Primary Peach Launch Party Freebie: Quick and Easy End of the Year Gift Ideas For Support Staff

Today is the day ---I can finally let the cat out of the bag!!!! I am thrilled to be a part of a BRAND NEW collaborative teaching blog, written exclusively by GEORGIA teacher bloggers!!! This new blog will be packed with tips, tricks, ideas and treats from some of the very best Georgia teachers! Now, without further adieu, I present:



And the news gets even MORE exciting! Our very first post is a BLOG HOP filled with End of the School Year themed FREEBIES!!!! It's hard to believe the school year is almost over. We've got some great goodies to help make your year-end craziness go just little bit smoother----each contributor has created a special Freebie to sweeten our Launch Party!  

I'm Ayn Colsh, a contributing author on the Primary Peach, as the resident Ga. Pre-K teacher. I've been teaching 20+ years, mostly in Pre-K, and and a BIG proponent of play-based, hands-on learning, I've been involved with the Georgia Pre-K program for 9 years now, and I LOVE what I do! Where else can you go to work and dress up, play, have snack, get dirty and have fun every day? Teaching is the BEST profession!  I blog about my adventures as a Georgia Pre-K teacher here on my personal blog, little illuminations, and am also a monthly contributor on the collaborative blog, PreK+K Sharing. I am married with two beautiful daughters, Lyndsay, 24 and Bailey, 17. We share our home with two dogs, Max and Ella.

Be sure to check out the "ABOUT" page on Primary Peach to meet all of our contributors!

Now, for the sweet treat I promised you. There are always the folks that helped my own children in school, and have been essential to my life as a teacher that are often forgotten when the "Thank You" gifts are handed out at the end of the year. The custodians, office staff, bus drivers, Occupational, Physical and Speech Therapists---all those folks who really have a hand in making our days go smoother are often overlooked. Most often, it is just not easy to purchase gifts for everyone we'd like to thank. A few years ago, my daughter started taking in doughnuts for the custodians near the end of the year because she said especially in high school, no one ever thinks to say "thank you" for all they do. I made these cute little gift tags that can be attached to a box of donuts for them this year. You don't have to spend a lot to let someone know that they are appreciated. A kind gesture goes a LONG way! 

You can get my FREEBIE "I 'DONUT' know what I'd do without you!" gift tags here!

Now, for EVEN MORE to sweeten the deal, how would you like to win a TPT gift certificate? We are having a Rafflecopter Giveaway too!!!! One lucky person will win a $50 TPT certificate and 3 more lucky folks will each win a $25 TPT gift certificate!!! You've got to be in it to win it! 

Click here to enter the giveaway!

Ready to meet the next Primary Peach contributor? Click the link below and meet Jennifer from The Extra Energetic Educator. Be sure to keep clicking through to meet all of our fabulous bloggers and get the freebies on each blog!

Meet Jennifer from The Extra Energetic Educator!

The Wide Mouthed Frog

Spring is here!!! We are learning about a variety of life cycles in our Pre-K class and reading lots of great books about animals that come out in the Spring. One of the favorite units is our unit on Pond Life, which includes all the animals found around a pond, especially frogs!
This week, we are reading two versions of the same story about the Wide Mouthed Frog. Although the stories vary a little, essentially the story is about a frog that goes around telling smaller creatures that he has a big wide mouth and will eat them. Eventually, he comes across something bigger than himself and discovers he is the desired meal time snack! 

   ***This post contains affiliate links for your convenience. Little Illuminations is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program.***

The Big Wide Mouthed Frog by Ana Martin Larranaga is a favorite in our class! The kids love to help tell the story by chiming in with the repetitive portions of the text!

Wide Mouthed Frog by Keith Faulkner is one of my favorites, because it is set in the Okefenokee Swamp, which is located in Georgia and Florida, so it includes creatures my students are familiar with. The kids love it because it is a pop-up book, and what kid doesn't just love a pop-up book?

We made our own wide mouthed frogs, using construction paper and paper plates. 

If you have a favorite Wide Mouthed Frog story that you love, please share it in the comments!!

**This post contains Amazon Affiliate links.  little illuminations is a participant in the Amazon Srvices LLC Associates Program, an affliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. **

Polar Bear Ice Cream Cups

 

I saw the teachers making these fun little ice cream cups for the kids in the toddler room and I had to share them here with you! They took a plain vanilla ice cream cup, added banana slices for ears, chocolate chips (upside down) for eyes and I'm not sure about the nose but I think it is an upside down Hershey's Kiss. Too cute!!! We will definitely be making these with some of our Polar activities next year! Look for some other fun wintery snacks we've had lately to be posted here soon!

Thanks for stopping by! I love to read your comments! Share them in the comment section below this post! 

Man In The Moon: Children's Book Review

**I received a copy of this book to preview as a gift. After reading and enjoying, I agreed to write a review. The opinions expressed in this post are my own. I was not compensated financially in any way..** 


I have recently had the opportunity to read a gorgeous new children's book by author Kelly Young-Silverman, titled "Man In The Moon". "Man in the Moon" is about a little girl who sees the moon and wonders what it must be like up there. She talks to the moon, and although he doesn't reply, he smiles down sweetly at her. Told in rhyming form, it is a very sweet story about friendship! 

There is a special treat hidden on each page----a sweet little ladybug. The pictures are beautiful watercolor illustrations by the extremely talented Erin the Great. 

This is sure to become a favorite and is perfect for a bedtime story. I read it to my Pre-K class and they absolutely loved it and have asked to hear it again!

You can purchase a copy of "Man in the Moon" on the author's website : Evie and Knox Stories. Bonus: 5% of the book's proceeds go to help St. Jude's Children's Hospitals. 

Happy reading!