1st day of school...

I am too tired to write much... but, I just have to say,
it was good
really, really good.

I took these photos of the classroom
before I went home for the day.
What a happy place!
Maybe it's the new yellow paint on the walls...
or the fact that it was finally filled
with busy, smiling friends again!

Last day of summer vacation!

birthday adventure

matching objects to pictures - apples and worms!

I am so excited about my new felt board! As you may know, I am a big fan of felt boards - they are perfect for activities like matching and storytelling. I made this one from a thrifted frame and a rectangle of felt. It's just the right size for little hands to carry to a table, and because it's a frame, I can easily replace the felt. A new felt board, for less than $1 - woo hoo!

Here are some photos of the new apples and worms matching lesson I made to go along with it:

When presenting this lesson to a child,
I would set out all the possible pieces
on a rectangle of felt like this.

Then, I would chose a card...

and make a match!

I would also encourage the child to come up with his or her own combinations, too! :)

crunch!

5 little apples hanging on a tree,
teasing Mr. Slinky Worm,
You can’t eat me! You can’t eat me!
Along came Mr. Slinky Worm as quiet as can be
and… CRUNCH!
4, 3, 2, 1...

Zero apples hanging on a tree,
away inched Mr. Slinky worm
as full as can be!

I love using concrete manipulatives when doing finger plays with the children at line time. We can still use our fingers to tell the story, but it's nice to have a visual image, too. Last school year, I made magnetic felt pieces to accompany my favorite Halloween and winter finger plays. The children thought they were fabulous! So, I decided to get on it and make a few more before school starts! This time, instead of felt, I used paper, and then ran everything through the laminator. Hopefully, these will be more durable because they sure get a lot of use!

Here's a close-up of Mr. Slinky Worm. I gave him a mustache as a nod to MUS (a visually delicious blog - take a peek if you haven't already) and her love of mustaches! ;{0

Oh! FYI - not that you would ever do this - DON"T put rhinestones through the laminator. Ummm... this is actually Mr. Slinky Worm II, and there's a rhinestone melting away somewhere inside my laminator as we speak. Yikes!