Why I. love. teachers.

 

I've had the privilege of volunteering in my childrens' classrooms once a week since they started school and I've gotten to know many of the teachers and staff at their schools.  I've also gotten to know other parents at the schools as well as other children.  In doing so, I've been able to see some things that go on in the "background" - not only from teachers, but from parents.  I have my own reasons of why I like public school (and don't like it), why some of my own teachers were wonderful (or terrible...or terrifying) and my own personal style of teaching that I prefer.  I've gotten to see other styles...some I wouldn't (or couldn't) do because it doesn't fit my personality and some that I've learned from and try to mimic.  I've also gotten to see other parents' reactions to different styles. From all these different experiences, I can say with all my heart -

  I love teachers.

Why?  Here's a basic rundown...and remember, this is just my humble opinion - from the eyes of a parent and educator.  Obviously, there are some crummy teachers out there...I'm not saying they're all fantastic by any means...but from my experience as a student, teacher and now a parent, teachers are, as a whole, awesome.

1.  No matter how mad and irrational a parent is (and I've seen some doozies), I've never seen a teacher "match" their anger.  I have heard outrageous claims, silly issues and needy adults...and I've seen them responded to with patience and understanding.  One of the reasons I quit teaching in public schools was because of the parents.  I have always said I have endless patience with kids...but not with adults that act like kids ;)  Thank you for your patience.

2.  Working around arbitrary rules.  The amount of testing my kids have had to go through in just their short time in school (K - 2nd grade) is well...for the lack of a better word...stupid.  It takes away teaching time, it's frustrating to the children and it's time consuming for the teachers.  Half of the tests are useless to the teachers not to mention the parents.  Half of them change year to year and they have to learn how to give another one; but yet they still continue to teach...despite demands put on them from people who aren't in the classrooms and who are asking them to sacrifice what it is they are there to do.  Thank you.

1 Corinthians 15:58  “Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”

3.  Parent-teacher conferences.  Okay, so these ARE necessary...obviously :)  However, how many jobs are there out there where the employee has to report to parents of their clients? :)  They have to tell us how it's going with our child, they have to hear our concerns and of course, our complaints.  We suggest how they can do their job better, strategies on how to teach our child and how our child is never the one that is doing something wrong.  Thank you for putting up with us!

James 3:1-2  “Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.  We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check.”

4.  Parent contact.  Back in the day, there was no email and you couldn't call a teacher directly.  So basically, unless a parent made an effort to write a note to a child's teacher, call the office and leave a message or make an appointment at the school - teachers were free from the harassment of parents :)  Ahhh, the good old days ;)  Now, we can get the teachers attention almost immediately with email, some parents befriend their child's teacher on facebook and of course there are notes home everyday. With all the new apps out, we can get the attention of our child's teacher immediately.  We all know how badly the internet is misused and how freely some people feel to express themselves via the internet...and email.  Now, the instant a parent gets mad, they can email the teacher...I can only imagine some of the terrible emails some teachers have received.  I shudder.  Thanks for responding to your hundreds of emails from concerned parents :)

5.  Grades.  I'm not talking about the students' grades.  I'm talking about the schools' grades.  Anyone can look up any school and see what "grade" they have.  This is good...but also terrible.   The school my children first attended had an A for almost 15 years.  It's not that way anymore...but I was there enough that I can say with conviction that I feel that school is an A school.  Not because of the administration, not because of testing, not because of afterschool extracurricular events, but because of the teachers.  Because I got emails from them at 6:30 in the morning and 4 in the evening, because I saw the creativity they put into helping my children learn, because I saw the concern on their faces when things didn't work out for a child and because I heard the admiration in my own children's voices when they talked about them.  Thank you for the love and time you put in to each of our children.

Matthew 5:19  “Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”

6.  Money. Or, I guess I should say...the "lack of" money :-/  People go in to teaching for one of two reasons - they genuinely love children and want to educate them, or, they feel like it is an "easy" profession where they can get two months off (these are the ones that last only a few years ;)  I wish they could get paid more so they could actually GET to take those two months off...most teachers I have known had some kind of part time gig during the summer to help supplement their income (and many had another job while they were teacher).  That is dedication.  Thanks for sacrificing many "Extras" in life to teach our children.

7.  Danger and extra responsibility.  Unfortunately, in this day and age, we have to worry constantly about the safety of our children...in school.  Fire drills and tornado drills were a piece of cake compared to all the different drills they have now.  And lock downs aren't just a drill...they happen...and the teachers take care of the children as their own.  Thank you for keeping our children safe.

As Teacher Appreciation Week approaches us, take the time to write a little note, send a little gift and say a little prayer for all the teachers in your life.  Make sure they know how much you appreciate all they do for your children and you!  

In Christ,
Laurie

SENSORY BIN IDEAS WITHOUT FOOD

A friend of mine went on a mission trip where she did a VBS with the local children.  One of the activities she did was making maracas out of plates and dried beans.  The activity went well and the children had fun making them; but after the activity she saw the mothers come in and start picking up the dried beans off the floor and tables...not to help clean up, but to put them in their pockets so they could cook them later.  She realized what she had done and felt bad - she could've used little rocks or any number of things that can be found laying around.  

After hearing this story, after living in Peru for two years, after meeting many families here and in third world countries that are in great need, after having a child with a food allergy (click on link), after developing food intolerances myself (link) and after having a niece with PWS (want to know what PWS  is? click the link!)...I realized that food is a necessity - not a luxury.  It's not something to be wasted or used randomly...whether in the classroom or at home. We need to be sensitive to those students that are in our class that may not have enough to eat or have different eating habits/allergies...but instead we're sending them home with a dried noodle picture of a dog.  Not cool. 

 So, for the past two years as a prek teacher I promised myself that I would not use food for any craft OR in my sensory table (where tons of rice and noodles are wasted by schools).  It was difficult at times because most sites you go to that have ideas include food in the majority of their sensory bins.  However, I have here 16 sensory bins that go with different themes I have taught the past few years...and 

none include food :) 

I will say, I kind of cheated on one because I used baking soda...not sure if that counts - but I included it anyway :)  Hopefully you can find some substitutes for your next sensory bin...and donate that food you would've used to a local food bank :)

The 16 listed below are bins that were "special'...I also used sand once or twice just for fun, and water a few times with measuring utensils.  I also used playdoh quite a bit because the children LOVED playdoh :)  But here are some ideas that are NOT just your regular sensory bins...

1.  Sea Animals - I did two sensory bins with this unit.  I found some cute fishing poles and fish at the dollar store so we did that one week... 

2.  And then we made "buoyant buddies" - an activity I found years ago at familyfun.com...which no longer exists.  I thought you might like the printable though so I scanned in my printouts and put them on my teacherspayteachers site (which you can join for free) and you can download the printables for free!  They're pretty cute - just need foam, scissors, permanent markers for the faces and embellishments, hot glue gun  and a cork for each child.  Each child made one at the beginning of the week and we used them in our water sensory bin the rest of the week.  

3.  We talked a lot about water this year - where we find it, what we use it for, etc.  So, for one week we had a "beach" in our sensory bin!  You can see on the left how I set it up - I have a pool set that had floats and pool chairs, and I have a Diego scuba diver - they came in handy for the beach :)  It was a little more work because I had to set it back up every day...as you can see on the right, after making waves and playing in the water, the sand and water eventually became "one" :)  But the kids loved it!!

   

4.  Another animal themed bin I made was "painting with animals".  I did it with zoo animals but you could use any kind.  Just line the bin with paper, put a few blobs of paint on the paper, and have the children walk the animals around!  so simple and so fun!!  Honestly, the finished project looked so cool we hung it up for a long time :)

5.  We also learned about opposites - like hot/cold - and we learned about animals that live in cold habitats.  So, I made a "cold" bin.  They were all dying to play there...but most of them only played for about 5 minutes..."It's COLD Ms. Laurie!!".  lol  I used penguins, a HUGE block of ice, white rocks for little pieces of ice, polar bears, tongs, a shark and of course Diego and his boat to save the animals!

6.  One last animal bin I did was about Habitats.  I saw this idea on pinterest and tweeked it a bit to suit my class and what they were learning.  I had three habitats - desert (sand and camels), water (alligators, frogs and a hippo I had laying around :) and the forest/jungle (with elephants, giraffes and a lion I found).  

 

7.  Ok, I lied.  There were a few more animal bins I did :)  I did different ones each year so I have quite a variety!  We did a FARM bin using a small barn I had and that stuff from the dollar tree that looks like hay :)  You can see it in the picture.  

8.  Lastly, and, one of my favorites was a play-doh zoo!  I saw this idea on pinterest and went with it!  I made 2 batches of play-doh (it takes a lot!) and gave them TONS of popsicle sticks and they made some wonderful zoos!! (and what a great fine motor activity! shhhh.... :)

9.  For Easter, I made an "I spy" Easter bin.  I LOVE hiding stuff and making them look for it :)  And they like doing it!  You know all those little squinky balls you have laying around that you don't know what to do with?!  Well, use them for miniature Easter eggs and hide them :)  The kids picked them up with the tongs and then had to put them in a bucket - you could color coordinate if you have the materials.  I also hid a few other little "springy" type items in the Easter grass - like frogs, rabbits, etc.

  

10.  SNOW!!  Such as easy activity and they absolutely loved it.  Mix baking soda and conditioner to your liking (I had to mess around with it to get the right consistency) then dump it in your bin!  I added spoons, buckets, and little beads to make the snowman's nose, eyes and buttons (I didn't have any kids that put stuff in their mouths...otherwise I wouldn't have put those out)

  

  

11.  Mixing Colors is one of my favorites and one that the children asked for repeatedly.  So fun, so easy and they learn a lot!  I have some great plastic "beakers" that have a little stand.  I've seen them in magazines and online, but I got these in a cooking chemistry set.  I used medicine dispensers (first I had to show them how to use them...but they caught on quick) and put one in each bowl of my 3 primary colors - red, yellow and blue. They mixed the colors in the tubes to see what colors they could make, then dumped them in the bucket I had beside it (the yoplait yogurt container :).  

  

12.  SAND.  I did use sand a few times.  One was to create a desert habitat and I put some cacti and camels in it, another was to bury dinosaur "fossils" that I printed out from Curious George on pbskids.  It's a dino skeleton - they had to find the pieces and put it together!  I laminated the pieces and had velcro on the back so all they had to do was stick the pieces on the velcro...  

  

13.  DIRT - planting and harvesting.  So, I actually learned a little from doing this activity. We were studying plants and the "harvest" around Thanksgiving and I looked up online what plants (besides potatoes and carrots which I knew :) grew underground.  Once I found a variety (peanuts, radishes, potatoes and carrots) I "planted" them in the dirt (left picture).  The children harvested the food - I had the top of the bin on the floor and that's where they sorted their veggies - then they had to re-plant them for the next person.  I stuck part of the plant up out of the soil, but the children liked to hide them :)

      

14.  Gak, Slime and Goo!!  We made a variety of creepy substances over the last couple of years - and after making it together (or separately at the table), we put it all in the sensory bin so we could all enjoy it :)  I let them stick toys in it too (check out the "gooey" princesses.  lol).   

15.  Christmas I spy! This was fun.  I took a trip to the Dollar store and bought lots of little Christmas trinkets - the only specification was, they had to have a double.  I taped one of each onto the top of my bin (and put a little Christmas ribbon around it to keep it festive :) and they had to find the matching one hidden in the Christmas colored "hay" from the Dollar store.

       

16.  A good fine motor activity I put in the bin was pre-drilled wood, screws and screwdrivers.  The children couldn't wait to take their turn with this :)  All they really did was screw the screws into the wood...but they loved working with the tools!

So there ya go - at least a year's worth of sensory table activities and no food was wasted!!  Have fun! :)