Park adventures

It may have been cold yesterday but the kiddos had so much fun at the park. I love giving them the opportunity to just explore. Every week the head teacher and I try take the kids to a different park where the kids can climb trees, play in the dirt, collect sticks and bugs and just be a kid! I feel kids these days don't that opportunity anymore. Last week we went to Larwood Park where we made a fire and had hot dogs and chili by the fire. There was no playground, just nature. It's amazing what games kids can come up with just by using imagination. It was really fun watching.

Yesterday we spent the day at Millersburg Park. Unfortunately when we showed up we noticed the playground was flooded, but we didn't let that stop us from having a good time. There was an undercover area we stayed at where the kids ran laps around the tables, as well discover worms in the mud, and trust me there was a lot considering it had been raining almost non stop all last week. I seriously love me job! Even if some days they don't get naps and become a little cranky at the end of the day ;)

Flooded playground :(

A whole family of worms

Teaching: it's what I do

"The problem with teaching as a profession is that every single adult citizen of this country thinks that they know what teachers do. And they don’t. So they prescribe solutions, and they develop public policy, and they editorialize, and they politicize. And they don’t listen to those who do know. Those who could teach. The teachers."

I was reading an article and found this quote and I love it. It describes so much about being a teacher. Now I work at a private child care center from the ages 6 weeks to 5 years old so it's a little different then working in public school. When telling people this, most people look at me weird and you can tell that they aren't impressed with the work I do. To this day I still have people that think I'm crazy to have gone to work for 5 years, only to with with "babies." It really quite frustrating and also disrespectful. People honestly have NO idea how important early childhood education is! People have no idea that when I got hired for my current employer it was required for me to have a bachelor degree is child development in order for them to consider me a full time head teacher. If you don't have the degree you have to wait a year to gain experience and start out as an assistant teacher, where you help with the classroom but you can't be left alone with the kids. Since being hired with the Corvallis Community Children's Center almost 3 hours ago, I've worked in the Pre-K room, wobbler (1 year olds), toddler (2 year olds), and now infants. Each classroom has to follow a certain lesson plan that includes developmentally appropriate activities while following the creative curriculum. If you didn't understand that last sentence then you have no idea what it's like to be a teacher.

Whenever people ask me where I work, I usually tell them I'm a teacher. They get an excited look on their face and then they ask where I work. When I tell them that I work at a daycare/preschool center the excitement leaves their face a little and say, "cool, that sounds like a fun job!" Sometimes they are being sarcastic other times they mean it. It use to bother me. But now that I've work been working with children for quite some time I take no mind to people's opinion about the job that I do. I do it because I love it. I may not get payed much, but I don't do it for the money. I do it because I love kids. I do it because I know how important early childhood education is. It brings me so much happiness knowing that I make a difference in a child's life. Someday I hope people with wake up and realize how important my job is, but until them I will continue doing what I love!

Wordless Wednesday: enjoy the little things

(In this instance, a bucket)

Butterflies!!!

So on Monday I came to work to a wonderful surprise... our butterflies hatched!! The instructions told me it would be two weeks, but they apparently had other plans. It started with two, and then the others followed

The kids loved watching them. And for the next 3 days that's exactly what we did

Unfortunately one butterfly didn't make it... He became stuck in his cocoon for too long which in the end made his wings deformed. I tried to help it, but there was nothing much that I could do for it.

So yesterday while at work, we took the kids outside and let the butterflies free! This was such a fun experience to do with the kids. My co teacher and I will definitely be doing this again

Let them grow!

Back in November I took a trip to the High Desert Museum with Tyrel and his parents. There was a butterfly exhibit there... needless to say Tyrel's dad discovered my love obsession for butterflies! As a gift he bought me the live butterfly garden, allowing me to order caterpillars and have them grow into butterflies!

I thought this would be a great teaching experience with the kiddos at work. But because it was November I had to wait since I felt bad about releasing butterflies in the wild during the winter time. So I've been waiting very patiently for the weather to get nice so I can order my caterpillars. Well the wait is over and about a week and a half ago I ordered and received my caterpillars! My co teacher, the kids and I are having a blast watching them grow, as they have become huge. Should be about another week and they will make a chrysalis. Once they have done that we can take them out of the container they came in and put them in a special cage and they will be butterflies! So exciting. I'm probably more excited about it then the kids are, but still this whole process has been really cool to watch. Stay tuned for my pictures!

Wordless Wednesday: sensory fun

Welcome to my classroom!

I've been wanting to post pictures of my new classroom since the beginning of February, but there have been a lot of changes to it since then and I figured I should wait until all the coats of paint and new shelves/toys etc were all here. Well that time has finally come! I'm very proud of my classroom and love the look of it

The rest of the pictures speak for themselves, so enjoy. Happy Friday!!

Our butterfly tree!

LOVE my bulletin board

Children's artwork hanging from the ceiling

More artwork

Our little kid sized sink

A place to hang pictures to dry

The cubbies that lead to the older toddler room

Chilren learn what they live

If children live with criticisim
They learn to condemn

If children live with hostility
They learn to fight

If children live with ridicule
They learn to be shy

If children live with shame
They learn to feel guilty

If children live with tolerance
They learn to be patient

If children live with encouragement
They learn confidence

If children live with praise
They learn to appreciate

If children live with fairness
They learn justice

If children live with security
They learn to have faith

If children live with approval
They learn to like themselves

If children't live with acceptance and friendship
They learn to find love in the world

- Dorothy Law Nolse

Slow down, stop... and breathe!

I work at a some what fast pace everyday. Working with kids has taught me to always think on my toes, multitask and smile. I come home needing to ice my foot everyday and then next morning I get up and do it all over again. I wouldn't change it for the world! However, working at a fast pace all the time can be quite stressfull and a lot of work. I start working and next thing I know it 3 hours has passed by and I havne't even had a chance to sit or eat something.

That's when I realized that sometimes it's good to slow down, stop, and take some deep breaths. And if you are lucky, you could do this all while enjoying a beautiful sunset!

Wordless Wednesday: Inspiration

Better late then never

About 2 weeks ago, our school hosted a book fair. The theme was Luau and my co teacher and I had tons of fun doing all sorts of Hawaiian crafts and ideas. I took a picture of one the crafts I did and I meant to post it a long time ago. But of course time has gotten the best of me.

Anyway here are the palm trees I made with the kids hand print. Well my attempt anyway. I came up with the idea on my own, but I'm not sure if I like the end result. Does it look like a palm tree to you?

Preschool fun

I figured it would be fun to use my blog to share my ideas, crafts and planning I do with my kids at work, so that way other people can use them. Or if anymore else has any fun ideas, feel free to share them!

This week was bug and insect week. I had so much fun planning for it and loved exploring outside for all sorts of bugs you find outside. We also did a lot of fun art and crafts. Of course at the time we made them I didn't think to take a picture of them so I had to go online and look for a replica. Our assistant teacher came up with caterpillar hand prints. Basically this is how they turned out.

Of course the ones that she made, came out tons cuter :) On Wednesday I came up with the idea of making hand print spiders:

I like doing a lot of projects with hand prints because it makes the project more unique to each individual child. Every child's hand is different so each spider came out looking different and super cute.

Another thing I did with the kids is make a cup-o-worms. No, not real dirt and worms, but a yummy treat made to look like the real thing! This is something I made as a kid and thought it was was a fun idea. The kids of course loved it, although at first they were a little worried that I was going to be feeding them real dirt and worms. It's super easy to make. I just used the instant Jell-O pudding mix, that takes 5 minutes to prep and you can have the kids help you make it.


You will need:

• Chocolate pudding
• Gummy worms
• Cocoa powder (or hot chocolate mix)
• Chocolate sprinkles (also called chocolate Jimmies) - optional.
• Clear plastic cups.

 Put the pudding in first, have them pick some worms and then some chocolate sprinkles to put on top to make it look like dirt. I used graham crackers to change it up a bit. The best thing about this project is having the kids eat their creation, or save it in the fridge for later.

Well that's it for now. I will try and keep up regular post from now on!

My home away from home

I've been meaning to make this post for a long time. About 3 weeks ago me, my boss, and coworker came in on a Saturday to work on the classroom. This may sound crazy but when the old teachers left the school, I was left with the piles of stuff that was collected over the years that had never been gone through. There have been in service days but I was always by myself because at the time I was either working by myself or my co worker was sick.

I'm happy to say that I now have a clean and functional classroom! Of course we weren't able to go through all of it, but it was definably a jump start in the right direction. I was able to take some pictures and I'm happy to show off my new and improved classroom!

Look at those cute octopus!

Table all set up for snack

Our art center

The science and sensory center

The loft

The cubbies. With our new coat hangers!

Under the loft

On top of the loft

The nap cubbies

The carpet area

Fine motor and manipulatives

Look at all the art supplies!

I love the look of my new classroom and I look forward to continue to work on it!