Teacher Tips |

Encouraging Young Writers

September 17, 2015 By Callie 6 Comments

Did you know that children, young children can be set on the path of loving to write? So many of us struggled through school loathing writing. As a former Kindergarten teacher I was always looking for tricks and tools to help encourage children to love to write.

The quickest and easiest way to engage writing in children of all ages is to offer them a variety of options to write with. It really is that simple. I really want Row to have a love for writing. Toddlers can be encouraged to write through drawing. That’s right because we know that the purpose of writing is to communicate an idea and drawing can in fact do that even for the youngest of children.

I am always on the lookout for super cool writing tools. Ok so I have been pretty much obsessed with pens, pencils, erasers and pens since I was in utero. I was really disappointed when I would go shopping and just couldn’t find anything cool. Something I know Row would love and want to use. Maybe I could use it too-just saying. I stumbled upon the company International Arrivals and was AMAZED by what they had to offer!

First up the left and right crayons-now these are cool. Easy to grip and smooth to color. Row loved these especially since she shows left handed tendencies. The colors allowed her to grip and use easily. Oh and the lollipop pen! It smells like orange when you write and so does the poof. How adorable.

Oh and yes that COLOR IN Book is from International Arrivals too. The paper is so much nicer and thicker than a regular coloring book and it’s bound on a spiral. This book is every 8 year old girls dream. Row uses it as a book as well, flipping through pages and pointing to animals. We had to take it to lunch yesterday.

Have an older child? A college kid? Check out this cool monster highlighters….and they are scented.

I told you I had a thing for erasers…..

International arrivals has tons of gel pens to match any kiddos love-boys and girls. I love that they carry such a variety of writing utensils so kids of every shape and size will love their products. Put these out at your writing table and watch the kids flock!

International arrivals carry so many different items and all in one place. I have even been eyeing some things for stocking stuffers oh and our next door neighbors birthday. What 10 year old wouldn’t love this……

Check out that puffy!

That’s right those are puffy pens-what does that mean exactly? It means you write, let dry, and then come back with a blow dryer and bam-puffs right up. I am sad-not sad-to say these babies are mine!!!!

What’s that you say? You need some of these goodies in your life right now…I know. Well the wonderful people over at International Arrivals are offering a $50 gift card to one reader so you can go crazy buying cool things from their site.

Warning you may spend more….What do you love to write with?

This is a sponsored post. I received items to review however, all thoughts and opinions are entirely my own.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Apple Printing

September 15, 2015 By Callie Leave a Comment

It’s Fall! Now for those of you in my beloved New England that means apple picking. For those of us in the deep south that means buying some apples at the store.

I decided to break out the apples and the paint to get us into the swing of Fall and Row loved it.

This was an activity I did every year in Kindergarten. I’ll share all the ways you can squeeze learning into this fun craft.

Simply gather an apple and split in half. I like to put Popsicle sticks through the centers so that they are more easily held for printing.

Place paint on your plates and dip. I also love to use a large restaurant sized cookie sheet for painting because it holds the paper in place as well as the mess.

It’s fun to press each apple onto the paper and lift to make a print and for toddlers it’s also fun to paint.

This simple activity lasted about 30 minutes-not to shabby for a 2 year old.

Now let’s bring the teacher out and talk about all the amazing teacher points you can hit on during this craft. We spoke about the colors of paint and I asked Row to dip in specific colors as we painted=color recognition. We talked about the way the apple felt=attributes-small, large, color and weight. We talked about the mass=weight, heavy and light.

How can you enrich this activity for school aged children? Add more colors and talk about primary and secondary colors as they print/paint. Talk about plants and discuss the parts of an apple, the skin, flesh, seeds. Discuss the plant life cycle. Oh and have fun!

Saint Patrick’s Day Sensory Bag

March 10, 2015 By Callie Leave a Comment

When Irish eyes are smiling….we make sensory bags with gold glitter!

I love what a sensory bag does for littles-the discovery, the sensation, the fun!

I love what a sensory bag does for a Mama-ten to twenty minutes of entertainment, a chance to talk about senses and colors and oh so much more, the inexpensiveness of it and oh yes it takes like three minutes to make.

Supplies-

Gallon Ziploc bag-the real deal so it won’t break

duct tape if you don’t trust your little from ripping the top open-I’m eying you boy moms.

hair gel

green food coloring

glitter-gold

a small St. Paddy’s day trinket-we used gold coins.

All of this can be found at your local Dollar Store as mentioned in my previous post.

Add supplies one by one in the bag. I did not mix anything up because I wanted Row to do that once the bag was closed. I simply dumped everything in and sealed.

And let them go! I loved the look on her face as the clear gel turned completely green. We talked about colors, shapes, and the sense of touch. A great extension for older kiddos-btw they love this stuff too. List words that start with “G”, describe attributes of the sensory bag.

Easy, fun, and lasts!!!!!

Are you doing any fun activities for St. Patrick’s Day? I used to make rainbow layer cakes in college-that was always cool!