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Sunday, February 20, 2022

March FUN in your Pre-K, TK, Kindergarten, or 1st Grade Classroom:

It's Almost Time To Prep Your Leprechaun's Gold Shop:

Once Mardi Gras is over and everything is on sale...

Grab Some Mardi Gras Beads: 

They should be on close-out as soon as Mardi Gras is over.  
Use them to stock your Leprechaun Gold Shop and keep it up for a few weeks.  

Stock your shop with plastic jewelry.  My friend made cute store uniforms for the shop clerks to wear.  :)
We just used our puppet stage, but you can also use a small desk.
Even if we don't catch the leprechaun, we can set up a Gold Shop where students can "buy" plastic jewelry with plastic gold coins.
You can use real coins for plastic leprechaun gold.

Students take turns being the clerk and the customer.
Integrate counting, sorting, community helpers, and
IMAGINATION!

  When they are done playing, they return the jewelry to the shop so others may play too.

Make Leprechaun Puddin':

First, check for allergies:
If you have students allergic to milk or lactose, use a milk alternative.
If you have students allergic to ANY NUTS, use vanilla instant pudding 
and a few drops of green food coloring.

Leprechaun Puddin':

 a gallon of milk
 at least 3 large boxes of Jell-o brand instant pistachio pudding,
(Only Jell-o brand turns green when the milk is mixed in.)
a clear glass bowl
a large spoon
small paper cups (3-5 oz size)
plastic spoons
a measuring cup.
  
(Off brands don't work as well.  I recommend buying Jell-o brand instant pistachio pudding because it starts out white and turns green when the milk is stirred in.)  

DO NOT DO THIS ACTIVITY IF YOU HAVE ANY NUT ALLERGIES IN YOUR CLASS.  There are real pistachios in the pudding.  You can replace the milk with a nut-free milk alternative if you have any dairy allergies. Replace the pistachio pudding with vanilla pudding + a few drops of green food coloring hidden at the bottom of the bowl.

While the students are out at recess, open the packages of Jell-o instant pistachio pudding and empty them into a large, clear, glass bowl.  I usually leave green footprints leading to the bowl where we find a note that says "You didn't catch me, but I left you some Leprechaun Puddin'."  

You can find green footprints from Sitspots.com that are made of Velcro so they will stick to most carpets. 
Click Here for the link to the "right footsteps" and 
Click Here for the link to the "left footsteps"

Just add milk and stir and you will see the magic!"  

As I pour the milk (follow package directions for amount) into the bowl the children will gasp as the white powder turns green!

Stir until it's nice and thick and then spoon some into the cups for the children to enjoy.

Make a Leprechaun Rainbow:

Easy, breezy and quick to prep:  You can download it for FREE by clicking Here.
Here is my sample.

Just added this picture of the kids' work.


Click the image to grab the FREE download.  

For each child, you will need:
 1piece of white construction paper (9" X 12") 
 1 piece of each of the following colors cut to 1 1/2" X 9":  
red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple.

Give each child 1 of each of the pieces above and have them cut the white piece into the shape of a cloud.  Then, they glue the colored strips, in order beginning with red, to the bottom of the cloud.  

I had each child trace the color word below and glue it to the end of the matching colored strip.  They also wrote their name on the line in the oval, traced the dotted letters, and glued them to the cloud.  They look so cute in our classroom.  

These look great and can stay up throughout spring and for Open House.  :)
Here is the FREE Download for your color words and cloud label.  Have FUN.

You can also find a FUN project here where students can "buy" the pieces to create their own unique leprechaun:  CLICK HERE.

Saint Patrick's Day.





Sunday, December 5, 2021

Day 6 of My 12 Days of December is totally FREE!!!

 FREE Center Signs to Brighten Your Classroom:


Let everyone know how important Center Time is with these bright signs. The colors pop even more if you copy them onto cardstock and  laminate them. 



You can grab the entire set of 10 signs by CLICKING HERE! Then, check out the other 20+ FrEeBiEs in my TpT Store


See y'all tomorrow for more! 

Saturday, December 4, 2021

Day 5 of My 12 Days of December

 Teachers Have Discovered This Set:

It has become my newest BEST SELLER & it's ON SALE TODAY!
AND check out my other FREEBIES on TpT!
Your students will LOVE tracing ONLY the focus letter 
on each page with a colored marker and then, counting 
how many letters they traced! 


By tracing ONLY the focus letter, they have to really think and analyze each letter. And having them count the letters they traced integrates a bit of math into this fun activity. 

I used these poems, which are filled with alliteration and have a rhyming text, to label each pocket of their alphabet book.

We placed all of our work about each letter in each pocket. 
I did divide the book up into 4 parts of 6-7 pages to keep it manageable. 
You can grab this entire set by 

Did you know that DJ Inkers is also having a 12 day sale?
Check out what they offer each day by 

See y'all tomorrow for Day 6!

Friday, December 3, 2021

Day 4 of The 12 Days of December: Give YOURSELF These Gifts:

You Do So Much For Everyone All Year Long. 

Here are 3 ideas to make your career better!

1.  FREE:  Save hundreds of hours in your classroom and ESGI will donate to the Make A Wish Foundation too! Grab your FREE 90-day trial when you sign up for your FREE trial (no credit card required) when you use my code: PALMAWISHES
to grab this FREEBIE
I am a huge fan of ESGI and I would not teach without it! 


2.  Have you heard about The California Kindergarten Association?
They host an amazing conference in Northern California every January and members get to view virtual webinars at a super low price throughout the year! You can join CKA and you can find more info about their upcoming conference by...
I will be presenting at this conference along with 
these amazing presenters: 


3.  Make everything in your classroom cuter, from bulletin boards to worksheets, to go-home notices with graphics from DJ Inkers. They are having a huge SALE right now and they also have FREEBIES available too! 
to see their SALE & FREEBIES

I hope you get EVERYTHING you want for the holidays! 

See you all tomorrow for DAY 4 of the 12 Days of December. 

Thursday, December 2, 2021

Day 2 of My 12 Days of December

You Can't Have Too Much Fun With The Gingerbread Man!

From tracing numerals with colored glue...


to re-telling the story of the Gingerbread Man... 


There is just soooooo much FUN you can have learning with the Gingerbread Man!

We started by making a book:

Click on the image.
The students illustrated 4 major events from the story as I read the rhyming text to them:
Students traded the dotted font and illustrated the scene.

On the next page, they traced the giant numerals with colored glue.  Just add food coloring to bottles of white glue and shake!  You will want to use glue bottles that are not full so you have room to shake the glue around.
This is what a glue tracing page looks like.

Tracing the numbers slowly with colored glue really helps them to understand the formation
of the numeral.  When the glue dries, it creates a raised font which is tactile and colorful. 
All of the fonts, borders, and graphics are from DJ Inkers & they are having a GR8 SALE right now! CLICK HERE to see all of their goodies!  

How about teaching about "settings" with the 
Gingerbread Man Book of Settings Class Book Cover:  IT'S FREE!
And it has more graphics from DJ Inkers!
Your students create a setting on the computer and glue a paper gingerbread man to their scene to create a class book.

We followed up by making character puppets and a "setting" envelope:

We colored and cut out the main characters and glued them to popsicle sticks.
Students re-telling the Gingerbread Man story with their setting envelopes.
Then, we made a setting envelope by drawing the inside of the house and the oven on the front of the construction paper envelope and the river on the back of the envelope.  The setting envelope was the perfect place to store our characters.  You can see the blue setting envelope in the photo below.
Developing oral language as we "turn and talk" asking questions about the story.

And Check Out This Cute Descriptive Song About The Gingerbread Man:

Click the image 

This is a cute descriptive song about the gingerbread man by my friend, Dan Colquhoun.  He lives in Australia and writes the cutest songs for kids.  This one is a great one to use when you are preparing for descriptive writing. You can hear his song and watch the animated gingerbread man by clicking HERE.

We also made gingerbread ornaments out of clay:

We cut them out with a cookie cutter and the children decorated them by using the tip of a pencil to create a face, buttons, and icing lines.  If you don't have a kiln at your school, consider using air-drying clay.


After we glazed them with clear glaze, we added pretend rhinestone sticky-back eyes and a ribbon.




We wrapped them up in a laced envelope and sent them home as gifts for our families.


Grab This Gingerbread Man Play:

Check out this cute Gingerbread Man play from my friend, Heidi, from Heidi's Songs.  It's a fabulous Gingerbread Man play! You can get more info by clicking HERE.
Click the image

See y'all tomorrow for Day 3!



Wednesday, December 1, 2021

Day 1 of My 12 Days of December:

Start & End the Month With This Question:

All of these CUTE graphics are from DJ Inkers and...
            they are having a huge SALE right now!  
                           CLICK HERE to see their sale.
Click the image above. 

 I start every unit with an opinion graph. Then, we end the unit with the same graph to see if your opinion changed.

My holiday unit starts with this question and I use these icons to create a class graph. Students add their photo or just their name on the graph. Here are the icons. The sign and the set of icons is only $1. 

CLICK HERE TO GRAB THIS SET.

This is also a GREAT way to get students to 
write an opinion piece. 
They get to explain WHY they chose that character. 
CLICK THE IMAGE to grab this writing set.

At the end of the unit, we also had them 
choose again 
and most students had changed their mind!

To make this even more fun, 
I have a reindeer antler headband,
a huge gingerbread man cut-out
(where they hold it up & look through the hole for the face),
an elf apron & cap, 
and a snowman cut-out.

So I was able to take their photo all dressed up and attach it to their writing. 

Thursday, November 25, 2021

Because I'm So Grateful For YOU...

 My Entire TpT Store is on SALE!!!

From Black Friday until Nov. 30 enjoy 20% off of anything in my TpT store.

Looking for a FUN way to practice SIGHT WORDS?

Students can create a pocket watch or a locket with a sight word hidden inside: CLICK HERE to see it.

Looking for a FUN way to practice WRITING?

Students can create funny sentences with these nouns, verbs, & place nouns:CLICK HERE to see it.



Looking for a FUN way to practice MATH?

Students can create a fun book of math fact families, build # sense, & analyze #s 1-10: CLICK HERE to see it.




Looking for a FUN way to practice SCIENCE?

Students can create a FUN book about the Five Senses:  CLICK HERE to see it.



Plus, there are OVER 20 FREEBIES in 

my TpT Store! 

Have FUN shopping!  

to view the entire store.