"Maybe Christmas," he thought, "means a little bit more."

Our Grinch Party!

We wore green.
We watched THE GRINCH.
We decorated Christmas trees (upside down ice cream cones...thank-you pinterest.)
Had a gift exchange.
And ate Grinch poop, (cakepops), and drank Who-ville (green) milk.



Are you GREEEEEN with envy?! These little people sure know how to party:)

Paisley 'decorating' her Christmas tree!

Alivia

Danica's fancy shoes!

Camren's styling hair-do

So excited to open presents!

Grinch poop

The Littlest Angel(s)...

Our classroom is full of little angels. The spirit of giving is so contagious. In November, when we were discussing the importance of helping one another when we can, the children amazed me with the endless flow of canned food they brought in to help the needy in our small town. One of the students said, "Now they won't be hungry at Thanksgiving, but what about Christmas?"

And so, we adopted a family in our area for the holidays. The students did a fundraiser and brought in enough money to sponsor a family with three children. How wonderful to watch their faces and see those huge smiles as they saw the gifts their kindness purchased for children who otherwise would have gone without. I am so proud of my class....and so blessed to be their teacher.

The Little Red Hen

This year for the letter "H" I really wanted to incorporate the story of the Little Red Hen, and the importance of HELPING others.

We read the story and then the boys and girls helped me bake some bread...and then they helped me eat it. And, guess what?! When I asked them WHO would help me add the flour, stir the ingredients and knead the dough, not one of them said, "Not me!" :)

Here they are... helpful as can be:

*We also made some 'helping hands' with specific ways we can help others written on them. Some of the responses I got just melted my heart! "I help daddy work." and "I help mommy bake cookies." My favorite was, "I help grandma in the garden." What a classroom full of wonderful little helpers I have!!

Grandparents Celebration!

Grandparents play such an important role in helping our kiddos blossom and grow! So, I really look forward to our Grandparent's Day Celebration, and meeting the students' Grandparents!  This year the children sang for their grandparents, crafted with them, (Christmas coasters...messy but fun), and shared some toasty  hot cocoa and marshmallows with them!



"Grandparents do for little children what no one else can...they sort of, sprinkle fairy dust on their lives." -Alex Haley

(Of course my camera was acting up and I got ZERO pictures of this super fun day...if any of you happened to capture the moment...feel free to share!!)

Cans, cans and MORE cans!

As a class, we collected over 60 items for the local canned food drive!! I am so proud of my students and their big hearts! Here they are counting some of their cans:

It's Punkin' Time!

Fun at the Pumpkin Patch with some of my FAVORITE pumpkins!!

THE HAUNTING HOUR:
Spoooky treats, apple bobbing, pin-the-spider-on-the-web, and pumpkin bowling...what says Halloween Party better than that?! Well, maybe the little monsters that made it all so fun!:)

"F" is for...

FISH! But, not just ANY fish...RaInBoW FisH!!
We read all about the importance of friends and sharing in The Rainbow Fish by: Marcus Pfister
We made our own fish, and finished off the week with Rainbow Fish Cupcakes and this little poem to remind us what we learned:



We are all special and unique!
Be kind when you speak...
Just like the rainbow fish,
The most important wish-
It's true in the end,
We all just need a friend!

"D" is for...

DOG! We had a surprise visit from Alivia&Elizabeth's dad and their new puppy! Cute as can be...and perfect timing!

"C" is for...

Cat! (AND Camren!)

"B" is for...

Bubbles!! The children had waaay too much fun making these colorful bubble paintings! I'm always amazed at all the things you can do with a little drop of food coloring!

As part of our circle time activities, the children are encouraged to bring something from home that begins with the letter we are studying for that particular week. Here is Nessen sharing his "B"ubble gum:

"A" is for...

Applesauce!! Here is Nessen, (and friends), adding a little cinnamon to our brown-sugar-crockpot-applesauce...which only Richie was brave enough to try! 

Hoooo's Ready For Pre~School?!

The first couple weeks of pre~school were spent getting to know each other through fun and interactive games, songs, crafts and books! We had an 'owl theme,' which made the possibilities endless!

                                       Some of our treats:

The kiddos sharing their books with each other:

Ethan studying his owl pellet:

Let The Fun Begin!!

*Danica* with stars in her eyes;)

Open House was a huge success!! Thank-you ALL for coming out! I LOVED meeting all of my new students...Let the fun, (and learning), begin!!

Your "bright and shiny" Pre~School “Star”ter Kit

1. Sunglasses Because your future is SO bright, you gotta have shades!!

2.Glow Worms A cousin to the 'bookworm,' they will remind you how deLIGHTfully fun and important reading is!

3.Star stickers In this class, we 'stick' together!

4.glow bracelets A happy reminder that God will always light the way!

5. Glow in the dark stars 'Hitch your wagon to a star,' because dreams really do come true!!

Open House Announcement!

This Summer has definitely had some unexpected twists and turns! I am thrilled to announce that I FINALLY have a date set for our Open House! August 24th from 6-8pm...I'm really looking forward to seeing my former students and meeting some new ones! Parents: I plan to go over everything that evening, including: curriculum, important dates, school supplies, registration information and etc. Please do not hesitate to call or message me with any questions you may have! School is a BIG deal and so are your kiddos!:)

"Hitch your wagon to a star." Emerson

The sky is truly the limit for these amazing little people! I am so, so, SO proud of my graduates. It is a bittersweet thing, sending them off to kindergarten...I will miss their sweet little spirits, but look forward to watching them blossom as they continue to learn and grow!! (Also, I have the wonderful privilege of hanging on to Weston, Richie, and possibly Brayden?!, for a little while longer! YAY!)

FuN iN tHe SuN!!

(Attention: We may have made the neighbors across the street slightly nervous, but there were no vehicles harmed by our water balloon shenanigans.) ;)

"Friends are the SUNSHINE of life!"

And what FUN we had with our friends on the last day of school!! We celebrated with...Water Balloons. Bubbles. Sidewalk Chalk. Snowcones. And LOTS of smiles!!

Zebra Pots!

Z is for ZEBRA!! I had a bright idea! I thought 'HOW fun would it be to let the children paint little pots with black and white stripes?!' My husband had an even BRIGHTER idea.:) He and I painted the pots white, and the boys and girls DREW the black stripes on. Sometimes I'm feeling brave and ambitious, sometimes not so much. ;) After our lesson on the letter "Z," we talked about how each and every one of us is special and unique. We discussed how wonderful it is that we all have our very own personalities and how great it is to be different than our friends. We studied our fingerprints and how no two were the same, just like the stripes on ZEBRAS. Then, they finished up their pots, added some dirt, and planted their seeds! They LOVED putting their hands in the dirt and the finished product was adorable!!

(We also went to ZOO BOISE for our end of the year field trip...what FUN! Unfortunately, my camera broke right before our outing. You'll just have to use your imaginations. :))

Happy Mother's Day!

I have the most WONDERFUL students this year...and that means they obviously have WONDERFUL Mommies!! Thanks for all your support, lovely mothers! The kiddos wanted to make you something extra special to show their appreciation for ALL you do...so, we came up with this: a heart shaped key chain...with a sweet little thumbprint in the middle!
 Here's something special for your keys,
 It's just for you, from ME! 
Now, whenever we're apart, 
You can hang on to my heart!
 And when a man/woman I've become, 
You'll always have my 'little thumb!'

Butterflies are self propelled flowers. ~R.H. Heinlein

My son's first grade teacher, Mrs. Noyer, gave me a great idea...or two!:) I was trying to decide how I wanted to introduce the 'Life cycle of a butterfly' lesson because I wanted the kids to create something more tangible than a colored on piece of paper. So, I tweaked her idea just a little, adding food coloring to make it 'prettier'/messier...and this is the outcome: Rice on a leaf for the eggs, spiral noodle for the caterpillar, HUGE shell noodle for the chrysalis, and finally...bow tie pasta for the butterfly!

(Thanks for posing, Richie!) I purchased our butterfly habitat, ordered our caterpillars, and then waited. And then waited some more. And a month later, (apparently you are supposed to specify that you want them to 'hurry', because as soon as I emailed them, they shipped my little crawlers and they were in-hand the next day!)TAAAA DAAAA! They are munching and munching, and growing and growing! The children are SO excited to watch the transformation! (Crossing fingers that it happens before graduation!:/) Here are Izzy and Weston checking them out...and then just a littttle closer:)