The Mommy Teacher - Schooling parents to support their children, one lesson at a time.

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.

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.

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.

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!

September 4, 2013 by Casey | 1 Comment

Toy Time Out Labels

Toy Time Out Box Labels are just a quick and easy way to label a designated box, crate, or bin to define it as a space for toys that cause problems.

I bought the crate for $12 at Hobby Lobby on the Wood Aisle.

[Click HERE to become a member for just $5.50 a month and get unlimited access to ALL The Mommy Teacher Printables including this one!

OR CLICK HERE to purchase any one of these Toy Time Out Box Labels individually from my TeachersPayTeachers Store.]

September 3, 2013 by Jessica | 0 comments

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:

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.

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:

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 🙂

September 3, 2013 by Jessica | 0 comments

Tying Shoes

After much begging and pleading from my 6 year old, Mommy finally gave in… I bought him a pair of shoes with ::gasp:: laces instead of velcro! I told him he would not be allowed to wear them until he learned how to tie his shoes – and without tears.

I tried to teach him how to tie his shoes when he was in Kindergarten and after much frustration on both ends, we gave up pretty quickly. That’s when I decided he would be wearing velcro until he hit high school. The bunny ears just were not working with his little uncoordinated fingers.

I recently ran across this video and shared it on our Facebook page. Amazing. Forget bunny ears, this is so much easier! James watched the video with me and that’s when I first heard the dreaded, “I want shoes with laceeeeesssssss.”

I thought that he had possibly forgotten about that video when we went shoe shopping for new school shoes, but boy was I wrong! We immediately saw two identical shoes, one with velcro and one with laces and he was dead set on the one with laces. Great.

When we got home with our new shoes (with laces) I pulled up the above video. We watched it once, I tried it once, and then it was his turn. I kid you KNOT (get it?) James learned how to tie his shoes in 15 minutes! He practiced a few times and then made his own tutorial to show you and your kids! Enjoy!

UPDATE 8/30 – The video is not uploading properly, so to view it, please click here!

For your older child, if he or she is interested in learning new knots, check out this website, shared by one of our fellow Mommy Teachers on our Facebook page.

August 29, 2013 by Casey | 0 comments

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:

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…

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.

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”]

August 28, 2013 by Jessica | 0 comments

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