www.JustGiant.com has some fabulous free samples and additional resources for alot of subjects with more coming soon.

Well, it is March 2010 and finally an update. It has been busy – and I have made some changes. I have opened a small store inside of the Treasure Shoppe (in Colorado Springs) – so if you live around here – Stop by. The Treasure Shoppe is a Really Great Store – I think there is around 140 independent vendors in just the one shop. Everything is available – vintage, modern, antique, unique – and of course – curriculum (mine).

I have also created several download memberships for the curriculum at www.JustGiant.com – Great Prices -

I will update more when I have a bit more time – Time to pick up the children from school.

*

I hope everyone enjoys the new free PDF book! 

*

Until next time,

Narcissa

 *

Next I just added the new Babysitting Activity Kit to Peanut Butter Crunch.  Check it out – I am really excited about it.  It is a set of games and sheets for the babysitting business (great for the teenager just starting out – or the established childcare provider).  I will write more about it later this week. 

*

And…. If you are a subscriber to the update letter – you just received the new Crocodile Hop game in your email.  If not – click here to get your copy –http://resource4preschool.com/CrunchyCountryNewsletters/crocodilehop      

Hope you enjoy it (and your kids). 

*

Have a Great Day, 

Narcissa

*

 There are a lot of sources for info – forums, paid programs, etc….. but I did not find any thing unique like this kit I am about to put on PBC.  This kit will be great for any baby sitter / daycare provider that is not focusing strictly on the preschool to kindergarten level child.

* 

The kit will be very compact …. And more importantly – it has one-of-a-kind activities.  I know that there are plenty of card and board games out there – but not everyone has room for 25 boxes of puzzles and board games nor wants to tote around the huge boxes.  I designed the games to fit onto file folders or in page protectors.  Card games are included – but are unique to this set and are in printable PDF.  If a piece is lost – simply print off a new one – not replace the entire set.

*

 I sent out a sample copy of a preschool game (Teddy Bear Land) a few weeks back to the update letter subscribers.  This game was one of the earliest activities created for the kit.  I have since added a mini ‘old fashion’ games book, Critter Grid Drawing Book (my son that draws a lot loves this book), Lotto Match Games, Spell-A-Word Card Game, Puzzling Cards Game, Barn Yard Friends (FF game), Fun at the Fair (FF game), To the Top (FF), Ship to Shore (FF), Rainbow Station (FF), Leapin’ Lily Pads (FF), Mini Movers (FF), Where Does Your Garden Grow? (FF), Speed Challenge (FF), Color Bingo, 5 in a Row, Some coloring pages, Paper Dolls, Kid Collage Puzzle Pieces, Mini Dough Cards, Create-A-Puzzle, Beginning Letter Domino Game, Lady Bug – Lady Bug game, Let’s Go Fishing (2 versions), Puzzling Blocks, Spinner making printables, Dice / Block designing printables, basic accounting sheets, a popular songs book, crafty recipes book and forms (these include business cards, flyers, daytime scheduling sheet, family info sheets, etc…..).  I will probably add a few more items to the kit before I am finished – but as you can tell – it contains a lot already.

*

 The kit will be available to the PBC subscribers for a period of 4 – 6 weeks and then it will be ‘gone’.  I have something very special in mind for it after that – and I will let you know as soon as I have everything in place.

*

 Anyway – just a quick update to let you know what I have been up to lately.  

Have a Great Week – Narcissa

Have a Great Evening,

*

Look around your home or classroom; do you see a favored toy of your student(s)?  Does it contain the focused letter of the week?  If not, choose an object that will meet this need.  Create a display or activity center using this item as the focal point.  Create individual letter cards to spell out the item / word and add numbers onto a corner of each card to indicate the ordinal pattern of the letters.  This activity will reinforce any numeric work you are focused on as well.  Add to this center a small picture or toy that represents the beginning sound of each of the letters of the larger, display object.  If the exposure to additional letters / sounds becomes too overwhelming for the student(s) then concentrate on the ‘letter of the week’ only. If focusing on the ‘letter of the week’ is the primary goal then add a variety of picture cards with the letter located in various positions – example:  For the letter B, a toy bus may be the focus object; use picture cards of a boy, tub, ball, cab, bubble, baby, etc…… be sure to add the spelling onto each picture card.  Many other items can be added to the center / display as well. 

*

Creating the display can incorporate some of these additional suggestions or they can stand alone as alphabet / sound activities.

*

1)   Textured Letters:  Trace a letter (different fonts are fun too) with glue (add sand or salt if wanted) and let dry.  These are wonderful tactile experiences for the young student.

2)   Name Scramblers:  Using a student’s name – create individualized letter cards – mix them and challenge the student or fellow students to reorganize the letters to recreate the name.  This can be done with more advanced students too – challenge the class to come up with as many words as possible from rearranging the ‘scrambled’ word.

3)   Letter Memory Game:  Using the focus letter of the week – create cards with different font styles (use upper and / or lower case) of the letter; make 2 copies (laminate for durability); cut out; mix the cards; and lay out individually face down; Play as any traditional lotto style game.

4)   Play Dough Mats:  Create large letters (laminate) and have the students roll out dough snakes and place over the letter lines to create the focus letter.  A variation of this activity would be to use cookie dough – repeat the activity; then bake the shape for eating during snack time.

5)   Class Room Labels:  Place labels around the room depicting the objects; Have the students roam the room and count how many of the focused letter they can spy.  Change the labels from day to day to create a new, yet fun, educational routine.

*

  These are only a few of the activities that can be incorporated easily into the day.  As parents, day care providers and educators we need to provide the key to the door that leads to reading success.  Only your imagination will further their success and make the journey on this adventure won

 *

If you are just beginning with the introduction of the alphabet and it is possible to tour your neighborhood on foot, take a Letter Treasure Hunt.  Pencil and pad for the teacher and searching eyes for the students are all that is needed for this adventure.  Walk the area looking for signs that contain your letter and jot down what is found.  Do not restrict the search to just written forms, look at nature for natural occurring forms of your letter.  The clouds, grass blades and even the branches of the trees can naturally produce some forms of letters. 

* 

Do you have old magazines, newspapers and books available? (If not you can always print off various pieces from the Internet for this activity)  If so you can keep the Letter Treasure Hunt indoors on those chilly mornings.  Give each student a letter (upper and lower case) or assign the entire group a single letter, which ever is the most appropriate for your classroom.  Scissors in hand, the students will then spend focused time on the letter assigned, snipping and pasting their found treasure onto a blank piece of paper.  You can make this a game – who can find the most? Or you could create a wall decoration using the assorted letter filled pages.If each group or student was assigned various letters (example – a word of the week was the name James – each group or student could focus on only one letter of the word), once the pages are dry, cut out a larger form of the letter and post the entire word onto the bulletin board.  This activity is incredibly easy to do and reinforces letter recognition and spelling at the same time.  Not to mention the additional bonus of some motor skills work.   

* 

Another form of the Treasure Hunt concept is the classroom styled search.  Prior to the students arriving, place numerous copies in various fonts around the room.  Be creative when locating the letters, hide them in the construction center and science center too, not just taped to the wall.  The letters can be made with textured papers, various construction paper colors, salt dough and even scraps of fabric, do not limit yourself with just the standard magnetic and / or plastic letters that can be purchased at super centers or the dollar stores.  

* 

Set aside a discussion time for the Treasure Hunt.  It does not matter which style of the search that has been incorporated into the day… Discuss it.  Have the children reminisce about the clouds that looked like the W or where they found the letter N.  Was the letter N located at the bottom of the sand bucket? Or hanging from the ceiling … or both?  Did the students locate more than ten or less than five – bonus: basic addition and subtraction intro.  Do the students like the new room decorations that they helped create?  The discussion time is an important part of the day when the students know that their little voices can be heard. For the teacher, it is important as a time of reinforcing the lessons of the day.  

* 

Teaching the alphabet can be a fun part of any day. With just a little imagination and some creativity accommodations can be made for every student.

Also I see that you are going more towards the K/1st grade stuff so will you continue to add NEW PreK stuff?
Also are you available to send in ideas and request to? Sorry for sooo many questions but money is TIGHT so even at less than $30 its still a big chunk for me.

Answer:  I am thrilled that the free stuff is such a huge hit (over at www.freeabcschool.com)  The membership is $27 for the first month -If you want to continue the membership – it is only $9 a month.  The directions for continuing it is pretty simple – click on the yellow box and access your personal account area for Peanut Butter Crunch  – there is a box that gives offers for additional memberships – The payment of the $9 is via www.Paypal.com. You control everything – since the payment is via your personal account (which I do not have access to at Paypal).  Access your Paypal account (it is free to set up a PayPal account – and easy – I am not affiliated with Paypal but prefer their service) if you ever want to cancel – just go there and put in the order. 

*

Next – I am adding new K-1 Transitions – but I will continue to add preschool items too.  If you notice I also have PECS style (PEWE) items also.  Because of my experiences – I know that many of the ‘areas’ can and do overlap.  Example – many children do not have an opportunity to attend preschool, so when beginning kindergarten, they may not have ever had ‘graphing’ opportunities or word recognition of the colors exposure.  A Kindergarten teacher is expected to bring all ‘typical’ students to the same level of learning – no matter – the children’s beginning term skills.  Adding this new section will add to the students exposure.  One can only reteach number recognition to 10 or 20 so many times ….. at some point counting by 2’s, 5’s and 10’s need to be introduced.  You – as the teacher – can meet those needs economically via PBC.

*

I would also love to hear your requests – I do try to accommodate when possible.  Example – I have created some mini interactive bulletin boards in the past and intend on resuming some of the creations because of past requests.  These bulletin boards will begin to appear (if all goes well) in the next year.    Please let me know what you would like to see in the membership – I love hearing others suggestions and am open to new concepts and ideas.  As my mother put it – (she has worked with many areas of education and is retired now – still volunteers though!) – Everybody can learn, we just have to figure out how to teach it.  This is not an exact quote but I do believe in its meaning. 

*

The big question here for me is ‘what is your background?’  As the people that know me personally could tell you – I tend to be very private – but I think it is important to answer this question ….. with some detail.  So here it goes…… I have worked and volunteered in the early childhood level fields.  I have worked in the preschool – home and center based – environments.  I have studied in the fields as well.  At this moment I am going to skip to  ‘what I do now’ – I create the curriculum with my family being my number one priority.  WARNING – Very personal info coming up …….. I could only have one child biologically …. So when the opportunity arrived my husband and I were very blessed to be able to adopt.  We fostered in the beginning – and it was heart breaking for me to see my children leave – even when the moments were suppose to be happy ones for reunification with their bios.  When the situation was determined by the courts that reunification was not in the best interest of the child – we were given the chance to adopt (Thank Goodness!!!!)  I am a very lucky person – I have 6 beautiful children now.  This was many years ago ….. because when our youngest arrived – we knew within the first 2 years that he was very ‘special’……. Since then my knowledge has expanded far beyond the basic early childhood level education requirements. 

*

I know first hand about working with the diversities of autism (PDD) and the possible adversities that come along with having to learn to live with Asperger’s or very low functioning autism.  I know about ADHD / ADD.  My knowledge has expanded with research and personal experiences to include Seizure disorders, Tourette’s, Oppositional Defiance, Fetal Alcohol Effect / Syndrome, OCD, Reactive Attachment Disorder, hallucinations….. the list can go on …. And some of the diagnoses still do not exist.  

*

I hope that this gives you some incite to my background – as I said earlier – I am open to suggestions.  I believe that every person can learn – we just need to find the way.

*

Back to the membership – when I began – it was with the intent of ‘what would I use if I opened  a preschool based center’ – and I wanted it to be affordable and to meet requirements …. And be FUN. 

*

I advocate a play to learn environment …. But with the pressures placed upon our young children and teachers / parents – the environment must include certain educational aspects that a regular daycare may not have.  It would not surprise me to see a mandate passed within the next decade - that all children must attend preschool.  Preschool has become the ‘new’ kindergarten.  Whether we approve as parents or educators – this is the way things have evolved.  I know that many of the higher leveled educators find themselves restricted by the thought ‘teach to test’.  I do understand the premise was to make sure the teacher did their job and the student gained knowledge.  Unfortunately this has become the focus of higher education and possibly detrimental to the gaining of knowledge for the student. 

*

Each individual learns differently …. I know that I am a hands on, read it over and show me again kind of person ….. What are you?  Do you learn exactly as I do?…. Of course not!  So inside of PBC you will find that I will be adding my Funtastic Phonetics program (I was originally going to offer this as a second membership option – but with the economy – we all need a break somewhere and you need the most ‘bang for the buck’!)  beginning at the end of May  to the beginning of June.  I will also begin adding PEWE books based on sight word recognition.  I am a known advocate of teaching phonetics – and not pushing the ‘sight’ word based education.  Sight words are picked up while learning through the Funtastic Phonetics program.  Big Wake Up for me …. My youngest son may never be able to use phonetics …. He may only be able to learn via sight / memorization.  So ….. I am open to ‘what ever it takes’ to make our students successful!  Therefore – you will find many resources inside of PBC that advocate different styles / techniques.  It is not because of being a ‘contradictory’ kind of person – but realizing that as parents, daycare providers and educators we must meet the needs of every student.

*

Finally – to answer the very last portion of the questions – at the moment I create the curriculum / resources – offer some tangible samples on Ebay  and place my family first.  If on a given day I planned on working on the computer for a particular project and I get a call from the school that one of my sons had a seizure or one of my other children needs something – that will always come first.   

*

I do love what I do on www.Resource4Preshool.com – creating is my way of giving back to society.  So if I can help you – then I am thrilled because this is what I do / am. If this did not answer your questions thoroughly enough – please do not hesitate to ask – I will always do my best to answer more completely.