Back To School Scavenger Hunt

Reposting from last summer!!!

This summer has been great. We have played, played, played! The kids had a blast and kept active. My philosophy is busy kids ='s well behaved kids ='s happy momma!!! That is really how this summer went. We were super busy and I didn't have to yell much. The summer flew by. I am sad that today marked the first day of school . At the same time it is good to get some structure back to our lives.

Since this summer was such a blast and the kids were well behaved, we decided to celebrate with a Back to School Party in the park complete with games, crafts, and treats.

When the kids arrived at the park they colored a picture of a school bus. If you google Back to School Coloring, you will find lots of coloring pages to choose from.

Then we broke the kids off into teams of four and sent them on a back to school scavenger hunt. Each Team was given a team color, a map, a baggie to collect cards in, and stickers to mark their found cards off on the map.

Setting this up: A few days before the event, I went to the park and took pictures of various objects around the park. I took pictures of things all over the park; such as, sliding boards, ramps, picnic benches, signs, soccer nets, letters, numbers, swings... I took a total of 36 different pictures with the idea in mind that I wanted each of the four teams to go to nine places. Then I went home and printed each of the pictures twice. I placed nine pictures on a map of one color. Then I placed the same nine pictures on the same color and created cards of the 9 pictures. I did this four times. This way I could break the kids up into four teams (red, green, blue, and yellow). The day of the event I hung the (9 of each four colors ='s 36 cards) cards around the park. I taped the cards to their given object. So if there was a card with a picture of a swing, I taped the card to that swing.

How the kids played:

I broke the kids up into teams of colors. There was a red, yellow, green, and blue team. Each team was given a map, star stickers, and a bag for collecting their cards. The kids would look at their map and go to the given area on their map and find the matching card somewhere in the vicinity. They would then put the card in their bag and mark off the object on their map. The idea was to find all nine card on their map. Also, staying with the back to school theme, they had to find four apples of their team color to give to the teacher.

This seemed to be a hit with the kids! I would definitely do this scavenger hunt again for a birthday party or another back to school party. It worked well and it was easy to make and set-up.

Another activity that they enjoyed was the back to school relay. There were twenty kids so we split them into two teams. I set up a relay for each team member to run through.

1.)Get out of bed. (Sheet on the grass)

2.)Turn on the light. (Run over to a press light and turn it on)

3.)Eat breakfast. (Run over to lawn chair, sit down, eat a pancake)

4.) Put on backpack.

5.) Run through tunnel

6,) Jump in hoop and yell, "I am ready for school!"

7.) Run to cone (school) touch it and run back through and tag next person.

A great way to end a fun summer! I hope you had an awesome summer too!

Back To School - One Stop

Getting closer to crunch time!!!  For all your back to school needs please click here!

Ode to Teachers!

If a doctor, lawyer, or dentist had 40 people in his office at one time, all of whom had different needs, and some of whom didn't want to be there and were causing trouble, and the doctor, lawyer, or dentist, without assistance, had to treat them all with professional excellence for nine months, then he might have some conception of the classroom teacher's job. ~Donald D. Quinn

Giveaways Galore - Get in on the action!!!

YIIIIPPPPPEEEEEE!  So excited about the 2010 Teaching Heart Back to School Party!!!  I have had lots of emails from Etsy sellers, Children's authors, Educational product sellers that are planning to make a product donation to the party!!!  The party rocked last year, but wait it will be even be better this year!!!   I am so excited to play Santa and get the party started!    If you sell something teachers love, you would be crazy to pass up this opportunity for a free shout out by one of the most loved teacher sites online!!!  What an awesome way to get your product noticed by teachers and parents.  You can still get in on a chance to make a donation... read below!

 

Get ready, it's almost time!!!

When: August 16-22 (something every day of the week to look forward to)

Where: Check in daily to Teaching Heart Mom!

What: Each day we will have a giveaway of a great prize or prizes. At least one chance a day to win a great giveaway. We will also post four free printables during the week. You can click here to see some of our giveaways last year!


Want to make a donation of a product you sell or create that parents or teachers can use with their kiddos? If you make a donation, your website will go out to our newsletter of over 7,000 subscibers, be posted on our blog, and will be shared on our Teaching Heart Facebook page of over 1,120 fans & growing! All you have to do is contact Teaching Heart at: cgallagher_1999@yahoo.com let us know what you would like to donate and we will get back to you with more details! This is an awesome opportunity for you!!! See Alexa to learn more about our site ranking http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details/teachingheart.net Teaching Heart is one of the top listed sites on GOOGLE and Yahoo for teachers.

Visit http://teachingheartmom.blogspot.com/2010/07/get-ready-for-week-of-giveaways.html for more details

 

Moo... It's Monday!

Yes, I am still here and I still have goals in mind...  First being that shirt I would like to wear before the end of August.  I just need a little break from thinking about calories in and calories out.  I think after this week I will back at counting calories (which is the only way I seem to be able to loose weight is being anal about the number of calories I hit a day!)  Ugh, I am a bit frustrated...  but a little break is often what I need to come back strong.  Good news, the weight I gained on vacation is off now!

Still running.  I logged 22 miles this week!  Wahhhoooo!  One day I ran with the family in what felt like the hottest run ever!  Ugh!  It sucked and felt so good when it was over.  With the heat, I have been hitting the treadmill.  I am trying to get faster so that I can finish six miles in under and hour at the end of September for the Great Race.  Curious what other runners do to get quicker?  I would love to hear your suggestions if you are there????

Here's my plan for twice a week.  My get faster plan!
(once a week)


Warm up with 5 minutes of walking and 10 minutes of easy running. Then run for 2 minutes at a fast pace that’s just short of a sprint, followed by 2 minutes of jogging; repeat the entire sequence 4 times. Cool down with 10 minutes of easy running, then 5 minutes of walking.   Should be a blast!!!

Have a healthy week!

Get Ready For A Week of Giveaways!!!

It's almost here...  You are starting to see it in the stores with the back to school supplies emerging!  Are you ready to go back to school or send you kiddos off to school?  Even if you aren't ready for the school time routine to start again, hopefully the Teaching Heart Back to School Party will get you in the mood!  It was so much fun last year, we decided to do it again to say thank you to all our wonderful customers, blog followers, an Teaching Heart Teachers!!!! 

 

Get ready, it's almost time!!!

 

When:  August 16-22 (something every day of the week to look forward to)

Where:  Check in daily to Teaching Heart Mom!

What:  Each day we will have a giveaway of a great prize or prizes.  At least one chance a day to win a great giveaway.  We will also post four free printables during the week.  You can click here to see some of our giveaways last year!

 

Want to make a donation of a product you sell or create that parents or teachers can use with their kiddos?   If you make a donation, your website will go out to our newsletter of over 7,000 subscibers, be posted on our blog, and will be shared on our Teaching Heart Facebook page of over 1,080 fans & growing!  All you have to do is contact Teaching Heart at: cgallagher_1999@yahoo.com let us know what you would like to donate and we will get back to you with more details!  This is an awesome opportunity for you!!!  See Alexa to learn more about our site ranking http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details/teachingheart.net  Teaching Heart is one of the top listed sites on GOOGLE and Yahoo for teachers.

 

Hmmmm.... you read this far!!! Thanks!

Here's a surprise giveaway. I'll tell you what it is on the 16th and announce the winner at the same time. All you have to do to play is put you name and email address in the comments section of this post on or before August 15th. One entry per person. If you enter more than once your entry will be void. The winner will be selected by random draw on the 16th!!!

Good luck!!!!!

My Ode to Summer

Flip Flops, Ice Cream Shops,

Lemonade In The shade!

Waves swell, Seashells,

Taffy Time, Chase a drink with a lime!

Late Nights, Water fights,

Kids out of school, Mom’s trying to keep her cool!

Swim dates, sleeping late,

Hay’s and Peterswood Park, Catching fireflies in the dark,

Picnics with plastic forks, fireworks,

Fun with friends, hope the summer never ends!

Thunderbolt is quite a jolt!

Margaritas at Girl’s Night Out, That’s what Summers all About!!!!

By: ME

Beach Towel Swap

Looking for a fun summer party idea?  Have a Beach Towel Swap! 

 

Tell each guest to bring a new Beach Towel that costs under $10.00.  Ask them to purchase a towel that they would buy for themselves.  Maybe even a towel that tells a little about their personality!  They should bring it in a brown paper bag with the idea that it is top secret which towel they have purchased.  After all guests have arrived at your party, unwrap the towels and lay them out.  Number each towel. 

To play the game:  Give each player a piece of paper and ask them to number it 1 - 10 (or how ever many towels you have).  Go around the room and have each player give a clue about their towel...  Some of our clues were (It's nice and big and will keep you warm, It has a color in it that is one of the colors on my wall in my living room, It was a deal at a markdown from 5.99 to .99, It's FUN for kids and adults...)  After each player has given their clues allow everyone to check out the towels and write next to each number whose towel they think it is.  It's okay for guests to ask for people to restate their clues.

Once your guests have written down their guesses, it's time to reveal the towels.  Display each towel and ask the person who purchased the towel to stand up.  Each player can circle their correct guesses.  The person with the  most guesses correct wins a prize!

I found the sea shell box at Michael's on sale rack for .99 cents.  I then added a Yankee Candle Beach Walk 22 0z. Candle , Get Beached Margarita Mix, Sarris Candy Flip Flops, Chocolate Smores Candy, and some sea shells.

Now it is time to swap the towels.  The person who got the most correct guesses picks a towel first, then the person who got the second best scores picks a towel, and so on and son on till all the towels have been swapped!

Fun With S'mores!

One thing that comes to mind when I think of summer is a campfire and making S'mores.  I recall as a kid making S'mores around a homemade campfire with my neighbors in our backyards.  Then our parents would let us set up tents and camp in our yard.  It was just one of the things I looked forward to as a child when summer rolled around.

This post is a tribute to S'mores!

Check out this yummy S'mores Recipe!!!  Click here to enjoy these sandwich bar cookies s'mores style!

Pie anyone?  S'mores Pie that is!!!  Click here to view the recipe at Woman's Day!

Need an appetizer for a summer party?  Wouldn't S'mores dip do the trick?  Click here to see how to make this sticky yum!

Cupcakes are hot right now...  Make them even hotter with a S'mores Cupcake!  Isn't this sooooo cute?  You can see the recipe at Saucy's Sprinkles Blog!

Grab the kids and make some S'mores Pops!  Edible Crafts will show you how!

My friend Rebecca shares her frozen S'mores here.  They look so good, don't they???

And just when you thought you were full of S'mores along comes this fun favor!!! I love this! See it here!

Speaking of Favors!!!  I have a free printable from Teaching Heart for you use to wrap a Hershey Bar at your S'mores party or Summer Fun Night!!!  Great for camping trips.  Click here to print this! 

S’MORES

By
Gregory K.

The campfire burns. It’s 9:08.
I feel so good cuz I just ate
Two graham crackers, and chocolate, too,
With marshmallow turned to warm, white goo.
A treat indeed, a dripping mess.
A touch of melty joy -- oh yes!
It’s bedtime soon, but I’m not done.
I simply cannot stop at one.
Because, you see, it takes three s’mores
To make a night of happy s’nores.

Click here for great step by step steps on how to make s'mores!

Watch this video set to our favorite S'mores song sang by the Veggie Tales!!!

Are you a Teaching Heart Facebook Fan?

So, are you?  I hope you will click on over and join the group.  Often contests are posted and you could win something fun!!!  Plus, when we do our annual back to school party in August you will need to be a fan to qualify for many of our chances to win!!!  So join today, don't delay!!!  Click here!!!

 

 

Lillys' Purple Plastic Purse Activity!

Materials
Plastic Baggie or Zip-loc Bag
Purple Bulletin Board or Construction Paper
Glue Dots or Hot Glue Gun

Fold purple paper and cut to fit inside baggie

Insert in baggie with fold at the bottom
Twist thin strips of paper to make handles-attach with glue dots

I have attached sheets I made for story recall, counting sets, and sorting coins.

Recall Worksheet
Counting Worksheet
Coins Worksheet
You could put in "movie star sunglasses" and/or coins to practice coin recognition.

Students could draw pictures or cut out magazine pictues of what they would keep in a purse.

Need more ideas?  Click Here!

Pocket Charts

I love using pocket charts and sometimes wonder if I could teach without them. Hmmm??? Many teachers write asking me for pocket chart ideas. As a result, I decided to create this page!  This is the time of year that Walmart puts the pocket charts out for the great price of 9.99 and Target often has smaller ones for .99!!!

Pocket charts can be used for so many purposes. They are great to place center activities in. They are fantastic for posting schedules. I could go on and on. I have utilized them to:

Reconstruct poems, songs and chants

Sequence alphabet or pictorial story lines

List days of the week, months of the year

Word banks for themes or journals

Word tricks such as the,they,them,then/no,not,now

Pattern sentences for reading and journal sentence prompts

Build rhyming word banks

seasonal and thematic vocabulary

Making Words activities

small group instruction - great for resource rooms or special education k-8

SOME TIPS FROM ME:


To store the materials that go along with the many pocket charts I create for centers, I staple ziploc bags to the bottom of the chart. I fill the bags with the materials I need for the certain pocket chart activity. When it is time to take down a given pocket chart, I store all the materials for the pocket chart in a large folder.

You can purchase seasonal pencils and attach a seasonal eraser to the pencil. Use this to have the children point to words on a chart. They enjoy this! Don't sharpen the pencil!

In July, Walmart stocks the regular pocket charts for an awesome price of about $10.00. You can find them in the school supply section of the story. Can't miss this buy!
Often teachers will sell some of their neat-o pocket charts on Ebay. You know the ones that come in the cool shapes? Do a search for pocket charts on www.ebay.com and see what is there. Sometimes you can find a good deal.

Go ahead and cut those Walmart charts to make them fit on the back of tables or where you see needed.

Be sure to check out all the good pocket chart ideas here:
http://www.teachingheart.net/pocketchart.html

Moo... It's Monday!

Back from a vacation to York Beach, Maine...  I took a vacation from my diet and I am sad to report the scale went up five pounds in a week  I am disappointed in myself.  I know what went wrong.  Eating tons of junk and too much of it.  Too much wine and beer too!  I was bad and really it wasn't worth it at all...  five pounds up...  bites!  I really hate posting this...  but I know I need to be accountable and this is how I do that by blogging about it!  On a positive note;  I ran 15 miles while on vacation! 

On vacation my brother-in-law would bring awesome cheeses and wine to the beach.  That was probably the diet killer.  Way too much cheese!  It was good and tasted so much better on the beach with wine. 

So moving forward with this big road bump!  Hopefully next week I will loose this 5 and be back where I was. 

Vacation was good, not just the food.  My hubby and I celebrated 13 years of marriage!  Here we are!

The kids had a blast too.  My niece is a year younger than my daughter and my nephew is three years older than my son.  So both kids have a playmate!

If you are going on a vacation this summer, I hope it is a safe and fun trip for you!

Fourth of July Goodies and Printables

Who's Birthday Is It?

Some birthdays come in winter, Some birthdays come in spring. On birthdays there are games to play And lots of songs to sing.

My favorite birthday is in July, And it doesn't belong to me! It's the birthday that lights up the sky For all the world to see!

Rockets glare, trumpets blare, And bands begins to play. Happy Birthday America It's Independence Day!

-unknown author

Here comes America's favorite day!  Here are a few treats to get your celebration started! 

*I love Family Fun.  They have the best ideas.  You must check out their 4th day page filled with great ideas, crafts, recipes, games, printables, and more!

*DLTK is always as a must stop for kiddos on the 4th.  Check it out!

*This next recipe I am sure the kids will love, but mommy will enjoy it too...  Look at them berries poppin with fourth colors.  Mmmmmm!!!  This would be fun for the kids!

These Cream Cheese dipped Strawberries come from The Cooking With Kids Blog!

*Here's something else that caught my eye...  4th Candy Centerpieces.  So cute!

These come from here!

What are reading to your kids to celebrate the day??/   Here are a few of my faves!

On Independence Day...

(sung to "Mary Had a Little Lamb")

Fireworks go snap, snap, snap!
Crack, crack, crack!
Zap, zap, zap!
Fireworks make me clap, clap, clap
On Independence Day!

Oh, my...  How cute are these rice Krispie Treats???

They are from Class Brain! 

FROM TEACHING HEART!!!

We love the USA!  I just made these heart shaped cookies and decorated them red, white, and blue!!!

Here is a special treat from Teaching Heart to you...  A free super cute ready to print candy bar wrapper.  All you do is print it on regular paper, cut it, wrap it around a regular Hershey bar and you have a great Fourth of July Favor all will enjoy! 
http://www.teachingheart.net/4thofjullywrapper.pdf

Do you have the 4th of July Mallows???  Click here for some Math Fun Ideas and free printables to go along with these yummy treats!

Teachers - Are you ready for back to school?  No fear, click here!