What can I do fun tonight?

With Silly Putty's birthday today, Dr. Seuss's Birthday today, Porky Pig's birthday today, and Elmer Fudd's birthday today, I think I can come up with something.

After School: A little Seuss music, maybe some cartoons of Elmer and Porky, and making Silly Putty. (recipe below)

Dinner Prep: While I am making dinner, they can play with the Silly Putty we made, Seuss coloring pages, and watch the Sneeches movie, or cat and the hat movie.

Dinner: Of course! Green Eggs and Ham!

Bed Time Reading Time: Of Course! Dr. Seuss!

What a fun little night we can have!

Silly Putty:
1/2 Cup Elmer's Glue
1/2 Cup Liquid Starch
Food Coloring

Slowly Combine the starch with the glue and knead the mass with your fingers. The longer you work with it the better the silly putty gets. Add food coloring to get desired coloring.

Go to this website if you want Dr. Seuss Printables, like this one, http://k2printables.com/seuss.htm

Ripped Art!

My son brought this picture that he had done from school. When I got my degree, I had to do a whole picture using ripped paper. It turned out really cool. I thought this little picture turned out so well, and it would be really easy to do. I am not big on everyone making the same picture, so I would probably have different shaped trunks, and green leaves as well. I like that not one could be the same, because it depends on where you glue. So try this at home, preschool, nursery, or where ever.

Beginning of School!

So most of us have finished with the first day of school. Did you survive it? I noticed a few things that I thought I would share. I am sure you have had the same observations, and if you have different ones, please feel free to add them in the comment section.

1. Mom having to wake up early and make sure they look o.k., are fed, hair is done, is hard. I didn't realize how lazy I have been in the Summer.

2. I really should have done better getting my kids to bed earlier, in prep for school.

3. The kids at home without their siblings are adjusting to not having them around.

4. The kids are extra tired, hungry, anxious- when coming home from school.

5. This one was the most important observation: My daughter who has ADHD and OCD couldn't focus, was extremely naughty and Hyper- about 1 hour after school. I think it took all she had to get through the whole day of school being good. Because of this I had to give her an emergency pill of riddlin to get her through the night. Even with it, it was a very hard night. So today I am doing it different. First a snack will be on the table. Then a manditory play outside for a little while. Then a manditory quiet time in her room. After that we will try and get her to clean her room, play with the family, and do homework.

6. I honored my seventh grader by giving her a piece of cheesecake and a special note when she first got home from school. Then the next day she didn't have to go to school, so I took her out to lunch. I think I will be doing this with all my seventh graders. It was very fun!

7. I was so surprised how different each school year/ teacher really is. We started bad and ended bad last year, and this year we have started with amazing teachers and having a great year. I guess this means I realized you don't have to switch schools or homeschool just because you had a bad year last year. Communicate with the principal and he will help you have a good year!

8. It costs way too much money to send kids to school. I am broke. How about you?

Anyway thats all. I hope you all got through the first couple of days of school.

My School Check!

1. Go through kids clothes and take out old, stained, holes, or too little clothes.
2. Move too little clothes to next kid.
3. Label with Sharpie on tag of clothes so I know whose it is (One dot is oldest, two dots second oldest, three dots third oldest, etc.) That way no one wears the wrong thing and it looks like floods.
4. Buy any new clothes and shoes needed to start school (label clothes)
5. Get children going to bed early and getting up early.
6. Buy any school supplies that you can ahead. Backpacks if you wait have a really bad selection.
7. If you have a child that has had problems in school, schedule a meeting with the new teacher BEFORE the school open house.
8. Write letter about child and give to teacher if your child had a hard year last year. Take with you to the meeting.
9. Organize cubby, drawers, room, etc. so they can start their school year out right.
10. Have a family meeting and talk about school and how the family is going to run.
11. If LDS have each child get a priesthood blessing for school.
12. Go to school Open House.
13. The day of school, take some post its and write little notes where your child will find them (lunch, backpack, mirror, carseat, etc.) This will help them feel loved during a stressful situation.
14. Always, Always, Always have a special gift or treat on child's bed when they get home from school. It really makes that child feel special.
15. And the biggest thing I learned last year was to not stay with a teacher if it is not a good fit. Change now, because you gut is probably telling you something. We stayed and suffered all year.

Hope school goes well for your child. If you have any additional ideas, please share in the comment section.

Teacher Gifts

We just had our teacher appreciation week, so I gave my teachers a gift- that counts for the end of the year as well. Then my cuz called me and wanted some ideas, so I decided to post them.

What I did this year was a banana split of a great year bag! In it had Marchino cherries, carmel topping, bananas, m&m's, and waffel bowls. The tag read thanks for making this year a Banana Split Great year! It cost 8 dollars per teacher, which I didn't think was bad at all. Because I had 5 teachers though, it seemed like a lot at the register.

Last year I played it more simple. I just did a package of Whoppers and said, Thanks for a Whopper Year in Third Grade! The teachers really liked this as well and it was really fast to do.

My cuz needed ideas for bus drivers. I gave her the idea of making a paper bus thank you card and stacking starbursts on top of each other and attach to the card.

Another idea I came up with is to buy a book for the library in your school and donate it in their name. That way it helps everyone!

I like gift cards, but if you have five teachers like me that gets really expensive.

My sister does the unique gift of being a sub one day for each of her kids teachers. Of course to do this, you would need to be certified.

And lastly if you need more ideas than this, go here and they have lots of fun ideas for a teacher gift. www.skiptomylou.org/2009/05/01/teacher-appreciation-gift-ideas/ Skip to my lou also has lots of other fun things to make on their website!