SWEETHEART GIFTS

CHECK OUT THESE "SWEET" GIFTS!

Here's a little gift and card that will be treasured for years to come.

Let children wrap a small box or a piece of Styrofoam with wrapping paper and a ribbon. (It would be extra special if the children designed their own wrapping paper.) Add this note:

Here is a little gift
That you can never see.
The reason it’s so special,
It’s just for you from me.
Whenever you are lonely,
Or even feeling blue,
You only have to hold this box
And know I think of you.
Please never unwrap it,
And leave the ribbon tied.
Just hold the box close to your heart,
It’s filled with love inside.


Valentine Card
Let each child take off one shoe and trace around her foot on white paper. Cut it out. Give each child 5 small pieces of red tissue paper to wad up and glue at the end of each toe for toenails. Write “I love you from my head down to my toes” on the foot.




Mouse Bookmark



Here's a bookmark children can make for themselves or they can give it to a friend.Cut a heart about the size of a child’s hand from red construction paper. Fold in half. Open. Tape a 6” piece of string in the middle. Glue closed. Draw a nose, whiskers, and ears on the heart as shown to make it look like a mouse. Use for a bookmark.

READ A BOOK DAY

READ A BOOK DAY IS "OFFICIALLY" SEPTEMBER 6TH, BUT IF YOU'RE A 

BOOK LOVER LIKE ME EVERY DAY IS READ A BOOK DAY!

There are some things I just cannot part with…such as favorite books I read to the children in my classroom and my own children and grandchildren. Like anything, YOU add the magic to a book. If you love a book, then I can guarantee you that your enthusiasm will make your listeners love it as well.

This picture of Kalina and I reading together about ten years ago brought back a sweet memory.  I'd like to turn back the clock and do it again!  What a reminder to CHERISH childhood because children grow up so quickly. The world has changed, but when you share one of your favorite books with children, it's like time has stopped. 



It's important to remember to READ A BOOK AND LET IT BE!  You don't have to dissect every  book talking about the problem, resolution, beginning, middle, end, vocabulary, yada yada. You really can teach children everything with a good book!  But, you don't have to TEACH children with the books – they will just learn in a natural, meaningful, enjoyable way.

Here are some of my "oldies but goodies"!  Do you still read any of these?

Good books are like good friends that you want to visit again and again!

Step Into a Book
Children can take off their shoe and trace around their foot on construction paper. After cutting it out they can decorate it and use it as a bookmark.

*Let children do rubbings of the bottoms of their shoes and use these for bookmarks.

BUT WAIT - THERE'S MORE IN THE ENVELOPE!

Besides puppets, take a look at all these other crafts and tools using envelopes.

BOOKMARK
Trim off a corner from an envelope. Let children decorate it with their initials or a smiley. 

*Use the bookmark to show the “top” of the page.
*Mark a favorite page they’d like to read to classmates “top” of the page
*Mark the solution or other key element in a story with the bookmark.
*Write a vocabulary word on the bookmark and place it at the top of the page when they find that word in the book.


BRACELET
Cut a 1 1/2” strip from the envelope and use it like a bracelet.
*Write letters, words, numbers, and other skills on the bracelet.

*Make a holiday or seasonal bracelet.
*Collect stickers on the bracelet.
*Get friends’ autographs on the bracelet.

                                 
*Send reminder notes home to parents on the bracelet.
*Use at the beginning of the school year to help children remember lunchroom numbers or bus numbers. 


Pull and Read
Cut the left end off the envelope. Write children’s names on 9 ½” sentence strips. Glue their picture on the right side. Pull out one letter at a time for children to predict whose name it could be.

                                               
*Write sight words, vocabulary words, or sentences for children to pull and read.
*Write math equations with the answer at the end.


Word Puzzles 
Write words (or children’s names) on the front of an envelope. Write the same word on a sentence strip and cut between the letters to make a puzzle. Place the letters in the envelope for the children to put together.