Don't throw it away...it has so much potential!

About three weeks ago, my curriculum director brought me this GREAT cardboard package because, she said, "Danna will be able to find something to do with it." I looked at it for a day or two in the classroom and then brought it home. It has been in my kitchen for a few weeks now until I finally put it away. When I look at it, I see so much potential. Its not quite a box but it is large. It has two large flaps and two small flaps. There are lots of things it could become but I just haven't quite hit on what that will be. It could be a big canvas for the children to paint. It could be made into a large felt story board that we could close up and put away when it is not being used. Maybe I could paint it with chalkboard paint and let the children draw whatever they want on it, erase it all and start again. With Christmas coming up, I have pondered making some sort of stable out of it, but I am not quite sure what we would use for the manger scene. Maybe dolls and stuffed animals? Maybe I will bring it back to the classroom and see what great ideas we come up with as a group. As I think about it, it doesn't even have to be just one thing. I still am not quite sure but I know it has too much potential to just throw it away. Ideas? I'll let you know when I figure it out!

The Dollar Tree ~ A Preschool Teacher's Friend

Today the new bigger and better Dollar Tree opened just up the street.  As a preschool teacher, I love to go to dollar stores and see what fun things I can find for my classroom. Today I had some Halloween ideas I wanted to try, so off I went to the Grand Opening. Some of these ideas are from fellow teacher Barbara  and the website  pre-schoolplay.blogspot.com. For $14 and tax, I got everything in the above picture! An hour later, I had all these things for my classroom.

A plastic napkin holder has become a scrap paper holder for my writing center. Ziploc bags, hair gel, food coloring and some plastic bugs and skeletons are now two color mixing sensory bags. Two plastic jars, shredded paper, rice and more plastic bugs have become seek and find jars. (I'm not sure how they will like the one with shredded paper as the items don't move around, but they will be challenged to find 10 things in it.) Finally, 3 used water bottles become 3 sensory bottles. One has hair gel and a plastic skeleton. One has dish detergent and a couple of plastic bugs. The last one has the "glo" stuff from a large glow stick, water and some bugs. It really does glow in the dark.

 Finally, some paper plates and plastic spider rings will become part of this week's theme: Spiders.

Cut the center from the plate, then make cuts about every inch or so around the outside of the plate. Cut a 2 yard length of yarn and tie a plastic spider ring to one end. Secure the other end of the yarn in one of the cuts on the plate. It should stay without tape. Let the child help his spider weave a web going across the center, securing the yarn in a different cut each time. Later, at circle time, you can use the spiders  and webs to demonstrate position words such as on, in, over, under and through. If you can find plastic flies, you can attach one to the web with spray adhesive and, voila, your spider has lunch!

I don't recommend spending your own money too often but the dollar store is a great place to find tools for art, ingredients for science projects and ideas when you feel like you need something new. Happy shopping!

Pouring a Rainbow

The Rainbow

This is my first blog post. I usually get my teaching ideas from other bloggers and internet websites. Every once in a while, however, I come up with a pretty good idea on my own. I love lessons on color and on rainbows and on science. This incorporated them all. I use this lesson when teaching about Noah's Ark. In addition, I try to show the children pictures of actual rainbows so that they can see the spectrum of colors themselves.

After I finished all my photos, I realized that the glasses of clear water should actually have been empty. You should start with 7 glasses. Fill the first, third and fifth with water. Add red food coloring to the first one, yellow to the third one and blue to the fifth one.

Next pour a little of the red one and a little of the blue one into the seventh glass. Although the color is hard to see here, you have purple or violet.

Next pour a little of the the red one and a little of the yellow one into the second glass to make orange.

Now pour a little yellow and a little blue into the fourth glass to make green.

Finally, pour a little blue and a little purple into the sixth glass. This will make a darker shade of blue or indigo.

Now you have all the colors of the rainbow - Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet. (Roy G. Biv)

This exercise/ experiment can be done by children using small clear plastic cups and pouring or by using small condiment cups and droppers. I usually do the large glasses for a demonstration while the children work with the droppers.