I know how much you all love giveaways, so I am very excited to offer a giveaway for Jack Hartmann‘s newest CD made just for Pre-K! The CD is called Bop, Pop & Hip-Hip in Preschool. What’s even better is that 5 people will win this one!

I’ve listened to the CD, and this is what I love about it:

• The music is upbeat & modern – today’s kids love it.
• There’s lots of movement for busy, active preschoolers.
• The songs are made especially with Pre-K in mind.

There are songs to teach the alphabet in order, letter sounds, vowel sounds, friendship, bullying prevention, kindness, listening and following directions.

Here is a list of the songs on the CD:

Fergie the Frog
Friendship Walk
Mother Goose is on the Move
If You’re Happy and You Know It (this is a hip hop version with new moves)
Stop Bullying Now
Be a Friend – Don’t Be a Bully
It’s Circle Time
Work and Play Together
ABC Cha Cha Cha
Vowel Sound Samba
Letter Sounds A to Z
Give a Little Good Touch
Teddy Bear Hip-Hop
Funky Freeze
Cowabunga
Pump It Up Pokey
We’re All Different and We’re the Same
Movin’ is Cool

Enter the giveaway using the Rafflecopter below. Five winners will be chosen.

Rules:

• You must write a comment below this post telling us either your favorite Jack Hartmann CD or song. If you haven’t heard any of his songs, you can listen on his YouTube page.

• Entries are only valid if you enter with the Rafflecopter.

• If you are a winner, you will be notified by email and you have 5 days to respond or a new winner will be chosen.

• If you win, you must provide a US mailing address.

• Giveaway ends at midnight on Saturday, May 26, 2012.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I had a lot of Swedish Fish left over from our “candy fish swimming in blue jello” snack, and came up with this idea to use them as an End of Year gift for the children. I put the Swedish Fish in a snack size zip lock bag, printed out the bag topper, folded it over, and stapled it to the top of the bag. This gift could also be made with Goldfish crackers.

To make these, feel free to use the printables I made below. Since my students are going to a new school next year, I made a printable that says “Congratulations! You’ll soon be swimming in a new school because you are O-FISH-ALLY a Kindergarten kid!”. Since some of you may not be sending your students to a new school, I also made one that only says “Congratulations! You are O-FISH-ALLY a Kindergarten kid!” Click the links below to download the printable you need.

DOWNLOAD: Swedish Fish Bag Topper 1

DOWNLOAD: Swedish Fish Bag Topper 2

Our paraprofessional and I bought sand buckets for every child, and she is painting their names on them with paint pens. We will put the Swedish Fish inside the buckets along with any other goodie bags or gifts the kids bring in for their friends.

You might also want to check out my End of Year Gift Idea from a previous year.

This printable uses graphics licensed by Scrappin Doodles.

Introducing Preschool Spot

Vanessa Levin of Pre-K Pages, Deborah Stewart of Teach Preschool, and I are teaming up to create a new site called Preschool Spot. Preschool Spot is a place where you will find resources and printables for your home, preschool, and pre-k classrooms. We are currently posting some great freebies on the site, and we will eventually each have our own “shop”.

This is a collaboration between the three of us, but our individual sites will remain the same.

I have two free printable pocket chart sets posted on Preschool Spot:

• 5 Little Monkeys
• 5 Green Speckled Frogs

There will be more to come, and there are also freebies by Vanessa and Deborah, so be sure to check those out, too.

Hope you will join us at PreschoolSpot!

Where to Find PreschoolSpot

• Subscribe to PreschoolSpot blog updates
• Follow PreschoolSpot on Facebook
• Follow PreschoolSpot on Twitter
• Follow PreschoolSpot on Pinterest

I’ve been so busy with end of year assessments, so I decided to do a quick printable for today. My kids really enjoyed the other roll and write games I made for other themes, so here is one with an ocean theme.

Directions:

To prepare, print out the Roll ‘n’ Write mat on card stock and either laminate or slip it into a page protector. Write letters on the sides of a wooden cube to make the dice. You can put dot stickers or masking tape squares on the cube so they can be removed, and put new letters on later.

To play, children roll the die and write the letter they rolled in the first square, using a dry erase marker or dry erase crayon. They continue rolling and writing until all of the squares are filled up. When they are done, they can count each letter and determine which have the most/least/same amount.

To download the printable game mat, click the thumbnail below:

This game uses graphics licensed by Scrappin Doodles.

I have been planning to phase out the “Kids Pages” area of my website, but since the links might still be useful, I will post the links in blog posts to preserve them. Here are some ocean websites and videos for kids.

Meddybemps

At Meddybemps.com, children can Dive Deep to learn the names of different ocean animals. They can sort fish by size or put together an ocean themed puzzle.

Oceana Encyclopedia

Recently, a volunteer from Oceana contacted me about their Marine Wildlife Encyclopedia. Of course, encyclopedias are advanced for Pre-K kids, but I always have children who are very interested in learning facts about animals. This site could be used in the way an information book is often used, to share photos of the animals with children, and pick out facts about animals that might interest them. For example, children might be interested in seeing a photo of a beluga whale after learning the song, Baby Beluga by Raffi.

National Geographic Kids

I love the National Geographic Kids site because they have photos and videos designed especially for children, and the information on animals is in “bite size” pieces just right for younger children. Check out the Creature Features on the Beluga Whale, Blue Whale, Bottlenose Dolphin, Red Crab,  Clownfish (they’re always surprised to learn the name of this fish is not Nemo),  Sand Tiger Shark, and many others . To see more go to the Creature Features page, and click the “Ocean” button under Habitats.

iPad App

If you’re looking for iPad apps, you might like this interactive storybook app, Over in the Ocean. I love the artwork and the audio for pre-readers. Another great one is Fish School, by Duck Duck Moose, which won a Parent’s Choice Award.