Monthly Madness Planning Blog Hop

 What do you have in the works for the month of November? 

I like to plan for a month of activities so that I am not caught with nothing to do,  but I still like to leave room for all of those teachable moments.

We will be starting off the month by talking about families since Thanksgiving is near and family is a big part of that.    

 How many people are in your family?  Graphing activity

 Children will be writing and drawing about their families and their homes.

Creative art project Who's coming for dinner?

 The month will end with many different activities centered around turkeys.

 Blog Hop Party Rules

Your link must go directly to a blog post with photos and  any  links to books and products that you will be using for your lessons.   The post must also include the image above and a link back to this post. 

Spider on the Fence

We had our 1st Family Fall Festival this week and it was a huge successes.  I wish I would of been able to take pictures during the event, but I was way too busy.  I was able to take a picture of the children's spiders that we displayed on the fences for the event.

Aren't they the cutest things.  

Trash to Treasures for the Classroom

I have been very busy revamping my classroom or the last several weeks.  Sometimes this  can be a very expensive adventure for teachers.  So I thought I would share with you some of my cost saving trash to treasure ideas.

Before

 First I found these paper trays in our storage area when cleaning it out and one of the other teachers said to "Trash those ugly things."  I choose to save them and paint them to make them like new.  Better for my pocket book and better for the environment.

After

They made a great addition to my writing center and all I had to do was spray paint them and they were as good as new.

 Before

Just a plane old flannel board that was trashed by another teacher because it was not new enough or cute enough.

After

 A little hot glue, ribbon and rickrack and this not so cute flannel board just became cute.

Before

 A box of plane black and gold picture frames found at a yard sale.

After

 Turned into colorful picture frames for book jackets in our book nook area.

Old metal cooking pans turned into paper trays for the art studio. All they need was a little spray paint. 

So when looking for items to revamp your learning centers, see what you have that can be re-purposed into something new and usable. 

Small Group Trays

When it comes to teaching young children you have to be prepared or mishaps and problems will occur.  One way to keep things running smoothly is having everything ready and at your fingertips.  Small group trays are one way you can be prepared for your little ones.

In my class each color group has a color tray.  Each tray has name plates, letter formation directions (Treasures) and a caddy with all the essentials.  (scissors, dry erasable markers, colored pencils and crayons)

Each group has a different activity that gets rotated throughout the week.  Everything that is need for that activity fits perfectly in each groups tray.  We just have to grab and go.

A Peek At Our Week

We have been very busy with pumpkin science projects like sink and float, what's inside a pumpkin and what will happen?   

What is inside a Pumpkin?

 What will happen?

After the children were done exploring what was inside the pumpkin we cut up the pumpkin and placed the pieces inside a glass jar.  What had the children predict what they thought would happen to the pumpkin inside the jar.

We will keep you post with pictures at what is happening to our pumpkin.

Pumpkin Art

 Pumpkin Letter Bingo

 Sound Sorting with Scarecrow

 Sammy Scarecrow pocket chart story

 Crow Art

Some of the crows are watching our science area from a tree.

 Scarecrows to scare the crows away

Art Studio Makeover

Before Picture

I am embarrassed to show all of you this picture, but for the sack of growth I'm doing it.

After Picture

For starters I found a large shelf that would fit in this spot, this gave me more shelves to store items on.

Take a Look

 I created two large tubs one for art tools and the other for drawing tools.  This allowed me to maximize my space and provide many different options for the children to create.

A closer look at the art tool box

 I placed small metal containers in the tub to hold all the different art tools.  (hole punches, scissors, glue sticks, fancy cutting scissors, and picture hole stamps)

A closer look at the drawing tools

Colored Pencils, Scented Markers, Colored Markers, Crayons, and

Colored Chalk)

(Trays of Construction Paper, Card Stock Paper and Scrap Paper)

Clear plastic containers that hold a wide variety of collage materials

To finish off the area a placed a crayon melt picture that my son made for me before leaving to college.  I love looking that way and seeing something from him.