Spotlight Saturday: Sensory Tub

It's the first Saturday in September down south which means FOOTBALL season  has officially started!! I love college football and am looking forward to sitting in my pj's watching it all day:) 

Saturday also means it's time for Spotlight Saturday with my blogging bestie over at Kindergarten Dragons!

This weekend I am going to spotlight the Sensory tub!

 

This is the first year that I have used a sensory tub with my kinders! I know I am behind the times ha! I have struggled the last few years with trying to balance developmentally appropriate kindergarten and the rigorous standards that we have to teach our kinders in order for them to be successful as firsties. I have always taught through thematic units and worked very hard to make learning fun and engaging. I still felt that I was missing something! I was missing play! This past summer I did a lot of research, blog stalking and Pinterest stalking to find new ways to incorporate play into my classroom and keep the learning going! We all know that kinders learn best through play so why not bring it back. I am very fortunate that my school system as a whole and my administrators are realizing that our children need this! Ok off my soap box and back to the spotlight ha!!

 My kinders absolutely LOVE the sensory tub center! I am so thrilled I decided to jump on this band wagon and wish now I had incorporated this into my classroom much earlier! This center has quickly become a class favorite. They will even ask if they can go to this center during our social/play centers in the afternoon!

I have been leary of putting food in my tub because of critters ha! I plan on using rice soon though!The first few weeks I put colored pom poms in the tub. They had to find the letters and match them to the letter on the cards. 

The next week we were learning about Pete the cat so they had to find the letter cards and then trace the matching letter. 

I found the leap frog letter magnets at the thrift store for $2.00! It had the upper and lower case letters!! So I added the magnets to the sensory tub and used a sharpie to write the letters on a cookie sheet I got at the dollar tree and the kiddos matched the letters. 

My little friends said this was the best center ever ha!

I wanted to change out the filler for this upcoming week so I found these colorful paper shreds at my local Dollar Tree. I spent $10. I also found these foam letter puzzles and thought they would be perfect! So I put the letters in the tub and the kiddos will match them to the puzzles. 

I would strongly encourage you to incorporate a sensory tub in your classroom. It is a super fun and engaging center for your kiddos and Pinterest in loaded with ideas!! It is not super expensive to get started either. go for it your kiddos will thank you! I would eventually like to have a sensory table and am looking into ordering one or having one built for my classroom. 

Now I am off to watch some football and will leave you with a little Bama humor:) Roll Tide!

Head over to Kindergarten Dragons to link up and join in on the fun!

Saturday Spotlight 8-8-15

I am a little late to this party! I started back to school last week and trying to find the rhythm for everything is a struggle ha! I love this link up hosted by the fabulous Erin from Kindergarten Dragons and I didn't want to miss it!!!

This week I would like to spotlight Cara Carroll from the First Grade Parade! 

I purchased some of her products during the back to school TPT sale!! I absolutely LOVE the alphabet and number anchor charts that I got!! They are perfect for introducing or review letters and numbers. I will start teaching the vowels this week and can not wait to use these!!

There is a lower case and upper case anchor chart for each letter of the alphabet!

The number set is excellent as well!! It will be great to use these after our daily number talks. These anchor charts will be a great tool to build number sense! 

I am so happy with these purchases and have wish listed several other things in her store! You can click on the links below to check her out!

Find her on TPT!

Check out her blog!

Find her on IG

Thanks so much for stopping by to read about my spotlight Saturday/Sunday ha!! Head over to Kindergarten Dragons to link up and join in on the fun!

Spotlight Saturday 7-25-15

Can it really be Saturday again? I love this Saturday link up! It is a great way to spotlight a teacher and or activity that has been successful in your classroom. This link up can also be used to spotlight something that you are going to use in your classroom. This week I am going to spotlight Pockets of Preschool!

I am SUPER excited to use her green and red choice pack! Teaching little ones about smart choices can be challenging and giving them some visuals is always useful!! I love the pictures that Jackie included in this pack! You can click on the cover to head to her TPT store and grab this pack!

I love the variety of pictures for the green and red choices included!

This book comes in a color and black and white!

I know that this activities in this pack will help my kiddos understand the difference between those red and green choices. You should definitely check out this pack! 

Jackie has a great blog post on this pack on her blog! Click on her button to head over and read about it.

Thanks for stopping by and reading about my spotlight Saturday! Head over to Kindergarten Dragons to link up and join in on the fun!

Spotlight Saturday 7-11-15

Is anyone else's summer flying by at lightening speed? Can it really be Saturday again?!?!?!?!?!? Well since it is Saturday it is time for one of my favorite link ups with Erin from Kindergarten Dragon. Spotlight Saturday is a fun linky that lets us do a little show and tell about some of our favorite teachers and products!

This week I am going to spotlight Alisha from The Bubbly Blonde Teacher! I love her stuff on TPT and her blog!

I recently purchased her subway quotes! She has them with a white background like the ones I purchased and also with a black background! I love having inspirational quotes in my classroom.  I know that most of my kinders can't read them but I use these sayings in my classroom all the time. It is also nice when the days been long and CRAZY to look over and read some inspiration to face the rest of the day! Alisha's quotes are beautiful and the perfect colors for my classroom! This is where I hung mine. I printed them and hung them in these black frames I got for $1 at the Dollar Tree. 

Here are a few close up pics of a few of my favorite quotes from this pack!

You can find them in her TPT store here:

Head over to her blog to check her out!

Thanks for stopping by to read about my spotlight Saturday! Head over to Kindergarten Dragons to read about other spotlighted teachers and link up to join in on the fun!

Saturday Spotlight-Create a Pal-clipart set

It's Saturday so that means it's time for Spotlight Saturday!I decided to make this post my Spotlight Saturday!! I couldn't think of anyone I would rather spotlight than Lauren!!!

I absolutely love my personal pal that the FABULOUSLY talented Lauren from Polka Dots and Pals created. Isn't she the cutest thing you have ever seen?!?!?!? I couldn't love her more! She's perfect:)

So when Lauren sent me an email and ask me to try out her new create a pal set that she is going to release on July 3rd how could I resist! It is such a great set! It is loaded with over 400 items yes 400!!! You can choose from a huge variety of hair styles, clothing and accessories! You can even create a girl or boy pal!! Lauren has literally thought of everything!! These are a few of the pals I created using this amazing set! Your pal can change clothes anytime you want her too! Get a hair cut so can your pal!!!

                                     

They were so easy to create! She included a step by step guide to create a pal. I am in love with this set! Go grab your set!! Click on the picture to head to her TPT store to snag this fabulous set!!!!!

Head over and check out her blog!!

Head over to her TPT and see her other products!!