Lego, Library, Math and Manipulative, Math, Playdough, Pretend Places, Pretend Play, Puzzle, Sand, Sensory, Science, Smartboard, Technology, Water, Writing.
The file is sold as a ZIP file and the signs are in PDF form.

You can check out the Jumbo Pack of Early Childhood Learning Center Signs at my Teachers Pay Teachers store and even download a free sample!

Enjoy!

Journal Covers

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Kelly) — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 17:06:00 +0000

The beginning of school is right around the corner and I have been working on the things I can before school starts such as making new covers for my students journals. I plan to print them on sticker paper and put them on the covers of my student's notebooks that we use for journal writing. Feel free to print a FREE copy for yourself!

Preschool Journal Cover

Generic Journal Cover

The Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Kelly) — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 05:40:00 +0000

I just finished reading the book The Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller and basically… I was SO inspired by Donalyn Miller’s passion for authentic, thoughtful, intentional teaching and her commitment to teaching in a way that brings about real, life changing, learning for her students. Ms. Miller shows us how she brings about genuine learning that becomes internalized, as opposed to the kind of temporary superficial learning that is often the result of unexamined teaching practices ( “unexamined wallpaper”) or practices is which the main objective is to produce an acceptable score on a standardized test. She demonstrates the motivational power of tapping into children’s interests and building honest, respectful, trusting relationships with students.

Here are a couple of my favorite quotes:

When people criticize or question how she is preparing her students for the negative experiences they will no doubt face as they move on to other grade levels she writes…

“Why should I subject students to negative experiences now in order to prepare them for negative experiences later?”

She also says, “The purpose of school should not be to prepare students for more school. We should be seeking to have fully engaged students now.”

AMEN!

This is often the frustration we feel in early childhood education when there is pressure to be teaching preschoolers as if they were kindergarteners or first graders, all of which is developmentally inappropriate. What results is most children feeling frustrated and they fail to see themselves as learners. I think we are doing children a terrible disservice if children leave our classrooms feeling school is a negative thing.

I appreciate her stand on standardized tests. “I have no issue with standardized testing per se; I believe that students who cannot pass the minimal expectations set by these tests are not good readers. What I have grown to mistrust is how the high-stakes nature of these tests has disrupted quality reading instruction.”

I agree that accountability is necessary in this day and age. However, when good teaching practices are being jeopardized in order to guarantee high test scores, I think teachers and administration have a responsibility to reevaluate those teaching practices and ask what is best for the students “real” learning… Not just how do we get them to pass this test… Miller has shown that with authentic, intentional, instruction, students will pass those tests, no need to “teach to the test.”

I love that she addresses the use of promotional programs that give out rewards…

And I love that she addresses practices that are left unevaluated because they are “… so entrenched in school culture or a teacher’s paradigm that their ability to affect student learning is never probed.” She goes on to ask, “Are the activities and assessments we use accomplishing our intended instructional goals, or are them simply what we have always done?”

Miller offers a priceless insight into her very successful Language Arts program but more than that she gives us a glimpse into a reflective teachers mind, helping us as teachers rethink not just how we teach children about just one subject like “reading” but how we teach everything!

LOVE THIS BOOK!

New Teacher Support Signs

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Kelly) — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 16:43:00 +0000

I just added some new signs to my Teachers Pay Teachers store.

In our early childhood classroom we have many support people helping out, not to mention parents, assistant teachers, and student teachers. In order to help the other staff in the classroom, we have created these Teacher Support Signs to help everyone know how to support student learning in different areas in our classroom. There are seven signs: Art, Blocks, Science, Math, Reading a Story, Building Independence, and Mealtimes. The signs include Hot Questions or Open Ended Questions adults can ask to help encourage higher level thinking. There are also ideas to scaffold children's learning. Thought maybe others would find them helpful too! :)

Enjoy!

New Center Signs on Teachers Pay Teachers

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Kelly) — Sat, 07 Jul 2012 01:12:00 +0000

I have just added new Learning Center Signs to my Teachers Pay Teachers Store!
Chek it out there are 10 new signs, Play Dough Center, Puzzle Center, Pretend Play Center, ABC Center, Lego Center, Library Center, Writing Center, Technology Center, Smartboard Center, and Computer Center. (Added the last three as I know we all have different types of Technology in our Classrooms). Each sign features ThistleGirl Design Graphics and included Learning Objectives for the specific area.

You can read more about Learning Centers on my website www.2care2teach4kids.com

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Kelly-Kazeck

Firecracker Counting~ A Fourth of July Activity Page

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Kelly) — Wed, 04 Jul 2012 03:38:00 +0000

Just finished this cute Fourth of July Activity Page to help students work on number order, number recognition, and number printing. Print some off for free and use with your students!

Happy Fourth of July!

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Kelly) — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 22:59:00 +0000

This is a fun fourth of July art activity we do each year! Using red, white, and blue paint, we marble paint pictures which look a lot like fireworks when finished!

New! Newsletter and Calendar Templates~ Woodland Theme

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Kelly) — Thu, 28 Jun 2012 02:59:00 +0000

Hey, you know how much I love the Woodland Theme I did last year. I have just added a free Newsletter and Calendar Template with ThistleGirl Designs new Woodland Graphics. There is also a Class List. You can Download them from my Teachers Pay Teachers store click here!

If you like my Newsletter Templates you can find many more of them on my website on the Teacher's Desk.

Enjoy!