Art is amazing for kids in countless ways.  It allows them to be creative, express themselves emotionally, and develop in many other ways.  One of the great benefits of many art projects is that they can also help children in many academic ways - but don't tell them!  

This is one of the BEST stories for fall time and apple picking!  It's great to include a quick lesson about how apples grow and the important role of bees along with this story as fun little unit.  Feel free to add how other fruits and vegetables grow, too!

You may want to add props, puppets, etc....you will DEFINITELY want to get a RED apple.  Be sure to cut it in half along the midline to see the "star" where the seeds are (it is opposite of the way you usually cut it!.  (Picture at the end of the story.)
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Children never like it when they hear "no" over and over.  Well, did you ever think of simply trying to turn your "no" into something that sounds more like yes?

Not only will it create a more positive environment overall and teach children more positive language, but it will also gain you more cooperation since the kids will be hearing more of a "yes" than "no."

Here are 7 ways to get you started:

Ask any preschool or kindergarten teacher what you can do to help your child to succeed in school, and you might be surprised what you will hear.  It's not going to be academics or reading.  Any guesses?

Everyone likes a child who is kind to others.  But...how can you be sure to teach your kids these important qualities?

Simple activities like fingerpainting and playing with shaving cream have been popular with many young children for as long as most of us can remember.  Some people may feel like these activities are "just for fun" or to keep little ones busy.  

However, these types of sensory development activities are much more important than just keeping little ones out of trouble.  These tasks actually help little ones' brains develop in ways that can help with future academic success.  So, bring out those messy activities often!

Preschoolers love songs!  Not only do they love songs, but songs help them remember what you are trying to teach them.  In our classroom, we teach a few preschool Spanish topics throughout the year.  For each topic, we have a little song we sing.

Want to learn our theme song?  You Are My Sunshine is a time-honored song that children and adults can all enjoy!  We have developed these special hand movements and are excited to share them with others.  This is a great song for all young children to learn.  Enjoy!

​Follow this link to watch it on YouTube:
​https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bc3wpNrtTCw

Continuing on with our theme of kind children, I wanted to share with everyone a copy of our "Thanks Before Meals" poem.  I really believe that teaching children to wait for everyone to eat, and to pause to be thankful, is so wonderful and important.

By having kids participate in saying thanks before they begin eating, you can easily teach them some wonderful manners.  They need to be aware of everyone else around them before they can even begin the poem - it's wonderful!

This poem will easily work with anyone with any sort of background as you can choose who or what you are thanking!

We also do hand motions with it in class to really keep the little ones engaged.  For food, we do a pretend getting food off a plate with a fork and eating it motion.  The friends so sweet part is done by giving yourself a big hug.  To make a bird, we cross over our thumbs and wiggle our fingers like bird wings.  Finally, to represent love, we make a heart by putting our thumbs together and then curving our fingers around.

You can even choose one child who gets to start the thank you poem.  We always give this job to our Student of the Week.  Then, everyone says it together once that particular child begins it.  If you are doing this at home, you can easily rotate nights or weeks also.!

Raising polite children may be work, but it will be so worth it in the end!  Enjoy the print-ables for your own home or classroom in the links below.  Feel free to pass our little poem along, too!  xoxo