Singing Time

I'm definitely not a big singer - those who know me well probably have never heard me really singing. I don't enjoy it nor do I want to embarrass myself in front of people to ever do it.

But for preschool singing time is kinda a big thing.

[I'm hoping I can find a cd or hook my ipod up to have the songs already ready to go so the kiddos don't have to hear me sing] - but I still want to give them their singing time and be able to make some choices.

The old classroom I worked in had all the songs in clipart and every kid would get to choose a song during circle time at the beginning of the day. I really liked that idea but wanted to find my own pictures so I googled a bunch of clip art and organized them into a sheet for each song. I'll print that out on cardstock and heavy laminate it because I'm sure they'll get a lot of use.

I have about 37 ish songs right now that I will want to rotate out to get a good mix.

I also didn't want to forget the lyrics at any point - so I made little lyric cards that will also go on cardstock, then I'll hole punch the corner and put them on a binder ring. Ideally I'd like to number the cards and then have a number hidden on the back of pieces they choose. That way I can find it quickly if needed. But I also coordinated and put the clipart behind the lyrics so that its easily recognizable. 

Hopefully this will make singing time more fun and let all the kids get a say in what we should sing for the day.

If you'd like copies of the songs I've made so far:
Here is the file for the songs to choose from
and
Here is the file for the lyrics cards

Where is the class?

In the past I've made a couple "Where is the class" signs so that when we aren't in the classroom people can find us. I decided to really go all out on this one and make it patterned and very customized.

The individual cards can be swapped out so only one is displayed at a time. I plan on attaching the "Where is Miss Brylie's Class" to a sheet of cardstock - laminating it and having velcro at the bottom to put the strip of where we're going to be at the bottom. Each of the cards will also be laminated.

The fun thing is the words are separate from the patterns so I could print the patterns on colored paper and then have the words on white to stand out a little more. The patterns can be mixed and matched and the color of the words can be changed as well!

Most of the patterns have a light version and a dark version to choose from in the files below.

The room: ______ one is so that I can fill in a room number if needed that I don't have a paper for already... since it will be laminated already I'll probably use a wet erase marker on it. These are ones I made up for the classroom I'm currently a paraprofessional in - then I have a few that will be more preschool friendly.

If you'd like to use these here are a few links:

Editable pieces all separated (.docx) [Use this if you would like to print out the words separate from the pattern pieces AND you want to customize the words- for example if you'd like the pattern pieces on colored paper but the word pieces on white paper] There are more patterns for you to choose from.


Pieces all separated (.pdf) [Use this if you would like to print out the words separate from the pattern pieces and just use the options already created - for example if you'd like the pattern pieces on colored paper but the word pieces on white paper]


Editable pieces together (.docx)  [Use this if you would like to print out the words and pattern pieces together, but you want to customize the words - for example if you'd like the pattern pieces and words already together after printing (but can create your own words/cards)]


Pieces together (.pdf)  [Use this if you would like to print out the words and pattern pieces together, and use the cards already created - for example if you'd like the pattern pieces and words already together after printing]

[NOTE: if using the .docx version - It may look a little crazy on the link - hopefully it will go back to normal once downloaded. I used the Smiley Monster font from: Kevin & Amanda's Free Scrapbook Fonts.]

If you use these, I'd love to see how they turned out for your classroom! :) Send me an email with some pictures - brylie.muhlestein [@] gmail [dot] com

Preschool - Get To Know You

As I'm preparing to hopefully be teaching preschool in the next year or so - I got excited and started to make different documents for my future classroom!

This one is a get to know you sheet I want to have the parents fill out. The parents will receive the first two pages and the third sheet will be for me and I'll include a picture I've taken of he child. I will store them all in a binder with parent contact logs to have quick information and be able to write down notes if I talk to a parent.

I've gone back and forth of what information I want to keep on the sheet and what else I might need to add - but this is what I've come with up after looking at many many different ones online.

If you'd like to use these sheets here is a link:

.pdf file - Not customizable


Is there other information you'd want to get from the parents and include on this sheet?

Let me know how you like them!

Teacher? Me?

Last week I was talking with a lady from the district about what I'm going to do when I graduate. I explained my situation of wanting to do early intervention but the company I want to work for is currently undergoing some changes. I've heard its a little crazy so I've just been hoping its all sorted out by December when I graduate.

The lady suggested that I just teach in one of the special education preschools. No longer be an aide. Actually teach. The more I thought about it the more excited I got. So I emailed some people to figure out what exactly I would need to do to be able to be a teacher since I don't have a teaching certificate.

The district can sponsor you while you're teaching and in a program at USU. You take online classes and have a coach until you complete the program.

This wasn't what I originally intended to do but I can't get the idea out of my head... it excites me to have my own classroom while still working with littles. I have already started to plan it even though the earliest I could start is January. Then I would have to be extremely lucky to have someone leaving in the middle of the school year and not having a more qualified and certified applicant against me.

Otherwise I'm looking at August in 2015. I just have to hope they have enough positions available with not enough certified teachers applying. I've emailed my list of references to them and explained all my experience and they'll keep me in mind but there is no guarantee.

The last few nights though I just can't sleep. I'm planning a classroom in my head instead.
What things would I want to implement? What do I want my room to look like? How the kids will line up and find their names... the list goes on and on!

So even though I'm a ways away from getting my own classroom, I've already started preparing a little. Today I started making "get to know your child" sheets. I also worked on daily trackers to send home. I also spoke with Maggie to ask her if she'll help train me on certain testing and writing IEPs if we have down time. She's agreed and I'm hoping it will give me some extra help when I finally do get my own classroom.

Here I come preschoolers - I'm heading your way! (Hopefully!)

4th of July

 

Daddy's Night Out

Long story short my dad is currently in rehab getting the help he needs to stop doing things he was unable to do on his own. He has always said he is an open book and has no problem letting the world know about what is going on with him.

Because of my recent trip to California and then doing some respite work the next weekend it had been a few weeks since I had been able to see my dad. I told him I would really like to come up and spend some time with him when he got his day pass. He called to set up when we would go and said he had a pass to the Hogle Zoo. I drove up Thursday after work to pick up him. Kacee, Mattie, & Tristan decided to join us and met us up there. Too bad we didn't look up when the zoo closes! The gates closed 15 minutes before we got there so we had to come up with a different plan. 

Birthday Trip!

 For my birthday this year Rob and I decided to take a little vacation. We've both been working like crazy and it was a much needed break. We both took off Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday from work but didn't have a real plan of what we would do.

Wednesday 

After sleeping in we realized it was time to decide what we were going to do for our days off. We thought about going to California but hadn't made any plans so we didn't know if it would be too late. We also considered going to stay up in Salt Lake to do different things each day (Lagoon, Park City, etc.). And our last option we considered was going down to Zion National Park/Saint George. 

Rob decided he really wanted to go hike Angels Landing so we booked a hotel in Hurricane and drove down that night. We got to the hotel and didn't know what to do with ourselves for the rest of the night. It was about 8:00 so too late to go into Zion's and hike but we didn't want to just sit in the hotel. Rob looked up movies and we decided to go see How To Train Your Dragon 2. The soonest time was a 3D showing so we decided to just go with it. Little did we know that we would be getting red and blue 3D glasses and that it was going to be the worst 3D movie we've ever seen. It was a cute little movie but having to see it in the pathetic 3D just made me thankful for what movie theaters we have in real life civilization!