The Crazy Pre-K Classroom

We all know that being comfortable in your daily space is important. Having items that make you happy and are exactly what you want can help make your year go smoothly. It is also a real pain when you figure out you need something and have to beg, borrow and steal to get your lessons ready for the next day! I've been there 1000 times and now I am the teacher everyone comes to when they need something. (I guess it helps that I am a hoarder, but don't follow my lead on that end!)      I have come up with my list of necessities that I find make my days in my classroom a whole lot smoother and I do not spend time going to the store after school or groveling at my coworkers feet! I normally make one or two large Amazon orders per year to stock up on the consumables. I try to also buy everything on prime so that my shipping is free! I also keep and eye on Amazons lightning deals in case any of my necessities come up on an extra great sale price. The following list is in no...

Hello All, It is that time again to get ready for school to start which means the TpT Back To School Sale is here! August 3rd and 4th enjoy 20% off my entire store as well as another 10% off from TpT, don't forget to enter your code to get the extra savings!!! Now enter below to win a$25.00 gift card to spend during the sale! Rafflecopter will chose the winner at 10:00 am central time Tuesday August 4th! a Rafflecopter giveaway

When I think about the word bundle I think about the cold winter and being all curled up under blankets on the couch watching a good movie. For Drew however being all bundled up on the couch is not possible, he is spending his winter days in the hospital. Drew was diagnosed with Juvenial Rheumatoid Arthritis a couple of years ago and when he got strep last year it went to his brain causing intense pain, pressure and an inability to walk. The Doctors have tried everything and Drew was able to live at a tolerable pain level for a while. Now he is back in the hospital in a great deal of pain awaiting a much needed surgery on his brain. Because this surgery has never been performed on a child the families insurance has denied coverage. The Dr. has waived his fee however the family is still looking at $20,000.00+ out of pocket. This surgery is a last resort to try to get Drew a pain free, normal childhood. http://i1311.photobucket.com/albums/s677/prekchristine/drew2-001_zpse0ad3925.jpg I ...

Hello All, Here is a follow up to my most recent post about the importance of math in the pre-k classroom. Today we worked on Graphs and Patterns. My class has been exposed to both of these several times in group teaching and number centers but this is the first time the children filled in the patterns and graphs on their own. I knew which ones would do well and which ones might have some trouble folllowing along. I will show you what both look like. I walked them through the patterns by first having a group pattern lesson on the carpet and then brining them to the table for the worksheet. We assigned each letter a color for the entire sheet so that there was no confusion in the switching of colors and so that I could use the colors to help them understand the pattern. A=orange, B=yellow, C=green, D=white. All typical colors of pumpkins; I even showed them pictures of each color pumpkin that I took at the pumpkin patch over the weekend but that is a different story. Back to the pattern...

Hello All, I don't know about you but I cannot buy enough bins! It seems every year I need to buy more at the last minute even though I have invested in many throughout the years. This year I found 2 types of bins at Target in the dollar section that I intend to use on my classroom tables. The larger purple and gray bins will hold 3 of the small fushia bins. These I will use for markers, crayons, colored pencils and anything else we need during the day. This way I figure there will be less spills and better organization. I normally use a large bucket of each supply for each table and it is just too much, the tables are cluttered and the kiddos end up knocking the little pails over. This way each bin can be stacked and stored without having to make sure they don't spill. These also have handles which will make them easier for little hands to carry. How else might you use these bins? Leave a comment and you could win a free surprise from TpT. Make sure to leave yo...

Now that I am more than half way to 100 followers I figure it is about time to announce my giveaway! Now brace yourselves this is going to be HUGE! Once I have 100 followers who leave their email address in a comment attached to this post I will email EVERYMEMBER a unit from my TpT store. As a default I will send my Insect Invasion unit, however if this is not a unit you could use or you already own it leave a note of which unit you would like. If you are already a member please leave your email in a comment linked to this post!!! So now you are wondering what the catch is (at least I would be at this point): 1. Leave your email, blog address and name in a comment on this post with your desired TpT Unit 2. Follow me here and on TPT 3. Download a free TpT file and leave a comment 3. Post on your blog about this giveaway, spread the word to coworkers, homeschoolers and Moms of Pre-K kiddos That's it, this is my way of saying Thank You for being wonderful followe...

     This week my class is studying insects. One of my favorite activities to do is to go on a bug hunt with magnifying glasses and exploring live and deceased bugs in the science center. I use test tubes I bought from oriental trading that come with stands to store my bugs. I try to work my theme into every aspect of my day so in addition to my science center which will have rolly pollies, chicadas, an ant farm, plastic bugs, magnifiers, insect word cards and clipboards with recording sheets, I will also be using my Bug-Jar-Math Unit  to reinforce math skills with an insect theme. This unit is 39 pages long and is on sale for $3.50 on teacherspaypeachers.com.      Today my class had fun counting the correct number of bugs for each mat (1-10) and sorting the bugs on the sorting mats. I had each child draw the bug, tally the number then write the number. I simply drew 2 lines down a blank sheet of paper to make three columns for them to...

My newest TpT Unit is titled "Spring is in the air!" Included you will find Number/number word matching, sight word snails with number of letter sort mats, color words, simple addition, patterns, counting, matching to number word, worksheets for beginning blends, a predictable spring vocabulary reader, fill in the missing number worksheets and so much more! Please check out this unit on TpT or Teachers Notebook and kick off your spring with fun learning activities! The Extension activities that are included with this unit are posted on this sight as well. View this unit by clicking on the link below: Spring is in the Air! TpT Unit Thank you for visiting, please join and visit often for great ideas in Pre-k! Christine

Thanksgiving Pumpkin and Turkey ABC-123 Pumpkin and Turkey cards used for literacy and math activities. Welcome-to-the-Jungle-Pattern-Teaching-and-Challenge-Center-Freebie Patterns for Pre-K to !st grade with challenge mats, the entire set is availabe, this is a freebie that will give you a good idea of what to expect from the entire set. Which-little-monster-comes-next-Pattern-Mats-Center This is the beginning of a pattern center, the one that I described in one of my earlier posts. This also has a larger unit availabe to go with it.