F is for Fire Safety!

Last Wednesday, one of my co-worker's husband came to visit my classroom.  He is a fireman and he brought his uniform and fire gear to share with my kinders.  I wish I had pictures to share with you but I forgot to ask one of the aides for her pictures because they turned out so stinkin' cute!  I was too busy holding back one of the kids who wanted to take all of his wrenches (she has a things for tools), and I was holding another student's hand because he was scared of our visitor (the truth is he is really scared of all men except for his dad).

When the fireman's presentation was over he asked my students if they had any questions.  The students didn't have any (they are autistic and down syndrome kiddos) so all of the adults started to ask basic questions-- what do you do when you have fire in the house, etc.  Then my little gal (the one who is obsessed with tools) wanted to talk to the fireman.

This was her conversation with him...
Girl:  (waving her hand in the air rapidly) Excuse me, excuse me, excuse me!!!
Fireman: Yes? Do you have a question?
Girl: KISS ME!!! Come here! (using hand gestures telling him to get closer to her)

Hahaha, it was so adorable how the little 6 year old was asking for a kiss from a fireman!  Too bad not every girl can ask a fireman for a kiss.

Since we had the fireman visit us and 2 drills (fire and lockdown drill) this past week, I created a booklet for the kinders reviewing the letter F.  Using Do-A-Dot markers, the students could practice learning the new fire safety vocabulary words while dabbing the letter F.

Click on the pictures or the respective stores to check it out!

TN   TpT

Also if you download the preview file, you can get a freebie from the booklet. :)

I hope you can check my Do-A-Dot booklet out! Have a great weekend! 

Easter Crafts

I know this is very last minute but I wanted to share with you the crafts I will be working on with my Sunday School Preschoolers tomorrow.  The story I am going to go over is when Jesus came to Jerusalem and people praised him and laid palm branches and coats on the ground in front of him.  (Matthew 21:1-11, 15-16; Mark 11:1-10)

Tomorrow on Easter Sunday, I was told I had to teach my class for a whole 2 hours because of the Easter service! I was sadden by this news since I was going to miss Easter service and the baptism.  So because of the extra hour, I needed to come up with more fun activities!

Since my lesson was focusing on Jesus entering Jerusalem, I was going to let the students role play the scene of laying down the palm branches and coats as he rode down the street on a donkey.
Here is the palm branch craft I came up with:

 Very cute right?

Palm Branch Craft:

What you need: green construction paper, scissors, green puffy paint, green glitter, flower tape, pipe cleaners, tape.

Here is a Palm Branch Template for those who want it.  I drew mine by hand.

Steps:

1. Cut the template and add a piper cleaner in the middle of the palm branch.  I used tape because I ran out of elmer's glue at home.  You can use either since this is on the back for a sturdy support.
2. Then use the flower tape to wrap the handle.
3. Cut the diagonal lines.
4. Use the green puffy paint to add lines on the palm branch. (Adults may need to help the younger ones)
5. Put green glitter on the palm branches and shake onto paper plate.
6. Then let it dry!

Jelly Bean Easter Craft

I used Kim Mitzo Thompson's Easter Jelly Bean Craft patterns and revised it for a different project for my preschoolers.  Check out her freebie above to download at the original craft.  Thanks Kim for the inspiration!

What you need: Jelly Bean pattern, crayons/markers, paper plates, scissors, yarn, glue, single hole puncher

Steps:

1. Color the jelly beans and cut them out.
2. Write a bible verse, poem, or whatever you like in the middle of the paper plate. 
3. Glue on each of the jelly beans around the plate.  
4. Punch a hole at the top and add string.
5. Then hang it up!

Have a happy and blessed Easter everyone!

Allergy-Free Signs (freebie)

Do you have a student with a food allergy in your classroom?  I've noticed every year more and more kids are developing all kinds of food allergies other than the typical peanut/nut allergy.  I know it is very important to keep our students safe from allergic reactions.  By having allergy safe and awareness signs in the entrance of your classroom will alert people like staff, parents, and visitors know what foods to avoid bringing into the classroom, especially for classroom parties and snack time.

Some kids are very severe, such as one student I work with.  He is allergic to peanuts, tree nuts, and gluten.  As I walk around my school building, I noticed many of the allergy classroom signs are bland and boring looking.  So I decided to create my own and I thought why not use the popular favorite, chevron designs, to decorate my classroom signs!  I've made the signs with 8 different chevron colors to match your classroom decor.  Let me know what you think by clicking on the respective TpT and TN stores link or on the pictures below.

TpT store

TN shop

Included in this packet are signs for peanuts, all nuts (tree nuts), gluten, soy, milk and eggs.  Also, I made combination allergy-free signs for students who have multiple food allergies.

Let me know what you think of my new classroom signs!!  If you don't see a food allergy combination in my packet that you need in your own classroom, please email me or leave a comment below and I will create one for you!  Have a great Tuesday!

A whole new world (and school year)

I finally moved and settled down in the suburbs of Illinois (Anyone from the Naperville, Warrenville, Wheaton area?).  I just wanted to say that moving can be exhausting!!  However, I am excited to start fresh in my life in a new city, meet up with old and new friends in Chicago, and finding a new teaching career here.  I do admit it is frustrating that the state of Illinois doesn't recognize my 4th/5th grade endorsement.  I've always wondered why only 47 states do and Illinois unfortunately had to be the remaining 3 that didn't.

Since the new school year has just began, I wish I was able to talk about the first days of school...and then I realized I've never really experienced "my first day of school" as an educator!  As a sub, I really don't get my feet wet in the classrooms until a few days or weeks later.  Now I'm trying to substitute in the Illinois school districts as I'm looking for a full-time job.

So, this post is for all the people who are still looking for teaching jobs (like me), newly graduated students, and substitutes!  If you are like me and are registered as a substitute in multiple school districts, it may become a little hectic of making sure you are getting paid for every job.

Quick Sub Tip: If you're a sub and want to try and work everyday, I found the best way to get jobs was to apply for multiple school districts. You are on more phone call lists and websites to look for jobs because there are a lot of substitutes out there! In school districts in Columbus, Ohio, we had over 23,000 substitute teachers!  On the days, I didn't have a sub job scheduled, I was fighting against so many people.

Here is a freebie I created and used for the past school year when I received sub jobs.  It's easy to fill out and I like to add the teacher's name under the "Grade" column especially if I am in the school's building a lot.  I always keep my district's pay dates sheet in my sub binder as a reference so I can quickly look for the next pay date and jot it down on my sub compensation sheet.  Then once I have received the money from the respecting school district, I simply put a checkmark on the last column "Received".  If you have any questions about my substitute teaching compensation sheet, let me know! I hope this is helpful for all of the substitute teachers out there and keep you more organized on your sub jobs and planning.

It's my birthday and I'll share a present with you!

Today is my birthday! And I love how it fell on a Friday so I can celebrate all weekend!  I am 23 today (I know, I'm still a baby compared to a lot of other fabulous bloggers out there!).  But after a LONG week of applying to teaching jobs and working, I'm taking the day off to soak up some sun!

Finding a teaching job is exhausting!  Yesterday alone, I received 7 rejection emails. :( What a sad birthday present right?! Anyways, I'm still looking.... I'm open to any state... anywhere! If you know of a school district that is hiring, please let me know!  I'm willing to go where there are jobs! Hopefully I get better luck this year. (birthday wish, maybe?)

I was contacted by EducationDegree.com and they wanted me to link up and share an article for new and aspiring teachers-- 5 Ways To Get Started in Teaching.  (click on "Job Hunt" tab)  Even though I don't have a full-time teaching career, I wanted to share for those who are in the same boat as me.  They have great tips for newbies, like me, who are looking on how to start their career.  This site helps you broaden ways to find that dream job.  There are many alternatives to teaching since the economy is still bad and lack of job opportunities everywhere before getting your dream classroom.

On a happier note, back to my birthday....
Since I love presents, here's a little present (freebie) for you!  Can I get 3 cheers for that?!  Yesterday, I taught a couple science lessons.  Here's one that the students liked. This is a science experiment that shows how water can rise in a vase due to the high and low air pressures.

Grab a copy from TpT

Grab a copy from TN

Enjoy my birthday freebie! Let me know if you used it for your classroom. I would love to hear your experience and comments!

Book Fair and a Freebie

Do you get excited when the Scholastic Book fair comes to your school?! Well do you know that Scholastic holds at least 2 annual warehouse book fair events for teachers, librarians, district employees, and others all over the country?  Everything is 25%-80% off!  Also if you sign up before you attend, don't forget to print out the coupon to save BIG BUCK$! For Ohio, we have different book fairs all of the month of May.  They only last 3-4 days.

Click here to find the nearest book fair event.  

Freebie: Here's a Book Wish List a made for teachers, parents, and students when shopping for books.  This will help people choose their top 10 favorite books they want to buy and to not overspend their budget.  It's scary to see all of your books rack up to over $100 (Thank God for the coupons!)!!

Freebie on TpT

Freebie on TN

Don't forget to join my 100 Followers Giveaway!!!  It ends Wednesday night (May 16) at midnight.  Lastly, my Summer Olympics mini unit sale ends tonight on both stores.

So Thankful and Dental Science Egg Experiment

I'm feeling so thankful and blessed because in the past 2 weeks, my co-workers and I at the non-profit I work at were able to raise an estimate of $1,300 for our after-school program! Without the community support, we wouldn't be able to help these kids with the resources we already had.  So to celebrate, I'm taking the kids to the dollar theater tonight!!  We are going to watch Puss In Boots.  (I've never seen it, and I hope it's as good as the Shrek movies!)

February is Dental Health Month.  Last year, I did a neat science egg experiment to teach my students what drinks were good and bad for your teeth, and how to keep good dental hygiene.  The purpose of this science experiment is to show kids how certain drinks affect teeth and why brushing is important.  I called  this experiment: Stay Away Tooth Decay!

What you will need:
~ 4 hard boiled eggs
~ 4 clear plastic cups
~ Drinks: water, milk, grape juice (Welch's works best), and dark soda (Coke)
~ Toothbrushes and toothpaste (white paste works best)
~ Prediction worksheets

Tell your students and show that the white shells on the eggs are similar to the enamel on their teeth.  Ask them to identify the drinks you will be using and survey who likes to drink what.  Pour each liquid into a cup and place one egg in each cup.  Then have students predict which of the liquids are harmful to the teeth and to write their predictions on the worksheets.  They can draw what they think will happen to the eggs after being left in the liquids for a long time.  I did this on the counter by the sink and I had one table at a time come get a closer view of the cups as students filled out the worksheets.  

**I would first do this in the morning because it takes a few hours to really see a difference or wait overnight.**

**You can also try coffee, which does the same thing. But it makes me sad because I love drinking coffee!

At the end of the day, or the next day, discuss the student's predictions on what they think happened.  Which drink was "good" and "bad".  Take out the eggs (You will need paper towels!) and show the students what the egg looks like.  I wish I took pictures of the stained eggs because it's pretty gross!  Ask students if they have ideas on how to remove the stains.  Someone (hopefully) will say try brushing them.  Show the students how the stains go away as you brush the eggs with toothpaste.  Afterwards, have students write what happened to the eggs after being brushed and what they learned from the science experiment.  

**Update: you can click on either pictures for the TpT or TN digital download version.

Click HERE for the prediction worksheets and HERE for my lesson plan.

I hope you guys will like the science experiment!!  My kid's reactions to the stained eggs were hilarious!  Enjoy the 3-day President's Day Weekend!!! I know I will! :)

Super Student Tickets

As a sub I love using this classroom management strategy and the kids always try to be on their best behavior to earn their tickets!  I got this idea last spring during my student teaching.  The substitute teacher that subbed for my host teacher always did this.  This is an easy classroom management strategy for guest teachers!

Materials:

Print Super Student tickets on construction paper

Small basket/box/bucket

Optional- stickers, pencils, small rewards, etc.

During morning meeting/calendar/morning work, let the students know that through out the day you will be passing out super student tickets when you see students modeling good behavior, following directions, etc.  Remind them to write their names fold the ticket and put it in the basket.

Tell them you will be pulling 5 names out of the basket at the end of the day and they will receive a prize.  

**Check to see if the teacher has a prize box or what other types of reward system she uses.**  Some reward systems I've seen are good student stickers, fake money, and bucket fillers.  If the teacher doesn't have any, it is always good to bring your own like stickers and pencils as a back up plan.  Let them know the more tickets they get, the more likely they will receive a prize at the end of the day.