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Happy Wednesday! Today is International Positive Thinking Day! So today’s resource focuses on Positive Thinking and the Growth Mindset.
If you’re not yet familiar with the Growth Mindset, it’s a way of thinking - backed up by scientific research - to develop perseverance and resilience in the face of difficulty, and it opens up doors to new successful and quantifiable strategies for teachers and parents, in fact for anyone who is with a child when that child encounters something difficult.
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 It's back to school time, and that means any day now it will be... Fire Drill Time 😱
I don’t know about you, but every year I dread subjecting my preschoolers to the blaring alarms and bright flashing lights. I know that it’s important for their safety, but it can be scary and overwhelming for a little person. One year my co-teacher and I felt that it would be helpful to create a fun, upbeat fire drill song, and we noticed that the students LOVED its sing-songy playful tune and were actually excited for fire drills! The children enjoyed both singing the words and then silently mouthing the words to practice being quiet for the drill. Click Below to learn the best Fire Drill Song for preschoolers! CLICK HERE to request the FREE printable PDF of the fire safety poster pictured! (8.5'x11', no watermark) (we're still working on our email automation, but we'll get you the printable PDF file very promptly!) Happy Wednesday again! Caroline here with our go-to books as a basis for lessons full of creative play. Many of these are deservedly well-loved classics. They are my favorites because each one is so rich with possibility, in different ways for different age groups. At this point, I can't pass up an opportunity to explore with these books and I ONLY read them out loud to kids when I know we will have time to create our own imaginary worlds right afterwards 😍 They work well in small settings too, if you’re looking for some fun parent-child or family time activity.
 A great book for those very young and/or just beginning to grasp the concept of cooperative intentional dramatic play, use it as a jumping off point for a conversation about pretending, giving each child the opportunity to demonstrate for the class how to pretend that he/she is something else, or inviting the children as a group to pretend they are something - show me how a horse runs! Don’t forget to shake your horse tail!
 Pardon the 80s-tastic graphic, but Heart to Heart really is one of my favorite community-building activities for my class! It can be used for almost any age group and takes no more than twenty minutes. It works particularly well during a meeting time when students can communicate directly with each other, using kind and complimentary words. I recommend setting a time in your schedule to do this once a week. I usually end with this activity every Friday. We think it's a beautiful way to start the weekend.
Happy Wednesday! Danielle here. This is a list of my top five Material Must-Haves in any early childhood classroom. These materials make my life so much easier and ultimately save my class and school money. Note: we do not receive any commission for these recommendations, they’re just products we love, and links to places we found them at a good value.  Reusable Dry Erase Pockets
These are the best! Forget having to laminate EVERYTHING your students use, just slip a sheet of paper in one of these and they’re ready to go. Organize them by student or by topic, just slide the new sheets in front of the old (or use double-sided). Sturdier than a sheet protector, more portable and versatile than a dry-erase board. In addition to student use, I like to pin them up (with the grommet at the top) to use for erasable class signs like "There are __ days until Thanksgiving!" I also use them in place of a folder sometimes, to store sheets or activity-prep materials together, easily see what's inside, and label it without using up a post-it every time I change the contents. Also sold (sometimes more cheaply) as shop tickets. We are a little early for our scheduled Wednesday post, but as a special thank you to you, our first blog readers, we wanted to provide this fun free classroom decoration! The children are coming! The children are coming! (back to school) Are you ready, teachers? We bet you are, because you're awesome. But just for good measure, here's a classic from our back-to-school print-and-go resources trove. Today: Student Photo Frames in two themes, owls & flowers. Use these (free!) printables on a wall, on the classroom door, in the hall, wherever you need. Students can draw their own faces into the circles, or you can snap a photo of each kid, print, cut out the face, and glue the faces in the circles. Wise Little Owls
Welcome to Monkey Business, the Bitty City Blog! |
 Caroline |  Danielle |
We want to keep joy and playfulness in our learning - in the classroom and at home.
If you’re a teacher or parent (or both!) or otherwise involved with the education of children 10 and under, we’re here for you!
You’ll hear plenty from us, but you will also hear from some of our fellow teachers and moms, activity specialists (in theater, science, OT, and more), and the occasional school administrator and guest artist.
On the Bitty City Blog (aka Monkey Business), you’ll find:
If you’re a teacher or parent (or both!) or otherwise involved with the education of children 10 and under, we’re here for you!
You’ll hear plenty from us, but you will also hear from some of our fellow teachers and moms, activity specialists (in theater, science, OT, and more), and the occasional school administrator and guest artist.
On the Bitty City Blog (aka Monkey Business), you’ll find:
- Tips and ready-to-go resources for early childhood and elementary teachers
- Ideas to help kids embrace imagination and entertain themselves during downtime and waiting time.
- Original songs for lessons and transition times
- Favorite books and materials for different age groups
- Resource lists - online and offline.
- Practical advice for communicating with teachers, parents, administrators, and students.
Our goal for each blog post (every other Wednesday - sometimes a little more often) is to support you and make life a little easier and more fun.
We can’t wait to share our ideas and hear yours! We look forward to your feedback, questions, counterpoints, suggestions, additions, or whatever you’ve got. Our aim is to create a supportive and helpful community. To that end, all respectful discussion is welcome in the comments, and we will do our best to read and respond to your comments promptly.
As we enjoy the precious last weeks of summer, and prepare for the start of another exciting school year, we want to inspire and motivate you to keep thinking out of the box, and bring joy and magic into the classroom - and every room!
Want more Bitty City? Curious about our Dramatic Artists, Science Explorers, or Sensory Players programs, our After School Classes and NYC PreK Workshops? Planning a Party or a vacation Camp?
Check out our site, subscribe to our monthly newsletter (it’s short and full of cute pictures and bonus resources), say hi via email, add our blog to your RSS feed, follow us Twitter and Instagram and Pinterest, like us on Facebook. Heck, give us a call!
And of course…
We’ll see you again next Wednesday!
Playfully Yours,
Caroline and Danielle
We can’t wait to share our ideas and hear yours! We look forward to your feedback, questions, counterpoints, suggestions, additions, or whatever you’ve got. Our aim is to create a supportive and helpful community. To that end, all respectful discussion is welcome in the comments, and we will do our best to read and respond to your comments promptly.
As we enjoy the precious last weeks of summer, and prepare for the start of another exciting school year, we want to inspire and motivate you to keep thinking out of the box, and bring joy and magic into the classroom - and every room!
Want more Bitty City? Curious about our Dramatic Artists, Science Explorers, or Sensory Players programs, our After School Classes and NYC PreK Workshops? Planning a Party or a vacation Camp?
Check out our site, subscribe to our monthly newsletter (it’s short and full of cute pictures and bonus resources), say hi via email, add our blog to your RSS feed, follow us Twitter and Instagram and Pinterest, like us on Facebook. Heck, give us a call!
And of course…
We’ll see you again next Wednesday!
Playfully Yours,
Caroline and Danielle
We can't wait!
Check back on Wednesday morning!
Bitty City Players offers theater and science enrichment through after-school programs, in-school workshops, and events for ages 1-10 in NYC.
Learn more about the organization and our team here.
Learn more about the organization and our team here.
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