If you're not too great with faces, or if you're teaching kids who will be together for the first time, this is a great tool to help the kids recognize each other's faces. And even if they do know each other, this book is fun and a great play on Eric Carle's "Brown Bear".

You will need:
Binder Ring
Cardboard sheets
Decorating materials of your choice
Photos of each child
Labels and markers or a computer and printer
Single hole punch

First punch a hole in the same spot of each sheet of cardboard. Next, decorate the sheets with paint or other flat collage materials. I like a simple background for the photos, so I painted the sheets in primary colors. For the cover, because there's no photo and just text, I used colored tape to wrap around creating colored stripes. Next, print labels or write the title, and the text for each page. Finally, place each child's photo onto his/her page and insert the ring through the sheets with the cover at the top of the stack.

Happy reading!!!

Before I begin, I want to let you all know that while I actually won't be working in a preschool classroom this year (I'm going back to school to continue my higher education! yay!) I will do my best to post 4-5 times a week, so please feel free to email me with any questions or ideas you might have...

Ok- so every classroom need that great Tzedakah box for circle time every day. This repurposed Tzedakah box made from an old oatmeal container is one of my favorites, because it's large enough for kids to always see, and easy enough to hold with both hands. It also has the simple empty to refill process aka the cap just comes on and off...

What you'll need:
Oatmeal Container or similar cardboard/plastic cylindrical container
tissue paper squares
Mod Podge
Paintbrush
Razor

*I prefer actual mod podge as opposed to just mixing glue and water because nothing will give you that same glossy finish, or hold up quite as well, but glue and water is a pretty good substitute when necessary.

Use the paintbrush to coat the canister with mod podge. Quickly apply the tissue paper squares until the entire surface is covered. Add a second coat of mod podge and then set aside to dry. Now take the lid of the container and use the razor to cut a fairly generous slit for coins and folded bills to fit through. Coat this with Mod podge, then tissue paper squares, then more mod podge. Once dry, you may want to add more layers of tissue paper depending on how opaque you want the Tzedakah box to be. Once you're completely done, you may want to decorate it further using glitter glue to write Tzedakah, or glitter...

Have fun with it! And remember to give tzedakah! :)

So it's that time of year again. Back-to-School prep is here once again. Now, thankfully preschoolers don't need much in terms of supplies, but it is CRUCIAL that their stuff is labeled! And I mean everything. I can't even begin to count how many times the wrong change of clothes was in a child's cubby, or 2 kids proudly arrived at school with identical accessories.

And this is why I love Mabel's Labels! They make labels for everything, and the company stands behind their products. Below are some of the company's new or seasonally appropriate products!

Happy Labeling!