Moore, Oklahoma Relief Effort

                  
My heart is so saddened for those who have suffered and who will continue to suffer from the tornado that devastated Oklahoma. As a mother, wife, sister, aunt, granddaughter, animal lover, and teacher, my heart goes out to you. May God's love and his angels encircle you with comfort at this time. My prayers and thoughts are with you.

I have donated my "Summer Activity Book" to Teacher's Notebook's Moore, Oklahoma Relief Effort.  This activity book is so much fun for all ages. Head on over to their website to see how you can help out by purchasing this amazing educational bundle donated by many shop owners. All proceeds go to the Oklahoma victims. God bless!

Free Design a Teacup Coloring Page and Tea for Ruby Book Review

Hi everyone! I am excited to be posting a new blog post. We moved again and boy, packing a home, unpacking a home, and everything that goes in between moving is a lot of work. However, we are getting settled and enjoying a normal schedule again.

I love teacups. Although I am not a tea drinker myself, I love the nostalgia and daintiness of teacups. I have a glass cupboard in my kitchen that displays a few of my favorite vintage teacups.

Feeling like my daughter's and I needed a little creative time, I decided to create this little "Design Your Own Teacup" printable. I even joined in on the fun and created a teacup after a flower bouquet that the school I teach at gave to me.

Little Red's Teacup (age 6)

 

                                                    Little Blonde's Teacup (age 8)

                                                   My Teacup (age-young at heart)

Now, I couldn't not share this darling printable with you as well. So, CLICK HERE to download and print your free copy of my "Design Your Own Teacup" activity. Please let me know if you have any troubles opening the document.

We wrapped things up by reading a book that has always been one of my daughter's favorites, Tea For Ruby, written by Sarah Ferguson (The Dutchess of York) and illustrated by Robin Preiss Glasser (illustrator of the Fancy Nancy Book Series).

Ruby tries to have good manners, however wherever she goes, messes seem to follow her. One day she receives a surprise invitation to have tea with the Queen! Ruby quickly realizes that she had better polish up her manners before she finds herself having tea with the Queen in the palace. Ruby practices her manners on the playground, she practices saying "please" and "thank-you" without talking with her mouth full of food, and more!

This is such a cute book with a fun surprise ending. I also ADORE Robyn Preiss Glasser's illustrations. Throughout the book it shows Ruby practicing her manners amongst royalty with beautiful detailed illustrations, and then it shows what Ruby really looks like while practicing her manners. We love this book and never get tired of reading it.

Head on over to my other blog, Artistically Shauna, for the most wonderful "Teacup Themed Round-up". I LOVE every item I have featured and I know you will too.

Have a great week.

President's Day Books, Activities, and Crafts for Kids

Monday is President's Day and I wanted to share with you a few things that my children and I plan on doing together during our day off of school.

President's Day Books
First of all, I love sharing holiday themed books with my girls. The President's Day Themed books we will be reading together from our home library are:

Click on the title of the book, author, or illustrator to find out more information about them.

My Teacher for President by: KayWinters and illustrated by: Denise Brunkus

Duck For President by: Doreen Cronin and illustrated by: Betsy Lewin
Don’t Know Much About the Presidents by Kenneth C. Davis and illustrated by: Pedro Martin

President's Day Activities
At the beginning of the month I was so excited to find out that I won Khrys Bosland's, from http://keepinitkoolinkinderland.blogspot.com/, "Let's Celebrate President's Day Unit". This unit is wonderful and full of a variety of activities. My daughter's are in Kindergarten and 2nd Grade and their are plenty of activities for us to do together that are age appropriate. Some of my favorites that I have printed and ready to do on Monday are the:

• George Washington and Abraham Lincoln Fact Sheets and Comparison Charts
• How Many Words Can You Make Using the Letters in "President"? activity
• President's Day Mini Book - 10 pages full of a lot of information that the girls can read themselves and color.
• and much much more...(See the picture below)

To get your own copy of this amazing unit that is over 100 pages, click here.

I also planning on using this FREE If I Were President...printable I made with my girls.

I created this printable in 2011, so I can't wait to compare my daughter's answers and drawings with the ones they did two years ago. I made this printable so that if you have older children they could write and or draw their answers, and younger children could draw their answers and you could write their responses for them. Either way, it is a fun, quick activity.

President's Day Crafts

I can't wait to have my daughter's try out MaryLea, from Pink and Green Mama's, President's Day Portraits. MaryLea's art lesson's are wonderful to use with kids.

                                                    Photo Copyright: pinkandgreenmama.com

Another fun craft that I think my girls will enjoy making since they love building things, are these cute Abraham Lincoln Cabins from Enchanted Learning.
                                          
                                               Photo Copyright: enchantedlearning.com

As soon as my girls do all of the activities above, I will make sure to update this post with pictures.

Want more ideas for President's Day? Visit my President's Day Pinterest Board by CLICKING HERE.

*If you have President's Day activities, art projects, lesson plans, books, etc. you have featured on your blog, let me know by leaving a comment below and I will add your link to this post.*

Take Care,

Weekend Super Sale - 50% off my Learn and Grow Designs Teacher's Notebook Shop

Head on over to my Learn and Grow Teacher's Notebook Shop for my big Super Sale Weekend. All of my educational and artistic items purchased are 50 % off. That means that everything in my shop is between $0.50-$3.00, with many free items as well!

The great thing about my Teacher's Notebook Shop is once you purchase a digital item, you will receive the item instantly.

Click the picture above to be taken to the sale or CLICK HERE.

Have fun shopping and remember that the sale ends on Feb. 3rd.



Here are a few fun items in my shop right now:

 Valentine Color Sort File Folder Game: Regular Price - $2.00 Sale Price - $1.00

4 Animal Puppets (the Viper Snake Puppet is perfect for Chinese New Year/Year of the Snake): Regular Price - $5.00 Sale Price  $2.50 You will receive both a black and white puppet and a colored puppet of each animal with this purchase.

 A-Z Printable Alphabet Coloring Book: Regular Price- $3.00 Sale Price $1.50

Let's Learn about Owls Unit: Regular Price- $4.00 Sale Price - $2.00

Valentine Color Sort File Folder Game and a Giveaway

Today I wanted to share with you my newest File Folder Game I have created, my "Valentine Sort File Folder Game". I created this file folder game with my little niece in mind. My sister and her daughter visited us about a month ago and my niece who is 3 had so much fun playing with our file folder games. With my niece in mind, I decided to make this fun color sort game where you get to deliver the colorful valentines to their matching colored mailboxes. Now I have to say, my daughters who are 6 and 8 years old have had a lot of fun playing this game too.

 My "Valentine Color Sort File Folder Game" is a great game for reviewing colors as well as practicing sorting similar items. I can't wait to send this game to my niece for Valentine's Day (if my sister is reading this right now, oops, I ruined the surprise). Of course making a new game gave me the excuse to draw some fun new illustrations as well(the letters and mailboxes).

So, I bet you want a copy of this fun and educational game for your little ones too?

Here are a few ways that you can get your own copy of this adorable game:

• Visit my Learn and Grow Designs Etsy Shop HERE where you can purchase this game for only $2.00. Amazing, I know!
• Visit my Learn and Grow Designs Teacher's Notebook Shop HERE where you can purchase this game as well for only $2.00.
• The first two people to leave a comment on this post and a way that I can contact you will receive this wonderful file folder game for free.
• Last but not least, you have another way of winning this game for free by entering my giveaway on Teacher's Notebook HERE. The giveaway runs from (Jan. 14th-Jan.18th).

I hope you all have a fabulous week.

Free Babysitter Information Printable and Babysitter Themed Booklist for Kids

Hello everyone. I hope that the first week of the new year has gone great for you. Today I wanted to share with you a "Babysitter Information Printable" that I created. I wanted to make printable that would be easy to fill out and that contained all of the information I felt was important to leave with our children's babysitters.

Babysitter Information Printable

I keep our "Babysitter Information Sheet" on the side of my fridge until I need to use it (that way I don't misplace it). Then when we actually have a babysitter I go over the information with them (even if they have babysat for me before) and then I leave it on our kitchen counter next to the phone.

CLICK HERE to download your own copy of this printable. Please let me know if you have any troubles with the link. I hope that this printable will benefit you. A friendly reminder that all the free printables shared on my blog are for personal use only.

Babysitter Themed Books

Here are a few fun babysitter themed books that my children have enjoyed reading at our home over the years. These books would be great for children that are being babysat for the first time, for babysitters to read to the children they are babysitting, and for children to read with their parents while having a discussion on how things went while they were babysat. We LOVE books in our home, so any chance I have to use them with my children, I do.

Fancy Nancy and the Sensational Babysitter by Jane O'Connor and Robin Preiss Glasser.

My girls have always loved any thing Fancy Nancy.

Just Me and My Babysitter by Mercer Mayer.

My sisters and I loved Mercer Mayer Books growing up and so do my girls. They are 8 and 6 years old and they still choose Mercer Mayer Books to be read to them. They have always loved finding the grasshopper and spider on each page. My 8 year old daughter also loves to read Mercer Mayer books herself to pass off for her Accelerated Reading Tests at school. We have quite the collection of these books in our home library.

Froggy's Best Babysitter by Jonathan London and Frank Remkiewicz

Oh the Froggy Series...another series my girls have always loved. You will definitely get some laughs with Jonathan London's froggy books.

Pirates Don't Change Diapers by Melinda Long and David Shannon

My oldest daughter actually had a Pirate Themed Birthday party this past year (that I need to share on this blog) so needless to say pirates books are another favorite in our house. This particular book is very funny and I love David Shannon's illustrations.

No Babysitters Allowed by Amber Stewart and Laura Rankin

This book is a sweet book that your children will enjoy reading, plus my girls are all about making forts!

The Berenstain Bears and the Sitter by Stan and Jan Berenstain

Berenstain Bears is another series I remember enjoying when I was younger and my girls enjoy now. There was something magical to me about living in a real tree house.

Five Little Monkeys Play Hide-and-Seek by Eileen Christelow

I am sure that at times our babysitters have felt like they were babysitting a house full of monkeys. My girls really get a kick out of this book.

Elmo's First Babysitter by Sarah Albee and Tom Brannon

I read this book to my oldest daughter right before she was babysat for the first time (that she would remember at least). It is a sweet book that goes through Elmo's fears of being babysat and then shows how in the end Elmo realizes being babysat is not that bad after all.



The old look of the Baby-Sitters club series.                   The new look of the Baby-Sitters club series.

Although these books aren't picture books, I had to throw in The Baby-Sitters Club Series by Ann M. Martin for nostalgia reasons. I can't tell you how much I LOVED these books when I was younger. I read all of the regular books, the Super Specials, and the mysteries. I was a HUGE fan. How about you? I still have all of my books and maybe some day my daughters might be interested in reading them as well. I hope!

I know that there are a lot more great babysitter themed books out there. What other books do you or your children love reading? I love hearing from my readers.

Take Care,

Top 12 My Shae Noel Posts of 2012

Happy New Years everyone! I hope that 2013 will be a year filled with much happiness and many wonderful memories for you. I look forward to a new year full of new adventures with my family, a new year of creativity, and a new year of growing and becoming a better person.

I thought it would be fun to look back over the year 2012 and see what the top 12 posts viewed were on "My Shae Noel Blog". Here they are: 

 

12. "Let's Learn about Penguins Unit" for Preschool through Elementary Aged Children

                                          

                                   

11. Penguin Painting, Literacy Activities, and Books part 3

 

                                       

 

10. Penguin Math Addition and Subtraction Games for PreK and Kindergarten

 

                                

 

9. 10 Vintage Children's Printable Puzzles FREEBIE

 

                               

 

8. Snowman at Night Art and Writing Activity, Snowman Math, Snowman Themed Books, and FREE Download

 

                              

 

7. Penguin Books, Crafts, Songs, and Activities Part 1

 

                           

6. Blank Gameboards/Reward Charts FREEBIES

 

                           

 

5. Book Report FREEBIES for Elementary Aged Students

 

                            

 

4. Dr. Seuss 10 Apples on Top Mini Book Craft FREEBIE

 

                                   

3. The Muffin Man Nursery Rhyme Puppet, Book, and Activities for Kids

 

                            

                             

2. My Winter Activity Book for Preschool to Elementary School Aged Children

 

                           

 

1. Dr. Seuss Cat and the Hat Craft Template FREEBIE

 

                          

 

I hope that you had fun looking back over the past year of top blog posts as much as I did. I look forward to all of the new blog posts for the new 2013 Year. Thanks so much to all of you who stop by my blog. It means a lot and I hope that your children enjoy all of the ideas, activities, and freebies I share with you. May God Bless you all and once again, "Happy New Year".