2care2teach4kids

We're Moving... The Website & Blog! It's ALL NEW!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Kelly) — Sun, 07 Aug 2016 21:00:00 +0000

Oh my goodnes....
I have been working for months on rebuilding the www2care2teach4kids.com website....
It has needed updating for years!
It should be going live in the next 48 hours!

I am so excited!!!! I can't wait to see and hear what people think.

The bad news is I am also moving this Blog....
The new blog can be found at www.2care2teach4kids.com/blog
So please when you get a chance check out the new website and blog and become a follower!!
Thanks so much!
I hope you will join me at the new website and blog!!!!

Sale Time!

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Kelly) — Wed, 20 Jan 2016 02:24:00 +0000

Check out my TPT store!

Use code START16 to save up to 28%

off prices!

Have you heard about the SEESAW app? IT IS SOOOO AWESOME!

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Kelly) — Sat, 02 Jan 2016 04:43:00 +0000

We have recently started using the Seesaw app in our preschool classes. It is so awesome! If you have not yet checked it out I highly recommend visiting Seesaw to learn more about this fabulous new communication tool.

Seesaw offers an online portfolio for student work! The best part is parents can register to see all the items added to their child's portfolio. Children or teachers can add pictures, videos, notes, and more to the portfolio.

We use the app in our preschool classes. Each teacher sets up his or her classes with student's names. Then they begin to upload pictures, videos, etc. Parents are invited to be connected to their child's portfolio. Then when ever their child has a new item added to their portfolio the parent gets an email notice. They can access the portfolio from any internet enabled device. There is even the option for parents to "like" or comment on their child's items! It really takes communication to a whole new level!

Check out the Seesaw App and let me know what you think!

Cyber Sale!

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Kelly) — Mon, 30 Nov 2015 04:08:00 +0000

Yep! I am doing the cyber sale! Get up to 28% off my Teachers Pay Teachers Store!

Enjoy!

Room Review

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Kelly) — Fri, 02 Oct 2015 00:28:00 +0000

Welcome to the FOX room!

So this year we decided to start using mascots to identify our rooms. We have a lot of different staff who work in each of our classrooms so it feels more inclusive to say the "Fox" room instead of Miss Kelly's room.

This is where we do our large group activities.

Here is our Art Center. There is a drying rack where the children can hang their own wet paintings. A place to hang aprons and a small storage shelf for some of the art materials. I hung a little curtain over it to make look a little neater.

The easel is also in this area. I like to put relevant books in each are to help instill the importance of books and reading throughout the room.

Nearby there is an art storage shelf where the children can help themselves to art supplies. They are also handy for teachers to access as well. Everything is labeled with pictures and word to make clean up a snap!

Hanging next to our art area above our hand washing sinks is our Display Tree. Right now it has paper leaves on it that were cut from a nature magazine. Later we will hang some of our classroom art from it to put it on display.

This is our Block & Building Area. The blocks are all divided by shape and/or color. Each section is labeled with pictures and words.

This is a train table I found at a garage sale. I painted the top with black chalkboard paint. We use it for different building activities now. Right now it has lego's on it. I will probably switch it to Lincoln Logs, Erector Sets, and other building toys as the year progresses.

This is a new area in my room... The Fine Motor Center. Typically I use to have all of my manipulative and fine motor activities in the Math Area. This year I wanted to expand om this area so it just seemed natural to make fine motor it's own center,

This shelf has our Language & Literacy activities on it. There is a table in this area that we call our ABC table. Kids can bring toys and activities to the table from this shelf.

These file cabinets are next to my desk, so I decided to make them a part of our Language & Literacy Center as well. I added a magnet alphabet sorting activity. Basically I traced around each letter and the kids can match them. There is an alphabet bucket they can store them in when they are not matched up.

This is our Library Area. We have our paperbacks on the shelf and hardcover books in the baskets. This is a busy area!

The Listening Center is right next to the Library. My friends love this area. We switch the books out every couple weeks. I love putting a book here after we have read it as a large group.

Adjacent to the Listening Center is the Writing Center. We are using Hand Writing Without Tears this year so I have a new set of their letter cards hanging in this area.

The pencils are magnets I found at the Dollar Tree. I wrote each students name on them so that they can use them when they need a model for how to write their names.

This our Math Area. The shelf has bins full of manipulative, math activities, and math games.

The kids can pull out a bin and bring it to the Math Table or play with the items on the floor on the Math Rug.

The dramatic play area is a favorite of everyone's. Sometimes it is a family living area, sometimes it is a restaurant, a hospital, a grocery store. It changes all the time.

The science center is my favorite. I have a "Nature Collection" in the aquarium. The kids bring me things from home to add to our collection. There are bee hives, various bugs (dead), bird nests, snake skins, a turtle shell, and more in our collection.

I also have several other "collections" for the students to investigate when they are interested. We also do many science experiments at our science table. Color mixing, baking soda and vinegar, wind experiments, etc. are just a few.

The Calm Down Corner is part of our Social/Emotional Curriculum we call the "HIVE FIVE" as our school mascot is a hornet. The children are taught all about the calm down corner and they are free to use it whenever they are feeling strong emotions and they need to calm down.

At my website you can read more about how I organize my classroom into learning centers or interest areas. You can also learn more about our social emotional curriculum from past blog posts.

Here are some pictures of how I organize my cupboards...

I finally have gotten most of my resources and supplies organized and in places where they are the most easily accessible and useful. It only took me like seven years!

You can download many of my labels for FREE in my Teachers Pay Teachers Store!

Classroom Supplies Labels

Classroom Supplies Labels 2

Storage Supplies Labels

I also have a number of Learning Center Signs for early childhood classrooms available for purchase.

Preschool Center Signs for Ikea Frames (These are the ones I am using this year!)

Learning Center Signs Based on the Creative Curriculum

Colorful Dots Learning Center Signs

More Learning Center Signs

Enjoy!

Back to School- Using Portfolio's and a FREE All About Me page & My Family page

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Kelly) — Tue, 08 Sep 2015 00:06:00 +0000

I have been working hard to get ready for school I've started setting up the classroom and preparing files etc. We have all of our students bring a three ring binder to school to use as their portfolio. I make copies of all the pages from my Preschool Portfolio file to put in the binders.

I decided to add a couple of pages to the portfolio that were not originally part of the binder.

I made an All About Me page
and a My Family page.

You can download them for FREE!

I am going to send home the "All About Me" page with each family for them to fill out at home. I will keep all of the pages in one classroom binder for the kids to look at. Then at the end of the year I will put each child's page in their personal binder.

I am going to use the My Family page as a journal activity and it will also be added to the portfolio.

Hope you have a wonderful school year!

Enjoy!

WHAT? Another BACK TO SCHOOL Sale!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Kelly) — Tue, 18 Aug 2015 00:53:00 +0000

Shop my Teachers Pay Teachers store and SAVE!

It's Back to School Sale Time & New TOLSBY Frame Center Signs!

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Kelly) — Fri, 31 Jul 2015 20:39:00 +0000

WOW!
I have been absent from blogging for the past two months....
I can't believe it is already BACK TO SCHOOL sale time at Teachers Pay Teachers!

I don't think I ever even posted pictures of my new classroom last year because I was so overwhelmed with everything.

Well I promise that wont happen this year!
I have a week off for refueling and then I will be heading back to get things started for the 2015-2016 school year.

So in the meantime enjoy the sale! You can get up to 28% off your purchases!!! Use the promo code BTS15

You should probably check out the NEW Preschool Center Signs I made for my preschool room using the TOLSBY frames from IKEA! They are so cute and they save space!

They coordinate so well with my Editable Monthly Newsletters and Editable Monthly Calendars!

Enjoy!

The End of Year is Coming Near.... Time to Finish Assessments & Summary Reports and I have Free Products to Celebrate!

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Kelly) — Sun, 10 May 2015 14:12:00 +0000

This year has gone by faster than any other I can remember!
Working this year as a program coordinator and continuing to teach part time has kept me soooo busy!

I have been busy finishing up the kid's portfolios, certificates, and wrapping things up for the year.

I did take some time finally put together my Preschool Portfolio components to make them available in my Teachers Pay Teachers Store. Yay!

You can download the Name Writing Samples for assessment for FREE!
Which as also included in my whole Preschool Portfolio Pack.

We also do an "End of Year" program and we give each child a "Certificate of Participation." I have added a FREE version of the Certificate in my store.

I hope you have had a fantastic year!
Enjoy!

Butterfly Detectives! A New Preschool Study and FREE Printable!

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Kelly) — Sat, 18 Apr 2015 20:35:00 +0000

Our Theme for April in Preschool is: Backyard Fun!

So naturally we explore lots of things we might do or find in our backyards this spring like going camping, flying kites, investigating insects, and more!

I have created a couple of new products to compliment these Spring Themes.

This Butterfly Detectives Pack is FREE for you to download at my TPT store.

You may also be interested in my Insect Investigations!

You can find more ideas and resources on my website:

Bugs Theme

Caterpillar and Butterfly Theme

Frogs & Toads

Flowers

Preschool is an Ocean of Fun!

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Kelly) — Wed, 04 Mar 2015 01:01:00 +0000

Our ocean adventure has begun! The children are so excited to have this "Yellow Submarine" in our dramatic play area. Today they painted it with roller brushes. Everyone took a turn and not one of them argued or whined or cried about whose turn it was or how long their turn was or anything. It was pretty awesome! They are having so much fun pretending to be oceanographers and deep sea divers. This is going to be such a fun month!

You can find more ideas for an Ocean Theme on my website www.2care2teach4kids.com
and find all of the things I have pinned on my Pinterest Ocean Study Board.

Ocean Inspired Number Cards

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Kelly) — Sun, 01 Mar 2015 22:53:00 +0000

This month my preschoolers have asked to learn more about the ocean. So I am busy planning some fun ocean inspired activities. I also want to teach them how to play "Go Fish" so I created a set of cards to use to teach them this simple game. I wanted to keep the cards simple so we could focus on the operational aspect of playing a card game such as taking turns and following directions. I want to work on reciprocal language skills, cooperative turn talking, and labeling.

You can download a FREE copy of these Ocean Animal Number Cards too! They can be found in my Teachers Pay Teachers Store.

Enjoy!

Making some updates! Oh yeah, and I joined Twitter & Bloglovin!

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Kelly) — Sun, 01 Feb 2015 20:39:00 +0000

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Spent some time this weekend making some much needed updates on the website and blog....

Oh yeah and then I joined Twitter! You can FOLLOW ME!

I was so proud of my first "Tweet" I had to frame it!

Actually the whole purpose for this post was just to test my Twitter Feed and see if it will automatically update from my blog posts like it is supposed to...

But you really can Follow Me !

That would be so cool!

Learning Center "Activity Record"- Free Printable

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Kelly) — Sat, 31 Jan 2015 19:08:00 +0000

My preschool friends have been working hard this year. However, I do find that some still struggle with making choices during center or free choice time. So I created an Early Childhood Learning Center Activity Record for them to use to track what centers they have completed. This is ALWAYS a huge hit and it really helps some of my students "plan" their learning choices.

I set this up to be as independent of a tool as it can be...

I print copies of the Activity Record and place them in a container along with mini clipboards and pencils.

The idea is that the children can help themselves to an Activity Record and make check boxes next to the centers as they move around the classroom during center time or free choice time.

In order to help them be successful at identifying which centers they have completed I have also made a page of "Learning Center Picture Cues" you can post in the different centers or tape on the tables you use in the centers.

You can download a FREE copy of my Early Childhood Learning Center Activity Record from my Teachers Pay Teachers Store!

Learn more about the how I use Learning Centers in my Pre K Classroom.
Interest Areas/Learning Centers

If you find the Learning Center Activity Record useful please consider leaving me a comment or share how you use it in your classroom!
Thanks!

Merry & Bright

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Kelly) — Wed, 24 Dec 2014 16:00:00 +0000

I can't seem to find the time to blog lately. Which is frustrating and a little sad because we have been doing so many incredible things in preschool this year...

I really wish I had time to post about it all and share the resources I am creating.... But my new position as "Programming Assistant" is consuming me a bit right now.

Well hopefully in the new year I can get back to making regular blog posts... Hmmmm that sounds like a good "New Years Resolution" doesn't it?

Until then have a Merry & Bright Christmas!

Holiday Door Decorating

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Kelly) — Tue, 23 Dec 2014 17:47:00 +0000

This year our school did a little holiday door decorating contest... Our program does not typically "celebrate" holidays but we wanted to be involved, so our early childhood classes decorated our doors around a gingerbread theme.

The window says "Have a Sugar and Spice Filled Winter!"

I found the welcome sign, mailbox, and shiny border at the dollar store.

The gingerbread men are foam and were from Walmart. I had the kids decorate them. The buttons, candies, pom poms, etc was all from the dollar store too.

The kids had a blast making these. They also glued glitter on the red plastic bowls we used for giant gumdrops. I put cotton stuffing on top of everything to look like snow. I sprayed fake snow around the windows.

It is hard to see in the picture but there was a small row of lights strung across the top as well. The table cloth and small trees were from WalMart too.

We of course read the story The Gingerbread Man and went on a hunt for him in the school. When we found him he had left us gingerbread cookies! Mmmmmm! FUN!

Cyber Sale!

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Kelly) — Mon, 01 Dec 2014 02:20:00 +0000

Looks like it is time to do some shopping! Use the code to get 28% off of everything in my store!

Shop at MY TPT STORE now!

Pumpkin Picking Time! A Patch of Free Printable Activity Pages!

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Kelly) — Wed, 29 Oct 2014 13:00:00 +0000

So it is October and we are finishing up our monthly Fall Fun theme. We like to do a little Pumpkin Theme at the end of the month. The kids love opening the pumpkins and digging into the slimy orange pulp. We do this as a class project and the kids get to help dig out and count the seeds!

I always set up a Pumpkin Detective Center in our Science Area so the kids can explore the pumpkins further. We have scales and magnifiers so they can weigh them and get a closer look. I set out a variety of pumpkins from minis to large sized pumpkins. We also include some different gords for them to check out too. The kids love this center.

I created some simple printables in my Pumpkin Detectives Mini-Science Unit to help enhance the learning that happens in this center.

You can download the Pumpkin Detective Mini-Unit for FREE from My Teachers Pay Teachers Store!

You might also want to check out my 5 Little Pumpkins Take Home Sheet, 5 Little Pumpkin Song Chart, and my Pumpkin Seed Counting Activities (Scroll down to find free printable pumpkin activities on the website)

Enjoy!

Apple Picking Time!

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Kelly) — Tue, 30 Sep 2014 13:17:00 +0000

We are starting an APPLE theme this week. This week will be filled with lots of fun Apple Investigations, making Apple Sauce, and doing Apple Taste Tests. One of our favorite songs is Five Red Apples Hanging in a Tree. I like to send home activity pages that help extend the learning to home so I created this take home sheet. You can download The Five Red Apples Activity Page for FREE from my Teachers Pay Teachers Store!

You may also like my Apple Mini-Science Activity Page

Enjoy!

Celebration! 500+ followers on TPT ~ Free Storage Supply Labels!

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Kelly) — Wed, 27 Aug 2014 00:05:00 +0000

Oh my goodness... I have been soooo busy I didn't notice right away that My Teachers Pay Teachers followers had reached 500! Now I realize in the grand scheme of TPT 500 might not be a lot but to me it is pretty great! So to celebrate I just added some Free Storage Supply Labels. I created these for our early childhood storage room so everyone could easily find where materials were stored. I have no idea if anyone else will find them useful but they are FREE to anyone who wants to use them for anything. If you do use them I would love to hear how they were helpful to you! Enjoy!

A Back to School Freebie! Super Cute Newsletter Templates

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Kelly) — Sat, 23 Aug 2014 16:08:00 +0000

I am so in love with my new Newsletter Templates!

Mostly because I love Krista Walden Graphics!!

I wanted to give you all a chance to take a look and tell me what you think!

I am offering a FREE download Zip file on my website www.2care2teach4kids.com so you can check them out and use them if you like.

Free Newsletter Templates

FYI- This set is ONLY in Black & White (but that's what I use most as we have like 100+ students in our preschool and we just make copies) and it is the PDF version. However, I have included a WORD Text Box Template so you can print text on the template once you have printed it. *Instructions are included.

If you are interested in a more Editable Word Version or having access to color pages you can purchase them from My Teachers Pay Teachers Store. The set on TPT also includes holidays.

Let me know what you think!

Enjoy!

CRAZY BUSY

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Kelly) — Fri, 22 Aug 2014 12:11:00 +0000

It has been so crazy busy at my school with programs moving and such!
But I will be posting pictures soon of my new classroom!
Promise!

Back To School Sale @ TPT

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Kelly) — Sun, 03 Aug 2014 18:17:00 +0000

It's that time of year again!!! Fill your carts, check your wish lists! Save some cash!!!

I am setting my sales so you can save the max amount!!!
Enjoy!

Moving can be inspiring... so it might be time for a FREEBIE!

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Kelly) — Tue, 22 Jul 2014 21:48:00 +0000

I feel like summer is going by WAY to fast! It always does, but this summer I think it is going by especially fast because I have been SO BUSY at school still. Our early childhood programs made a big move this year so that we would all be in the same building. It has been a huge undertaking. Not only did we move an entire program from one building to another, I now have to move my preschool classroom to a different part of the building. All the while I have been teaching a summer preschool class, working as the new Early Childhood Programming Assistant, and trying to get some work done on the website and stores. Ugh!

The good news is moving really helps you reorganize and rethink how you are doing things!

So, because I will be using different table and chairs and other furniture this next year, it has inspired me to create some NEW materials for my new classroom!

So check out my New Learning Center Signs!
They are much like my previous versions in that they have learning objectives listed under the center name. I of course used Krista Wallden graphics to give them a new updated feel and I used some fun colorful backgrounds!

Dots Learning Center Signs ~ Featuring Graphics by Krista Wallden

Colorful Designs Learning Center Signs ~ Featuring Graphics by Krista Wallden

Example of the "Art" center sign from the Colorful Dots Collection.

I am in the process of replicating them so that I can offer them in single color sets as well. So be sure to follow me here and at Teachers Pay Teachers.

Would you like a FREE copy?
Leave me a comment, follow me here,
and at Teachers Pay Teachers and I will send a free set to the first 3 people to comment!

I would love to know what you think! Check back soon for pictures of my new and improved classroom when I get it all up and running!

TTFN

Learning Center Signs Finally Available in Spanish!

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Kelly) — Mon, 30 Jun 2014 23:46:00 +0000

Check another thing off my Summer Bucket List! I am on a roll here people!

I just added a Spanish version of my Learning Center Signs based on the Creative Curriculum to my Teachers Pay Teachers Store!

Thanks to my good friend Ms. Elizabeth for doing the translation for me!

Signs included are: Al Aire Libre (Outdoors), Arena y Auga (Sand and Water), Arte (Art), Bloques (Blocks), Cocinando (Cooking), Computadora (Computers), Descubrimiento (Discovery), Juego Dramatizado (Dramatic Play), Juguetes y Juegos (Toys and Games), Libreria (Library), Musica Movimiento (Music and Movement)

Here is an example of the "Outdoors" center sign: