printed turtles!

There is no doubt in my house that we are turtle-obsessed. MAJORLY. So, in honor of my turtle-loving 5 year old's fifth birthday, I bring you this fun, adorable sea turtle printing project!

Start out with some fun painted paper. I gave him a big brush and white, green, yellow, and turquoise paint to make a nice oceanic background!

Let the background dry. Then, use a cross-section of a pool noodle for stamping the turtle bodies!

Fun Fun Fun!!!

Next, use a plastic spoon to dip and print the head, front flippers, and feet. You could also use a paintbrush to do this, but I wanted to keep it in the printing theme!

So much fun!

Last, we used q-tips dipped in brown and white paint to make the eyes and spots on the shell, respectively. He went a little crazy with the white paint, but I think they look like bubbles in the water! 

Happy Birthday to my big boy...Kindergarten is right around the corner, I can't believe it!

Joanna Davis-Lanum is a National Board Certified Art Teacher from Venice, Florida. To say her kids are obsessed with turtles is a major understatement. For more fun, colorful lessons, head on over to her blog We Heart Art for some inspiration!

Celebrating Veterans Day With Young Children

Hi! I'm Ayn and I am a Ga. Pre-K teacher, serving 4 and 5 year olds in an inclusive setting. I share my classroom adventures on my blog, little illuminations.

Every month, our Pre-K class visits our local VA hospital for a program called "Musical Bridges".  We sing, dance, play games and interact with our local veterans, who are permanent residents there. (For more info on this wonderful program, please read my post on little illuminations, "Musical Bridges: Building A Bridge Between Generations".) As Veteran's Day is fast approaching (November 11), we took the time today to learn a little more about what Veteran's Day really means. On our visit today, we talked about the various branches of our military.

We sang a song, danced a version of the Chicken Dance, 

had a little snack of cookies and juice, played a parachute game, 

and learned how to salute to show respect. 

Then, we paraded and marched waving flags!

I think the best part for the GrandFriends is just having visitors. We come every month and I know many of them really look forward to our visits. 

Here are some ways you can help children celebrate Veterans Day in a way that will be meaningful, for both the children and our Vets:

1. Make a card thanking a Vet for their service. Take them to someone you know, to a local VA hospital, VFW chapter or even a nursing home (there's bound to be a couple of folks there who served and are in need of a little cheer!).

2. Offer to help a Vet in some simple way. Helping to rake leaves, bake them cookies, share a meal or even to read to them can be such a great comfort!

3. Say "thank you"! Take the time to say a quick word of thanks when you see service men/women. 

4. Invite a Veteran to come read a story. (And if a Veteran reads a story, they're bound to want a snack....;) 

5. Make some simple poppies and share them with local Vets. These are really simple take only a minute to put together and are made of pipe cleaners a button and red tissue paper. I cut out top part of a heart shape on the fold of the tissue paper. Slip the pipe cleaner ends through the eyes of a button and stick through the middle of a few of the tissue shapes. Just simply twist the pipe cleaner to secure and they are ready to slip in a button hole or pin on a shirt!

It is important for our children to realize we value the service of our citizens. Fort Gordon Army base is located in our town, so many of the children's parents and grandparents either are currently serving or have served in the past. Many of the children have already experienced deployment in their families. 

I would love to hear some of the ways others are giving back and helping children honor our heroes. Please share your Veterans Day activities in the comments!

Stop by and visit me anytime at littleilluminations.blogspot.com or visit the little illuminations fanpage on facebook! And be sure to check out PreK+K Sharing EEE!



 

STEM GAMES and STRATEGIES for CHILDREN

THINKING LIKE DaVINCI

Hello and welcome to today's blog. For those who haven't met me, I'm Enrique, the founder of the F.A.M.E. Foundation and a performing artist who's passion includes working directly with preschool children, their teachers and parents.

Recently, I presented at the state conference for Science teachers in Arizona with one of our partnering organizations, Arts Integration Solutions.  In the room were preK, elementary, middle and high school teachers.  What I shared with them, I'm now sharing with you.

SCIENCE!  ENGINEERING!  MATH!  Oh My!!!

Have you ever thought it would be so cool to help young children think scientifically, explore the world of engineering, and to have a desire to play with math?  I used to think about it that way and then I found ways of actually doing it!  The key is engaging children's desire to MOVE!

STEP 1

NOTE: Let each step happen over a period of time.  Perhaps over a day or two, a week or even more.  Rushing through these steps doesn't create as much depth of learning.

Show the children an image like the one below and ask them... 

WHAT DO THEY SEE?  Honor all the things they see and help them recognize:

• lines
• curves
• shapes

In a group on a carpeted area ask your children to become... 

a LINE!

• Ask them if they can make different kinds of lines.
• When the lines begin to move, and they will, playfully ask them to HOLD THE ENERGY of a LINE!
• If you've built enough community and trust in your classroom, ask the children to create lines in small groups of 3 or 4 children

STEP 2

Show the children an image like the one below and ask them...

WHAT DO THEY SEE?  Honor the various responses you receive and help them recognize:

• lines
• curves
• shapes

In a group ask the children to become... CURVES!

• Ask them to become curves in different ways, using different parts of their body.
• When the curves begin to move, and they will, playfully ask them to HOLD THE ENERGY of a CURVE!
• If you've built enough community and trust in your classroom, ask the children to create curves in small groups of 3 or 4 children

STEP 3

Show the children an image like the one below and ask them...

WHAT DO THEY SEE?  Honor the various responses you receive and help them recognize:

• lines
• curves
• shapes

In a group ask the children to become... SHAPES, like squares, circles and triangles!

• Ask them to become shapes in different ways, using different parts of their body.
• When the shapes begin to move, and they might, playfully ask them to HOLD THE ENERGY of their SHAPE!
• If you've built enough community and trust in your classroom, ask the children to create shapes in small groups of 3 or 4 children

STEP 4

In a group ask the children to become... SHAPES that MOVE!

Try this both individually and in groups.

Guide the children in exploring:

• What they call turning or spinning and an engineer or scientist might call "Rotate."
• What they call getting bigger and what the world of science may call "Expand."

In case you're being asked to connect your work with children to the early learning standards, here's some helpful information.  It is possible to do that and still honor the sense of organic play which we all know is not only appropriate, but also needed in our world of education.

Cheers!

Enrique

Academic Connections:

STEM Standards of Practice

Interpret and Communicate Information from Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.

• Apply appropriate domain-specific vocabulary when communicating science, technology, engineering, and mathematics content.

National Engineering Standards

• Students will understand that structures have more than one process, and more than one part.

• Students will be able to design an object (system) to meet specific needs (ways in which object can move and function).

Arts standard(s):

National Arts Education Association (The Kennedy Center)

Dance, Grade K - 4 (also applicable to PreK)

Standard 1 - students will be able to identify and demonstrate movement elements.

National Arts Education Association (The Kennedy Center)

Dance, Grade K - 4 (also applicable to PreK)

Standard 2 - students will understand choreographic principles, processes, and structures

Hello!

I was so excited to realize that PreK+K Sharing was celebrating it's second anniversary.  That means I have been following from the very beginning.  Now I am humbled to be joining this great group of bloggers as a regular contributing author.

Who am I?  I am Terri Izatt and I blog over at Kinder Kapers.  I am fairly new to blogging myself...but not to teaching.  I have been teaching on and off for 24 years, but I just started blogging a little over a year ago.  This is my second go round in Kindergarten, but the first time was back in the 80's.  Things have changed so much, that almost doesn't count.


What are my passions?  That would be easy, my family, anything outdoors, and picture books.

I am a grandma.  Yes, I can finally say that out loud.  It took me awhile to admit I was old enough to be a grandma.  I have four wonderful children.  They each married someone I am happy to call mine (they call themselves joiners), and now I have 10 (11 in June) beautiful, amazing, fabulous grandchildren.  Everything I thought silly and stupid that grandparents said when I was newly married is true.  My favorite being, "If I knew how much fun grandkids were I would have had them first."  My husband says that all the time.  If you are not a grandparent...hang in there.  I hope you will someday have the chance to understand why grandparents get a little goofy when they are with, or talk about their grandkids.

My next passion is being outside, or bringing the outdoors in. This time of year it's all about leaves...going out to look at them, playing in them, pressing them in books, creating with them.  I love all the colors, the cooler temperatures, watching the seasons change, and I love sharing that with my kinder kids.  As adults we sometimes forget that these littles really haven't had much experience in their short lives to know and remember the changing of the seasons.  They often haven't had a chance to step out of themselves to take the time to really notice and observe the outside world.  They need hands on.  Touch and look and smell.

We made these seasons spinners back in September when we were talking about the autumnal equinox.

We just did one plate a day.  We talked about everything we could remember about that season, we looked at pictures, we read some stories, and went outside to see what was happening in our outdoor education space.   We "adopted" a pear tree and harvested some pears.

We have since gone back to our tree and saw the leaves change colors and just this week, they mostly fell off.  We will be returning throughout the school year to notice the changes and to see if we can tell if our tree is still alive.  Then this spring I am sure they will be excited to notice the buds beginning to swell.  Adopting a tree and observing it through the seasons is a great activity and can be started anytime on the circle of the seasons.  It is not too late.
 
My FAVORITE activity however is raising butterflies.  I do it every spring.  I blogged about it here.  In northern Nevada, I wait until May because it can still freeze in the mornings and I want the poor things to live.  I order enough for all my kiddos to work with one, plus some extras (I am always worried that some will not live and my students will be devastated).  When they have hatched I set up a screen porch style tent and release the butterflies into the tent.  Our very own butterfly garden!!  I got the idea after taking my grandkids to the zoo.  They had one in Boise and one in Salt Lake City.  I thought I want to do that!  You can do it too.  I cannot say enough about all the children gain from this experience.

Experience!  That is what children this age need.  They need hands on, stuff to touch, freedom to explore, and guidance towards learning.  I love holidays and believe that we should use what children are excited about to move their learning along.  I am always looking at the dollar stores and holiday isles for props to use.  At Halloween time I found eyeballs and batwing rings.  I created several games to go with them.  For Thanksgiving I am working on counting with candy corn and pumpkins.  Christmas will find us playing with Jingle Bells.

My final passion?  Books!  Especially children's books.  I blame that on my mom, Patricia Thomas, she is an author of children's books.  Some of you may know her first book....Stand Back Said the Elephant I'm Going to Sneeze.  It's been around for a long time.

I love starting my lessons with a story, I love ending them with a craftivity inspired by that story, and I love getting books in to the hands of my students.  Mostly paper books I have created or gotten from various sources on the internet.  But I also buy the dollar books from Scholastic to create classroom sets (25.00 isn't too bad is it?).

Last Spring we explored Frog and Toad Are Friends and Debbie Clement's Polywogs.  We looked at fiction vs. non-fiction and created these:

I know I have been long winded and for that I apologize...here is a little reward for sticking with me.  My students needed practice with positional words.....so after reading Run Turkey Run by Diane Mayr, I created Hide Turkey Hide.  We play with putting ourselves in those under, over, behind, between spots around each other, and our room, and outside, then we put our turkey in those spots too.  Grab this cute little book in my tpt store (it's free).

I promise to be less chatty next month.  I am looking forward to seeing you each month on the 3rd!  Until then stop by and see me at Kinder Kapers.

Happy SECOND Anniversary and all things November!

IT'S NOVEMBER: WE'RE TWO YEARS OLD!!

What a thrilling milestone! Today marks the launch of our third year here as a collaboration! We have two full, complete years of contributions to the field of early childhood under our belt and we're moving forward into the future with excitement and renewed enthusiasm. 

A couple of behind-the-scenes tidbits. Today's article is our 599th as a collaborative. In that time we have had 1,914,993 pageviews. Yes. We're zeroing in on hitting the 2 million mark! All by providing you a cross section of voices from the field: Direct, front line teachers in both Preschool and Kindergarten classrooms as well as consultants on a cross-section of the Arts plus experts in parenting and reading -- that's my attempt to categorize our eclectic mix. 

We have numerous authors who have been here from the very launch, who have written every single month since the inception. To those incredible contributors I send a super, cyber hug! You've kept the lights on and the place gleaming. You know who you are! I couldn't have done this without you. 

We have many who have contributed for a time and a season, bringing their insight in the midst of busy professional lives and we are grateful. We've also had guest authors. We've had contributors who 'split' a day with a buddy. And as we get ready to launch into our third year, we have eager 'NEW' contributors delighted to join the mix! Oh happy day. 

It was this calendar year that marked the launch of our cyber-store collaborative as well. Still under the 'If You Build it.... They will Come' marketing plan -- as there is still room for growth and discovery. Our Early Education Emporium continues to grow! Unfolding in real time is our "Speakers Bureau" and we hope to have that ready for launch at NAEYC later this month. Plans. Plans. and MORE Plans! 

NOW. Let's get inspired to take a look at all things November. First up? Veteran's Day as seen and observed, honored and created by little fingers. As the spouse of a Navy man and the Mother-in-Law of two servicemen I have a warm place in my heart for all things patriotic. 

Here are some images from kindergarten where a 'Project Based Learning' approach was taken prior to my arrival for my author/illustrator school visit. These first several shots are from that article at my own blog. Click here to see the article in its entirety. There are literally a gazillion flags created in every possible medium from cotton balls to computer! 

Here's my picture book, "Red, White and Blue" that would be the perfect book and song combo for your Veteran's Day observance with young children. Flags. Patriotic. Purple mountains. A land of diverse people. All things America. Perfect for 'performance.' 

Here's my pinboard of all things Americana. {Click pic} 

Patriotism knows no age limit. 

The classic handprint flag above was created by loving preschool fingers. 

In my role now as author and illustrator I get to visit beyond my "PreK+K" threshold. Look what unfolded just a couple of weeks ago, as I visited in South Carolina. I got to visit in the first grade classroom as they created art in response to my work. 

Here's an amazing collaborative 'quilt' created by mature 2nd graders in Indianapolis. I was with them last spring on a mid-west tour to conclude the school year. If we in the ECE arena, develop skills and interest..... look what is possible with maturity! 

Read to the conclusion to see how you can *WIN* yourself a copy of my digital files for this song, which will include 2 Mp3 versions: one is sung as a song and the other is instrumental only, suitable for your performance. 

Now let's shift our attention from flags and Veterans to Pilgrims and Turkeys! 

Here's a Mayflower Thanksgiving Bulletin Board Display! 

Paper plate pilgrims! 

I saw these kinder-pilgrims in Texas last year. 

These kinder drawn native American Indians were drawn by Kindergarten children. I have a lengthy article on my blog around the portrayal of Indians as it relates to the historic perception of Thanksgiving. Click here to go to learn my concern of the inherent 'racism' that can unfold as we simplify history for our youngest learners. 

And now? 
TURKEYS 
TURKEYS and
YES, MORE TURKEYS! 

Heading to NAEYC this month? 
My workshop presentation is Thursday morning,
 bright and early at 8:00 a.m. 

Come see me in person at my booth #1213!! 

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