Treasure Boxes

I'm gonna come right out and say it... treasure boxes are LOVED! I love them, other teachers love them, and most importantly, my class loves them. I created them at first way back when as an option for children who were growing out of naps. They have come a long way since then.

The children over the past three years have loved them so much, that I have started to incorporate them into our day to day. They are a great option for in-between times, transitions and free time, as well as some nice structures partner play and individual play. I love to search dollar spots and sale sections for some new exciting things to add, only following the parameters that they have to fit in the boxes. (Around back-to-school time, you can get these boxes at Walmart for 57cents!!)

Here are the "regular" boxes that we have now!

 I drew a town map and put in cars that I got from the dollar store.

 I found a few sets of magnetic letters at Walmart for pretty cheap. The kids love to put them together and try to sound out the crazy words they create.

I wrote shape names and numbers on colored popsicle sticks. The kids have to try to put the shapes together. They use the drawn pictures to help out if they get stuck.

 They love this squishy, gooey and creepy crawlies.

 These flashcards are a favorite.

 I actually found this bunny game at Stop and Shop last year for $2. Can't beat it!

 Legos are always a beloved classic. I even find myself playing with them sometimes. 

 How cute!

 A very fun hodge-podge!

Good old fashioned playing cards. Don't underestimate simple stuff like this. The kids love to sort them, look at the numbers and letters on them.

I found these little puzzles at the dollar store. They came in a pack of 4 and have different numbers of pieces. anything with animals is always a hit with my kids.

These three connector sets I found in the Dollar Spot of Target.

In addition to the above treasure boxes, this year, I created some "small group" boxes. The toys I put in these I think lend themselves better to a small group of children.

 This cute little finger puppet set came from IKEA!

$Spot at Target!

 These cool guys came from Pottery Barn Kids! They were a bit more pricey than I would usually spend, but with all the superhero mania, I knew my class would really like them.

How about some feeling balloons? I filled them with sand, flour, corn, and sprinkles. Yay Texture!

Do you use treasure boxes in your classroom? Leave me a comment and let me know!

Welcome to the School Year! Building a Classroom Community

The theme for the first week of school was "Building a Classroom Community". I wanted to really get to know my class and let them get used to the room and to our daily routine, so we focused on becoming friends and some fun activities.

This week we read: Llama Llama Misses Mama by Anne Dewdney
                                        Splat the Cat by Rob Scotton
                                        Miss Nelson is Missing by Harry Allard
                                        A Book of Friends by Dave Ross

Our question of the week was "What was your favorite thing about the summer?"

For our song this week we sang "The Wheels on the Bus". It was fun to let the children pick what parts of the song to sing each time.

The activities that we did this week really helped us to become a tight classroom community! Everyday we went over class rules that the children helped make. We sat in a group and I asked the children what they thought some rules to keep us safe and happy in the classroom might be. I fit in my own too! We also took tours of the classroom so that the children get used to where the centers are.

We played "Just Like Me" to help get everyone comfortable with each other. I start by modeling with a few statements, i.e, I like vanilla ice cream. If a child also like vanilla ice cream, they stand up and yell, "just like me!" After I model a few statements like that, each child has a chance to be the leader. It's so cool to see them thinking about what they want to say!

The kids drew "first day of school" pictures. These are fantastic to throw in their portfolios! I have mostly blank piece of paper that on the bottom says, "I drew this on the first day of school!" and the children can draw anything that they want. It's an easy project for them to complete, and it also lets me see how the kids draw, and how they hold the crayons.

To help get the children playing with each other we used puzzles and treasure boxes to partner play with. They get to take turns choosing what they play with and work/play with new friends. To learn more about my treasure boxes and other ways they can be used, check out this post from last year!

We walked on our school's nature trail in the woods. All of the new children to the school LOVED it! Since our school is so connected to the outdoors and we are always looking at and talking about the seasonal changes that we see, I started us off by asking the children to look for different color flowers as we walked down. They were so excited when they saw purple, white, pink and yellow.

At morning meeting one morning we played body drumming, another game that helps the children become comfortable leading the group. I model 3 or 4 different motions, like patting the knees, clapping, snapping, and stomping while the group follows the change of the motions. Then any child that would like a turn (I do not force children to do something like this if they really don't want to) leading the group.

The children made paper plate snakes. Such an easy and fun activity. Either the teacher or the child draws a spiral on the plate, and then they color it however they choose. When they are finished coloring, they cut along the spiral that they drew, and voila! A snake!

I traced the children's hands and they colored them in. Again, a simple project to help the children get used to coming to the table to do projects and following directions.

We played "I Have, Who Has" with colors. We played a few times because the kids loved it. I have these games on hand that I made simply out of index cards. I have a shape and alphabet version as well.

The children made lions out of paper plates. They drew faces and the manes, and then growled for me!

We also played Simon Says.

We had a great first week of school, how was yours? Leave a comment below and let me know that you stopped by!

Keeping Naptime a Quiet Time

This post was inspired by a newspaper clipping that I saw hanging in our school's parent library.

As any preschool teacher would agree, nap or rest time in the classroom is 1-2 hours of desperately needed quiet in the classroom. Not only is it so beneficial for young children to have that time to relax and decompress, it is also a wonderful time for the teacher to lesson plan, organize the classroom, or simply take a quiet and deep breath.

Some of my kids don't always sleep the whole time, or even at all, so I've had to be creative in keeping the room quiet so that the others can rest.

The kids bring books and stuffed animals from our class library to their little cots with them, so they have that to keep them occupied for a little bit of time. I've also developed these "treasure boxes" that the kids just go wild for when I put them out. I've used pencil boxes and an assortment of different toys and materials that have become like little games. I'm always changing the boxes, but here is what I have now just for some ideas.

  This puzzle is a little tough for them, so it keeps them pretty busy when they try to make it.

 I drew a town map and put in cars that I got from the dollar store.

 I found a few sets of magnetic letters at Walmart for pretty cheap. The kids love to put them together and try to sound out the crazy words they create.

 I wrote shape names and numbers on colored popsicle sticks. The kids have to try to put the shapes together. They use the drawn pictures to help out if they get stuck.

 They love this squishy, gooey and creepy crawlies.

 These flashcards are a favorite.

 I actually found this bunny game at Stop and Shop last year for $2. Can't beat it!

 Legos are always a beloved classic. I even find myself playing with them sometimes. 

 These were actually left in the class as a center toy, but that didn't really make sense to me, so I made is a treasure box.

 I found this lego-esque garden set in the clearance section of Walmart.

Good old fashioned playing cards. Don't underestimate simple stuff like this. The kids love to sort them, look at the numbers and letters on them.

I found these little puzzles at the dollar store. They came in a pack of 4 and have different numbers of pieces. anything with animals is always a hit with my kids.

If you have any ideas that you use in your classroom during nap time, please share them in the comments. I am always open to new ideas!

These treasure boxes are also great for partner and small group play! The children can take turns to choose which box they want to play with, and it is a mostly quiet and contained toy, which is great. They are also super easy to switch out and add new things too.