Mouse-shaped (paper bag) treat bags

Posted on February 5, 2012 by The SEEDS Network

I was playing with paper bags today. I was looking at some paper bags I had at home, thinking about Rachelle’s Creativity Challenge over at Tinkerlab … coming up with a child-directed project using paper bags. I love using paper bags to make BOOKS, and so the idea I submitted to the challenge was one that we did in preschool around Thanksgiving … making our Thankful Thanksgiving Books.

But while I was playing with the bags today … I thought I would share what I came up with for my daughter’s upcoming birthday party. She is having a Disney-themed party … so I kept thinking “mouse” … what can I make that looks like a mouse? I had these very cute small paper bags (3 1/2″ x 6 3/4″) and as I played around with it, I wound up making a small treat bag that looks like a mouse. Now, maybe it doesn’t look exactly like Mickey .. but put a bow on the top, and we definitely have the resemblance of Minnie!

To make the bags, I first cut about 2 1/2″ off the top of the bag to shorten it a bit. Then I had circle-oval shaped black foam pieces and used those for the ears. I glued those into the fold of the paper bag.

I cut oval shapes out of white cardstock, and then smaller black ovals for the eyes and nose. I used small piece of pink foam for the mouth, and finished off with a black marker for the whiskers. I found a Minnie bow clipart online, printed and cut out for Minnie’s bow.

You can fill the bag with small treats, and seal it up with glue.

Now, the question is … should I pre-make and fill these for my daughter’s party – or have the materials out for the children to make their own bags and then fill seal them before they leave? I’m a preschool teacher … so I’m thinking the latter!

A story about my heart

Posted on February 2, 2012 by The SEEDS Network

About 18 months ago I had heart surgery. Never in a million years did I think that at age 32 I would need to have surgery on my heart. For 20 years I was told I had a seizure disorder when in reality I was suffering from mini-stokes (TIA’s) that were being caused by two holes in my heart. I was born with the two holes; one known as a PFO and one called an ASD, but for 30 years went undetected. It was also discovered that I had a genetic blood clotting factor that causes my blood to clot too much. There was no doubt that I was gearing up for a major stroke…..my body was “the perfect storm.”

On July 27, 2010 that all changed. I took the biggest risk of my life and went through surgery to insert a closure devise that would “patch” both of those holes. The procedure itself was easy, the recovery for me was a little more of a challenge, but with lots of prayer and help, I got through it.

As a working woman, wife, mother of two, sister, and aunt, I never really thought of my heart health. I tried my best to take care of myself, but let’s face it; there are times when everyone else in the world comes first. Prior to my surgery I tried my best to eat healthy and get in exercise when I could, but with two small children, it was sometimes hard. It wasn’t until 2009 I began to take my health a little more seriously. I began to exercise more, eat better and then WHAM…..my doctor discovered my heart issue.

Since that moment my health has become a priority. I know that I could not successfully be a wife, mother, sister and boss if it weren’t for my health. We need to all make our health a priority EVERYDAY and not feel guilty about it.

During the weeks leading up to my surgery I became extremely nervous, so many thoughts would stream through my head. What if something awful happened during the procedure….what would my family do? Yet on the flip side, what if I didn’t go through the surgery and I suffered a catastrophic stroke, what would my family do? In reality we need to ask ourselves these questions all the time. If I don’t take care of my body and lead a healthy lifestyle…what could happen, how would this affect my family, my work, my life? You never know when a heart of other health issue is going to be discovered, no one has control over that. However, we all have control over the health decisions we make everyday and for those of us who take those decision seriously will be able to provide abundantly for those around us.

During the month of February (also known as “Heart Health Month”) – we are working to raise money and awareness for the American Heart Association through “The Heart Project“! More than 70 childhood bloggers have collaborated to create an eBook showcasing craft ideas all about HEARTS! The eBook will be your gift with every five ($5) dollar (U.S funds) donation to the American Heart Association throughout the entire month of February. Check out our link and view a preview of eBook and join in some fun auctions and free giveaways! We hope you will join all of us in our efforts to raise $1,000 by Valentine’s Day for the AHA!

The Heart Project Auction/Giveaway List

Posted on January 31, 2012 by The SEEDS Network

We are SO excited to be participating in this important fundraiser! In addition to “The Heart Book” – from now until Valentine’s Day, there will be some online auctions and giveaways each day to help raise additional funds for the American Heart Association. You are not required to donate in order to enter in any of these giveaways. We just want to help bring awareness to the American Heart Association.

Our collective group is working towards a goal of raising $1,000 for AHA by Valentine’s Day! We hope you’ll join us in the fun by participating in the following auctions and giveaways!

Auctions

Generous donations were received from Melissa & Doug and Fudoo Boards! These are up for auction on eBay – check them out and have fun bidding for a good cause!

Melissa & Doug – (4) Trunki & Teddy Bear Combos: Auction will run from 2/1-2/10, 2012

1. Trunki & Teddy Bear Combo 1
2. Trunki & Teddy Bear Combo 2
3. Trunki & Teddy Bear Combo 3
4. Trunki & Teddy Bear Combo 4

Fudoo Boards – (3) Fudoo Boards: Auction will run from 2/1-2/10, 2012

1. Fudoo board 1
2. Fudoo board 2
3. Fudoo board 3

Giveaways

The giveaways are going to be related to “The Heart Book” that an amazing group of over 70 bloggers have contributed to. Some giveaways will be of projects featured in the book or materials to make the project yourself. Other giveaways are products donated by sponsors … and it all culminates on February 14th with the GRAND PRIZE – a printed version of “The Heart Book”!

Pop back here each day throughout February and check out that day’s giveaways on each of the following blogs:

And here is the impressive list of all the bloggers participating in “The Heart Project”!

hands on : as we grow	♥	A Little Learning for Two	♥	Among Many Blessings
Angelique Felix	♥	At Home with Ali	♥	Broken Treasures
Busy at Home	♥	Busy Kids Happy Mom	♥	Carrie Saindon’s Photo Journey
Child Central Station	♥	Classified: Mom	♥	Classroom Magic
Creative with Kids	♥	Creativity My Passion	♥	Critters and Crayons
De Tout et de Rien	♥	Dilly-Dali Art	♥	Dinosaurs & Octopuses
Excited 2 Learn	♥	Hand Over the Cookies	♥	Handprint & Footprint Art
Happy Hooligans	♥	Heart Journey	♥	Imagination Soup
Jamie’s Jumble	♥	Kitchen Counter Chronicles	♥	Kreative Resources
Let Kids Create	♥	Little Illuminationss	♥	Living Montessori Now
Loudness of the Lambs	♥	Love and Lollipops	♥	Mama, hocemo nesto da pravimo
Mama Pea Pod	♥	Mama Smiles	♥	MemeTales
Messy Kids	♥	Mindful Meanderings	♥	Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas
Mommy Labs	♥	Mommy Perks	♥	Mum Paints Lives
Mummy Mummy Mum	♥	My Creative Family	♥	NurtureStore
One Artsy Mama	♥	Peace Love & Rainbows	♥	Play Dr Mom
Putti Prapancha	♥	Rainbows within Reach	♥	Reading Confetti
Ready. Set. Read!	♥	Red Ted Art	♥	Sense of Wonder
Share & Remember	♥	Stacy Molter	♥	Sun Hats & Wellie Boots
Teach Preschool	♥	The Artful Child	♥	The Chocolate Muffin Tree
The Craft Barn	♥	The Educators’ Spin on It	♥	The Golden Gleam
The Imagination Tree	♥	The Iowa Farmer’s Wife	♥	The Joy of My Life
The Kids Fun Review	♥	The Outlaw Mom Blog	♥	The Preschool Toolbox
The SEEDS Network	♥	Toddler Approved

Children helping children one meal at a time

Posted on January 29, 2012 by The SEEDS Network

My family just came back from a wonderful event hosted by our church where we packaged meals for families in Kenya, Africa. Hundreds of people from all ages came and volunteered to pack food – from our church, our preschool and our community. It was AWESOME! It was beautiful to see families, boy and girl scout troops, lacrosse teams, EVERYONE … all working together!

And what a great example to show our children how people can come together to help others, and that they can make a GLOBAL impact.

They are NOT too little to help.
They are NOT too little to let someone know that they care.
They are NOT too little to begin to understand that there are others in need.

I loved seeing families from our preschool at this event! The children were so proud to be able to help, and even to see some of their teachers there too (hair nets and all)! Think about what an impression it must make on a child to see their parents, older siblings, teachers and others working together for people in another country. And that THEY can help too! Yup, these preschoolers were able to scoop and measure salt, dried vegetables, lentils and rice and see that get packaged in a bag. They were able to decorate and write messages on the boxes that the food got packed in. They were able to save up their allowance and learn that each quarter they contributed meant one meal for a hungry child.

They LEARNED that they can make a difference.

The organization which we worked through is called Feeding Children Everywhere. Their mission is to “to empower and mobilize people from all walks of life to help meet one of our most basic needs: FOOD. Through passion, education,inspiration and a little hard work, together we can make a global difference.”

Schools and other groups can work with “Feeding Children Everywhere” to organize events like the one we had here in Connecticut. If your school/group can’t organize a large scale event – how about fundraising and make a group donation? How about helping hunger issues locally by collecting donations for your town’s food pantry?

What are some other tangible and creative ways that you can teach your child/children in your class about helping others?

The changing landscape of early childhood in CT

Posted on January 23, 2012 by The SEEDS Network

I belong to a group consisting of area directors; our primary focus is to provide affordable professional development opportunities to our staff. At our November meeting a couple of directors voiced their concern over loss of enrollment due to public, magnet and charter preschool opportunities being offered in their area. We decided to invite Senator Beth Bye(in photo) to our next meeting in order to help us all better understand our state’s view on early childhood education and hopefully help us better plan for our program’s futures.

A few days ago, I was that meeting and I have to say that I was pleased with the Senator’s candidness as well as her genuine empathy for each of our programs. There is no doubt that our state wants to provide quality early education to all, but struggles with a system that would adequately provide this. Beth explained that a leader will be appointed soon, and will be charged with the enormous task of beginning to organize a more efficient, equitable, and user friendly system for early childhood education in the state of CT. In the meantime however, many of us in the group continue to face the threat of losing families to lower costing program offerings, some that are offered for free. Furthermore, we feel saddened by the fact that these programs are not always accredited and/or required to follow department of public health regulations like we are. These less expensive programs may not be offering the quality of care that we private programs offer, yet in a time of recession, parents will more often then not, choose the less expensive option.

I feel that Senator Beth Bye truly understands our concerns. Beth has worked as a child care director and has experienced many of the challenges of running an early childhood program. She clearly understands the business end of directing a program as well as aspects needed to offer a quality early childhood experience.

“What would you do if you were the director of a private program?”

We asked this question of Senator Bye…and I was impressed with her response.

1) She encouraged us to be a presence within our local board of education as well as our state government.

2) She suggested becoming affiliated with advocacy groups and to be a voice for private programs.

3) Most importantly, she encouraged us to look at our programs and assess what we do best, what makes us different from magnet/public school programs, and to not be afraid to promote those strengths within our community.

4) She also empowered us to look at ways of offering new levels of care and programmingin order to offer activities that public/magnet schools can not.

When Senator Beth Bye left our meeting, the group felt overwhelmed yet inspired and empowered, supported and united. We, as a group, have a plan to look at ways of voicing our views at the town and state level and personally I think we each felt a sense of direction on how to lead our own programs into the future.

Early education is an evolving system within our state and I’m sure the same goes for other states in our country. Today I learned a valuable lesson in connecting with those in government who share the same passion and devotion as I, and I walk away feeling inspired to continue to work hard in this field.

Snowman pancakes

Posted on January 21, 2012 by The SEEDS Network

First … here’s my disclaimer – I can take absolutely NO credit for this idea. Outside our window this morning is the first significant snow of the winter (unusual for here in Connecticut). So, my 6 year old bounces down the stairs with big plans of what she’ll do outside later today. And then, it hits her … “Hey, maybe Daddy can make me a snowman pancake with chocolate chips. He can make one big circle and then a smaller one and smaller one!”. (Notice how she said “Daddy” would make the pancakes … that is his usual Saturday morning job. What a good girl!).

So after Daddy braves the snow to go out and buy pancake mix (“what a good Daddy”) – he sets out to make these. Putting the chocolate chips on before he flips them … it looks like this:

After it flips, it didn’t look quite as snowman-ish (hence, he wouldn’t let me take a picture). So now, I try to get into the act and suggest we put on chips afterwards … so here’s my attempt at a snowman face:

I used some red food coloring gel for the nose – it was all we had available. Other alternatives to decorate the snowman would be to use M&Ms, raisins, blueberries and maybe cut a strawberry or small orange slice for the nose!

Any other suggestions on what could be used instead that would taste good with the pancake?

No matter … before we could come up with other topping choices, the pancakes were gone!!

What is the teacher expense deduction?

Posted on January 19, 2012 by The SEEDS Network

Below is the second post which provides tips on tax deductions for pre-kindergarten teachers from financial consultant, Steven Daar. Please read through to fully understand the “teacher expense deduction”, and what pre-kindergarten teachers can/cannot deduct. (And if you think it’s unfair, there’s a call to action at the bottom!)

The Teacher Expense Deduction:

This deduction is one I believe pre-kindergarten teachers get the short end of the stick. The IRS allows educators to deduct $250 each year for money spent on teacher or classroom supplies and materials. However, this deduction is only provided for K-12 teachers and not pre-school teachers.

What pre-kindergarten teachers are allowed to do is this: if they itemize their deductions on Schedule A of their tax form (rather than taking the standard deduction), they may deduct expenses that are in excess of 2% of their adjusted gross salary. For example: if your adjusted gross salary is $25,000, you can only claim a deduction on your expenses that exceed $500. If you spent $700 on classroom materials, you could then deduct $200.

This is inherently unfair as pre-kindergarten teachers have out of pocket classroom expenses just as K-12 teachers do, but K-12 teachers get a deduction on the first $250 they spend but pre-K teachers only get a tax break if they spend more than 2% of their salary on classroom materials, which is hard to do! Not only that, but the K-12 teachers get the deduction on the Form 1040 rather than on Schedule A. Translation: No matter whether you itemize or take the standard deduction, expenses reported on the Form 1040 are granted a tax deduction. This means the K-12 teachers get the tax break no matter what while pre-K teachers needs to both:

A) Spend over 2% of their salary on classroom expenses and
B) Take itemized deductions over the standard deduction on their taxes

I do have some good news on this though! There is currently a bill in Congress that extends the Teacher Expense deduction through 2017 AND offers it to pre-K teachers in addition to K-12 teachers. It is the Teacher Tax Deduction Enhancement Act of 2011. The bill is currently in a House of Representatives committee. I suggest you write or email your senators & district’s congressperson to help get this bill passed and allow our pre-K teachers to take what is probably the most useful teacher deduction. (Visit this site writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml as one method of contacting your representative.)

As mentioned in the post Pre-K teacher tax deductions – in order to accurately be able to take these deductions, you need to keep your receipts for job-related expenses. When it comes time to fill out your taxes, either bring the receipts to your accountant/tax preparer. Or if you prepare your own tax forms, use the receipts to add up the amount of money you spent on job-related expenses.

Did you find this information useful to you?

Do you want to learn more about financial issues affecting early educators (such as what are some of the best retirement plans)? Let us know via comment or email so we can get this information to you!

Steven Daar is a graduate from the University of Illinois in Urbana – Champaign’s Business School with a degree in Finance. Steven Daar has put together many articles for teachers at his website teachersretirementhelp.com.

Pre-K teacher tax deductions (part 1)

Posted on January 19, 2012 by The SEEDS Network

Below is the first in a series of posts to provide tips on tax deductions for pre-kindergarten teachers from financial consultant, Steven Daar.

The New Year brings about a lot of exciting & promising things. Taxes are not included in that group. But they are going to have to be paid one way or the other and if you want to keep a little more of the money in your bank account as opposed to going to a video game preservation center in New York (one of 100 examples US Senator Tom Coburn points out in his report of unnecessary projects the federal government spends on), I have a few tax deductions available to pre-kindergarten teachers you can utilize to do just that.

The Deductions:

1) The first one is you can deduct any dues you pay for any professional organizations related to your career (the NAEYC or NAECTE for example as well as a teachers union).

2) If you pay out of pocket to obtain a license or certification, you may deduct those costs as well. In this case, I am referring to a first aid certification or CPR certification. So long as having this license or certification is necessary or better equips you to teach you class you may deduct the cost.

3) When traveling to any training session or conference that is related to your career, you can deduct your mileage as well as hotel expenses as well as 50% of your food expenses. If you pay for training or continuing education courses, those expenses are tax deductible as well.

4) A fun tax deduction (if such a thing exists) is that if you give birthday or holiday gifts to co-workers or other school employees, you may deduct up to $25 for each gift you give.

5) You may also deduct any charitable deductions that you make (that is true for anyone, not just for teachers). This includes donations you make to your school (whether it is a gift of new books to the school library or a monetary donation to help the school fund a project). Note: You may only take this deduction if you teach at a public school or a private school that is set up as a non-profit.

All of the above deductions are taken on Schedule A of your tax form. That means the deductions only count if you itemize your tax deductions rather than take the standard deduction.

Record Keeping:

To accurately be able to take these deductions, keep your receipts for job-related expenses. Have a specific folder, envelope, or file for these receipts. When it comes time to fill out your taxes, either bring the receipts to your accountant/tax preparer. Or if you prepare your own tax forms, use the receipts to add up the amount of money you spent on job-related expenses. Note that you may not include any expenses for which you were reimbursed by your employer.

Check back with us tomorrow as we learn about the “teacher expense deduction“.

Financial expert just for preK teachers

Posted on January 18, 2012 by The SEEDS Network

This month, we are sharing a new feature on our blog, especially for prekindergarten teachers. With income tax season coming up, we have a unique opportunity to share some expert advice on the subject – geared towards early childhood teachers. Sharing his expertise with us this month is Steven Daar from Teachers Retirement Help.

Steven Daar is a graduate from the University of Illinois in Urbana – Champaign’s Business School with a degree in Finance. While taking a personal finance class his Junior year, he knew he wanted to spend his working life improving people’s finances and retirements.

Steve noticed many teachers were either receiving poor advice or no advice on their finances. Because of this (and because all of the many amazing teachers he had throughout his school years), he decided to learn everything he could about personal finance as it relates to teachers and help as many as he possibly could.

He has spent the past year and a half studying personal finance specifically for teachers. This includes many exciting hours studying the tax codes & the laws that govern teacher retirement plans and their potential tax deductions. He has also met or spoken with the top teacher-specific financial advisors across the country. These financial advisors were incredibly generous with their time, knowledge, & expertise. In addition to learning from these authorities face-to-face, Steven has read over 10,000 pages worth of books, studies, & articles by some of the world’s leading finance and investing experts.

Through these many hours of learning, Steve has put together many articles for teachers at his website teachersretirementhelp.com – in addition to the guest posts that we will be featuring on our blog this month. Check out Steve’s series of posts on tax tips for pre-kindergarten teachers!

Making a mural for MLK Day in preschool

Posted on January 17, 2012 by The SEEDS Network

Today our preschool classes made an “I have a dream” mural to commemorate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day today. Before we made the mural, we read a story and had a discussion about who Dr. King was and why we celebrate his birthday.

We started by reading The Story of Martin Luther King Jr. by Johnny Ray Moore, which tells of Dr. King’s life in an easy to understand way for young children. This book comes in a board book version, so I photocopied and enlarged a few of the pages for the children to see.

Next, we talked about Dr. King’s dream for all people to be treated equally. Then we had each child dictate his or her “dream” that would make the world a better place and we wrote them on little white clouds.

We cut a large piece of white easel paper for our mural, and put out various skin tone tempera paints. Then we painted our hands and put our handprints all over the mural paper. We encouraged the teachers to get in on this as well! Once dry, we attached our dreams (along with Dr. King’s dream) to our mural. Just beautiful!

Now visit a few other childhood bloggers who have posts to share about Martin Luther King Jr:

Happy Birthday Daddy + Martin (Rainbows within Reach)

“I have a dream” DREAM Catchers (Rainbows within Reach)

MLK Day ideas (Little Illuminations)

A few more MLK Day ideas (Little Illuminations)

A taste of colored water (The Corner on Character)

A review of “Martin’s Dream” by Jane Kurtz + printable (The Wise Owl Factory)

Montessori Inspiration for Martin Luther King Day (Living Montessori Now)