I'm back!! {Five for Friday}

I've been away for far too long... but, I'm back! I can only hope that a rough ending to 2013 and rocky beginning to 2014 means that the rest of the year will go smoothly...

Just to catch everyone up on what I've been up to at home & in my classroom... here's a Five for Friday...

1. Gingerbread Man! Before holiday break, we read The Gingerbread Man and did lots of gingerbread inspired activities. One of my favorite activities from our Gingerbread unit was making and playing with these giant chalkboard gingerbread men:

They're made from thick cardboard, masking tape around the edges and painted with homemade brown chalkboard paint. I added some ginger, cloves, cinnamon & nutmeg to the paint for the final coat of paint to add a little gingerbread scent.

2. Snow Sensory Bin - this has been one of the longest living sensory trays out our house! Seems that my toddler preschooler doesn't tire of it and my 8 year old stepdaughter loved it too! When everyone tires of it, I plan to add vinegar in spray bottles and droppers for continued fun & experimentation!

It's a pretty simple recipe: baking soda, hair conditioner, buffalo snow. We used a couple of cups of baking soda, about half as much hair conditioner and a couple of cups of shimmery buffalo snow.

And we've since added other items to the tray for playing... currently it's filled with little construction trucks from Christmas!

3. Maryland Science Center - This year, instead of tons of useless toys for my 3 year old, we put his Christmas gift money towards a membership to the Maryland Science Center so that we can enjoy weekend activities all year long! I've decided that memberships are really the way to go, usually only 2 visits makes it economical for a family of 3+... here are a few pictures from our first visit of the year...

4. Looks who's Three! My toddler just turned three last week. I love watching him grow and learn every day... I just cannot believe that he's growing up so fast!

5. Back to school & mother nature - the 2014 school year has been off to a shaky start... we've had several snowdays & 2 hour delays that have interfered with getting back to the normal routine. Not that I'm complaining about a few extra hours of sleep ... but looking forward to getting back into the groove.

Friday was yesterday...

Time has been flying by - being incredibly busy makes the week go by fast, but I feel like I've barely had time to breathe lately!

Here's my Five for Friday recap - a day late:

1. Goldilocks & the Three Bears - We read this classic in preschool this week. The kids were slow to warm up to the story, which surprised me, but I decided to give a few more reads before giving up on it entirely. I'm glad I did! By Friday, all the kids were excitedly retelling parts of the story and enjoying the Three Bear themed activities that I had pulled together. I had a collection of story telling props that we used during reading and than transferred those items to our doll house; introducing the bears to the doll house area was a fantastic way to get the boys engaged in an area that I rarely see them play in. I also like to read Brinton Turkle's wordless picture book, "Deep in the Forest," which has a similar storyline except it's a bear that enters a people house. We had fun looking for similarities and differences between the stories.

2. Oatmeal Sensory Bin - in the spirit of our story this week, I whipped up an oatmeal sensory bin. So simple and inexpensive, yet so much fun. I raided the kitchen for small, medium and large cups, bowls, spoons and plates so that we could reinforce the size concepts from the book. Unfortunately, I forgot that the other PreK teacher at my school is allergic to oatmeal! So when our kids got together (which happens daily!), I had to make sure it was put away and cleaned up! It won't last another week because of the allergy issue... on to beans next week!

3. Fingerpainting! This messy activity is always a favorite. My students could spend at least an hour fingerpainting, too bad we can't do it all day. We'll be cutting out and laminating these leaves for our classroom tree - which I've been delinquent in posting pictures of ....

4. This week, I worked on a guest post for Tutus & Tea Parties. Look for my "Sticks & Stuff: Xmas Ornaments" sometime next week!

5. Five more weeks until my course for professional development is finished. It's turning out to be an interesting experience and I'm actually looking forward to my field work at a nearby Reggio-inspsired childcare center.

Finally Friday!

What a week! I must say it was longer, busier and crazier than the last... how is that possible? I just hope that next week doesn't get worse!

1.  I love fall... the leaves, the weather, the golden sun, the smell.. all of it. I really just love this time of year. Here are some activities that I did with my son.

2.  Pumkins & Jack-O-Lanterns --  we made a jack-o-lantern during language group in our classroom. Here's our final carved pumpkin and here's what it looked like when we lit it up (with a battery operated flashlight) in the bathroom :)

3. FARM  -- we've been getting ready for a field trip to the farm next week... here's one of this week's lesson baskets. I've got "The Cow Who Clucked" by Denise Flemming, an animal sound book, props for my story and my interactive sticker book in the basket.

4. Professional Development. I can only hope that professional development for next year is something more meaningful and useful than what I'm required to do this year. I have to take (or retake) Human Growth and Development as per the wonderful state board of education. In an effort to keep a positive mind, here are the positives of retaking a 100 level class that I've already taken --

1. I will be reminded of typical growth and development as I do spend MOST of my time with children who have special needs 
2. I must complete a field placement and this will give me an opportunity to see what other teachers are doing -- right now I NEVER get to watch other teachers to see what they're doing 
3. I might learn how to be a better college level professor or 'highjack' some good ideas for use in my own higher learning classroom!

5.  Classroom Tree -- last year I had this great tree in the corner of my classroom that stayed up all year and that changed with the theme and/or season. This year, I just haven't have the time to resurrect it... until this week... here's a picture of the tree in progress -- there's more pictures and a final picture to come!

and that's my 5 for Friday!

Ahh... Friday!

It's been a crazy busy week - I almost thought I'd lose my mind this week between my day job at preschool, my night work at the university, my toddler at home AND the addition of a class for my teaching re-certification!!!  There have been more than a few movements where I about threw my hands into the air and walked away... but thankfully, there's always been something to bring me back to earth - my husband, my son, the beautiful fall weather, a university student thanking me for something that I taught them or one of my preschoolers accomplishing something new and exciting. I am thankful for everyone who supports me in ALL of my many endeavors - on this Friday, I'll recap with my a 5 for Friday:

1. Sensory Bin Preparation - My son and I enjoyed putting together the fall themed sensory bin for my preschool students. He tested it out and approved.  Here he is playing in the popcorn - you can find more about this sensory bin here.

2. Re-purposed Sensory Bin -- Then when I took the sensory bin to school, he threw a fit! He insisted that the 'popcorn box' come back - instead I brought home the rainbow pasta from 2 weeks ago. This is how he re-purposed the rainbow pasta for his own enjoyment.

3.  Fall Leaves -- At school, we've been learning about fall and leaves - I really LOVE the fall and all of the beautiful fall leaves. Today, I found myself wandering around the yard, looking for leaves... here's our scissor practice tray with colorful fall leaves.

4.  Paper Bag Pumpkin Craft - today we made a pumpkin out of a paper lunch sack during our language group. Our speech therapist did a great job with this activity! The kids loved stuffing the bag with paper towels, painting and then adding pieces for the face.

5. Fine Motor Friday... well it's really been all week. I have a few students who need lots of adaptations for activities, which has challenged me to think outside of the box many times this week. I'm working on a post of fine motor related modifications that I make so that all of my students can participate in activities during the week. Here are a few of this weeks' ideas - wiki sticks to help students look at their work and to color inside the lines and painted fingernails (hot pink, nail stickers and glitter) to help remind a student to orient hands properly for cutting tasks.

Thanks for visiting! What did you do this week? Feel free to link your post in the comments!