Counting to 10 and Recognizing Numerals

Pictured above is my sweet Violet. I test out a lot of teaching strategies on her. :)

A while back I used popsicle sticks and made her some number puzzles. She was totally not into them. Then I picked up basically the same thing from Really Good Stuff, and BOOM! She loves it. Yes, their popsicle stick puzzles are a little prettier, but basically the same thing. Just counting and recognizing the numbers from 0-10.

Anyway, just a quick PSA that I load up on Really Good Stuff goodies every single summer. Or winter. Basically anytime I get an email about an 80% off sale. Then I scour their website and get tons of class sets of cool journals, folders, file folder games, manipulatives, incentives, everything. I hoard them in my basement and pull them out when I need them. (I'd rather clutter up my basement than my classroom, of course!) But now that I have Violet, I am adding a few more goodies to my cart - anything for my two-year old. My husband tells me that we have enough teaching supplies and games to open a day care when Violet and Braxton are done with them. But they were all on sale!

Magical Milk

THIS IS AN AWESOME ACTIVITY!

You will need:

-Milk (whole is preferable, or 2%)

-Food coloring

-Shallow dish or bowl

-Dish soap

-Toothpick or q-tip

Pour milk into the shallow dish or bowl so that the bottom is completely covered. Next, add a few drops of food coloring, about 2-4 drops of each color.

You can add the dish soap right to the center of the milk, or you can dab a toothpick/q-tip in soap and then gently touch the middle of the milk with it.

Watch as the colors DANCE and move quickly across the surface of the milk. Continue to swirl the colors. Eventually, it will no longer work.

Violet literally wants to do this experiment DAILY. Multiple times a day! (Check her out down below, doing the experiment with me last weekend.)

Also, for the older kids, you can definitely go into MAJOR science details about the surface tension, how the soap and milk interact because the soap is attacking those fat molecules in the milk (AKA why whole milk works best), and more!

Here is my link for the experiment, if you want more structure for students or kids.

Happy experimenting!

Mentor Text Alert: The Paper Bag Princess

Enter one of my all-time favorite books!

The Paper Bag Princess!

Talk about female empowerment, determination, clever trickery, and a spin on the classic fairy tale we all know and love. I just adore the humor and the themes you can pull from it.

I have ALWAYS used this book in my classroom for SOMETHING. I love it to pieces. But now, it is also part of our third grade curriculum for our new ELA program from the Center for the Collaborative Classroom. And it is just another reason I love our new ELA program. They literally chose every book I love as a mentor text and use it somewhere in their program. I feel like they read my mind a little bit.

The only downside to this book is that my two-year old isn't into it. I don't know why. Maybe it's the dragon. I have tried a few times and she prefers classic fairy tales...or just anything else.

Anyway, this story is about Elizabeth, a beautiful princess whose castle is burned down by a dragon and her fiance is stolen away. She wears the only thing that did not burn, a paper bag, and tricks the dragon in order to save her fiance, Robert. He is disgusted with her appearance and tells her to go home and change, and to come back when she looks like a real princess. So she leaves him! And she lives happily ever after...on her own!

Pictured below are a few of the pictures from the book to give you a taste!

Sensory Play: Kinetic Sand

Good morning!

Now that I'm the mom of a toddler and baby, I am finding out how important sensory play really is. Sensory play includes any activity that stimulates a young child's senses of touch, smell, taste, sight and hearing, as well as anything which engages movement and balance. Sensory activities facilitate exploration and naturally encourage children to use scientific processes while they play, create, investigate and explore.

Enter a few sensory play essentials:

- Splat Mat because I am Type A and so is my toddler.

- Kinetic Sand (scented is really fun)

- Cookie cutters

We had a lot of fun with these color coded cookie cutters I found on Amazon. The colors correspond to the holidays, so we tried to focus on yellow for Easter/Spring, but of course Violet was into every single one! And we needed to go through them all. We practice flattening the kinetic sand and pressing the cookie cutters in to make shapes. Then we decorated some of the shapes with more kinetic sand rolled into snakes or balls.

I also picked up some sand tools that were fun to incorporate to make bigger balls, tweezers to pick up small pieces, and little melon-baller type tools for some fine motor skills work.

Check out some pictures from our experience below. Also, we were sequestered in the bedroom while the baby napped - hence the Splat Mat! (I think it is meant for under the high chair, but neither of my kids have been too messy while eating and it is perfect for crafting anywhere without a mess!

Mentor Text Alert: Jabari Jumps

Jabari Jumps by Gaia Cornwall is an amazing picture book! It is great for teaching skills such as persevering through a challenge, facing your fears, and supporting each other. The text will lend itself well to discussions around fears that kids may have and how they can overcome those fears either on their own or with support.

In this book, the boy is so excited to jump off the diving board, but then he realizes that he is quite frightened. The book explores how he overcomes this fear and ultimately has success. It really does demonstrate to kids that they can do anything.

Common themes include: courage, perseverance, supportiveness, and so on. Remember, any theme can work as long as you have evidence from the text to support it!

Included below is a sampling from this text. I highly recommend adding it to your library ASAP! (Also, my version is from First Book marketplace. Check it out for discounted texts for teachers in Title 1 schools. It is the best!)

Mentor Text Alert: Field Trip to the Moon

WORDLESS PICTURE BOOKS ARE MY JAM!

Yes, I said it. I love them. No matter the grade level I was teaching, I relied heavily on wordless picture books for teaching many comprehension strategies. Most notedly, questioning and retelling. Also inferencing. Really, anything!

I love John Hare. His other wordless picture book that I am obsessed with is Field Trip to the Ocean Deep. These books are gorgeous. Beautiful pictures, intriguing stories, and they really get kids thinking. My 2-year old is completely engaged and rereads them over and over. Teachers at school are using them for questioning strategies during virtual learning. Check them out! 

Below is a sample from Field Trip to the Moon. I ordered this through First Book marketplace. I teach in a title 1 school, so I am able to sign up for a membership through First Book and order wonderful texts and supplies at a steep discount. If you have not visited this website, it is dangerous but amazing. I routinely order giant boxes of books for a fraction of the price!

Piccolina Kids Trailblazers Shirt

Piccolina Kids is my new favorite place to shop for Violet. Check out the Malala shirt I am planning on putting in her Easter basket this year, along with a few texts to read together! They can be a little more expensive than I tend to spend on kids clothes, so here is a referral link. Full disclosure, if you spend $40 you get $10 off, and so do I. Also, there are some killer sales going on right now!

Click here for $10 off Piccolina Kids!