le blog brillant

Find the time to paint....

2011-04-02T20:55:00.000-07:00

I have neglected this blog... I will be working hard to keep up on the posts! I love how when you are 4 or 5 you can paint without restraint! The friends in my Pre-K classroom love to explore the art center, and specifically painting! Here we are using an interesting material...Cornsyrup! It was VERY sticky and messy...and FULL of FUN!!!

Playdates with Jamie & Angie....

2010-12-23T07:24:00.000-08:00

I am so blessed that I have been able to continue my partnership with Angela! This is a photo from our latest playdate that I LOVED....more to come on that. We look forward to getting a schedule going having a get together soon! And then planning out all the playdates ahead of time! Some of the ideas we have going, are a "DRESS UP" playdate, Decorating cupcakes, and much much more!

Jamie & Angela

This was a PJ Party playdate, Angie has the children's full attention reading one of my favorites "The Bear Snores On"

Playtime is SOOO much more than just playing.

2010-12-23T07:13:00.000-08:00

Children are always learning, especially during playtime. With each block they stack they are learning about balance. I wanted to share this series of photos that really stuck out to me. The little boy first started his tower in the middle of the block area. Many many times his tower fell down crashing to the floor, leaving him frustrated. But with each new approach he took, he learned something more to make his tower better. Eventually he found a whole new way by moving it to the wall for much more support. He wasn't "JUST" playing in the block area, he had to choose what block to put where (cognitive), place smaller blocks on top very gently (fine motor) , coming to show the teacher of all the hard work he had just put into his project (self-esteem). Do some observations of your own, I bet you will find all kinds of learning going on during your child's play!!!!

Jamie

Make time for Friends! {Jamie}

2010-10-23T14:55:00.000-07:00

Angie and I have both been SUPER busy, we have been wanting to find time to hang out together and working on a couple upcoming projects was not only fun but PRODUCTIVE! I am nervous to be presenting a training on how to Document learning in the classroom. It is something that was one of our favorite things to do. Teachers work hard in classrooms every single day, even the small moments can be documented to make learning visible. Some of the ideas of documentation in the classroom revolve around process vs product. Showing the process behind what the children are doing, creating & experiencing while they work. This is essentially where all the learning takes place. Nervious but also looking forward to trying something a little outside my comfort zone!

On another note Panera is such a fabulously cozy spot to get together. Yummy and in my opinion somewhat healthy food. So we chatted, ate, worked, and played. GOOD TIME!

Jamie

Life (Angela)

2010-10-20T15:22:00.000-07:00

I let a deep breath out before I start to write this. So much has been going on is the last couple of months. Leaving Uncle Sam's and teaching with Jamie was so hard for me! I am getting settled into my new home at Eagle's Loft in Ames and feel like I have been welcomed warmly there. A sensory night Jamie photographed was a huge hit with the families!

Today I got to go to a pumpkin patch with a group of well behaved three year olds. It was a beautiful fall day and it warmed my heart to have a few of the kids grab onto my hand and we walked around. I miss teaching dearly but am starting to feel like I get the best of both worlds. Although juggling ever changing teachers schedules and maintaining the health of the children will keep you busy enough it is so important to me to make my surroundings better and enjoy the children as much as possible.

I have had some help from Bobbie along the way but so far our Director team(learning so much from Missy) has acomplished alot due to good communication. We have given "the core",(mutli purpose room) a new look with a seperate area for the younger children to enjoy outside of their class room. Also we have made our office into a beautiful space that invites you to sit down. Thanks to Bobbie, some documentation boards, art work and mirrors have been hung up along with a touch up paint job for the center. I am really lucky to have someone so willing to help out. I think that we are making leaps and bounds in sprusing up a 14 year old building. Very soon we are going to be making a major change that I am very excited about and I will most def share pictures when it is complete!

Jamie and I have luckily found so many opportunities to work together here and there. Our first playdate was amazing and we are just right around the corner from our next one with so many people RSVP i've almost lost count. Center Grove Orchard here I come! Our next playdate after that will be an event without parents. We are excited to explore new spaces and give the parents a chance to relax! Our first Play to Learn Birthday party is coming up in Dec and has a science theme! We are also facilitating our first training together on Documentation i.e. picture boards and words, 2 things both of us love. We are a bit nervous just as we were before graduation but I think if we put our spin on it and just take a deep breath we will do great.

I need to take more time to write it sure makes me feel better. Missing everyone! Happy Fall!

Downtown Adventures {Jamie}

2010-10-18T07:18:00.000-07:00

Nothing big to report other than I am LOVING this fall weather and can't wait to spend some time with my best pal Angie tomorrow night planning some trainings & catching up on life. Just a little photo to remind us all to enjoy the little things in life...After a morning photo shoot downtown Chris and I stopped over to Spaghetti Works I love their never ending pasta bowl & delicious garlic bread.

The little things :

* BEAUTIFUL, VIBRANT, JUICY, CHERRY TOMATOES

*LEAVES THAT MAKE YOU WANT TO THROW THEM UP IN THE AIR

*Jamie*

Playdate

2010-09-19T18:29:00.000-07:00

I want to say thank you to all who came out to our playdate! We were blown away by the turnout, we missed those of you who couldn't make it and hope to see you at the next one. Over the past year Angela and I have grown so close to the families in our classroom, creating a little communitiy of friends and families. Our goal was to create a time and place for all these friends to come together once again after the Graduation and just have time to play, chat & do activities together! We were really starting to get nervous when the forcast showed rain rain rain all day long. Never fear Angie got on top of it texting, emailing & calling everyone for the alternate location. We moved from the park to Southridge mall, and I think it worked out just perfect! There was plenty of space, a play area, and the carousel for us to use. I must say Southridge Mall has done a fantastic job of revamping there space a BIG thumbs up!

What better activity to do on a rainy day then games, checkers is always a favorite.

Candy Land of course....

Beads Beads Beads!!! Time for friendship bracelets

Some of the Kindergarten friends showed us how they have been learning to spell and write words!!!!

Going over what the Scavenger Hunt is and how to do it!

Friends went around the Mall and found things of a certain color and "impressively" wrote the words!!!

I think overall there were around 25 kids there and we were HAPPY to have them all! We painted, played games, made bracelets, and rode the carousel all together. It was such a treat that we got to do that all together too, everyone was so very excited. More photos to come.....

Angie and I look forward to our next playdate that we will host at a pumpkin patch, also we have some Holiday shopping parties in the works!!!! (Thanks Mara)

Play like you're a kid!

2010-08-21T19:11:00.000-07:00

Oh what a fun night! To celebrate our new positions Angie and I decided to Play like a kid and go to Incredible Pizza! It has something for everyone really, GO Karts, mini Golf, games, prizes, food what more could you ask for? It was the first time I had been on a double date for a loooooooong time and I was so glad I went!

ooooohhhhh VINTAGE

Tricky Game...Angela did well on this one

Seemed like a good deal....I won 40 tickets but it cost 2 bucks? Oh who cares winning tickets is AWESOME

Seeeee I told you it was awesome!!! At least my hubby thinks so :)

Come on Bobby you can do it!!!!!

It was a very serious matter, collecting tickets. Several times I notices people that had a system, and were very protective of theirs.......

We all loved racking up the tickets on these games!

At LAST we were off to cash in our prizes! Oh the WONDERFUL prizes!

Seee Seee how happy we were!!

And them too!!!

Well look at all those fabulous prizes...perfect for a treasure box I think.....

Some of the goods.....

And do you see how my husband snuck out of this shot? Oh well a silly shot while we were playing mini golf...black light mini golf no less!!! I had a great time, can't wait for our next double date!

Our Special Graduation

2010-08-21T18:26:00.000-07:00

Finally making it through tons of photos from the past few weeks, and wanted to share with you! A couple of weeks ago my co-teacher Angela and I hosted a graduation for all the Pre-K friends going off to Kindergarten. Kindergarten is a BIG deal, I have learned from life experience as well as other families....and we wanted to CELEBRATE it! It was a very special day, filled with happiness, memories & emotion. In the run through I teared up several times, as I have grown to love the people I work with as well as all the families that I have come in contact with. Some of the highlights mentioned by Angie were a slideshow (FABULOUS) and one of my favorite things was seeing Angie lead the group in to "I like to move it move it" Madagascar. After all was said and done the parents were SNEAKY and created a BEAUTIFUL book for Anglela & I that we will cherish forever.

Cupcakes were ordered with solid colored frosting of every color, that we personalized with photos from throughout the year!

Over the past year Angela & I have been taking photos like crazy documenting our daily life in the classroom, it paid off we were able to set up several walls of photos for the TAKING! Families could go to the wall and take whatever they liked for themselves!

Oh we had so much fun with tissue paper flowers, they are now spread out throughout the classroom adding pops of color throughout! A fun spot for photos during the busy night!

And for my Good friend Angela whom I miss dearly, I loved our CRAZY water days, eating lunch outside (fighting off bees) Naptime Music, Messy Closets :) , Blanket Jumping, photoshoots, tadpoles, butterflies, and on and on!!! I am so excited to collaborate with you on our upcoming projects!

Angie painting something we LOVE to do with the kids!

Good times.

2010-08-12T17:06:00.000-07:00

I always enjoy staying busy which is good because I always seem to have plenty to do. One of our last blogs was about the great kindness challege. I had been contemplating cutting my hair but the thought of being able to donate it was enough to make me go for it! Here are the results!

Before getting 10 inches cut off!

A favorite picture Jamie took of me after it is all gone! I am loving the new look. I keep trying to remember change is not bad it's just different! I've been embracing the change!

I was very excited this past weekend for my first trip to IKEA. Stores like IKEA are great because they allow everyone to be creative within a budget. Here were some of my favorites. A big thank you to my boyfriend Bobbie for driving me to MN and pushing the cart aroud! :)

We spent about 2 hours and spent about $120. I got alot of great stuff!

We still had some time so we were hitting some small shops in town when we found an art festival. I love this kind of stuff so even though it felt like a hundered degrees we walked the whole thing!

This artist and his wife were my favorite two artists. Being creative is so much fun!

I made a stepping stone when I was in a 3D art class in high school. I miss doing projects like this , I think it would be fun to make one of these!

And the best for last! Our Graduation celebration was a hit! Here were some of our ideas...

Tie Dye shirts(we made) with a collage of the kids, paper graduation hats, lays, and glow braclets made a cute graduation outfit...Next time...Maybe just the shirts and hats :)

We danced into our room of awaiting parents one of our favorite songs. Move it!

Jamie and I both conquered our fear of getting up infront of a large group of people!

A slide show played to 3 songs with a video of the kids dancing at the end was a favorite!

The children loved seeing themselves!

After the slideshow we performed a song we had been working on throughout the year. We learned motions to "The Climb" The kids did great!

After our ceremony we held a dance party in our Large Motor room with cupcakes and our favorite music. Everyone had a great time!

Life never stops, just have to keep going. Life is way more fun when you have projects! Jamie and I are finding bunches of them to do... Cant wait!!!

Create

2010-08-06T22:11:00.000-07:00

Happy Weekend to all!!

I had a great day at work today and just wanted to share it with all of you! Angela and I have been making the most of the time we have left in our classroom together. Today was WATER Day, always a fun day but it seemed extra special and full of kids ready to make us smile. I brought some empty Izze boxes that made the perfect container for paintbrushes, add paper and paint and you are ready to create! It is all about the process doing art not the product!

Get outside and PLAY

Jamie

Environment

2010-08-05T19:50:00.000-07:00

Jamie and I LOVE to make our classroom cozy. We continuously have projects going to make our classroom a fun place to be. Here are some of the latest decorative touches:

A stick brought in by our Assistant Director(she's always bringing us fun stuff to turn into projects), became a unique photo hanger.

Jamie made these great colorful tissue bursts to create some natural art.

Just one of the canvases we made that represent our classroom!

We LOVE Old Glory!

An old spice jar, egg cartons, glue, glitter and popsicle sticks made these great flowers!

The Great Kindness Challenge August 14, 2010!

2010-08-02T20:34:00.000-07:00

EVERYONE!!! Jamie and I stumbled across this great Challenge, check it out! We are going to be focusing our next weeks lesson plan on this topic!

http://www.greatkindnesschallenge.org/

http://www.greatkindnesschallenge.org/cgi-bin/document.php?doc=/pdf/GKCchecklist.pdf

The Weekend

2010-08-01T20:26:00.000-07:00

Ohhh the much anticipated weekend. Two days to just kick back and relax, some weekends are busier than others but no matter what you do....the weekend is YOUR time. I love walking around small towns with my husband and daughter, snapping photos along the way of all the things I LOVE! What I love about doing this, is many memories are created and you can get some pretty fantastic Art for you home! When you take it yourself it is perfect for you, and has a uniqe story behind it! One of the ways Angie and I have fun at work is to create our own space, and bring what we love to our job!!! We have added many personal touches throughout our classroom that make it feel like ours, photos, pillows, art, plants, and even our own "Naptime" music! When I think about the work week, I think of all the things that I LOVE about the weekends and try to incorporate then into the week!! Think about what you LOVE, even if it is a simple as having a cup of your favorite hot tea, do some weekending during the week!!!!! I can't wait to try out the paddle boats sometime!!!

Mexico, MO

(Visiting Family)

Antique Store Front

DOOR ( I love doors)

Have FUN Weekending!!!!

Jamie

Fun in the sun for $10

2010-08-01T16:24:00.000-07:00

In my days off I like to find little adventures where ever I can...

Paddle boating at Grays Lake was on the agenda today. It was nice to get some sun!

I really liked the way the clouds reflected on the surface of the water!

Summer, Pretty Please Never end... I am going to miss you.

A new adventure! Angela

2010-07-30T05:55:00.000-07:00

Jamie and I have taught together for the past year, and it has been one of the most amazing years of my life. In my year in Pre-K I have gotten to do many things with the children that as I kid I didn't get a chance to experience. How great is it to be a kid and be able to get messy from head to toe, have a whole center of grown-ups who love you unconditionally and want to see what is the absolute best for you, and a classroom full of friends and new fun adventures!

Highlights of my year:
1. Getting to know a center full of FANTASTIC children and families!
2.Finding a great friend among a randomly assigned teammate!
3.Field trips...Living History Farms, skating, the bus, the park...all of them made the kid's eyes light up in an unforgettable way.
4. Laughing over a WHOLE container of spilled juice...I think it was one of the first times I ever laughed when I spilled something...
5. Watching our classroom transform before our eyes with hard work and dedication!

In less than a month I will be moving into an Assistant Director position. I am grateful for the opportunity and VERY excited...BUT I have grown so close to my classroom I just had to find ways to stay connected to it. Jamie is the new fearless leader of the Pre-K bunch and she will be amazing! I am very excited for this blog as a way for Jamie and I to stay connected.

Together we do great things. Two teachers One Mission... Let's make this place BRIGHT!!

The Bright BLOG

2010-07-29T19:53:00.000-07:00

Collaboration! This is a word that we LOVE, we come together to work on projects, play, create, and live life to the fullest! We are....Jamie & Angela a pair of Teachers that want to INSPIRE you!!! On this blog you will see anything from photos, experiences we have had, advice, daily ramblings, and hopefully ideas that will inspire you!!!

Angela

Jamie

Two Teachers One Misson
Jamie
Angela