Tell Me About It Tuesday: The Play-Based Preschool Free Resource

Tell Me About it Tuesday has typically been a day where I review some great products for you, my wonderful readers.  I will be using this day to more tell you about a preschool resource we have been using.  (Product links are provided if you are interested in picking them up for yourself.)

Today's resource -- a Science Journal.

Now this is not something you would typically think of for preschool. Let me tell you this ... my kids had a blast using it!

*full disclosure these pictures are from when we used this resource last winter ... Little Miss was 5, not in school yet and Little Mister was 3.*

Here is what we did.

First we gathered our supplies (I knew I was going to do this with them the night before and froze water on the cookie sheet over night.)


We made our guesses and wrote/drew them on our journal page.



Time to test our guesses!


Like all good scientists we documented our results.


I loved this activity for them because it engages them from the start to finish. They had to work on taking turns, but they both made guesses when it was the other's turn.

It worked on their critical thinking skills as they documented the process. They had to think about how they were testing the item. They had to think about the different items they were testing. Little Mister said that both Rubble and his dump truck would slide because there were both construction trucks.

Today was all about the process. Sometimes they drew, sometimes they wanted to trace.. If we were to do this again I am sure they would want to write letters. At the bottom of the page they have to color yes or no answering "Did it slide?" This is a great way to discuss what they thought and what actually happened. Little Miss had told me that the eraser didn't slide because it was softer than the block.

My favorite part of this activity is that even after we tested all the items they wanted to keep doing it. We kept going after we filled all our journal pages talking about the different items as we tested them.

**This activity is included in the FREE PREVIEW!

Welcome 2016

Here at the beginning of the year people think on the past year and make resolutions for changes.. -- or refuse to make resolutions because they are just setting themselves up for failure. I am more of this camp. However, we are in a season of change again so I have to look at things and make some decisions.



This season is coming to an end. I will be returning to home pre-schooling my son. There were many thing involved in this decision that I won't be getting into. One thing is certain though, I have to replace my income ASAP.

I will be returning to my Teachers Pay Teachers store development. I am excited to see the growth of it without any assistance from my end, so I am really excited to see where it can go with some work. I will also be continuing to build my Jamberry Nail Wrap business. I am working with my Team Manager and I will be hitting goals with that as well.

I would love to say that I am going to have new blogs to post EVERYDAY! Let's be honest, I am going to my best.

This season has shown me two things. One, I can actually embrace change when I am not afraid. Two, I thrive on routine - that takes my short attention span into account.

Looking forward to seeing where 2016 takes us!

What's New Wednesday Link Up

Happy Wednesday All!  Time for What's New Wednesday!

I am about to upload a new pumpkin unit.  Here are some of the great things that are going to be in it!

It has 20 hands on activities and a full set of preschool task cards. I am super excited to get it loaded for you all!

So what is new with you? New blog post? New freebie? New product? I would love to see one of each!

An InLinkz Link-up

Throwback Thursday

I am not sure I ever shared anything about the most amazing Grandma a girl could ask for. This is going to be a short post because I am feeling all emotional and don't feel like sobbing before starting my day!  hahaha

This is Grandma Lovrek (my Mom's mom). That is me. If I could have spent EVERYDAY, ALL DAY with her I would have. I still would.

This woman looked right at my sister and said .... "Just add him to the list of your next ex-husbands. That's what's gonna happen if you want to marry a rockstar."  As she was going on and one about marrying the latest musician she was in love with!

This is the woman that when I was 2 made sure that I got extra special goodbye's because I needed EVERYONE to say goodbye to me or I would have a meltdown. She was by far my all time favorite babysitter.

Since it is Breast Cancer Awareness month ... I am just going to say - cancer sucks. It steals the people you love. Grandma battled uterian cancer, that moved to all sorts of other parts of her body. Just when we thought we were in the clear it showed up again. She was the one person I hoped was going to meet my kids, and I know she will one day ... LONG LONG LONG from now.

I am surprised how much I still miss her and think of her 9 years later. She passed away on 9/15/2006. Thanks for watching over us Grandma! I love you!

What's New Wednesday #3

This is not something that is new … I am exhausted.

We have been short staffed – we were short staffed before we had 2 people quit. So things have been a little crazy at work. We have moved and we are getting settled in our apartment. My Jamberry business has been super busy with the launch of a new catalog. To be honest the thing that seems to be taking the biggest setback is actually my Teachers Pay Teachers store. I am so thankful that the sales keep coming in without much (any) new things posted in a while.

I do have quite a few things about ready to post. I have updates for the All About Me bundle about ready. I have gears and robot updates loaded to the bundle, but not the single products. I am updating my apples products and about to add to my pumpkin product lines. So there is a lot coming down the pike. I am excited to get them up and ready for you all.

Pretty excited that Halloween products are already starting to sell too!  What do you have going on? Link up your newest item below. You can link up one paid product and one free product. I love it when people also link up their newest blog post. 

An InLinkz Link-up

The Play Based Preschool - What's New Wednesday

Moving has made my life absolutely insane!

So although I have TONS of new things going on, I have had no time to post anything.  I wanted you to have a link up since I posted one and then haven't since!

I can't wait to see what you have done lately!

An InLinkz Link-up

Fall Lapbooks: Pumpkin

So I have found this new obsession love.  I keep seeing all these amazing interactive notebooks.  I wanted to know more about interactive notebooks. That was my first mistake.  That is how I stumbled upon ...

Lapbooks

Lapbooks are these amazing things that fit into a file folder.  They are interactive and custom.  They really work for any age.  The older the kids are the more custom they are.  This is the one I made for 4 year olds.  

Once I figured out what I wanted to included it was pretty easy to put together. 

Creating the flaps was much easier than I was fearing.  You simply fold the edges to the middle creating a new way of opening.  I have found that this is called a 'shutter fold'.  It basically divides the folder into fourths.  

I am already thinking of all sorts of other things that we can do with these. The back of this one I added a pumpkin patch play mat.  A small file folder type game can be on the back and the pieces stored inside.  

That Pp flap there on the bottom is covered in packing tape so that we can use it over and over again. Under the flap is a blank area for all the words she can think of that starts with the p sound.  An area to draw or write.

I love just love it!  

I am already dreaming up ideas for Christmas ones.  

Do you love it?  Do you want one?  It's at my Teachers Pay Teachers Store.