Tips for Teachers Tips for Teachers contains a compilation

							                                              Tips for Teachers

Tips for Teachers contains a compilation of ideas that you can incorporate into your classroom
tomorrow. They fit into any early childhood curriculum.

                                        Healthy Snacks and Foods




Create times during the day (snack and meals) to discuss and compare the taste of foods. This helps make the
connections in the brain so children eventually know the taste of a food from seeing it. It is okay to dislike some
foods.

Healthful Snack Ideas These are quick and easy recipes for children to assemble.

    •   Ants on a log: Stuff a 6 inch piece of celery with cream cheese or squirt cheese. Top with raisins or
        sunflower seeds.

    ·   Egg Salad: Place a hard boiled egg and a teaspoon of lowfat mayonnaise in a zippered bag. Let the child
        knead the mixture and place on a whole wheat or rice cracker.

    ·   Cereal Mix: Measure 1 cup each of rice, corn, and wheat square cereal into a bowl. Add raisins,
        pretzels, and peanuts as desired. Stir and enjoy!

    ·   Edible Art: Spread cream cheese or natural fruit spread on whole wheat bread. Decorate with small stick
        pretzels, chopped dried fruit, banana slices, and soy nuts.

    ·   Veggie & Dip: Dip carrot or celery sticks, cucumber slices, or broccoli florets into lowfat dip or salad
        dressing placed in a cupcake paper.

Literacy Inspired Snack Foods

•       Serve oatmeal as read Goldilocks and the Three Bears or recite “Little Miss Muffet”.
•       Make spaghetti. Sprinkle on parmesan cheese. Read Strega Nona by Tony De Palo.

•       Combine canned vegetables with broth and cook as read Stone Soup. Enjoy the soup.

•       Serve Goldfish crackers and Goldfish soup. Read Fisherman’s Wife.

Fast and Easy Cooking Ideas.

    •   Pizza: Spread pizza sauce on pita bread, half a bagel, or English muffin: sprinkle with cheese. Bake in
        toaster oven until cheese melts.

    ·   Smoothies: Add fresh or frozen fruit, yogurt, and ice cubes into a blender. Process until smooth.

    ·   Apple Pie: Flatten out a refrigerated biscuit and place in a cupcake pan. Add natural applesauce,
        sprinkle with cinnamon, and bake according to biscuit directions
    ·   Fruit Turnover: Separate refrigerated crescent rolls. Spread on natural fruit spread, fold over to create a
        triangle, pinch edges, and bake.

    ·   Edible Jewelry: String round unsweetened cereals with holes. Allow children to eat when finished.

    ·   Shaker Pudding: Shake instant pudding and milk in a tightly shut plastic
        container. Open and enjoy.
    ·   Ice Milk: Place lowfat milk with vanilla extract or chocolate lowfat milk in a cylindrical container with
        a tight fitting lid. Fill 2/3 full. Partially fill an empty coffee can with crushed ice and ice cream salt.
        Place the container inside and fill to brim with ice and salt. Place the plastic lid on tightly. Seal with
        masking tape. Roll between children. Scrap down the sides after 10 minutes and every 5 minutes until
        the milk is frozen. It takes 20 - 30 minutes. Open and enjoy!

    Foods from Different Cultures Encourage children to experience and taste a variety of foods from
    different cultures. Discuss how soy sauce is salty and salsa is spicy.

    ·   Asian Stir Fry: Open a can of Chinese vegetables and steam rice. Use chopsticks to teach children
        eating customs of Asian cultures.

    ·   Tacos: Let children fill hard shell tacos with shredded cheese and pour on mild sauce. Roll soft tortillas
        with cheese. .
                                               From the book: Activities That Build the Young Child's Brain.

                                   New Painting Idea: Great for Gifts
Supplies:
Cutting Board                 Liquid watercolor paint: A variety of colors in small cups
Ruler                         Pipette or eye dropper
A popsicle stick              Can of Shaving Cream
Light card stock or white paper (thin copy paper and computer paper will not work.)

Spray shaving cream onto the cutting board (This should be done by a teacher, for safety and so that it sprays
onto the cutting Board.) Using a Pipette or eye dropper, have the child sprinkle multiple color drops onto the
shaving cream. Have the child gently swirl the colors together. Don’t do this too much or the colors will
become muddy. Take the paper and press onto the shaving cream mixture. Place paper on the table shaving
cream side up. Let the child take the ruler and scrape off the shaving cream in one motion. The notepaper will
have a pattern etched onto it. Let dry. Fold to make a note card. If it is curling on the edges, place under a
phone book for several hours.



VPK: Phonetic Awareness.
Here are some websites to check out. Learn what it is and why it is important for learning to read.

http://www.educationnews.org/phonemic_awareness_what_does_it_.htm

http://www.doe.virginia.gov/VDOE/Instruction/Reading/findings.pdf

http://www.free-reading.net/index.php?title=Phonological_Awareness_Activities

http://www.free-reading.net/index.php?title=Phonological_Awareness_Activities

http://www.kidsource.com/kidsource/content2/phoemic.p.k12.4.html

http://www.k-3learningpages.net/web%20phonemic%20awareness.html




                                                   Gardening
At the Jewish Community Alliance in Jacksonville, we garden in a big way! With the assistance of a parent
workgroup and rich, donated soil from MulchMasters, we built a large, raised working children’s garden. We
consulted with the University of Florida Extension Program regarding what to plant and when. All seeds and
plants were donated by the community and pre-school families and were planted by the students. Each class
painted their own stepping stones (they know to stay on the stones when watering, weeding, and harvesting) and
they grew enough strawberries to feed the school (200+ students) for snack.

ABC Garden: We have also planted an ABC garden that beautifies our playground wall. The way it works is
each plant has to start with or somehow be tied to the letter. For example, "A" is for Aztec grass, "B" is for
basil, etc. Every class adopted two letters and is responsible for watering and weeding their letter plants. One
of our teachers who is an artist is painting 4 ft high letters on the wall above the plants in natural colors.
Composting: We eat fresh fruits and vegetable three times a week for snack and the students put our peels,
cores, and coffee grounds from the office in our composting pile. We are making some very rich soil that is
useful for container gardening and growing parsley for our model seders during the Jewish Holiday of
Passover. We are also in the process of learning how to save rain water for watering and adding a worm farm.
                                                            Theresa Levy, Director TheresaLevy@msn.com




Have a good idea you’d like to share? Send it with a photo to eca@ecaoffl.org