Fun Picture Book for Back to School!

For this week's Picture Book Pick of the Week, I thought I'd choose a book with a back to school theme.

When you're finished reading my pick, stop by Deanna Jump's blog to see lots of other choices, too! 

My selection is The Day My Mom Came to Kindergarten by Maureen Fergus and Mike Lowery.

This book offers a funny, indirect approach to teaching children how to behave when first starting school. 

And as we know, that's an area that usually requires some attention! :) 

Since I teach preschoolers, I'm just going to change the word "kindergarten" to preschool when I read it so that the story will relate better to my group!

The book opens with a little girl excited to start her first day at school.

The only one not excited about the day is the little girl's mother.

She's feeling a little sad that her daughter is going off to have adventures without her.

Luckily, the teacher decides that mom can spend the day in Kindergarten, too!

Mom is so excited that the first thing she does is BARGE to the front of the line-up to go inside.

Once mom gets inside, she starts running around leaving muddy footprints in her outdoor shoes!

Later when everyone is in the library, mom forgets to use her inside voice.

Then at snack time, mom drops crumbs everywhere and does not even bother to clean them up!

At craft time mom has trouble using the scissors.  So she slams them down on the table in a HUFF!

The story continues with mom breaking rules right and left and soon the little girl is FIT TO BE TIED!  

That's when the teacher tells her, that sometimes it takes  time to learn something new.  

She tells the girl not to worry and that her mom will get the hang of it before too long.  

And guess what?  Mom starts getting a lot better after that.

The story ends with the mom deciding that Kindergarten is lots of fun, but that it's probably a special place just for kids.  

Mom decides that she will stick to working hard in a place meant for people who are bigger - and a place where she will actually fit into the chairs.  

Mom pops her craft into her purse and her daughter tells her  that she's already great at the job of being a mom. 

(Ah, the feel good ending!  You always know it's coming!) 

This book will definitely be on my back to school story time list.  

How 'bout yours?

Another thing I'll be bringing into the classroom to start the year, will be the scrapbook worksheets below.

I'm offering this set for FREE from my Teachers Pay Teachers Shop right now.

Hop over if you'd like to scoop them up!

FREE Scrapbook Worksheets to Document Progress in Basic Skills - Great for Preschool or Kindergarten!

As August arrives, the mind drifts to thoughts of a new school year...

 and perhaps, back to school shopping. :)  

(I know I have my heart set on buying a new pair of boots!)   

Although I still have one more month of beautiful summer left, I know teachers in hotter parts of the world are returning to the classroom fairly soon.    

So for YOU folks as well as any go-getters out there who like to get a planning jumpstart, I thought it would be smart to already post the following FREEBIE since it's one you'd want to start using in the first month of school.

Although I teach at a play-based preschool, we still encourage students to spend time developing certain skills 

 - namely learning to write their name in lower case letters, effectively using scissors, and I also like them to develop some basic drawing skills.

To easily see how each student progresses in these areas over the course of the year, I created the following worksheets.

Students fill out the first part of each sheet at the start of the year, and the second part at the end.  

When completed, just pop these pages into the students' scrapbooks in June and you'll have another great sample of their work from the year. 

Here are the sheets included in this free set: 

If you'd like to be notified of my next Freebie, 

sign up as a follower here on my blog OR you can follow my Teach Easy Resources Shop. 

I love to share ideas with followers and the more the merrier!

Click {here} to pick up this free set. Enjoy!

  

Picture Book Pick of the Week - Harry the Dirty Dog

I chose a book about cats for my last 

Picture Book Pick of the Week.

My dog was feeling slighted by this choice, so this week I decided to feature a cute book about his kind --

in particular, a book about a dog that likes to get dirty.  

A dog quite like my pet, Sammy.  
He especially loves to roll in anything stinky!  Sigh.   

The title of todays' book choice is 

Harry the Dirty Dog by Gene Zion.

I'm linking this post to Deanna Jump's
Let's Talk Books linky party.  
You may want to pop by there for more book ideas later! 

But on to the story!
Now Harry was a dog that didn't like to have baths.
So much so, that on bath day he'd hide his scrub brush by burying it in the yard!

One day he decided to leave his home to go have an adventure.
He went to all kinds of places.
And he got dirtier.. 

and dirtier...

...until he was no longer a white dog with black spots.
  Now he was a black dog with white spots!

Harry began to miss his family, but when he returned home, he was so dirty that no one knew who he was!

In a panic, Harry tried all kinds of tricks to get his family to recognize him.  
But nothing worked!

So Harry came up with a plan.
He dug up his scrub brush and ran upstairs with it.

The children saw that the "stray dog" wanted a bath.

So they obliged.  And guess what happened?

When Harry got out of the bath, his family recognized him!
Now Harry was happy to be all clean!

But he still hid his scrub brush under his pillow!

I read Harry the Dirty Dog when we were doing a pet unit (and of course showed the children a picture of my dirty dog at the same time!)

This book could also be great combined with a little lesson on hand washing and germs, a unit on health, or just for no reason at all! 
 Books about pets are always fun to read!

Since we're on the topic of dogs, I couldn't resist sharing the poster below ( originally posted by Q107 Toronto).  

I definitely see myself in this progression!

Does this sound familiar to anyone? :)

Ever Lost the Attention of Your Class?

No matter what age of student you teach, there will be times when the attention of your class goes sideways.   

In my preschool class, all of a sudden, everyone might start talking at once excited to share a story about their weekend.

Or maybe one student will copy the sound of a sneeze in a book I'm reading and then all of their compadres will follow suit.  

Or maybe it's time to go outside, but no one wants to sit quietly to wait for his turn to line up.  

Yep. It's all part of teaching.  And some years, with some classes, there's more issues than with others!

One strategy we use to regain quiet in the midst of circle time is to sing...

"It's my turn to talk and it's your turn to listen."

OR

"Put your finger on your lips on your lips.  Shh.   Shh."

Another surprisingly effective strategy in our classroom is to simply say loudly,

 "Oh dear!  Oh dear!"

For some reason that usually grabs the students attention pretty quickly!

I saw more ideas for grabbing attention in 
a FREE printout provided by 
the Clever Classroom below.

But before you check it out, I'd love to have you post a comment for how you grab attention in your classroom.  

The more options we teachers have the better!   

After, click {here} or on the image below if you'd like to access your free copy of  Class Attention Grabbers on TPT.
It includes some great ideas!

Mr. Pusskins - Picture Book Pick of the Week + Freebie

Do you love cats?

I know I do.  

Even though they tend to be moody and grouchy and very much "in charge" of the household. 

Or maybe that's just my cat?

Well, I do know of another fictional cat that's just like mine--   And he is featured in this week's 

 Picture Book Pick of the Week.

This week's choice is

  Mr. Pusskins by Sam Lloyd.

This book is funny and sweet with a pace just perfect for the Preschool and Kindergarten crowd.

In the story, Mr. Pusskins is treated like a little king by his owner Emily, but Mr. Pusskins appreciates nothing.

(Just get a load of his expression below!)

  Mr. Pusskins wants something better for himself and he thinks he can find it out in the big, wide world. 

He runs away to a life in the streets and finds a raucous gang of alley cats to "hang" with.

They have lots of fun.  For a while.  

Then Mr. Pusskins realizes that the alley cats

 aren't really his friends.  

They aren't kind and sweet like Emily.

  And Mr. Pusskins starts to feel cold and alone.

Mr. Pusskins misses his old life.  And Emily. 

So he finds a way to contact her.

The two get reunited!

The story ends with Mr. Pusskins having a major attitude improvement!

He appreciates his fine home and loving owner, and  

he becomes a happy and sweet cat.

At least most of the time.

I love the funny images in this book 

(especially those of Mr. Pusskins' grouchy face!)

 and I like the book's underlying message of learning to appreciate what you have.

It was a hit with my group and I can confidently recommend it for yours!

If you'd like to combine this book with a writing activity or a unit you may be doing on Pets, you may want to download this FREE worksheet.

Just click {here} to pick up your copy!

If you know someone else who might like this post, please pass it on to a friend!

I'm linking this book to Deanna Jump's 
Let's Talk About Books Series. 
Join up for more ideas!

Playin' Outdoors - Backyard or Playground Game Idea

When the weather's nice and you have kids to keep busy, the best place to send them is

OUTDOORS.

The outdoor game I'd like to share today is called 

Target Ball!

All you need is:

• fence or wall
• sidewalk chalk
• bucket with water
• balls (tennis balls work great)
• hula hoop (or other marker for where to stand)

Draw your target on the fence and indicate the points earned for hitting each circle.

We kept to small numbers to make adding the points easy.

Players stand in the hoop and throw wet balls at the target.

If you like, you can have the kids (or you) record the points for each throw.

We found that most of our throws were landing in the 

two pointer circle! 

Older kids might like to switch off until each player has taken 10 turns.  
Then they can add up the points they recorded to see who won the round. 

We played our first round by seeing who could hit the

 5 pointer target first.
Score!

If you'd like to see other ideas for summer outdoor games, link up with
No Time for Flashcard's post {here}!