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Grandparents Day 2013

HEAD’S UP, MOMMY TEACHERS!  This Sunday is Grandparents Day!  My kids love their grandparents so much and wanted to make them a special gift for their big day!

My 4-month old niece, Marley Kate, recently sent me a cute letter and it inspired our Grandparents Day gifts.

IMG_20130904_112815_535-1 Since our printer is broken, I decided to hand paint ours, and leave a spot open for my niece, Abby, to stamp her foot, too.  This one below is on its way to Oklahoma right now.

IMG_20130903_141810_362-1 Then I thought it would be a great idea to make a few hand print art templates for you to purchase and download so your children can make beautiful art for their grandparents too!

In addition to a “You Are My Sunshine” template for your baby/toddler’s footprints, I have also made a “You Are o-FISH-ally My Favorite” template for a sideways hand print and an “Owl Always Love You” template for a palm hand print and thumbprints for wings.

IMG_20130904_111206_280-1 IMG_20130904_111215_378-1 These templates are available to download this week for just $1 for all 3!  Enjoy!

[purchase_link id=”4008″ style=”button” color=”blue” text=”Purchase”]

Happy Grandparents Day to all of you Grammy and Grampy Teachers out there!!!  Thank you for all that you do!  Your grandchildren love and appreciate you!

 

Who is causing the Problem… my preschool boy or the coveted toy? Or Both?

Sean Patrick started his new school year today, and being the procrastinator that I am, I stayed up last night making a Toy Time Out Box for his teacher:

Toy Time Out Box Label

How To Make This Toy Time Out Box:

1) I printed the following labels onto regular computer paper (you can use card stock) using the print option “Multiple” to print them the size that I needed.

[purchase_link id=”3975″ style=”button” color=”green” text=”Toy Time Out Box Labels”]

2) I laminated them with my cheap laminator  Scotch Thermal Laminator Combo Pack, Includes 20 Letter-Size Laminating Pouches, Holds Sheets up to 8.5" x 11(TL902VP)  that I love and use for everything!

3) I cut them out and then hot glued them onto my $12 crate from Hobby Lobby that I found on the “Wood” Aisle in the craft section.

Assembling  Toy Time Out Labels

Why I Made This Toy Time Out Box:

I got the inspiration to make the labels for this toy time out box from Casey (who co-writes here at TMT) because she has one that her son helped her paint:

Toy Time Out Box
How I Use A Toy Time Out:

When my kids (or their friends) are fighting over a toy:

1) I walk CALMLY over to them, get on their level, look them in the eyes, say their names, and then calmly say “There is a problem so stop just a minute so we can figure it out.  This toy is causing y’all to fight – each take a turn to tell me why.”  (wait and listen)

2) Okay Well ___ was playing with it so you can either wait and find a new toy while you wait, or you can see if your friend wants to find a way to play WITH you with the toy.

3) And to the Friend who had the toy, can you find a way to share the toy or do you need me to set a timer and he can play with it when the timer goes off?

4) I warn them that if neither child is willing to wait or to share then I tell them the toy will have to go to time out until they can come up with a solution to play with it together or to take turns.

5) I try to follow through.  If they are both willing to make it work then I take it back out.  If not, the toy stays there.  It is that simple.

However, you can also use this box as a place where toys are held until a chore is done or a certain change of attitude takes place.  It can be used in more ways than just the example I provided.

If you come up with a use for it then please share your thoughts in a comment 🙂

School Bus Printable Fun

“I’m going to school on a bus today mom” says my 3 year old as he walks toward the door with his backpack on.  He doesn’t ride a bus to school so I reply, “Yes!  Let’s pretend to do that Sean Patrick.  Are you going to drive the bus or is the driver going to pick you up? ”  and the conversation continued as we made our way to the stairs where we pretended to be riding on a bus singing “Wheels on the Bus” and looking out the pretend window  pointing things out to each other.

I asked him what friends were riding with us in our imagination and he named his cousin and a few other friends.

This gave me the idea to make this:

Screen Shot of School Bus Freebie

He is obsessed with school buses.  He tells people when he is six he can ride the school bus.  I am hoping he gets to ride one on a field trip this year.

We have a school bus toy that we drive all over our neighborhood road rug that looks something like this:

Fun Time - Country Fun Kids Rugs - 39 x 58 in.

We read “Gus The Bus” pretty often and there are other great school bus books like  and  and obviously The Magic School Bus episodes and books are great.

So, he had a blast coloring his school bus picture…

SP bus printable

And he did a great job drawing the eyes on the faces… one was shaped like a square so he told me that Mckayla had a square eye haha.

bus printable with eyes

 

Anyway, click on the link below to download the FREE printable if you think your child would enjoy this too.  You can help your child practice sounding out their friend’s names or just writing the first letter in their name.  Have fun!

[purchase_link id=”3920″ style=”text link” color=”” text=”Download the School Bus Printable now… FREE”]

Calendar Templates!

It is August 1st & a few days ago I realized that I needed a new Calendar template for my “To Do” board but also a calendar template that my little man could explore with.  So, I spent a good chunk of time developing calendar templates that I liked and that also had TRACEABLE month titles and also included the identical set in the printable with regular month titles.

Calendar Screen Shot-tracing Months

[Click HERE to become a member – get unlimited access to ALL The Mommy Teacher Printables including this one!

OR CLICK HERE to purchase any one of these Calendar Templates individually from my TeachersPayTeachers Store.]

What can children learn from calendar exploration?

Patterns – The days of the week repeat their same order every week.

Vocabulary – Yesterday, today, tomorrow, weekend, days of the week, month, months of the year, holidays, etc.

Organization – Graphic organizers (like calendars) are so great for kids to be exposed to.  They show order and give meaning to our everyday routines.

One-to-One Correspondence – We wrote one number in each square.

Weather Recording – Check out my weather tracking post with the September template attached for free!

Ordinal Numbers – When you say the days of the week in a sentence you would say “Today is August FIRST, tomorrow is August SECOND,” etc.

What did my calendar experience look like with my 3 year old?

Kids marking their calendars

I put our calendars on clipboards and we sat down at the playroom table and talked about them while we doodled on our calendars.  I sang the days of the week song, the months of the year song, and then we counted how many days were in August.  We “x’d” out the days that had already passed.  We marked upcoming events with stickers.  I prepared him in advance for days that mommy or daddy had something to do so that I can remind him by pointing to the calendar and he can visually see that the event will come and go.

 

Sean Patrick felt so “official” with his calendar on his clipboard.  While I wrote the numbers and upcoming events on my calendar attached to the clipboard,  he “wrote” what he wanted to do on his.

3 year old Calendar Markings

He made a lot of markings and said things like “I will go to Maya’s house on Friday, and MeMe will be 70 on Tuesday.” Haha I loved his made-up events.  And his MeMe is only in her mid-50’s but one of her sisters told Sean Patrick that she was almost 70 haha.

He even asked me for another “August calendar” yesterday so that was my indicator that he actually had as much fun as I did with this activity.

Label Back-To-School Supplies

A friend of mine asked me if I made name labels to keep track of school supplies… well, I didn’t but I do now!  As a former teacher, I would have been grateful if parents would have used labels instead of a sharpie to personalize their child’s belongings or supplies and as a parent I am excited that this will save me time.

I like to edit these with a tracing font to get my little one to help!

Here are some examples… 

Pink Labels Picture

Tracing Labels Picture

Chevron Labels in 8 Colors

[Click HERE to become a member for just $5.00 and get unlimited access to ALL The Mommy Teacher Printables including this one!

Comment with thoughts, suggestions, what you might use the labels for, etc. 🙂

 

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