G is for Grace

I have thought about doing this craft with the girl I nanny for for months now. I kept pushing it back because I didn't think she could do it. She is 17 months now and I thought for sure she would be more interested in the pom-poms instead of the craft itself but I was wrong. I cut out a letter "G" and put it on the table. I put three dots of glue on the paper and opened the bag of pom-poms. She immediately grabbed a pom-pom, put it on the glue and said, "Push!" I didn't even tell her what to do... I think I nanny for a genius! Seriously, I was amazed. Once she put all three pom-poms on she reached in the bag for more and said, "More, more, more!" I said, "More glue?" She showed me her pom-poms and said, "More gue!" 

So simple and yet so freaking cute don't you think?!

Leaf Craft

HAPPY FALL Y'ALL!!

G and I did this leaf craft back in September. It turned out so cute! 

Directions:
1. Cut paper into small squares
2. Put glue on paper
3. Put squares on paper
4. Find a leaf template online
5. Use template to cut project out

Echolation

Back in October we were reading tons of books about Halloween. One day we specifically focused on Bats. We read Stellaluna, made upside-down hanging bats and watched this YouTube video called, Echolation. We also had Mrs. R stand in the middle of the room and a student hide somewhere. The student and Mrs. R would "beep" at each other and eventually Mrs. R found her. The kids loved that and they really seemed to enjoy learning all about bats! 

Since I was in such a batty place, I wanted to introduce the 16 month old I nanny for to bats too. She enjoyed my singing of the Echolation song and the cute bat song below:

Flutter, flutter little bat,
How I wonder where you're at.  

Swooping through the darkest night, 
You find your way without a light.

Flutter, flutter little bat, 
How I wonder where you're at!

Thankful for You!

I always share the devotions I write to my team. Although I do not serve this weekend I wanted to send out an e-mail to my team wishing them a Happy Thanksgiving! Here is the e-mail I sent out a few minutes ago:

Hi Team!

I was reading Jesus Calling this afternoon and wanted to share today’s devotion with you.

Let thankfulness rule in your heart. As you thank Me for blessings in your life, a marvelous thing happens. It is as if scales fall off your eyes, enabling you to see more and more of My glorious riches. With your eyes thus opened, you can help yourself to whatever you need from My treasure house. Each time you receive one of My golden gifts, let your thankfulness sing out praises to My Name. “Hallelujahs” are the language of heaven, and they can become the language of your heart.

A life of praise and thankfulness becomes a life filled with miracles. Instead of trying to be in control, you focus on Me and what I am doing. This is the power of praise: centering your entire being in Me. This is how I created you to live, for I made you in My own image. Enjoy abundant life by overflowing with praise and thankfulness.

Colossians 3:15 “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.”

Psalm 100:4-5 “Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations."

I wanted to take a moment to thank you for all that you do for the kiddos and families in our church! I am so thankful to serve alongside each one of you. Happy Thanksgiving and blessings to you and your families!

Gratefully,

Elizabeth Mary

How to Make A Turkey

On Wednesday November 20th, we read the book, "This is the Turkey" by Abby Levine. After reading the book we talked about the steps it takes to make a Turkey. Students were given the paper below and drew the different steps of making a Turkey. On Thursday we had parents come in and dictate their pictures turning it into a story. On Friday we typed the dictations and cut out the pictures turning this fun activity into a class book.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Date a Girl Who Teaches

I read a blog post called, "Don't Date a Girl Who Teaches." It had some really great points. I would have to say my favorite was, "She will bring home every strain of every airborne disease within a 25-mile radius. Hope your immune system's perfect." 

This blog post was written in reply to this blog post. Date a Girl Who Teaches was just as cute. I nodded my way through the entire article. As a future teacher who has over 300 children's lit books I especially enjoyed reading, "Date a girl who teaches children. Date a girl who enjoys more in a bookstore for school supplies and children’s books rather than in make-up store. She has problems with storage space because she has too many trinkets and storybooks to keep. Date a girl who has a list of stories that she wants to have and read, who has a collection of Aklat Adarna, Leo Lionni and Eric Carle’s books." I also really enjoyed this bullet point, "A girl who teaches won’t require much of your time. She will hardly see you on weeknights because she prefers to finish her lesson plans and worksheets and catch up sleep. Unless she had a really bad and long day, she will randomly ask you to have dinner or coffee with her. But if you insist, she will try her best and make it to the last full show of Inception even on a freakin’ Wednesday night just to be with you. (Please cooperate and pretend with her that she enjoyed the movie by not asking details of the show anymore.)" 

If you are a teacher or you are a future educator take ten minutes and read both of these blog posts. You won't regret it.

Owning Cats

Found this great article called, "Owning Cats Can Inflict Permanent Damage To Mental Health But Nobody Bothered To Warn Us. You can read the article here. I am clearly a cat lady because I related to this article 100%. I also have an Instagram for my cat. Yeah, I am that girl. In all seriousness though if you have an Instagram look him up. His username is @mister_biebs.

This was one of my favorite pictures from the article with the caption, "We're more annoyed than scared when there's a loud noise at 3am in the morning." Biebs does this all the time!!