Preschool Powol Packets

It's Halloween!!  Yay!!   I'll share some of our Halloween traditions in just a moment.  But first, I have a short Halloween story for you!  It's inspired by Susanna Leonard Hill's Halloweensie Contest .  I'm joining her challenge for bloggers to write a 100-word (or less) Halloween story with the words "witch," "bat," and "trick-or-treat" in it.  I'm calling my story: Halloween Surprise!! by Carla Mae Jansen "Trick-or-treat," they rang the bell, "Trick-or-treat," they'd nicely yell. I filled their bags to the top Until something scary made me stop. Many things come knocking at my door, But I'd never, ever, seen this before: Two big eyes, floating high, A broom, a cape, and two wings to fly! When he lifted a candy bag with his broom, I saw a bat ...dressed in a witch costume!! I filled his bag and laughed inside. He said, "Thank-you," and smiled real wide.

I am so excited to be able to share this wonderful curriculum from Enchanted Homeschooling Mom!  Her Christmas Around the USA introduces and reviews the 50 states by sharing Christmas traditions and culture.  It is perfect for a winter homeschooling curriculum, a Christmas advent, a supplemental activity, or even a fun 50 states curriculum any time of the year! I'll share more about the Christmas Around the USA { and the giveaway! } in just a moment.  First, I want to tell you a little about Enchanted Homeschooling Mom.  Her blog has tons if ideas for homeschooling families and for parents who are just looking to enrich their child's education with fun activities.  Her members-only website has over 100 printables (with themes like The Berenstain Bears , Thanksgiving, Fall, and many more) and is frequently updated.  This Christmas Around the USA was just added!  She could easily package the Christmas Around the USA unit as a book and sell it for $15.00, but instead she

Grid games are a great way to reinforce numbers, counting, taking turns, and one-to-one correspondence (a skill important in both math and reading)!   This fun Halloween grid game lets children practice these skills on a festive personal board. It's great for small groups or individual fun! Visit my Teacher's Notebook shop here to download the file for free!  You do need to have a Teacher's Notebook account, but that is also free...and then you have access to hundreds of other free items too! To play the Ghost Grid Game, follow these easy instructions: 1.  Print a Ghost Grid Game (page 2) for each player.  Use cardstock for a longer-lasting game board. 2.  Gather dice and markers (markers can be torn paper, BINGO chips, or another copy of page 2). 3.  On your turn, do the following:  Roll the dice, count the dots, cover up the corresponding number of ghosts on your grid page with your markers.  Take turns if you have more than one player. 

October (or the Halloween month, as we call it!) is the perfect time of year to talk about "creepy" things like spiders and make some fun Glow in the Dark Spider Webs!  Scroll below the instructions for more information about spiders and spider webs. Simple Supplies:   * black paper * glow in the dark paint * tray or box  * marble * spider ring or other spider to play in her new web Easy How-To: 1.  Place the paper in the tray or box.  This project is wonderful for children 2-5, but some younger children may do better with a box that has tall sides so the marble doesn't jump away. 2.  Let your child choose a color of glow-in-the-dark paint and squirt a little puddle in the middle of the paper.  You could also help with this part! 3.  Let your child drop the marble in and roll/shake the tray or box around until he is happy with his spider web!  Some children may want to make more than one or try different colors.  

Ghost Pancakes Song (from Preschool Powol Packets) (to the tune of London Bridge): Ghost pancakes for Halloween, Halloween, Halloween, Ghost pancakes for Halloween, We love pancakes!! To make your own Ghost Pancakes, pour the batter in a long, ghosty shape.  Use marshmallows and blueberries for the eyes and powdered sugar or whipped cream for the mouth.  Serve with warm blueberries and powdered sugar!  Yummmm!  I may share at any of these parties !

I love the finger rhyme 5 Little Pumpkins!  Not only does it review ordinal numbers (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th), but it does so with a fun Halloween-y rhyme.  Using the finger puppets adds in a physical, motor skill, learning element too! Making the Little Pumpkin Felt Finger Puppets is fun and easy...my 5-year old daughter had a wonderful time helping! Simple Supplies: * green felt (one of the pre-cut pieces of felt will cut into 12 finger pieces) * orange felt * fabric scissors * hot glue gun and glue Easy How-to: 1. Cut out finger pieces from green felt.  Mine were about 2 1/2" x 2 3/4" rectangles.  They fit both my fingers and the kids' fingers just fine.  (My fingers are about sizes 5-6...if your fingers are much bigger, just make your rectangles longer so they fit easier.)  Also, cut out the stems from the green fabric. 2.  Cut out pumpkins from orange felt.  Make them between 1" and 1 1/2" wide. 3.

One of the requirements for Kindergarten students in Texas is that they can tell the contributions of Christopher Columbus.  So we, of course, celebrated Columbus Day today! We had a fabulous time making Columbus Puppets and telling the story of how he "discovered" the Americas.  And, to make it even better, I get to share those puppets with you!  Click here to download your {FREE} set of four puppets: a Columbus character, an indian character, a King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella piece, and a 3 Ships piece. Wait...you forgot today was Columbus Day?  That's okay...you can celebrate tomorrow.  Actually, Columbus didn't see the "New World" until October 12th, and that's still a few days away! Click here to get your set of {FREE} Columbus Day Printables! I'd love to hear from you if you like the puppets or if you're going to use them!  You can always leave comments here or stop by my Facebook page! A little more about Columbus (jus

This easy Halloween science experiment features pumpkins! Pumpkins are the perfect lab subject for preschoolers and other young children: they are festive, come in a variety of shapes and colors, look totally different on the inside and the outside, inspire curiosity, are easy to handle, vary in size, and are easy to obtain (at least in the Fall!).  They also provide many, many opportunities to investigate and do science projects! And if you don't celebrate Halloween, this is a fun fall-themed science experiment too! Your child can measure pumpkins' length and weight.  She can compare different colors and count the pumpkins you have available.  She can predict what the inside will look like or how many seeds she will find.  She can hypothesize about what materials will write, paint, or draw best on the pumpkin's surface.  And she can do this floating lab : Simple Supplies: ** small pumpkins (an assortment is fun) ** a large bowl or bucket with w

I put this Halloween Preschool Packet together for my Teachers Notebook store.  I hope you enjoy it too...check it out here !  16 Pages of fun Halloween learning for preschool and kindergarten! The 16 pages of activities includes the following: * B is for Bat (possible play dough mat, tracing board, or let toddlers glue pompoms to the letter) * Which One is Different? * What comes next?  (patterns: ABAB and AABAAB) * P is for Pumpkin (possible play dough mat, tracing board, or let toddlers glue pompoms to the letter) * Circle everything that starts with P. * How long is it?  (measuring) * Halloween Memory (2 pages) * Which ghost is the biggest? * Monster Journey  (tracing or cutting--pre-writing) * Monster Maze  (tracing--pre-writing, problem solving) * Halloween Word Search  (letter recognition, matching) * Trick or Treat Puzzle  (4 piece) Here are a few pages to preview:       Here's the link again:  (click here!) You do have