Using Holiday Celebrations to Promote Multiculturalism in Early Childhood Settings

Be sure to check out my latest post on our new collective blog, PreK and K Sharing, "Using Holiday Celebrations to Promote Multiculturalism in Early Childhood Settings"! We've got a great group of early childhood professionals offering a variety of ideas, tips, suggestions and insights on all aspects of early childhood development. Come on over!

Once Upon A Time In Pre-K

 

We just completed our fairy tale unit this week. We studied a variety of fairy tales and fractured fairy tales and learned quite a lot about the story structure of fairy tales.


By far, our two favorite stories are "The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs by A. Wolf" by Jon Scieszka and "The Three Little Wolves and the Big, Bad Pig" by Eugene Trivizas. The kids asked every day to hear them again.

I love to introduce the "Paper Bag Princess" by Robert Munsch. It is such a wonderful story and has an underlying message about the strength and empowerment of women. I dress as Princess Elizabeth to share the story.

After reading a variety of stories and discussing the story elements, we decided to write our own fairy tale using what we'd learned. Here's the finished tale:

 A Frog and The Princess: A Story of Friendship

  Once upon a time, a beautiful princess lived in a castle far away. The princess was named Ariel. One day, a frog came to visit the castle. The frog and the princess were special friends. Princess Ariel made the frog a promise. The king told Ariel to keep her promise to the frog. Cinderella came to visit in the wagon with a  bunch of stuff like: a pumpkin, a bookbag, and a napkin. They had a big party. The frog ate cake. All the friends lived happily ever after in the castle.

The End

I found these fun little fairy tale shapes that expand in the water. I get these often (other brands) and the kids usually have a lot of fun predicting how big they will get and playing with them once they have swelled.

This particular type was a bust and turned to thin paper-like mush in the water within a few minutes. There was no discernible shape.

Our culminating activity was a storybook parade. We dressed as our favorite storybook characters and paraded around the school.

....And we all lived in Pre-K, happily ever after! 

Sharing the Love

This week,  our little blogger community has been all a-buzz with the Edublog Award Nominations. It's really great that we have the opportunity to recognize those that inspire early childhood educators to bring the very best ideas, activities, and pedagogy into the classroom each day. It was inevitable that with only a select number of categories that I would not be able to nominate some of the bloggers I felt really deserved recognition. My nominees are: Click here for the full nomination post.


I was wonderfully surprised to be nominated for 2 categories in the 2011 Edublog Awards, or the "2011 Eddies" this year. I consider myself a fairly novice blogger and never really saw this coming! I am humbled and honored beyond measure especially since the nominations come from blogging educators that I highly respect and admire!


Karen, over at PreKinders, nominated me for the "Best Individual Blog" category. Thank you, Karen! 

Laura, over at The Seeds Network, nominated me for the "Best Teacher Blog". Thank you, Laura! 

As if that were not enough to make my week, I got the Sunshine Award from Vanessa, over at Pre-K Pages! This was a wonderful  surprise for two reasons: one, because it came from someone I truly consider the ultimate in sharing early childhood teacher ideas online (Can you believe it? She said I brought cyber-sunshine into her life????? Wowers! :) and two, because this gives me an opportunity to share with and thank some of the other bloggers that inspire me on a daily basis. 


The Rules:
1. Thank the person who gave the award and write a blog post. 
         Thank you, Vanessa! I am honored and humbled to have you share this with me.  I've been a fan forever (far longer than I've been in the blogging community)!


2. Answer the following questions:
       Favorite Color: lime green, hot pink and cobalt blue

       Favorite Animal: dog, currently Max, our "Jackaranian"   

      
       Favorite drink: Southern Sweet Ice Tea 

        Facebook or Twitter?: Facebook!

         
         Favorite flower: Sunflower

         Favorite number: 8!

         Favorite day: Saturday!

3. Pass the award on to 10-12 fabulous bloggers, link to their blogs, and let them know they've been nominated.


I am listing a few more than the number suggested, because each of these are blogs I really felt worthy of recognition for all they share. If you haven't visited any of these, I HIGHLY Recommend heading on over and hitting your "Follow" button! These are the blogs that bring sunshine into MY life:


Child Central Station          How Long Is This Hall?      

                                       


 Casa Maria                       Learning For Life      

      
 

 Flights of Whimsy          Learning Is Child's Play  
                                      

Child Art Retrospective    Males in Early Childhood 

                             








Preschool Daze                  Getting Messy With Ms. Jessi

I'm a teacher, get me OUTSIDE here!   



     
Rainbows Within Reach                hands on: as we grow

                                           



Centers 'n Circles                       

  Let The Children Play

Childhood 101

Quirky Mama

Thank you for bringing sunshine my way!

2011 Edublogs Award Nominations

It's nomination time for the annual Edublog Awards! There are so many wonderful education blogs I follow, that it was really tough to narrow some of the categories down to just one name. In several categories, I would have liked to acknowledge more than one blog or blogger. I am blessed to have found wonderful online communities that promote sharing ideas and fellowship with other early childhood bloggers around the world. Thank you to all who share in the early childhood blogging community--because of you I am more reflective and continually inspired! 


Words (or mere nominations) cannot express my gratitude for all that these bloggers share. My nominations for 2011 are:


Best Individual Blog and Best Individual Tweeter: Deborah Stewart at Teach Preschool. I could nominate Deborah for almost every category in these awards. Her sharing and support to everyone in the online preschool community is, in a word, phenomenal!

Best Group Blog: Irresistible Ideas For Play Based Learning. Sherry and Donna over at Irresistible Ideas share ideas from play based preschools from all over Australia. Their ideas are always innovative, inviting and irresistible!

Best New Blog: Kreative Resources. Leeanne has only been blogging for a couple of months, but has managed to already share a wealth of information and ideas.

Best Ed Tech/ Resource Sharing Blog: Teaching Heart. Teaching Heart shares a variety of ideas and lovely printables for games, activities and teacher resources.

Most Influential Blog Post: Brick by Brick: Teachers and Kids at the Art Table. Scott has an amazing way of reminding me to slow down, listen and learn from my kids. This post in particular, is one of several he has written that prompted me to be a more reflective practitioner.

Best Teacher Blog: PreKinders. PreKinders shares ideas, printables and games. Definitely one of my "go to sites" when I need ideas for a particular theme or unit of study.

Best Free Webtool: The SEEDS Network Idea Search. The SEEDS Network has a wonderful search tool that helps you find ideas. Ideas and activities are presented in a printable format that also denotes the age ranges, supply list and activity description. 

Lifetime Achievement: Vanessa Levin of PreK Pages. Without a doubt. Long before I was a blogger (or ever dreamed I'd be one), I was a surfer. I surfed the web for ideas to implement in my teaching. PreK Pages was one of my "go to" sites for all things preschool.  Back in my "surfing" days, I would have never thought I'd have the opportunity to "meet" such an esteemed colleague, but through the online preschool community, I've found Vanessa to be even more of a resource that I could have ever imagined. Vanessa shares in various online communities and is supportive of other bloggers and educators. She is tirelessly and enthusiastically presents Best Practices to the preschool community. 

I'd like to personally thank the bloggers listed above for his or her contribution to the online preschool community. Each of these bloggers are fabulous and I encourage to to vote for them when the nominations are tallied and the voting begins.


I'd also like to thank all the wonderful bloggers who are not listed. I just couldn't list you all. Whether you realize it or not, I value your input and expertise. I feel I'm a far better teacher having met and shared with you all.