September 2017 Visiting Teaching Handout

I really feel like this message came at the perfect time, at least for me.  It's about loving others, being concerned for all, and to be united.  Earlier today I was talking to my sister and little did I know our conversation went right along with this message.  She moved to Houston a few months ago with her little family and this past week endured the tornadoes, rains and flooding of Hurricane Harvey.  I'm so grateful they are safe and their house although it was close was spared from flooding.  As the storm ended and they ventured out yesterday they saw the destruction and went to work to help others. To her amazement there were tons of people out helping neighbors, many that didn't know each other, and this is happening all over the city.  People uniting and coming to the rescue from all over the country to help. It's amazing to see the kindness and goodness that exists.  Its a reminder to all of us that this is something we should be doing everyday...caring for one another, lifting their burdens, and being kind. 

 You can find the full message here.

To Print:

Click on the picture.  Right click to save to your computer.

Print at home or send it to your favorite place to print pictures.

If printing at home I like to insert the picture in a word document.  Size and print 3 or 4 to a page depending on how many you need.  

These are formatted as 5x7 but can easily be resized to fit the size you want.

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Counting Mat

*this post contain affiliate links*

This week we are doing all things Chicka Chicka Boom Boom based on the book by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault.  I'll be writing up a full post and sharing once we finish.  It will have all of our crafts, activities, my printables, as well as other great resources I found.  It will be fun.  We've been having a great time.

Today I have a free printable activity for you that goes along with our theme.  Its a counting mat complete with coconuts aka brown pompoms.  

Its comes in 3 different colors and the numbers 0-10

Draw a card and place it in the box.  Using tongs or hands place the correct number of coconuts on the tree.  Tongs are an awesome way to develop those fine motor skills.  

Download your copy here.

Portable Preschool Board and September Calendar Cards (free printable)

I'm so excited to show you my update preschool board we will be using this year.  You can find our past board here.  I don't have a spot in our home dedicated to preschool so I need something I can put away when not in use. My calendar pieces are not attached to the board which is why it is laying down.  I'll update the picture at the end of the month once everything is secured.   I used a 28"x40" tri-fold display board from Walmart.   The three papers you see are in sheet protectors that I just taped in place.  I wanted this board very functional for us but also something that can easily adapt and change as we learn.  I can easily slide a new page in when we learn about another letter, a specific number, shape, color, or even a poem.  Anything I want my daughter to see and practice on a daily basis.  So lets take a closer look.

 This side has a sheet protector taped to the top.  Right now it has our alphabet chart I found here.  The tree goes with the book Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.  This year we are going to focus on one letter a week.  So as a new letter is introduced we we will be adding that letter to our coconut tree. Right now I'm thinking we will use stickers but that might change. (tree printable found here)

 On the other side I have two sheet protectors taped to the board.  The top will have our current letter of the week.  We are working on counting and recognizing letters up to 30 so I made a number chart to help.  (you can download a copy here...comes in 3 colors)

This is our weather chart.  I found the free download here.

 I hot glued a magnet to our board and the back of our weather chart.  I did laminate and print on cardstock for extra durability.

 Finally our calendar.  The number cards are size 2.5"x 2.5".  They fit this size board perfect but hopefully work on your board or even pocket chart (I couldn't find the dimensions needed for pocket charts so let me know if they work or I can add an extra size in the future).  Each month will have a new set of numbers and theme.  For September I went with apples.  With our chart we are going to practice recognizing numbers, counting, and patterns.  You may notice there is an abcabc pattern through out.  We are going to try to tape ours on but I may change it to magnets if there is a need.

I apologize for the quality of the image.  I did laminate mine and it makes taking pictures a little tricky.  

You can download the days of the week printable here and the September calendar pieces here.

Adorable graphics from Creative Clips Clipart by Krista Wallden

A is for Apple

I get a little excited when the school year starts.  Not because my kids are going back to school but because it provides a little more structure.  My little one is now ready to start preschool and I'm excited to put a bigger emphasis on that each week.  We'll be starting next week but in the mean time I thought some of you might be getting ready as well. A for Apples is a pretty common  and fun theme.  Below is an old post from when my older girls were little.  We'll be revisiting this theme in a couple of weeks but this might get you started.

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This week we work on practicing the letter A. Here are some of our fun projects we did.

Apple Shakers (idea here). It was a real quick and fun activity that both girls enjoyed. I had red plates and Aubrey added "seeds" (black beans), we taped on a stem and leaf, then taped another red plate on top.







Then Shake!!!!
A apple tree and song found at Katie's Nesting Spot. Aubrey cut out strips of green paper, glued it on a tree I drew, I then cut around it, I also cut out a capital A. Aubrey then glued the tree top and A to a piece of paper to create an apple tree. Here is the fun song we sang (great to practice numbers)

Five Red Apples in an Apple Tree FingerplayFive red apples hanging in a tree (hold up five fingers)
The juciest apples you ever did see.
The wind came along and gave an angry frown (flutter fingers)
And one little apple came tumbling down. (hold up five fingers and bring one down)
Continue counting down with: Four red apples...etc


Apple Printing (idea found here) This was a really fun activity that Aubrey wanted to do for a long time. I sliced an apple in half. We used one color per half. Just dip apple in paint and stamp on paper.




Don't they look cool!a apple with worm- I wanted Aubrey to recognize lowercase a also so I came up with this little activity (Looked a lot cuter in my head but oh well). I cut out 2 lowercase "a"s, stems, leaves, and worms. Aubrey glued it all together and colored the worm. After I thought it was missing something so we added glitter. It was a big hit.Popsicle stick activity (idea found on Totally Tots)- I gave Aubrey a bunch of Popsicle sticks and showed her how to make the letter A. We then moved one stick down to make a triangle. This was her favorite activity. We practiced with many different letters, numbers, and shapes. By the end of the week I asked her to make the letter A (with out showing her) and she was able to. She was so proud of herself.

Additional Activities -Writing her name (sheet protector for her to practice with), Apple Puzzle (also on Totally Tots) probably to hard but she still liked it, Apple Book (found here), Letter tracer (here) again put in a sheet protector so we can reuse it, A template (here) used to color, A book (I can't find it but I know it is from this site).

Portable Preschool Board

I have had preschool on the brain lately as I've been working on some of our next themes.  Also my little one is almost 4 and it means we need to get serious about some more structured learning.  I don't have a space that I can really dedicate to just preschool so I love the idea of something portable.  Below is one I made years ago and used with my older daughter.  I still love the different aspects of it and I'm going to use this basic plan for my new board with a few changes.  I'll post it when its ready but maybe this will give you a few ideas.

Here's what it contains: Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Tree (we are going to add each letter as we learn it), Our calendar with removable numbers and month, weather center, and what we are learning each week.  There is also empty space at the bottom for anything else we want to add during the week such as sight words.

Here's how I made it.  A tri-fold board found in the office section would work great too.

I used a box that paper comes in and tore the edges apart.

I then cut off all the extra flaps.

For the Calendar I found a blank one online and sized it in Word.  Printed and cut it out.  I then glued it onto my cardboard and covered it with a piece of clear contact paper.  I typed up the numbers and months and printed them out on cardstock.  I attached them to the board with tape and store the extra in an envelope.

 For the weather center I used clip art from the Internet and printed them out on cardstock. 

I added two magnets to the cardboard and magnets to the back of each picture.

For the Learning Board I typed up each subject and cut them into rectangles.

I glued them on to the cardboard and covered with contact paper.  Now you can write on them with white board markers and they easily erase.

For the Tree I used this site and cut it down to size.  I just glued it on.  We will use tape to attach our letters.

Another great part is it folds up and slides behind their dresser when we aren't using it.

August Visiting Teaching Handout

You can find the full message here.

To Print:

Click on the picture.  Right click to save to your computer.

Print at home or send it to your favorite place to print pictures.

If printing at home I like to insert the picture in a word document.  Size and print 3 or 4 to a page depending on how many you need.  

These are formatted as 5x7 but can easily be resized to fit the size you want.