Crafty Teaching Series: Part 4

I can't believe tomorrow is the first teacher work day of the school year! I still have a few more fun crafty teaching ideas that we did this summer to share with you all.

This one came from another Pinterest post found: HERE

And here is what we did....

I used my label maker to type up some of the words from the kindergarten word list (for the 5 yr. old) and it certainly didn't hurt the second grader to keep practicing segmenting and blending...

Here is an example from the "an" family egg...

So after they would spin the egg and read (segmented then smooth blending) all of the words, they could open it up to get the small treat that we tucked inside.

We did an "at" "ig" and "an" egg and we could absolutely do lots more, but we wanted to keep it simple and repetitive to really let those words sink in.

Finally, like always we packed everything into a ziplock (clean up/good storage/use it again later) and added a little instruction post it note "spin it, read it, eat it."

They really enjoyed actually making these with me...I don't bring the activity prepared, we "build it" together. It takes up more time and they feel more invested in the "project." I started off calling these "games" because I thought it would seem more exciting, but the boys quickly began asking what our next "project" would be each day. I like that. It feels like we are working together and creating useful FUN activities. I am not just the babysitter, we are all hanging out and knocking out projects together (and learning...shhhhh)!

Hope you have enjoyed your summer and for all of you teacher friends....best wishes this school year. Maybe some of these lil projects can be useful in your classroom centers...who knows ;)

Take Care!

Crafty drankin.

So it isn't Craft Teaching goodness but it is....

BONUS CRAFTY GOODNESS!!!

I made these mason jars "cups" (with lids... hallelujah) for the boys for days that they were visiting our house. We don't have kid friendly stuff here and I thought it would be good for them to have their own cups (with lids) that they could enjoy juice, milk, or SMOOTHIES in!

Puffy paint initials on the backs and sprayed lids on top (they helped spray their own cup lids).

Puffy paint names on the fronts. Opted to not spray the bottoms so they could SEE what they are drinking (I have a thing about stuff like that...need to see it. ha).

To enjoy safely indoors (sit them on the ottoman tray table thingy when not drinking to avoid any other possibility of spillage) :)

And on a hot porch day outside! (please notice the ultra cool friendship bracelets on their wrist/ankle...Mr. Devin has one that matches, oh how they love him).

More crafty teaching goodness coming up soon!! Got lots more to share. Today was my last day with the boys for this summer. Sad day. But I still have lots of cool things to share with you before we kick of the school year and grad school at the same time!!! WOO HOO (I am crazy, yes).

Finally, I am taking on a new role this year with MNPS as an Autism Team Consultant. Woot! Super excited to jump into work and grad school doing what I love and lovin' what I do. And yes, I am accepting prayers because I am well aware that it is gonna be a wild n crazy ride taking it all on, but I am thinking happy positive thoughts :)

How are you finishing up your summer? Are you entering a new season filled with crazy insane goodness? Holla!

Crafty Teaching Series: Part 3

Drum roll please......MY FAVORITE CRAFT OF THE SUMMER!!!

I saw this idea on good ol' Pinterest and knew we MUST do this. What 5 & 8 year old boys don't love Super Hero capes? and puffy paint? and running/jumping/flying?!

Here is the original link:

Here is my version:

I purchased two red small youth tees at Michael's. Same color so no one would "want the other one!"

Then I cut the BACK and SLEEVES off of the shirt leaving the neck hole in place (so we could just slip it over their head. (I see that the original site made a velcro neck closure which would make sense for a safe "break away" cape--I just didn't read it all, got inspired by the pic and hurried into it).

Here are the handsome models showing off the plain capes before paint. The original picture I saw had no paint or additions but I remembered the load of puffy paint at my house and thought they would like to personalize the capes with paint.

We put the capes on a Goodwill sheet to protect carpet/rug (one spot of green somehow made it through to the cream carpet...dang it). I took turns helping each boy paint, reminding them to keep moving with it (sitting in one spot makes a pile of paint that will never dry and only get messier). They told me stories about what they were painting and why. I had a special request to make the Superman symbol on one cape, so I looked up an example online and freehanded it. Pretty proud of the end result :)

This was Henry's lovely cape that includes monsters of all sorts and lots of Glow in the Dark puffy paint. Which we tested in a dark bathroom once they dried. Super awesome :)

This is Super Carter's cape. He started with blobs of paint that we spread out some (so they would dry faster) but eventually he got the hang of long skinny lines. He also loved the Glow in the Dark paints best.

The capes dried over night and we took the on a test drive the next morning....

...ON A TRAMPOLINE! Super hero flying pictures galore!! I only wish you could hear the sound effects that accompanied this flying/jumping session.

A good time was had by ALL!! I truly loved every part of this project. They couldn't have been any cuter. And to top it all off....we went to BOUNCE U (jump castle place) that afternoon and they were mos def the coolest kids in the place flying all over the castles and slides in those capes!

Crafty Teaching Series: Part 2

Hello all!

Here is another game we threw together to practice the summer sight word list. The idea came from this picture I found on Pinterest (forgive me, I can't find the actual link to the website with the original game).

So as you recall from the last post, I mentioned that I adjust these activities based on what supplies we have & what we need to work on. So take a look through the pictures and I will explain my reasoning. This seems like the weirdest game but they LOVED it and played for a looooong time.

First, we cut "burgers" out of an English Muffin box that was on its way to the recycling bin. I traced the circles and the boys had to cut them out (hello, fine motor). Then I wrote the words from the summer sight word list for the 5 year old on the burgers. We placed them on the back side of a cookie sheet that looks like a "grill."

The "burgers" had totally random point values on the backs (because they want to win points for anything and everything--haven't met a kid that doesn't). :)

Next, we wrote some more difficult/meaningful sight words (for the 8 year old) on post it notes colored like CHEESE! These became our bonus point words.

Instead of using a spatula to slap the words you know or flip the words you know...I found two sets of tongs. The boys had to pick up the "burger" they wanted to read from the "grill" using the tongs and NO FINGERS HELPING (hello, more fine motor). This cracked us all up because it was a little difficult (they did try to cheat) but I would hold their other hand until they got it (fold an edge of the paper up for grip help). We all giggled until they got it.

After collecting as many "burgers" as possible, they would attempt a CHEESY word and if they could sound it out (with support for blending) they got to top their "burger" with "cheese."

Finally, they read all of their words out loud and made up a sentence with each word. We added up all of the random points and they earned a couple of sweetarts for their winning points!

Throw everything in a ziplock, wash your tongs and cookie sheet....all done and ready to repeat again later. I narrated the steps and rules throughout the game, over and over. This helps them remember it and tell it to others they play with...especially each other, I found them telling one another to "sound it out, pick it up (NO HELPING HANDS!), and ask how many points).

Again, this was kind of a strange "wing it" activity but they really got into it. Great for repeating sight words a million times and not being soo bored with usual drilling. Also several opportunities for fine motor practice. Turn taking and following directions are always packed in :)

So go get creative, use what you have, cut up your recycle, color/cut/paste/write & have fun!!

Craft Teaching: Part 1

This summer I am nannying two boys (age 5 & 8). In the mornings were try to focus on something academic and FUN, then in the afternoon we go on an adventure (bowling, jump castle place, etc).

So I have been taking pictures of the crafty teaching projects that we have been doing for the past couple of weeks and I thought it would be good to share them here :) Now, almost every single of of these ideas came from good ol' PINTEREST (if you aren't on it, get on it stat). I have modified these ideas based on what materials I have available and on what the kids need. I hope you enjoy! Feel free to make &take to your littles! All links will be posted so you can find the original instructions.

#1 LEGO SENTENCE BUILDING!

The original idea was found HERE!

And here are the shots of what we came up with:

I used a label maker to spell names and words from their high frequency word lists to stick on large legos that they already had at home.

I had to had some helping words to connect names and high frequency words.

With support, both boys created simple sentences that communicated a clear thought. Their sentences were pretty long because they wanted to use every word on the table (excited).

Without a lot of scaffolding, the kids just built walls (they are legos afterall). From that I would just ask them to identify and read words on the wall out loud to me.

Overall we really enjoyed making these blocks. I think it would be better if we had made a lot more words to add into the mix, but we wanted to start off with the basics.

This was my first attempt at trying one of the thousands of great ideas on Pinterest for teaching activities and I think it was a big success! We put them in a big ziplock bag and pull them out every other day or so to practice again.

Hope you feel inspired to get CRAFTY :) more Crafty Teaching activities are coming soon!

Long time no see!

Summer time = vacations, visits, sleeping in, napping after sleeping in, nannying kids, crafting....hence not much blogging! My apologies!

Here are some snapshots from our trip home:

I enjoyed a lovely evening at the waterfront park under the bridge listening to great music with family.

One of my faves from Charlotte (Karen) came down for a day visit! We painted the town red...and even got Piggly Wiggly shirts to complete the Charleston-ness.

I finally got to meet my sweet new little cousin and at church that Sunday we had a sweet little ceremony to make me her Godmother! I am honored!

Evelyn and I hung out like this for like 5 hours, just like this....it was heavenly!

My sweet Luke is growing up! Bummed that Timothy was sick while we were in town, we will have to see more of them next visit!

Here are some of the fabulous shots taken at our mother daughter photo shoot with Dreampop Designs & Media. We had the best time strolling all over downtown Charleston capturing our personalities and love for our Momma and sisterness:

We love us some Twilight. What you can't hear is us actually reading the pages we were flipped to at the same time and laughing soo hard.

Cheeeese.

Who says white girls can't jump?!

This guy followed us everywhere :)

It wouldn't be a photoshoot without a Shaw girl dance party.

Hope you are enjoying your summa time!!