Getting Organized With My Teacher Planner

These last six months have been one learning experience after another with my new job. I went from nanny to assistant teacher right after my last job finished (the children no longer needed a nanny). Honestly, I didn't know what I was expecting from this but I have to say, I'm really glad I got this job.

I'm learning a lot of new things that I didn't get from being a nanny. They helped me go back to school where I am now getting my degree in Early Childhood Education. The classes are simple enough but I'm still learning a lot while doing it. I'm starting to understand the environment of a professional setting much more than when I started.

Though, there are always going to be setbacks. Don't get me wrong, I love my job. I love the kids and the people I work with, but some days can be challenging. When I don't feel organized, I tend to get stressed out, which isn't good when working with children. Not to mention, an educational daycare setting isn't as laid back as being a nanny, so I can't take that quick few minutes to gather myself while the children play. There is no one-on-one time, not like I was used to. I, now, have to teach up to 8 children at once. Yikes. It doesn't help that we are in the middle of changing our curriculum in our classroom.

So, to help me stay focused on what I need to do, to help me stay focused on the key points (even if I have to change it from time to time), my sister made me my own Teacher Planner. This is something that I can use, just for me to see what I have to do with my children that day and gives me something to look back on later on, if needed.

My sister cut the cover and laminated it for me. It's disc-bound to make it easier for when I add everything else I need to add in there. I have a lot of extra things I want to add to make it easier for me to figure out what I need to do for my children instead of getting lost in the other group's lessons.

The monthly spread will work as a general overview of my month. Co-workers/Children's birthdays, special days, work schedules, etc. Things that I feel like I need to keep track of for work.

The weekly spread is like my mini lesson plans. It's probably really redundant but I don't care. It helps me see what I need to do on that day without any of the extra things surrounding it. The Notes sections is multi-functional, which I like because I can use it however I want.

The Overview is for me to go through how my week went. It will help me figure out where I went wrong and where I went right. Since this new curriculum is still pretty new, I'm going to need all the help I can get to whip me into shape.

This is one of my extra pages. One that I will probably be using regularly as I lesson plan and come up with small group activities. After having this with me, it's becoming a lot easier to plan. This job has to break me of a lot of the habits I created over the last 10 years of being a nanny and create new habits in this new career.

The month of April is the Month of a Young Child here in Michigan. So the posts this month will be related to the activities and projects that we have for each week's focus. On April 4th, we are doing Physical Development and doing a lot of large motor activities as well as introducing some new fine motor activities for my group. Well, new for them. I'm going to teach them how to weave on a little hand loom that I'm going to make for each of them out of cardboard. 

Pink Popcorn

The girls and I made Pink Popcorn for our craft last week. I don't normally do a lot of food crafts with them but for Valentine's day, we tend to do a lot of food. It turned out great and even their parents loved it. 

Making it is simple. Super simple. We used three things to make this.

• Popcorn
• Wilton Chocolate Melts (Pink colored)
• Sprinkles

That's it. I bought popcorn that was light in salt and butter but you can probably use anything.

The steps are simple.

1. Pop the popcorn and then lay it on a baking sheet or pour in a bowl.
2. Melt the chocolate (we used a bag for two bags of popcorn)
3. Pour chocolate on the popcorn and mix around lightly. 
4. When the popcorn is coated put it on wax paper (this makes the clean up easy). You could also put the wax paper on the baking sheet to make it a little easier.
5. (Optional) Decorate with sprinkles
6. Let the chocolate harden

*Do no put in the refrigerator to cool. 

The steps are simple but I thought I would tell you that when it hardens, they stick together. If you don't want them to turn into a giant block, spread them out a bit.

Also, this is how we made it. There are probably several ways to make this so experiment and try something different if you want. You can color this any kind of color so it's a versatile treat.

Summer Crafts With The Girls

It's the start of summer vacation for the oldest girl, Aubrey, and we decided on crafts to do during the summer. I'm going to have to limit it to one craft per week because it would get too expensive if I let her have it her way. Some of our activities will be on the free/cheap side since I don't have a lot of money to begin with.

Last week, Aubrey, Brynna (Little One), and I painted rocks. I need to get working on making the house for her rock family. The picture above is of the rock I painted.

This is just the start of our summer crafts. This week we are doing a big project that might take both days I work to finish. I hope to post that on Wednesday.

Nanny Notes - Little One the Monster

Meet Atlas. One of my turtles from my collection.

Another day watching Little One. I watched her yesterday too but there really wasn't anything to talk about since she slept the whole time.

Today, she is a mischievous little child, constantly getting into trouble. She is still testing me to see how far I'll go. Little devil. Maybe that's what I should call her instead. The Little Devil and her sister could be the Drama Queen. Nah, I wouldn't call them that. They are sweet girls most of the time.

Anyway - I'm getting side tracked - she was a monster. She wasn't listening, she kept telling me no when I asked her to do something... I consider this normal behavior but it's not something I enjoy. She just got lucky that she didn't need to go to time out today.

Toys are just ridiculous these day. We had to use our imaginations.

Other than that today went well. She did my hair which was a painful experience but Little One was happy.  Can't go wrong there. She made me fix her hair dryer...the toy one. Whenever I look at this hair salon kit, I just shake my head. They certainly added a lot of things since I was a kid, that's for sure. I know we didn't have a flat iron in our kit. We did have a hair dryer that turned on. Oh, and we didn't have a hair washing station. That makes me laugh though it took me awhile to figure out what I was looking at. Man, toys have gotten elaborate since I was younger.  I guess that's just how things are these days.

He was hiding from her (playing hide and seek)

I guess you're probably wondering why I have a picture of my stuffed animal turtle. That's because Little One fell in love with him when she first saw him and wanted to keep him, so I told her that I would bring him today but she wasn't allowed to keep it. Usually, when I walk into the door, she asks me for my phone. Today, she asked me for my turtle (well, she called it a frog but I understood what she wanted). It was nice that she didn't ask for my phone. I think that child is obessed with my phone.

Speaking of that, does anyone know of any good apps for children? I would love to put a game on there that she would benefit from in the end.

Hmm...what else happened today?

Paris napping. Tomorrow, I'm going to post my favorite picture of her.

She went down for her nap without a problem. The Parents decided to give back her pacifiers. She isn't ready to let go of them but I'm sure they are going to try again soon-ish. The Older One came home and she was great. No whining, no arguing. We played school and she made us books and folders when she was at school today. Seriously, this girl was awesome today. The Older One was the teacher and she was trying to read a story to us, making it up as she went. Honestly, I think it is cute when kids to that. They look at the pictures and make up their own stories. Half the time they don't make sense but that is why I think it's cute. It's also a good creative exercise.

Little One didn't pay attention. I never expected her to but she was rather rude to everyone who got in her way. I had to talk to her, and told her that she was going to sit in time out if she didn't stop yelling at people.

Okay, now, I'm just rambling. I'll stop now and let you know that I finished my 2nd 100TC artwork done. I'll be posting it on Thursday.

I hope you have a good day!

~Tracey

* I decided to call these Nanny Notes. I only post these twice a week (unless I work more than twice a week) and they will be about my adventures working for this new family. I wish I did this with the other family I worked with...it would have been interesting.

Just Another Day as a Nanny

Yesterday, I was told Little One was with a pacifier for nap time. I wasn't certain how she would react but I had a feeling that it wouldn't be good. So when I put her down for her nap, she threw a little tantrum. You can't expect immediate acceptance from a child who loved her pacifier as much as Little One. Sh did eventually fall asleep thanks to her dad. She just needed some reassurance. Her pacifier was her safety blanket for a good part of her 2 years.

When I got into work today, she showed me her new baby doll that she got as a present for sleeping without her pacifier. Unfortunately, she didn't nap today. She isn't my child and I just started working here at the end of October (and only for 2 days a week). Give it time and I'll be very strict with her...well not very strict but strict enough. I already took her sucker away and she isn't happy about that but there is a rule with candy that I've used for the last 6.5 years. Kids have to earn it.

Well, now I have a grumpy child to deal with but that might have been because she was hungry. Little One can eat like a beast, that's for sure.

...nope. She is still grumpy.

Now, with her big sis thrown in, it has gotten...interesting. The Older One (5-years-old) has the tendency to want everything to go the way she wants them to. There are times when it gets out of hand but she can correct herself every now and then. She threw a little fit because I didn't want to get in the tent. It was a small tent and I told her no. She stormed to her room because of it. Man! What is with these kids today? They aren't always like this. Maybe my sleeping issue and the weird weather is causing us to go all crazy. Who knows? But today wasn't the best day at work...better than some of the days that I had in the past but not a good day at all.

It's clear that there are still some things that the girls and I need to work on. But I think right now I'll deal with that slowly. Little One is testing me to see how far she can go to get her way. I'm going to have to crack down on nap time so she won't pull that on me again.

*this was typed from my phone. Sorry if there are a lit of spelling mistakes.