Happy Halloween and FREEBIE!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! I hope that everyone has a great Halloween this year. I know that most of us cringe a bit when Halloween comes in the middle of the week because we know that the kids are going to be a bit CRAZY for the rest of the week, but I have to say that I really enjoyed today! It has been so much fun. I have never been part of a school that does so much for Halloween. My kids dress up, go Trick-or-Treating, get gifts from the principals, and play so many games. It's been a blast!

I'm a baby. I have my baby dolls, a bottle, and a binkie around my nec and I'm so happy! It was really hard to find costumes here so I just used what I had in my closet!

Teacher Star and I all dressed up!

Teacher Star had never dressed up for Halloween before.

Our Morning Exercises!

Teacher Star doing morning exercises!

Getting ready to go Trick-or-Treating!

Look at our stash! SO MUCH CANDY!

Decorations

More Decorations

I just love the sign. I got it off pinterest!

 

 

 

 

This last picture is a photo of the math/art project we did this week. I taught the kids about AB and ABC patterns and we made witch hats using one of those patterns. Then I put them on a picture of each corresponding kid. It was a lot of fun and the kids loved seeing them on the wall. I have attached below the JPG for this project. Just click on it, save it to the desktop and you're good to go! Have fun! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Learning About Trapezoids!

We are also learning about Trapezoids this week (along with the 5 Senses that we're doing this month). As I was thinking about how to make learning about Trapezoids fun for today I stumbled across this great idea on pinterest:

I absolutely loved this painting and decided that it would work for my kids as a creative art project/math project.

To start out the project I introduced trapezoids; we talked about the shape, what it looks like, how it is different from other shapes we have talked about. Then we did a shape sort with trapezoids, squares, circles, rectangles, and triangles.

During the sort I focused on having the kids tell me what the shapes looked like and how they knew they were different from the trapezoid(s).

Next, I showed them some other modern art that uses shapes to create an image or design.

The kids really enjoyed seeing these images and were excited to make their own modern art using trapezoids. Given our limited time for this activity I used a premade trapezoid paper for the kids. You could have the kids trace their own trapezoids onto paper as well and outline with a black marker, or use this template:

Just click on the image, save it to your computer, and print as you would any normal picture.

Then, I had the kids color it with pastels and I lamanated them for the wall! They looked amazing!

I hope you enjoy this project! I think it turned out pretty great!:)

Love,
Bri

I'm Back! And It's Time For the 5 Senses!!!

OK! OK! I know I need to apolgoize for being absent for the past two months! It's been quite the adjustment moving to Shanghai, China, learning a new school curriculum, working on learning Chinese, and just adjusting to a new life. But I feel like I am finally ready to start blogging again and add all of the fun things I've been doing with my kids over the past two months!

First, let me introduce you to my kids:

This picture was taken after our Family Sports Day this past Saturday! Aren't they so cute!

Next, let me introduce you to my Chinese co-teacher. Her name is Star and she is the best co-teacher I could ever hope for!

We're so excited that Sports Day is over!

Aren't we cute!

Star is so awesome!

The K1 Teaching Team! (And one of our kids from the other class!)

This month we are talking about the 5 Senses and I have a ton of stuff to put up! Unfortunately, I only have a few minutes this morning so I'm only going to add some of things I've been doing for the Sense of Hearing. Later this week I will add things for the Sense of Smell and the Sense of Touch!
We just started the Sense of Hearing today so I don't have a ton to add yet, but I did make some noise bottles over the weekend for my kids and a cute label for you to print if you want to make your own. I'm kind of limited in what I can find here in Shanghai so I only used things that I could find in my own kitchen: salt, sugar, rice, noddles, water (with food coloring), etc. But the kids absolutely loved them today! I put them in our science cornor and will just let them explore them for the rest of the week. To print the label, just click on it, save it to your computer and print. It's in a PNG file. Have fun and I'll add some more soon!!!

I just used whatever container I could find! The kids like the variety though and the plastic vs. the paper cup, etc make very different sounds!

Exploring the sounds and containers!

Have a great Monday! I hope you enjoy this printables!!

Love,
Bri

A Job in Shanghai!

I officially have a job in Shanghai! I am so excited! We were a little worried there for a moment that I would not have a job before we left but this morning I was offered a position as a Kindergarten teacher! The only downside to this job is that I have to be in Shanghai by August 20th, meaning we have to leave here on August 17th, cutting our family time down to the bare minimum before we leave. But we are so excited to have found this position as it gives me nights and weekends off as well as holidays to be with Tim. All of the other positions I've looked at don't give you Christmas off, and you have to work until 9 pm and all Saturdays and Sundays. So, yay for Kindergarten!

I AM DONE!!!

Well, I have officially finished my last paper, my last day of graduate classes, and my master's degree program! You may all now call me Master Bri :-) Just kidding, please don't call me that! But I am so excited to finally be finished and ready for the move to Shanghai next month!

I want to thank Tim and everyone else for their support over the past two years!

Love,
Bri

Everyone Matters

So, I've been listening to a lot of books on CD this summer while I workout, do housework, etc, and the other day as I was listening one of the characters said this amazing quote: "Everyone matters or no one matters." It really hit me, struck me as quite profound, and I decided that I wanted to make a printable of it that I could put in my home. I've attached the ones I've made to my google docs and you can print the one that strikes you as well.
As a teacher though, I feel that this idea of everyone mattering is something we should consider and reconsider every day in the classroom. If we don't go in remembering and knowing how important our students are, then we won't treat them in way(s) that they deserve. Sometimes, it really is difficult to remember this when someone is screaming or messing around or just plain irritates you, but we always need to remember that each and every one of our students matters, no matter what! I really just love this idea and I hope that you enjoy this quote as much as me! When we move back to the states and I get another teaching position I'm going to put it up in my classroom!

I think it's a great lesson to teach our kids at school as well, that everyone, no matter their background, culture, language, race, etc, that everyone matters!

Love, Bri

Just click on the links below to find the one you want:

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B3ZVkis1xxh6SjdnTTYzSEYwbWs

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B3ZVkis1xxh6SHYyZ3dUYjBGbnM

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B3ZVkis1xxh6TDgtc09NOElJZU0

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B3ZVkis1xxh6Z0VYRGYzb3BkV00

Chevron Patterns- FREE

I've been working on some fun calendars for Young Womens and I needed some Chevron backgrounds but I couldn't find any that would work for what I was doing so I finally just created my own. I haven't finished them all yet but here a few:) Just click on each image to copy and paste for anything you want. Have fun!

My New Design and Ideas

As most of you may have noticed I have changed up my blog again. I've been thinking about it for a long time now and it finally just seemed to come together this past week. I know that I have sort of been MIA for the past two months and I truly apologize for that. I have had a difficult time getting back on track since my grandpa's funeral, and I've been playing catch up with Kindergarten and my masters classes. I am finally down to my last two classes before graduating with my masters and Kindergarten will be over in two weeks as well so I think I will be able to keep with my New Years Resolutions from this point on. As I'm sure you can tell I'm also planning to add more things for Kindergarten-5th grade as well as clipart and printables. This is going to be a work in progress but I am excited for the challenge it presents. My husband, Tim, has been accepted to a graduate program in Shanghai, China and we will be moving there in September for a year (maybe longer). I am really excited for this opportunity and I know that it's the best program for my husband to attend at this point, but I also know that since he'll be in school full time I'm going to have a lot of free time on my hands, which means that I'll have more time to create! I'm actually looking forward to having the time to be creative. I feel like so much of my life has revolved around graduate school, which has been wonderful, but I am ready for some time to apply the skills and knowledge I have been learning. I hope that you'll be patient with me as it is going to take time to get things up, but if there is anything in particular that you're looking forward to please let me know. I have some ideas for the end of the year activities but I'm not sure how fast I'll get them up. I'll work hard on them over the next few days and see what happens. Until then, enjoy the next few weeks of school!

Love,
Bri
xoxo

FREEBIE! Easter Sight Word Game

Hey Dear Friends,

Here's my newest Freebie! It's a Easter Sight Word Game. I got the idea after playing "Spot It" with my niece the other day. I tried it out with my students today in fact and they loved it. I don't know what sight words you are working on right now, so obviously I chose ones that we've been working on, but I hope that they will work for you.

Have fun!

Love, Bri

Click here to get it on TpT.

Click here to get it on Teachers Notebook.

PS-My Easter Bunny Clipart is FREE as well. Just click here.