Preschool, Life Skills and Autism

It is almost a new year ..... Happy New Year to all!  


I have been sitting here (with my youngest) pondering what the new year will have in store .....


I wish all of you the most happiness and success!


I do want to add my idea of success ..... are you happy?
If you can say 'in your heart' that the answer is 'yes' .... then you are 'Successful'!


How do I know this?  I know because I can look at my youngest son and appreciate how easy a lot of the people in the world has it.


Have you taken those little things for granted?  Probably .... but when you realize how much energy and effort it takes for some people to be able to walk, pick up a fork .... you know.... those everyday little things that are part of typical development for most individuals .... and know that it was not so easy for some .....


I know I am rambling .... and I will elaborate more over the next month or so .... but do know that if you have people that care for you and you care for them ..... then you are successful!


I hope you feel as blessed as I do ...... Love to All and a very Happy 2012 New Year!

Lacing Cards ..... Huge Variety of Activities and a Coupon Code - Huge Savings

Have you seen the lacing cards .....

These cards are so easy to make and can be used for more than just lacing.  Make several sets of these cards and have the children use them for making words .... practice spelling lessons or making rhyming words.  The cards were also created using a color pattern - red, yellow, blue and green.  Have the students sort into color sets.  I am certain this is not the only activities that these letters can be utilized for .... let your imagination run wild ---- okay ---- use a little control.


The set is over at http://www.Resource4Preschool.com


The Lacing set is listed for $4.97 .... but if you use the coupon code ABCLACE  - you will will get it for only $1.24 .... I think that is around a 75% savings on the set.

File Folder Games - Pumpkin - Really adorable - Free Sample

If you have not found this adorable pumpkin file folder game - see the video and get the link at my youtube channel -
http://www.youtube.com/ThinkingOfOurFuture 


At the moment I have a lot of videos up to showcase some of the curriculum I have designed over the years .... but I do plan on adding some more 'original' pieces that I hope you will enjoy.


I hope you find the file folder game useful.

Transitional Activities for the preschool or kindergarten class - Free sample

Are you working with kindergarten or advanced preschool level children?  This is actually great for the non-traditional environments too!  This is a basic version of a 250+ page book.  


The free sample includes 40 activities on half page printable sheets (pdf).


I am going to add the introduction -


Hands-on and teacher directed activities that are perfect to begin each day in the classroom or home school environment are included in this PDF based book.  The activities are designed to be solved in 5 minutes or less.  A few activities may require a little more time depending on the student's skill level.  The sheets are also excellent transitions activities.


Warm-ups include work in counting, shapes, colors, writing, measuring, tracing, logical reasoning, patterning, stats, money, time and more.


Each page contains 2 activities .......


You get the idea .... right?


I created this set a while back and it is appropriate for any student at that focused grade level. It is an excellent resource that fits with most teaching plans - (hands-on or monitored guided work) - this is a great set ..... especially if your students are distracted easily or have ADD (ADHD) - not a lot of time required to do these simple half sheets.  The book contains so many subjects that are meant to be thought provoking exercises.


The sample book is free at www.FreeABCSchool.com -


Included in the sampler - trace the number sheets;  circle the set sheets; color the correct amount sheets; fill in the missing number sheets; write in the entire week's dates; tracing shapes; continue the pattern shape sets; write simple sight word based sentences; trace the sight words; create 3 letter rhyming words by adding a letter sheets; same and different sheets; complete the tracing pattern; graphing; repeating patterns on an empty grid (fine motor work); draw matching sets; measuring; more, less and equal; copying (mimicking); completing tables; telling time; basic word problems (math); counting money and word search puzzles.


This is everything in the free sampler ..... I hope that you find it useful.  


Suggestion for your classroom ..... make a copy of this book (bind it) and send it home with assignments for homework.  It is also great to send home for the summer as an educational book to help the students maintain some of their learned skills.


Have fun with it .... and tell a friend or co-worker about this blog .... or www.FreeABCSchool.com .... I would really appreciate the 'word of mouth' help.

Are you a Teacher?

Are you a teacher?
Of course you are!
Every person in this world is a teacher ... whether officially educated as one .... or by simple example and direction.
Our children - whether son - daughter - niece - nephew - student or neighbor - look to the adults to guide and protect no matter your position.
Always remember this ..... you are the example to our future generation of leaders.

Easy Punch for a bowl or fountain

This is random, but my daughter said I should share this incredibly easy recipe that we used over the holidays to make punch for our new plastic punch fountain.  With teenagers (and others) this was a huge hit.  We made several variations and all went well.  


The fountains held approximately 1.25 gallons of liquid each and the main issue was that we could not really use anything with carbonation and nothing that would foam (like sherbet).  My youngest really wanted tropical punch kool-aid in one ..... so ..... The first recipe was really tasty.  


One gallon mixed tropical punch kool-aid and add 1 container of straight frozen-concentrate lemonade.  I allowed the fountain to mix them and added water to the 'max' line on the fountain bowl.  Not too sour - but tangy.


Next one, did the same with Tang (needed the Vitamin C - lol) but added apple juice to the 'max' line.  This went over very well.


The punch went over so well that my youngest wanted more the next day.  I mixed tropical fruit kool-aid (same as above) - but used 100% grape juice concentrate and adjusted water - this too was very tasty.


Hope you like these very simple (and colorful) fruit punches.

Your Family and Mine

I want to establish what I think a family really is .... It is a group of people that care about one another and only wants the best for those in the group.
Who is in your family?
Example:  I can honestly say that I have a dear friend that I consider a sister and a sister that I consider a dear friend - and yes I am speaking of 2 completely different people.
I hope that everyone in this world can have relationships that not only offer love and support ..... but stimulating conversations .... and an understanding and acceptance of not all things identical in nature.

Where Do I Begin.......

This is the first true blog that I will be doing ..... and I am definitely stepping outside of my personal little box. There will be more than just curriculum for preschool and kindergarten discussed on here - so .... I hope you decide to become part of my online family (because family really is where it all begins).