"Tot School" this week

I am not one to do too much in the way of cutesy themes-- either for school or at home.  This is mostly because I'm lazy, but also that I think part of life is the randomness.  Since school has started though, I have may a conscious effort to play with my daughter, to give her experiences that I may otherwise skip because they are a pain.  

Here are 5 experiences we experienced in the last week or so-- All with the "Creativity" theme:

Playdough

Here is my Amazon affiliate link

We found this set at Kohl's about a month ago.  It was on sale and then I had a 30% off coupon.  As a bonus, if I spent $50, I got $10 Kohl's cash.  (I LOVE Kohl's!)

I really like this set.  It gives some scissors experience and is really good for "process" art with playdough.  (If you don't know about process art, it's basically where it's just playtime).

I think playdough is a great sensory toy with lots of squishiness.  Plus, we can decompose objects to try to build them.  We talk about how faces have eyes, ears, noses, etc. and try to build a face. 

Cards

I've written before about how I like to use my Cricut to make cards with my daughter.  We made a couple more cards this week.  We push the buttons together and then she "writes" in the inside.  Great pre-literacy skills.   

Beads

 

Our current fascination is beads.  We like to generally make a mess with them while occasionally putting them on a "necklace".  It's about 90% mess and 10% necklace making.  We talk about the shapes, the colors, and the sound they make when they go all over.  Plus, it's great for fine motor skills. 


Clothespin Decorations

 I bought some clothespins for a project a couple of years ago, used the 2-3 I needed and then put the rest of the bag in the craft closet.  The little girl found them while we were making cards and decided we needed to "decorate" them.  We used mod podge on them.  Great experience with a paintbrush.

Yoga

See the Youtube Channel here

I know this doesn't really "fit" with the rest but we found this yoga series on Youtube.  It tells a story while doing yoga poses.  It's good for winding down before bedtime.  I also think it's good for listening comprehension as we have to follow a storyline.

Speaking of winding down, that's it' for me.  I'm linking up to a couple of parties-- Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday and #TeacherMom for her TotSchool link-up (she is much more organized than me!).

Five Posts you may have missed

 School has started, things are hectic, and I've not been posting.  But you can still hang out here at my blog.  Here are five posts that are relevant to my life this week. 

I posted about my daughter moving to a toddler bed.  I was so excited by how well the transition was going.  I made the routine charts (see above) and she was following them so well-- especially the Night Night!

Well, then school started and she started going to daycare 5 days a week.  You would think she would be tired and sleep better but she just gets loopy and refuses to go to sleep-- we do the night chart and then she stays up for an hour or two MORE!  This makes the morning really difficult.  Any negativity in this post is probably a result of lack of sleep.  Any ideas to help? 

I posted Monday about some gifts that I have given lately.  I mentioned that I share an office with a ridiculous number of people.  Wow!  That's changed my work life.  I'm sure it will get better once we have a routine but I feel like I have no space to just be. 

I have 5 goals that I'm working on this month.  I have FOUR days until September.  I hope I make at least one goal!  

I have been busy getting to know the students in 4th grade.  I think I was more than optimistic when I wrote this post this summer.  It's been a lot of testing and very little getting to know the kids.  I do know the names of all the 4th grade students.

Although this post was about other issues, I think I need to constantly remind myself of the above verse.  I may feel like I can't carry on but I can.  I will forge on, looking forward to our city in heaven, which is yet to come. 

I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday. 

5 things I did this week to keep my sanity next week

Was that title long enough for you?  I officially go back to work TODAY.  Uggg.  (Actually, I do like my job but who wants to give up the freedom of summer?)  Anyway, I did a couple of things this week to wrap up summer. 

This is similar to our type but isn't our bed.  Source

My daughter moved into a big girl bed!  While she hadn't actually climbed out of her crib, she had lifted her leg like she was thinking about it.  She also started to dread her bed.  She wanted to sleep with Mommy.  So after a night of her complaining about me moving around too much in bed, we converted her bed to a toddler bed.  I'm glad that we bought a convertible bed. 

With this monumental change, I wanted to set up our routines.  I looked at a bunch of routine charts on Pinterest but they weren't EXACTLY our routine.  So I made my own charts. 

Cute, simple and hopefully effective.  She can already "read" them so I call that a success. 

While I was at it, I printed this chart to make a simple cleaning routine for me. 

It's from Clean Mama.  I'm planning on keeping it in my planner. 

I started watching what I ate with SparkPeople.  I've lost 2 (probably not real) pounds.  Basically, I've been eating bunches of fruits and veggies. 

Finally, I tried to soak up every bit of time with my daughter.  We went to Chuck E. Cheese, listened at storytime, saw some animals, played doctor, and read lots of books.  We learned a new dance! 

Now that I've passed that ANNOYING song on, go check out some other Five for Friday blogs at Doodle Bugs Teaching. 

Screen time picks

Earlier, I went over some of my daughter's favorite books.  Today, I thought I would turn my attention to her screen time picks.  I figure this can also serve as my memory book for her because I'm not so good at making her an actual memory book.  Sorry sweetie.

We both like PBS shows.  I have to say that I don't really know the PBS schedule but I'm fairly certain that if I turn it on during weekday mornings, something kid friendly will be found.  This helps me take a shower during the summer.
Our favorite shows are Daniel Tiger, Curious George, and SuperWhy.  I love these three because I feel like they help her learn about her world (yes, I know they don't replace a parent!).  She loves them because they are "so cute!"

We actually usually watch the PBS shows and a couple of others on Netflix.  When looking for logos for this post, I came across the post Netflix is my Preschool Parenting Ally.  I agree!  Tip:  remember that these characters need sleep quite frequently.  Whenever you don't want to watch them, just say they are sleeping.  You can even go into the parent's profile page and show they aren't there.  That confession should stay out of the memory book.

While kid shows are usually pretty short (especially since you can just watch part on Netflix), apps can be even shorter.  These make them nice for potty rewards.  My daughter likes Fruit Roll (she calls it fruit snacks) and all the Fisher Price Laugh & Learn apps.  If you have a child 3 or under, check out this whole line of free apps.  I love the entire Laugh & Learn line though.  We had/have the table, the piggy bank, the puppy sister, the house, and the car.  Now that I list it all out (with Amazon affiliate links), it does seem a little much.  Oh well, I have to say, they are the only electronic toys that we don't hide after 2 minutes.

 

Youtube is another avenue for short picks.  Good for rewards (for mom or daughter).  Here are a couple we enjoy (that also get us moving)

 

If you noticed, I didn't have a post yesterday.  I had been posting Monday-Friday since starting this blog.  I didn't have a reason really, just getting ready for back to school.  I'm sure my blogging will slow down now that I won't be hanging around the house during naptime. No promises or threats of blog posting frequency here!  

I'm linking up to Giving up on Perfect for Works for Me Wednesday because having these screen time options and the accompanying shower works for me.  

Five for Friday: ILA week

For the first time, I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for five for Friday.  Here are 5 random things about my last week.

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Both Little Girl and I took trips last week. I went to the International Literacy Association conference in St. Louis to learn more about literacy. She went to Grandma's to make peacock hand prints and feed cows.  We both had awesome times. While I missed her like crazy, I was also glad to have a couple of days to socialize like pre-kid days.

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This was my first experience being at a large, international conference.  One of the things that surprised me the most was all the free goodies.  Scholastic had a large breakfast where we got a red bag with 5 books.  The authors of these books spoke about their favorite teacher.

See Jewell Parker Rose?  I now want everything that she has written.  She is that gifted with words.  I also want to give her a hug and tell her everything is gonna be okay.  I was in TEARS listening to her story.  She is absolutely amazing.

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Some of the speakers at the conference were okay, some were ugg, and some were amazing.  I was most blown away by Shiza Shahid.  I had not even heard of her before this conference.  Again, she has lived through so many things but has turned tragedy into opportunity again and again.

Maybe you have heard of Malala Yousafzai?  The girl shot by the Taliban on the bus for speaking up about girl's education?  Shiza is the one that runs her Malala fund.  She also has a passion for education and women's lives that just pushes others into action.

One thing she said really stuck with me.  I don't know the exact words but it was basically to choose one passion and make a difference with that one area.  Don't spend $20 on this charity and 1 hour for this one.  Really pick one and be the superhero for that cause. 

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I also got to hear some educational gurus-- Stephanie Harvey in particular was FANTASTIC.  That makes me super happy as I've been her fan for years.  I'm planning a whole bunch of posts sharing some of the ideas that I learned.  So if you are a teacher, start following or come back this week!  If you aren't a teacher, don't worry.  I will add some non-educational posts too.

What would you like to hear about?  My trip?  What I learned?  The speakers?  Should I share it all in a week or spread it out to one post a week? 

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Totally unrelated to ILA is my random cell phone troubles.  At the beginning of June, I switched carriers to Cricket Wireless.  I heard they were bought by AT&T and so had AT&T coverage for super cheap.  My husband and I pay $70 a month with taxes and fees.  For that cost, we get unlimited talk, unlimited texts, 2.5MB of fast data, and unlimited slow data.  We have been pleased with the service.

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The catch is the phone.  You have to buy your phone outright or put it on a crazy payment plan.  (Although you can also bring any AT&T phone over to Cricket since they are on the same network.)  At first I went with the ZTE Overture II since it was free after rebate.  I didn't have any real problems with it, though I thought the camera could be a lot better.  Then, one day, no one could hear me on the phone.  I restarted the phone and it went back to working.

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This week though, the power button broke.  You don't really know how essential a power button is until it's not working.  I downloaded an app that switched the control of the screen to the volume button.  I was still afraid the battery would die though.  While there is a manufacturer warranty, I decided it was more trouble than it was worth.  So now I have a Galaxy Grand Prime. Hopefully it lasts more than 2 months! 

First Changes to my Planner

Last week, I told you my decoration plans for my Blue Sky Day Designer planner.  Since then, I've made some little changes.

First, I went through and added all those important calendar dates such as days off, etc.  These are ones that probably won't change.  I added different colors and designs of washi tape to designate different kinds of .  For example, this blue dotted paper means important school dates.  Gold chevron means important personal dates such as birthdays, etc.

I then turned to the weekly spreads and added this same information.  I didn't take up a lot of room with my writing because I want this to be very practical.  For example, maybe on the recording/ reporting day, I will have a meeting with a certain teacher at 10 am.  I want to be able to have room to write this down.  Or maybe I will use this space to write a to-do list.  Or maybe just a cute decoration.

Do you see the washi tape on the side of this page?  I added it just to a couple of pages to designate the end/ beginning of trimesters.  I like how it makes these marking periods show up really well without being too much work.    

 I thought I needed a little something else on the monthly pages and so added some highlighting of the dates.  Just a little something to be cute. 

  That's all I've done with my planner so far.  My daughter went to work with the highlighters and the front page though.  This is what she designed.  Super cute, right?

I am linking up to Plan with Me Sundays (late, of course).

See all the links here!