Captain Band-aid to the Rescue!

     

    We all know how much a scrap or injury can rock the world of our little preschoolers. It becomes something that they tell to friends and sometimes strangers because the world needs to know of the injustice they experienced. 

   Talking about their injuries can be an important part of their healing process, but it can also help with preparation for other injuries that might occur. This is especially true when preschoolers are getting ready for their kindergarten shots. Shots can cause trepidation for our little ones, but we can help them feel comforted.

    Of course, we all know that there is a magic solution to any injury. . . captain band-aid. The band-aid possesses powers of comfort that have baffled many a mother. Just the application of it can stop tears and make any child feel brave. 

    We made captain band-aid art and told stories of a time we got hurt for an activity during letter O week. 

 

It's an easy and fun project. Each child creates a person out of a band-aid on the paper and then shares a story of when they had to get a band-aid to help them when they were hurt.  Have fun!

O is for Octopus Math

Octopuses will forever bring a smile to my face when associated with preschoolers. When I was student teaching, our lead teacher was teaching the kids about school rules. He held up a picture of an octopus and asked the kids, "Does anyone know what this is?" Of course they all yell, "I know, an octopus!" He asks again, "Does anyone know what those things (swinging his arms back and forth) on the octopus are called?" One boy raises his hand and says, "I know, I know! They're called  testicles!" Without skipping a beat and barely cracking a smile, the lead teacher said, "That's right, they're called tentacles." I will forever be impressed with how that teacher kept his cool because we sure were trying hard not to crack up in the back. We all had a good laugh over that one when class was out.  

Here's a fun math worksheet to get your tentacles on. Here's a link to print your own copy of Octopus Math.

1. Print out the papers and color. 

2. Cut out the arms. 

3. Glue 1 arm under each number and glue the correct number of sequin (suckers) on each arm.

Drawing Prompts & Squiggle Pictures

I realized the other day that a lot of the activities we do are pretty structured and I wanted to offer an activity that allowed for more creative thinking. I saw an idea to do drawing prompts which looked like fun. Then I remembered another idea to encourage creativity that I used when I was teaching third grade. We used to give the kids squiggle papers.

Drawing prompts are where you start a picture and allow the children to add details and complexity to the picture.

For example, I started this picture and posed the question, who lives in this tree?

Anya finished the picture and this is what she did. This is Lilly the squirrel who lives in a tree in the water. She's small so she can't swim, and has to stay in her tree. But, when she gets bigger she will learn how to swim like a big girl.

Squiggle pictures are  a lot of fun too. Basically you start with a squiggle or doodle on a paper and then have your kids create a picture out of the lines that are already there by adding to it. You can have the kids tell you the story about their pictures or write a story about it if they are old enough. This is an example squiggle page that I did.

Then Anya added to it and expanded the picture. I wrote her story for her. It is about a girl who is decorating her Christmas tree, but one of the ornaments is lost.

When you are writing the story, make sure to write exactly what they say. Don't edit or change words because part of the charm is "hearing" them tell you about it every time you read the page.

It's pretty fun to see where their imagination can take them!

If you want some premade squiggle pages that you can just print out, you can download them here. 
When you click on the link, there are a lot of ads on the page. You want to click the small grey download button right beneath the box that says view document. You will need to sign in to download the paper. You can sign up for a free 4shared account or use your social media outlet to download. Please leave a message below if you have any problems or questions. 

We're back & we've moved!

 For those of you out there who have noticed an absence of Chipman's Corner Preschool, I appreciate it. I love blogging and teaching, but I needed to take a break for a while. I don't always get personal on here, but I think it is important to sometimes talk about your struggles in order to heal and to maybe help someone else who can relate. I haven't been blogging on this website or on our family blog since the last time I posted on here because I was really struggling with postpartum depression. It's hard to talk about, because I sometimes feel like admitting it makes me less capable. I know now that this is not the truth at all. Talking about it helps with healing. I realize that there are seasons to everyone's life. Sometimes we feel on top of the world while other times we want to hide under a rock. And during those times that are especially hard, when we feel especially insignificant, it is okay to stop and take care of yourself. It's okay to step back from some of the things you were doing (like blogging) to make sure that you are okay. Maybe someday you can pick those things up again and maybe you won't, but the important thing is that you keep going even when you don't want to. When I teach and I'm having a hard day personally, I can't tell the kids, I'm sad, I don't want to be here. You can't quit on them, so you "fake it til you make it." I've been faking it for a while now, but I think I might be starting to feel like I might make it again.

During this time I have been really inspired and uplifted hearing about other mom's struggles with the same thing. I never realized how many women there are that go through this extremely hard ordeal.  It is so nice to see that they made it through and it gives me hope that I will too. I am feeling much better these days, but I don't think I'm 100% out of the woods yet. One of the things that really started to help me heal was to look back over the pictures on this blog and on our family blog. It helped me to remember the kids who I love and the fun things that we have done together. I hope that we can do many more fun things together.

Especially since we are at a new location! Yes, during this already trying time, my husband got a new job, we sold our house, moved to a different state and bought a new house. The move was a nightmare to say the least. There was a huge gap of time between when we sold our old house and were able to move into the new one. Imagine a family of 6 living in a one bedroom hotel room for weeks. Yikes! But, we are getting settled and I am happy to report that we still live on a corner! I am so excited that our preschool name will stay. I will keep posting things we have done and I hope that you will keep visiting and finding fun things to do with your sweet preschoolers!