Time to reflect

Don't you love summer??  A time to slow down and do things you want. I love being able to keep up on housework and play an extra game with my kids. Most of all I love being able to have time to read!  I found this picture of my bestie and preschool pal giving a devotional in my class...such a precious moment. 

We give of ourselves all year to our students and their families!  We pour all we have into our little ones. I pray that each of you take time to reflect on what you are thankful for and those moments In the year that change you for the better. 

I am grateful for my friend Kim and all she has given to me as a friend, a mom, and as a professional. I thank my God upon every rememberance of her.  Kim has been given a wonderful opportunity to teach 2nd grade next year!  She is so excited and any who know her know she is one of the most amazing teachers ever! We will not change our name but can't wait to add some second grade goodies to our store!  

Have a wonderful week! 

Techie Tuesday

Did you know that walmart now takes Publix BOGOS. Well on this techie Tuesday I would like to share another favorite app of mine it's called Flipp and inside you will find any flyer that you need and you can take that to Walmart and show them the Publix flier!!  AMAZING!

Doesn't every girl love a deal?  Of course now that it's summer I can go to different stores to get the good deals instead of during the year when I do one stop shop. I have to be honest with you Walmart is not my favorite place to go but when the deals are this good it's too hard to resist!!  Happy shopping!  If any of you have a great app you would love to share please post a comment. 

New App we love!

Do you like the show Shark Tank as much as we do???  My newest favorite app was just featured on the show. Groovebook is an app that you can load 100 pictures from your phone and have them put in a book. I want to organize my room this summer with picture labels. 100 pictures for $2.99!  I love a great deal!!  Also, at the beginning of the year when you need tons of pictures of each child, this is a great deal!  Hope you all love it as much as I do. 

Charleston or BUST!

Do you remember the game?..."On my way to Charleston, South Carolina for the Early Childhood Summit I brought my....2 Preschool Pals buddy, a dead battery 5 hours in, and my Starbucks gift cards !! 

Well...we finally made it to one of our new favorite places in life... Charleston! The conference has been Amazing and we are beyond excited about implementing all of our new wonderful ideas, and we've only been out of school for two weeks! From meeting Dr. Jean and learning EVEN MORE ideas and hearing her heart on the importance of oral language to Vanessa Levin who is getting us organized for the new year! We loved her "picture perfect" idea for showing the students how a center should look during clean up time! Sam Williams was another presenter who showed us numerous ways of how to use Math manipulatives appropriately in our classroom! One great example was to turn cookie sheets into 10 frames with magnets! Or how bout' converting shoe laces into a number line. 

The ideas are just pouring out as we talk about all of the new creative ways we are going to start our year... And we still have another day to go!! We will blog again soon! Happy Summer from 2 preschool pals... Liz and Kim

Fathers Day

For years I have wanted to bring my fathers in to my classroom for a Father's Day celebration and finally this year my team agreed. We came up with the theme Tie-riffic Dads!  This is the invitation:

We invited the dads and brought them altogether in one big room. We had a former NFL football player speak to all the fathers about what it means to be an amazing dad and to leave a legacy for their children. After that they were asked to go to the individual child's classroom for daddy and me time. The dad sat next to their kids to watch them sing a couple of songs for them. We sang: I am a promise, On Fathers Day and did a Daddy cheer!  The fathers  were invited to draw a daddy and me picture.  The dads were to draw their student and the student drew their Daddy. 

I had a bulletin board ready called artist gallery. They posted their pictures on the gallery wall and then went to get their breakfast together. This is the craft we did for the fathers to take home:

A nice touch would be to frame it for them. I had to keep the cost down so I mounted it on black paper. 

And I had each student make a picture of their daddy on a paper plate and then we added a tide to it it is amazing how many of the dads actually resembled themselves. The student also gave me one word to describe their fathers. 

We also had the students make a necklace with their dad's face on the front of it. 

I cut face into a circle and posted the words: the greatest gift I ever had was my daddy. Punched a hole and added yarn. 

The day was very simple but it was a wonderful addition to my classroom and made for a precious memory that will last a lifetime. 

Fathers Day

For years I have wanted to bring my fathers in to my classroom for a Father's Day celebration and finally this year my team agreed. We came up with the theme Tie-riffic Dads!  This is the invitation:

We invited the dads and brought them altogether in one big room. We had a former NFL football player speak to all the fathers about what it means to be an amazing dad and to leave a legacy for their children. After that they were asked to go to the individual child's classroom for daddy and me time. The dad sat next to their kids to watch them sing a couple of songs for them. We sang: I am a promise, On Fathers Day and did a Daddy cheer!  The fathers  were invited to draw a daddy and me picture.  The dads were to draw their student and the student drew their Daddy. 

I had a bulletin board ready called artist gallery. They posted their pictures on the gallery wall and then went to get their breakfast together. This is the craft we did for the fathers to take home:

A nice touch would be to frame it for them. I had to keep the cost down so I mounted it on black paper. 

And I had each student make a picture of their daddy on a paper plate and then we added a tide to it it is amazing how many of the dads actually resembled themselves. The student also gave me one word to describe their fathers. 

We also had the students make a necklace with their dad's face on the front of it. 

I cut face into a circle and posted the words: the greatest gift I ever had was my daddy. Punched a hole and added yarn. 

The day was very simple but it was a wonderful addition to my classroom and made for a precious memory that will last a lifetime. 

Happy Fathers Day

Now that father's Day is over I find myself reflecting on yesterday and all the amazing posts I saw on Facebook and women changing their profile pictures to reflect the love that they have for their daddy's.  What a great honor and testament it is to those fathers who have stayed to raise their kids and are amazing dad's amazing husband amazing grandfathers. I find that I love this day more and more each year as social media grows and becomes more explosive and I hope that the fathers feel truly loved and admired not only on this day but in the days and years to follow!!

HAPPY FATHERS DAY!