Well, we finally got the okay from Ms. Lezze-Faire to do our Grandparents Tea for Valentine’s Day. We’ve gone to the dollar store to pick up tablecloths, cups, plates, etc. I’ve also printed out some songs for us to pick from for the kids to sing. All we need now is an idea for party favors. We want them to be made (as much as possible) by the children. We also want to keep them as low cost as possible. Any ideas or suggestions? It would be greatly appreciated! 🙂
For this years valentine gift to my preschoolers I decided to make heart shaped crayons. All my kids like to color so I thought this would be a neat idea and would be something different for them to use at home!
I took crayons that I found around the school that were old, broken, or about to be thrown away. I took them home, peeled off the paper, cut them into small pieces using an old pair of scissors, put the crayon pieces in a heart shaped silicone mini muffin container, and placed them in the oven on a baking sheet at 275 degrees for about 15 mins. I took them out when they were completely melted. I checked on them 10 mins in and checked again every few minutes after that.
Once they were cool I took them out of the pan and put them into little baggies to give to the children! They loved them! 🙂
Last week was very hectic – thus the lack of posting! We had our class Christmas party, our employee Christmas party, and we made, wrapped, and took home our parent gift! Lots to do! But we got it all done and tried to have a good time in the process! 🙂 We made these hand-print reindeer ornaments I found on the Let’s Explore blog for our parent gifts this year! They are really cute (and I’m sure the parents will adore them) but, to be honest, I did all the work since it had to all be hot glued! I generally like gifts from the kids to be more hands-on – more personal – but I let the ball slip on this one! I couldn’t help it! They were extremely cute and simple to make! It was well worth the effort! 🙂
This week Ms. Bennet has been on vacation so I’ve had all the little ones to myself! It’s been quite pleasant – but uneventful. We have been slowly working on wrapping our Father’s Day gifts and taking them home. I have also been working part time so far this week due to the low summer enrollment. It’s actually been quite a nice break. I love my job – but it’s been really nice having been so slow and my hours being cut back. I have more time to just sit back and take in the joys of early summer!
Observing my kids now it’s hard to believe how much they’ve grown and matured over the course of the year! I’m so proud of how far they’ve come! They can organize games by themselves without it ending in chaos. They can resolve conflicts without having me walk them through the process. They are more independent in all aspects – and I know they are ready to leave the nest and go to Kindergarten. And I will miss them – and always love them – and I hope they feel the same about me. This year flew by – and with the few children I still have with me…I only have a few short weeks left with them. I cherish every moment I have left – good or bad.
So far this week we’ve been trying to finish up our Mother’s Day gifts. We had the children paint small wooden hearts and larger wooden rectangles. Each was painted in a different color and I hot glued the hearts to the center of the rectangle. At the top we stamped “Happy Mother’s Day” and I wrote the child’s name in the heart. They really did turn out very cute! I attached a magnet to the back and we’ve been working on wrapping them in tissue paper this week – only 4 more to go!
We’ve also been reading books about moms in class. We read “Just Me and My Mom” (we are fond of the Little Critter series in my class) and this morning we read “Love You Forever” – one of my personal favorites! The children really enjoyed this book – I was glad! We talked about all they ways our moms show us they love us. Then we talked about all the ways we can show mom how we love her – it was a good discussion!
After our discussion we practiced our graduation songs – and after only 3 days of practice – they almost have the first song down! I was sooo proud of them! They’re quick learners! It helps that they really love both songs! 🙂 Overall, a great day…
I almost forgot: HAPPY TEACHER APPRECIATION WEEK!!! I hope all of you teachers out there have a great one! Mine was made better this afternoon when a mother gave both of us flowers….how sweet! 🙂
This year for Valentine’s Day I got a cute gift from a student of mine – I got a chocolate apple! I thought this was the cutest thing I had ever seen. A whole new way to bring your teacher an apple! Above is the picture of what I received! I can’t wait to get to the middle to the juicy green worm waiting for me! LOL
I am happy to say that this is the ONLY chocolate I got this year! Usually my students bring me lots of chocolate – but not this year and I’m thankful because I still have goodies left over from Christmas! I did, however, get some beautiful deep purple tulips from a girl in my class – I LOVE them and it makes me smile to look at them and know they thought of me.
Sometimes it’s hard being single on Valentines day, but being a teacher helps a great deal. Knowing that everyday I have an entire group of people telling me they love me and giving me hugs! And right now, that’s all I need to make me happy! I love you too guys…
*Picture found on the Blair Candy Website*
Teaching to Dream 