Happy Halloween..from Preschool!

Happy Halloween!!!

Hey everyone!

I hope everyone is enjoying their Halloween day just as much as I am.  I know that today...in preschool...we celebrated Halloween inside and out!!!

We decorated treat bags and got to fill them with candy....

Decorating their treat bags!

Oh hey Lightning McQueen! :) So proud of his treat bag!

and....

We got our faces painted!!!

Ms. Morales (volunteer) was so nice and came in  and painted all the children's faces!

Beautiful Snow White! :)

and...

We even got to wear our costumes to school!!! Check them out!!! :)

My sassy girls :)!

And my crazy boys! :)

Needless to say, the preschoolers and teachers had a wonderful day celebrating Halloween at school today! Hope you all have a fabulous time celebrating as well!

Until next time...stay safe!  Have a 'spooooooktacular' night!!! :)

P.S...

My sister and I are currently waiting for our first trick or treater at our apartment!  Hope they come soon!!!

Pumpkin Patch Field Trip

Pumpkin Patch Fun

On Tuesday, we took a field trip to the Bengtson's Pumpkin Patch Farm located about an hour away from our school.  For many of my students, it was their first field trip, their first bus ride, and their first trip to a pumpkin patch farm.  Let me tell you...they were EXCITED.  The picture below shows how excited my bus buddy was on the way to the pumpkin patch...for about the first 20 minutes.  Then, he fell asleep for the rest of the bus ride..long trip for the little ones :)!

My bus buddy :)

We had 30 preschoolers join us on the field trip along with 8 parents who served as chaperones.  Once we arrived at the pumpkin patch, each chaperone took two or three kids and went and explored the pumpkin patch.  I had two boys and one girl in my group and we had SO MUCH FUN at the pumpkin patch.  I was enjoying it just as much as the kids were. Imagine that :)!  At the pumpkin patch, they had more than just pumpkins to explore.  There was so many things to do including a corn maze, a hayride, watching pig races, looking at baby farm animals as well as big farm animals.  They had a huge playground, haybales with corn inside them (see picture below), tons of pumpkins, ghourds, and other things to look at.  I could never cover all of the things that were there even if I tried my hardest! 

Here are some pictures of my preschoolers and I enjoying our day at the pumpkin patch!  Hope you enjoy!

Exploring how to make water from pumping....

A preschooler watching a baby feed off of a mom...he was amazed! :)

My group and I getting ready to enjoy our trip on the hayride!

The baby animal barn :)

These weird fake people were all over the benches at the pumpkin patch. The kids loved them...except one who asked me if it would bite him.  Haha, kids ask the best questions! :)

Enjoying the pig races!!!  Can't say I've ever seen this done before!

Practicing milking a cow...definitely a first time thing for all my preschoolers!

Haybales with corn inside of it...served as a play pit for the kids!  They loved it! :)

My group and I sitting on a bench in front of a pumpkin! :)

Ms. Thoresen and her group enjoying the corn maze!

One of my preschoolers is WANTED for smashing a pumpkin :)!  Haha, too funny.

The students really enjoyed the pumpkin patch and I was so happy I was able to attend the field trip with them.  This was the first field trip with a group of students I had ever taken and it was so much fun.  I truly enjoyed being outside and exploring the pumpkin patch with all the kids.  It also made me feel like I was at home again and it was amazing to see how much the kids learned from me as well as from exploring the pumpkin patch on their own.  I hope you all enjoy the pictures.  The pictures do not do justice to show how much fun we had...but at least you can get a little hint of what my students got to explore and how much fun they had with the pumpkin patch!

Until next time...stay safe. <3 Thanks for listening!

Weekend Fun!

One thing I love about Chicago...there is SO MUCH to do on the weekends!  As much as I want to relax and just be at home, I know I can't because my time in Chicago is just going to fly!  So let me update you on my past weekend!

Friday night, Brie and I had a date night at home and also out to eat.  First, we baked cutout cookies in honor of Halloween!  This is a yearly tradition for Brie, and sometimes myself if she is around me :)!  We then enjoyed dinner and drinks at Miller's Alehouse!  Check out the pictures below to see how we enjoyed our Friday night! :)

Our yummy Halloween cutout cookies!!! :)

Date night! :)

Saturday, Brie, Lyndsi (Brie's roommate), Nicole (my friend also student teaching in Chicago), and myself enjoyed a trip to Wrigleyville to watch the Iowa Hawkeye football game at an Iowa Hawkeye-themed bar called Merkles!  We then headed back home and took a nap :)!  After nap time, I had my first babysitting job in downtown Chicago!!! I was so excited to get back into the babysitting experience and truly enjoyed my evening babysitting in downtown Chicago.  It blessed me with time to hang out and play with kids again and also get some homework done once they were in bed :)!  Much needed, relaxing evening!

Enjoying our afternoon at Merkle's!

Brie and Lyndsi at Merkle's! :)

Nicole and I :) Love her!

Love us :) Go Hawks!!!

Sunday morning, Brie and I woke up and attended church at 11:00 AM!  It's so nice for Brie to find a church she loves and invite me to it to enjoy with her.  The church is truly amazing and it's so nice to know that one thing is the same wherever you go..and that is God.  He's always there for you no matter what town, city, or state you live in.  It's perfect.  After church, Brie and I decided to spend a couple hours in downtown Chicago enjoying the nice weather and pretty scenery.  The weather was beautiful and it's so nice to go downtown when you know exactly where you are going.  I must say this is probably the first time we went downtown and didn't get lost! :)  Check out the pictures below to see our enjoyable afternoon in the city! :)

Brie and I taking a picture in the Bean at Millenium Park!

Do you like my outfit!?

Love this picture!

It was an enjoyable afternoon downtown, and we returned back home and I was in bed by 8:30 PM.  I was one tired girl and knew I had to catch up on sleep before the week began again!  Now that I've filled you in on my exciting weekend in Chicago, I hope you were all blessed with a good weekend and also had a wonderful Monday!  

Until next time...stay safe.  Love you all!

Exploring Apples

We have been focusing on fall activities all throughout October...

As you saw before, we explored pumpkins last week.  If you need a reminder, check out my pumpkin exploration bulletin board I made for the classroom! (I'm super proud of it!)

This week in preschool, we are exploring apples.  We are exploring where apples come from, how they grow from trees, the different kinds of apples, etc.  Seems simple, but to preschoolers...it's a lot of fun and exciting information and activities all thrown in to one week!  It's amazing that I had an apple tree in my yard at home as a little girl...and some of these students have never seen an apple tree or have even tasted the different kinds of apples that exist. 

However, they got a chance to do that today in our classroom...and they loved it! :)  We had an apple tasting test in preschool!  So neat and the students did awesome with the activity!  We gave them four different kinds of apples to try...Fuji, Granny Smith, Gala, and Honeycrisp.  They were in heaven! :)  Ms. Jackson (our teaching assistant) led this activity during center time.  The students had to taste the four different kinds of apples and then write their name under their favorite on our graph!  Check out the pictures below! :)

Apple Tasting Time

Taste testing the apples!

Voting on their favorite flavor of apple!

Once they completed apple tasting, we then provided another apple activity that I led at a different table.  This activity is called apple stamping and it gave the students a chance to paint with apples and wow, were they ever excited to use paint!  The activity was extremely messy but the kids loved it.  I, as well, got extremely messy and had paint up to my elbows as well as on my clothes!  Thank goodness it's "preschool proof" paint and it will come out of clothes :)!  Look below to see some of the students participating in the apple stamping activity!

Apple Stamping Activity

Again, thanks for listening to all my exciting stories from preschool.  We get to do lots of exciting activities and I love sharing my experiences with all of you!  

Until next time...stay safe.

iPad's for Preschoolers?

Hey everyone,

Once again, I apologize.  It's been forever since I've blogged...but I'm happy to say that I am adjusting to the city life and my preschool student teaching experience has been very enjoyable.

Now...for some crazy news...

Our preschoolers were introduced to iPads!  And they LOVED them!  Yep, that's right.  My preschoolers are learning from iPads.  Let's think back to the time when I was in school...and I don't think I played on a computer until middle school.  Oh how times have changed.

However, I have invested in my own iPad and I am so in love with it.  I love the fact that this young generation is being exposed to technology at such a young age and it's so amazing to see how quickly they pick up on how to use them, how much they love them, etc.

Now, we didn't just let them play silly games for an hour.  The games they were introduced to were learning shapes and learning letter games.  They absolutely loved them and some students were engaged in the games for over twenty minutes.  It was so crazy because before beginning the iPad's with the preschoolers, I figured that they wouldn't be engaged for over two minutes.  However, I definitely was wrong and they absolutely loved them.   Below are a few pictures of the preschoolers using the iPads :) Enjoy!

iPads for Preschool!

They are so engaged!

This picture is my favorite :)

Recognizing shapes!

Free time!

I am so blessed to say that I get to student teach in a school that has 1:1 iPads in every classroom and have the experience to use technology in my everyday lessons.  It's amazing to see how times have changed but I know they are only changing for the better...but sometimes I think to myself, these preschoolers probably know more about iPads then I do!

I hope you enjoyed the pictures and are enjoying reading my posts about my student teaching in Chicago.  It's been an adjustment, but I'm slowly learning to love it.  I'm not going to lie...it's definitely a struggle, but it's a good struggle and I'm just always reassuring me that God is doing everything in my life for a reason and I am so blessed to say that I have God to lead me through every time...whether it is good or bad.

Until next time, stay safe. Thanks for listening :)

Plans for our Tuesday evening...?

What's my sister and I's normal plan for a Tuesday evening...hmm...get home, catch up, maybe workout (Brie), eat supper, go to bed.

Well...last night was different!! :)

We got FREE tickets to.......here's a hint...

keep guessing....

nope, still not it....

alright, you're getting closer....

you got it....

A CHICAGO BULLS BASKETBALL GAME!

Yep, that's right.  We got them for FREE!  Do you want to know how?

Let me inform you....

William H. Brown Elementary school (my student teaching school) was adopted by the Chicago Bulls basketball team.  For those of you who don't know...the United Center (where the Bulls play) is diagonal across from my school.  It's a pretty awesome view and alot of people would die to be that close to the United Center.  Anyways, back on subject.  My school is adopted by the Chicago Bulls, and they give the school any extra tickets...for FREE...if the game is not sold out for the night.

Tuesday around noon...the principal came over the intercom and announced a few teachers who got COURTSIDE tickets to the game because they turned in all their paperwork on time (lesson plans, assessments, etc.)  And guess what?! My cooperating teacher was one of them!   She got a courtside ticket to the BULLS game!! How sweet right?!  Well, the principal continued on and said our students could help the other teachers win tickets to the game...so what'd my students do...THEY WON ME FREE TICKETS TO THE CHICAGO BULLS GAME!!!

Anyways, long story short....my sister and I had a date to the Chicago Bulls vs. Milwaukee Bucks basketball game last night...for FREE!  For the night we spent $20!  Cheap date right!?  $120 tickets and we got them for FREE!  I realized that this is not an opportunity that comes along every day and I decided to take full advantage of it...even if I was lacking sleep today!  (My teacher was too) :)!  I made Brie put off her studying and said, "Sorry sis...but we got to do it!  IT'S FREE!"  She was in love with me for the whole night :)!  We had a great night and I couldn't have asked for a better date to the game!  She's always up for a good time and this is why we love living in the city...we can make spontaneous trips anywhere and we're always both in love with everything we do!  It was such a fun night and we had a great time!  Below is a few pictures from the game!  Check them out!

Warming up!

Brie and I at the game!

Benny the Bul!

P.S.... BULLS WON!!! 100-94!!! WOOHOOO!  Go Bulls!!!

Also...for those of you who don't know...my Grandpa and Grandma Manlick are AVID BULLS FANS...so I had to call them the minute I found out I got free tickets!  They were both very jealous but I told them if they could be there in four hours...they could have the tickets!! No worries Grandpa and Grandma...I took a picture for you!  This one is dedicated to you!!! :) Couldn't get a picture WITH him...but I got a picture OF HIM!!! :)

GO BULLS! :)

Thanks all for listening...Until next time, stay safe. <3

Pumpkin Exploration!

It's FALL!!! Which means....time for pumpkins!!! :) Yep, even in preschool we explore pumpkins!

I'm so excited to share this pumpkin exploration activity with all of you.  My students were so engaged and loving every minute of this activity.  Also, this is my first small group activity I got to lead with the students and I'm very pleased with how it went!  They were so involved and were making so many comments and asking so many questions which means they were highly engaged and learning so many new things.

For this activity...we provided the students with a pumpkin to explore.  They could explore the outside of the pumpkin as well as the inside...yep, I said it..they got to explore the INSIDE of the pumpkin!  When they found this out, they went CRAZY!! :) I provided the students with many different materials to explore the pumpkin with including scientists' goggles, magnifying glasses, weigh scales, spoons, etc.  They loved it and they absolutely LOVED acting like scientists.  Check out the pictures below...they are adorable :)!

Exploring the pumpkin!

He's really checking them out! :)

What are you finding in there?! :)

Examining and counting the seeds!

I love this one <3

These preschoolers are seriously winning over my heart one minute at a time.  I was very worried that I would not like this young of aged students, but I'm finding that each day I spend more time with them...they are truly the best.  They absolutely love school and they love their teachers.  They love learning and they are willing to try anything..even if it's just once.  Who can say right now that they are doing this in their life?  Nope.  None of us...besides three and four year olds.  These kids have so much to offer in life and I'm so happy I get to be part of their life for the next eight weeks.  I feel like I will truly impact them and their lives and they are truly impacting my lfie...every single minute I spend with them.  I find myself home at night thinking about them...just praying I see their smiling faces the next day.  They are the best kids and I am so lucky I get to spend the next eight weeks with them.

I thank God every day for blessing me with this opportunity...I know it will teach me so many important things about life and my future career that will impact me and the rest of the years in my life.

Thanks all for listening...hope you enjoyed the pictures.  Until next time...stay safe. <3

First day of student teaching in Chicago!!

Hey all!

Positive note:  I am officially a resident of Chicago for the next 8 weeks....YAY ME! :)

Negative note:  Already loving the city life but the price of gas and the prices for groceries are definitely going to be something to get used to!!

Now that I'm done with the negatives, I will tell you about my first day of student teaching in Chicago!!

As I said before...I am in a preschool class at William H. Brown Elementary School.  The school is located in downtown Chicago but it doesn't feel like I'm downtown at all once I'm in the school...besides hearing trains all day long :)!  Definitely having a great experience already!!

I left Brie's apartment at about 6:15 this morning because I had no idea what to expect for traffic...It ended up taking me about 40 minutes to get to school so I arrived a bit early...but better early than late!  I had met my teacher a couple weeks ago, so I didn't have to go through the meeting process again today!  We got right to work and got the classroom ready for the day!  My cooperating teacher is so sweet and she is full of energy!  I love it!  For those of you who don't know...the classroom that I am student teaching in is a half day program preschool.  This means that we have two different preschool classes (an AM and a PM class).  The AM class is at school from 7:45-10:30 and the PM class is at school from 12:30-3:15.  From 10:30-12:30, Ms. Thoresen and I can plan, prepare the classroom, and also eat lunch.  I love the half day preschool already!

Today at school was an early dismissal day...so we only had the AM preschool class today.  The preschoolers showed up to school at 7:45 and we began our day at about 8:00.  The students stayed until 10:30, and then Ms. Thoresen and I sat down to chat, catch up, and she told me alot of information!  It was all much needed information and I am glad she is so organized and prepared with everything!  Our teaching styles are definitely the same! :)

Overall, I had a great first day and I am looking forward to the next 8 weeks.  The commute kind of stinks but it's just part of city life and I'll have to get used to it!  I will definitely be keeping you updated and I can't wait to tell you all the amazing stories that happen within the next 8 weeks!

There is a quick overview of my first day...I know it's not much but I'm in need of some much needed relaxation time so I will be blogging again soon!

Until next time...stay safe and thanks for listening! <3 Love and miss you all!

Time is flying!!

Wow, this fall is going way too incredibly fast.  I don't even know where my days go anymore.  So much has been happening and I juts can't keep up with it all or find time to blog!  I'm so sorry!

Let me update you on my life the past week and a half...

Last Friday (October 5) was my last day student teaching with my kindergartners at Fred Becker Elementary.  I was so sad to leave them and even cried when I explained to them that Friday was my last day.  Let's be real...who cries in front of kindergartners?!?! This girl did :) And my cooperating teacher even cried.  That means alot to know that she thought so highly of me and didn't want me to leave.  Very inspiring and I'm happy to know that she enjoyed me being there and teaching her students.  After I gave my crying speech to the kids, Mrs. Hammar and the kindergartners then gave me a handmade, homemade, thank-you book.  Each one of my students had made a goodluck and thank-you note and Mrs. Hammar was so sweet and binded them into a book for me.  I wish I could show you pictures but I didn't get a chance to take any and my book is back at home :(.  However, I do have a picture with my kindergartners from my final day with them!  They are angels! :)

Aren't they just adorable?! :)

Continuing about Friday...Friday was a very emotional day for me because it was my last day at Fred Becker with my kindergartners and I began packing that night for Chicago.  As much as I had said earlier I was ready to move away from home and be on my own again...I cried.  Parts of me are so independent but I know I am so blessed to have two amazing and loving parents and I didn't necessarily want to leave my home.  It's been my home for 22 years and it's definitely a change moving 5 hours away from them.  So anyways, Friday was my ending to one student teaching experience and today brought a new beginning for my next student teaching experience!  Enjoy this funny video of Brie's kitty and her love for playing with ponytails!! It's hilarious!! :)

After Friday night, I was refreshed and had a fun-filled weekend in Omaha where i visited one of my friends. We went to the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge in Omaha and it was awesome!  It was a perfect day on Sunday and I couldn't have thought of a better way to spend my Sunday!  My weekend was so fun and as much as driving sucks...it was totally worth it.

So gorgeous!! 

Nebraska/Iowa state line

I then began on my way to Chicago on Monday morning...but made a pit stop in Iowa City to see my niece for a couple hours!!  For those of you who don't know...my oldest sister and her husband welcomed a baby girl into this world last Wednesday...October 3, 2012.  They welcomed Emma Rae O'Kane at 7:33 P.M. weighing in at 7 lbs 8 oz and 21 inches long!  She is an absolute angel!! :)  Check out the pictures below...she's in the outfit I gave her! :)

Proud Auntie!! :)

So precious!!

Monday evening I arrived in Chicago at about 4:30 P.M.  My sister was anxiously awaiting my arrival and welcomed me with a huge hug and a big smile!  We are so excited to be living together for the next 8 weeks because we haven't lived together since we were in high school!  That was 5 years ago!  So crazy! :) Monday night we enjoyed catching up and unpacking and then went to Panda Express for supper.  Yum!! We could tell we hadn't been with each other for awhile because we didn't go to bed til 1 AM on Tuesday morning!  We were too excited to be having a slumber party!! :)

Anyways...now that I've updated you on my life for the past week and a half (again...I apologize)... I hope you all understand and I thank you all for your amazing support and love.  I will try and keep you updated as much as possible but living in a city may be a very big distraction!!

Until next time...stay safe and thanks for listening! <3