10% Off Holiday Special from MPMSchoolSupplies.com

The people over at MPM School Supplies generously gave me a $25 gift certificate to put towards the purchase of any product on their website. Since I work with infants and toddlers, I wanted to find something that we could use in the classroom. I bought a set of Textured Blocks 1In Thick 30 Pc.

I decided on these after browsing their site for a while. They have everything including blocks, art supplies, classroom decorations, pretend play toys and even sand and water tables. I found many products I’d like to have in my classroom like these shimmering water rainbow blocks Or this pretend food set Or if our center somehow got a lot of money, this light table, Once I decided on the blocks, the checkout process was quick and easy. I was done in less than five minutes. Just follow the simple steps on each page and you’re done! The next day, I received a tracking number and the package arrived a couple of days later.

The blocks were well packed and come in a plastic bag with a zipper. I introduced them to my toddler class yesterday and they loved them! We talked about textures like bumpy, smooth and how some of the blocks have squiggly lines. We talked about shapes like rectangles, triangles, circles, half circles, squares etc. Some toddlers even figured out that you can put two shapes together to make another. One girl was proud of herself when she discovered that putting two triangles together make a diamond. There was a lot of learning going on already and we haven’t even begun building.

Overall, I was happy with the pricing, product selection and customer service at MPM School Supplies! I would like to thank them for giving me the opportunity to purchase a new product for my classroom. In addition, they are generously giving a discount to my readers! Click here to get 10% off the first 10 purchases to help you buy those much needed classroom supplies!

Winners

Here are the winners of the What to Expect books giveaway!
Mags comment 3.
And
Jhanell T comment 11.
I have sent you both an E-mail. If it isn’t in your inbox, check your junk folder.
Thanks to everyone for participating even if you didn’t win. I hope to offer more giveaways in the future. Have a great weekend!

What To Expect Books Giveaway

The What To Expect series is now on its fourth edition!

The most recent updates to the What to Expect When You’re Expecting book include answers to dozens of new questions and a detailed week-by-week fetal development section in each of the monthly chapters, an expanded chapter on pre-conception, and a brand new one on carrying multiples. There is an expanded section for work place concerns and additional material covering physical, emotional health and nutrition.
Since I am not a parent, I have never read any of the What to Expect books, but when they generously offered to give two sets of books to two of my readers, I wanted to check them out. So I decided that since I work with babies, it would be useful to read What to Expect the First Year.

So far, I have been surprised about how much information this book covers. It covers everything from baby’s first medical exam, advice for soothing a colicky baby, signs of common illnesses in babies to baby’s first bath. It has a detailed section on breastfeeding vs. bottle feeding and the advantages and disadvantages of both. The month by month chapters show you what to expect during each month of your baby’s first year. The developmental chart of milestones is meant as a guide, but as the book reminds us, each baby is different and will develop at their own pace.




After your baby’s first birthday, What to Expect The Second Year picks up where What to Expect the first Year left off.
This book covers milestones (from first steps to first words, first scribbles to first friends). There are chapters on growth, feeding, sleeping, behaviors of every conceivable kind, discipline (including teaching right from wrong), and keeping a toddler healthy and safe as he or she takes on the world. There is a developmental timeline of the second year with special milestone boxes which help parents keep track of their toddler’s development.


Two of my readers will win a copy of each book! Meaning three books for each winner!
How to enter:
1. Leave a comment on this post telling me which book you would find the most useful.
Additional entries:
2. Follow @play2grow on Twitter and leave a comment on this post letting me know.
3. Follow @whattoexpect on Twitter and leave a comment on this post.
4. Follow play2grow via Google Friend Connect or subscribe by E-mail and leave a comment letting me know.
Please be sure that you leave an E-mail address in your comments so I can contact you if you win.
If I do not hear back from you within 48 hours, another winner will be drawn.
The giveaway ends on Friday July 20th at midnight Eastern
Thank you and good luck!

Bugs & Beans Sensory Tub

For spring, we set up a bugs and beans sensory bin in the toddler classroom.
Here’s what’s inside.



I found these Melissa and Doug Sunny Patch Bugs
On Amazon. The kids liked the bright colors and I liked that they were big enough for them to safely play with.
My co-teacher found these bugs from Oriental Trading Company. The kids did okay with them, but I thought they were a bit small for toddlers.
For filler, we added a variety of beans, scoops and cups for scooping and pouring.
The children loved this sensory tub and asked us to open it everyday. Their favorite parts were scooping and pouring the beans and finding the hidden bugs.

Lemon Play-dough

During the first part of April to celebrate spring, I made this lemon scented play-dough!
It smelled so good!


Here is the recipe that I used.

• 2 cups flour,

 

• 1 cup salt,

 

• 2 table spoons vegetable oil,

 

• 2 table spoons cream of tartar,

 

• 1.5 cups boiling water

 

• A few drops of lemon extract,

 

• A couple drops of red food coloring.

 

• A few drops glycerin.

 

• 1. Mix dry ingredients.

 

• 2. Stir in oil.

 

• 3. Add water and mix until lumps are gone and it comes together.

 

• 4. Then kneed. Add scent, food coloring and or glycerin for shininess at kneading stage.

Store in an air tight container.

Assignment: Thank You

We are finally at the end of our communications course. I want to thank my classmates and professor for their feedback, encouragement and for sharing their knowledge and experiences. I have enjoyed learning and working with all of you. There are a couple of you who have been in classes with me basically since the beginning. Others I have met recently.



Now as we move on to our specializations, some of us will be taking different paths, but we all are passionate about and are dedicated to making a difference in the lives of children. I want to wish everyone luck and success at work and in life! For those who are specializing in administration, management and leadership, I look forward to learning with you. For anyone who would like to keep in touch, you can reach me at play2grow@sent.com or on twitter @play2grow. I will also keep this blog open to share projects and activities in the future.

Assignment: Adjournment

This week, we learned how groups develop through five stages. For our blog entry, we were asked to focus on the adjourning phase. “During the adjourning stage, group members reflect on their accomplishments and failures as well as determine whether the group will disassemble or take on another project. To mark this stage, some groups hold a celebratory dinner or simply say thank you and good-bye. Alternatively, some groups may decide to continue to work together on new tasks” (O’Hair & Wiemann, 2009, p. 235).
The most recent groups that I have been apart of were either through school or work. I participated in an internship in 2009 where I worked in the younger preschool classroom at a small childcare center. I had a lot of negative interactions with the members of that group, but there were positive experiences as well. Mainly they were with the children. On the second day of my internship, a new little girl came in. She was sad to see her mom leave and the head teacher thought it would be nice if I bonded with her since we were both new to the program. She was really shy at first and would only talk to me, but eventually started participating with the rest of the group. She was funny and extremely bright. Late in my internship, I was sad to learn that she was moving away. My internship was supposed to end the week before she left, but I wanted to stay with her until the end because she had so many changes going on. So I decided to volunteer for that extra week. On our last day, we celebrated! We had cupcakes and exchanged gifts.


The last time I heard from her was when I received a Christmas card from her family back in 2009 announcing that she would have a new brother or sister.

That last day represented success! I had completed my classes, the internship and would now be graduating. I was also proud because I had taken on professional responsibilities that I hadn’t been able to in my previous jobs. I had reached some of my goals.


It was bitter sweet because I was glad it was over, but I was sad to be leaving some of the children. Later that summer, they hired me as a substitute which started a whole new phase to this group. Our interactions did not get any better and I decided to quit in January of 2011.
The end of that experience meant that a new door was about to open. That’s when I started working with infants and toddlers which I really enjoy.

When I think about adjourning from the group of classmates from Walden, I don’t think it will be as hard as other groups because we’ve never met face to face. I also took a break around the holidays last year so when I came back, I had mostly new classmates. This will happen again because I am taking a break over the summer because I will be switching to another specialization. I’m sure there are a few classmates who I will keep in touch with. It has been interesting getting perspectives from people from many different places and walks of life. The other part of adjourning will be the uncertainty. A new door will open, but the question is to what? I will have to wait and see what the future brings.



O’Hair, D., & Wiemann, M. (2009). Real communication: An introduction.
New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s .

Assignment: Conflict Resolution

This week we were asked to discuss a recent conflict in our professional or personal lives and the strategies we used or could use to resolve it. I remembered a recent ongoing conflict between a coworker and I. When I started working in the classroom, this person did some things that made my job very difficult. I felt that these things made me look bad to our supervisors. This conflict was more about actions than verbal communication. One example was that when I was changing a child on the diapering table, this person would walk out of the room and leave the door open. She was only leaving for a minute to bring a child to another classroom or bring the snack cart back, but this left enough time for several children to leave the room. Since the children were not used to me, they didn’t listen when I told them to stay and this person would get frustrated with me for allowing them to leave. I told her several times that I could not leave the changing table with a child there. I would have to stop the diapering, pick up the child and then run to the door which just wasn’t practical. That just wasn’t going to work and even though I kept telling her this, she continued to leave the door open.

Finally one day during planning, she told me that if I had any problems that she hoped I would tell her. This provided a supportive climate for me to voice my concerns. I told her that one of my problems was when she left the door open when I was unable to stop children from leaving. I told her that I was worried about the children’s safety and I didn’t want to get into trouble for a child leaving the room. She said that she understood and that she didn’t realize she was doing that so often. She said that she would make sure that she closed the door if she had to leave while I was changing the children. After our talk, I noticed that she left the door open less. There were other issues involved in this conflict, but I am focusing on this one for the purpose of this entry because it was the only part of it that was resolved.




At first, I used escapist strategies for several reasons. People may use escapist strategies if they want to avoid the conflict, they do not feel it is the right time or place to discuss the issue or they are waiting for the other person to raise the issue (O’Hair & Wiemann, 2009). I was new to the class so I was reluctant to bring up concerns. I didn’t want to be viewed as a complainer or disruptive. Also, there were limited opportunities to discuss issues since we were so busy with the children. So when she asked if I had any issues, I thought it was a good time to discuss it. During our conversation, we both listened to each other. Many conflicts can be avoided if we just stop and listen.


Next, we used a cooperative strategy to come up with something that works for us and the children. It benefited both of us because I didn’t have to worry so much about children leaving the room and she realized that she was doing something unsafe that she was willing to change.

It’s interesting how we want to teach children to share, to show empathy, to be good listeners, to be caring friends, but as adults we often forget about those things. Those are all important skills no matter how old we get.



References
O’Hair, D., Wiemann, M. (2009).
Real Communication: An Introduction.
New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s .

Free images from FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Cornmeal Play-dough

When I first started working with my second toddler class in March, they were in the middle of a western theme. I had trouble coming up with activities that fit in with the theme that were appropriate for toddlers. One of my ideas was play-dough, but I wasn’t sure how to tie it in with the theme. My co-teacher suggested something textured, grainy or rough. I thought of mixing in coffee grounds or oat meal and finally we settled on cornmeal.


I used a recipe that I found from Little Wonders Days.



I added some yellow food coloring to make it a brighter yellow. This play-dough did not come out grainy, but it had a nice texture. It was squishy like regular play-dough and had an occasional rough or grainy texture when broken apart. This was the first batch of play-dough that I actually cooked and it came out well. The kids enjoyed it. We kept things simple using small rolling pins and cookie cutters. The toddlers were most interested in squishing, pounding and rolling with their hands. It’s good fine motor practice!



As a side note, I found a pack of these containers at Walmart in the Tupperware section. I’ve found that they work well for the play-dough. They seal pretty well if you push down on the center of the lid and they are just the right size.

The Sticky Bucket

I got this idea from Deborah Teachpreschool. She has done various activities with a sticky table so I decided to create one of my own. Since I knew it wouldn't be possible to keep the contact paper on the table for more than an hour, I decided to make sticky boxes. I covered two small boxes with the contact paper sticky side up. some of the children didn't understand and ripped the contact paper off so we ended up adding the sticky paper to this bucket. When I introduced this activity, I started by putting out a basket of ribbons, pipe cleaners and feathers to see what the children would do. Some decided to make letters, shapes and elaborate constructions. Two girls sat down at the table and made a boat. They told me about diving boards, motors and wheels. They used every single piece in the basket. As time went on, I added different materials to the basket like felt and yarn. On the day when I was finally able to take a picture of the sticky bucket, I had set out sponge shapes for them to try. I imagined that it would be like building with blocks accept it would be 2d because the sponges wouldn't stay stacked. However we discovered that the contact paper wasn't sticky enough for the sponges to stay in place, but we tried.



This was the last time I was able to add to the sticky bucket with this class, but later I tried it with the toddlers. I covered a small table with clear contact paper sticky side up. The toddlers noticed the texture above everything else. They kept touching it over and over and saying, "Sticky." When they started to put their pretend foods on it, they noticed that some of them actually stuck and they were able to keep things in place. I am hoping to do more texture activities like these with my future classes.

Additional links:

• From Seed to Flower at the Sticky Table

 

• Playing With Nature at the Sticky table

 

• Exploring Everything Sticky in Preschool