Create Your Own Game

Our family has been on a board game kick the last few months. (I guess it is the hot weather keeping us inside).
Daddy was napping, so I was stuck inside thinking of a way to keep them quiet. I really did NOT want to play Candy Land for the 100,000,000,001 time. So I suggested making our own Candy Land game.
I laid out 3 large sheets of drawing paper we had and we went to town! (Plus, I was happy because I opened a new box of crayons!!)
Below is a picture of our gameboard.

 

We are still working on it. Making cards is next. You can tell which one is mine. To the left is the 5 years old drawing. The one you can't see well is the 3 yr olds. We don't have much of an attention span. He drew in one color then went to get cars to drive on the paths. This kept us busy about 1 1/2 hours, so Daddy got a nice long nap...when is it my turn to nap??

Getting Ready for School

As I get my first child ready for Kindergarten, all I think about is GERMS. I was the teacher that made my class wash their hands WITH SOAP before lunch. Yes... I would even do the smell check.
Kids are just plain gross and germy, then multiply that by 20.

To help combat the germs I came up with this little trick. My son does not like the little hand sanitizer gel, but he did grow up on the wipes and likes those better.
I was afraid he would throw away the package if it was just in with his lunch, so I invented this.

Supplies: 1 pkg of wipes (about $1.00 at Walmart), elastic strip, and super glue.
* I do NOT recommend hot glue, it will melt the inside of your lunchbox.

Letter V - Volcano Thematic Unit

Slowly but surely, I'm making our way through the alphabet. I've finally completed letter V. The science teacher in me has rubbed off on my kids and they also love all things science. (Strange because I HATED science in middle school...just ask my mom! Wonders never cease.)

If you want to check out my Volcano Thematic Unit on TPT (Teachers Pay Teachers) click here. It is 34 pages long.

Here are 2 different volcano crafts I found and used. The one on the right with the shooting lava v's is from

http://mandeeandbrandy.blogspot.com/2011/04/volcano.html

We love dot markers!!!

I have my complete list of thematic units I have made on the tab at the top of the page. If you click on that tab you will see my alphabetical list of topics. Like I said, it is still a work in progress. I hope to make bundle units soon for a discounted price.

Another Back to School Freebie

I was looking through my "First Week of School" file. (Boy, do I need to weed through!). Anyway, I had about 6 different versions of a get to know you autograph game. Many of them were copies of copies... I even had a mimeograph one (YIKES!!- For you younger folks, that is the purple old time copy).
I really needed a new fresh copy that was a little more updated, so I created this one and I thought I'd share.
Happy First Week!

This item is free, but you can choose where to get it depending on your different accounts.
Free from Teachers Pay Teachers click here.  Free from Teachers Notebook click here.
Or download from Dropbox, click here.

I'm famous!!

Ok. I'm not famous, but one of my freebies has gotten some notice.

www.prekandksharing.blogspot.com messaged me the other day that they used my free police skip counting cards as part of their Montessori teaching activities. 

Then the next day 2 Teaching Mommies had a picture of my cards on their facebook page. Imagine my squeal as I was scrolling through my facebook news feed with my morning iced coffee. :) 2 Teaching Mommies is the site I used when I first began working with my children at home. I LOVE THEM!

For her whole list of cute police activities click here.  For my free number line and cards again click here.

Watermelon Thematic Unit

With a summer coming to a quick end, I skipped ahead in our letter learning to do the letter W, so we could hit the theme of Watermelons.  Plus they are in season...shhh, don't tell anyone I skipped around in the alphabet). :)

 click here for watermelon unit


Check out this link - it links to CTGC Pinterest board. I have two cute watermelon recipes to go along with this unit in my summer board. Click here.

This craft I loved doing. I saw 2 different letter w, watermelon activities when scouring the internet and I combined the two. I made the cute watermelon looking W as a visual reminder that Watermelon starts with W. Then I used his cute little fingerprints to make the seeds.

Here is another cute craft we made since we were studying "ovals". I cut a green oval, slightly smaller red oval, and lots of tiny black ovals.

  He then glued them as I instructed.

Tadaaa, a watermelon oval.

 

The Night Before Kindergarten

In an earlier post I told you about some great books for Back to School and mommies. Well, as I read The Night Before Kindergarten standing in my kitchen, I got really choked up.
I decided to avoid this I had to put on my "teacher" hat instead of the "mommy hat". Ok, who am I kidding... I will still cry, but this may help distract me.
So to help, I made a little list of activities to do with the book to help other parents, and some educational activities to go with it.

The Night Before Kindergarten  (click here for my TPT store)

OR because you are here on my blog, I'm giving this little activity for FREE!

Freebie - Night Before Kinder 

(click above link to take you to dropbox)

Amelia Bedelia Graphic Organizer

As a back to school gift, I'm adding a quick little graphic organizer as a freebie. This is an Amelia Bedelia graphic organizer that can go with any Amelia Bedelia book.

Click on this link - Amelia Bedelia . It will take you to Dropbox where you can download it for free. Enjoy!

Back to School Books for Kids (And Mommies).

I have bought all our school supplies for this year. I can't believe I'm sending my baby to Kindergarten. Where have those 5 years gone? I know everyone says that, but it is true!! I'm so excited for him, but yet sad he is growing up.
I was at Barnes and Noble the other day and saw this adorable book. I almost began crying right there in the store.

Then I ran to Target and picked up " The Night Before Kindergarten". " The Kissing Hand" is also a good one to read. :)