Save the Animals Fundraiser - Plan 2

January is finally over! And thus ends my first ever Save the Animals Fundraiser.  Overall, I thought it was a great idea and would love to do it again next year! 

+Raised circa $30 for Baby Emperor Penguins just in Penny Drive (not bad for 25 kids in a week!)

-Should have involved the 5 yr old room since it has a lot of my old students who we still spend a lot of time with and they were very interested in the fundraiser (maybe more than some of my own kids)

+Kids loved the "Penny Penguin" bank (pictured below) and bringing pennies!

-More reminders to parents! I sent out a mass email, note home, posted note on door, posted note by front office door, and hyped it up with kids and still have parents coming in every day saying they forgot to bring money or didn't realize it was a bake sale/party/event

+Kids learned about sharing. When I first mentioned that we would be saving up money to donate to the World Wildlife Foundation, I was actually really surprised that the overwhelming reaction was "NO! I am saving my money to buy new toys!" Hmmm...Our motto became "Give a little, Help a lot" and after I did some modeling of donating my own coins (and sharing with them to practice placing in the coin slot), they really started to get into it! My favorite moment came when one of my mom's told me she and her son picked out all the pennies from her piggy bank, and then he went to his and asked if he could give all his pennies, too! Yay!

-I'd love to find a more hands-on way for the kids to help.  We did bake sale activities, but the idea of helping by giving money was still very abstract.  Unfortunately, we don't do field trips. But it's a great idea for a different type of fundraiser or event...

Practicing placing coins in "Penny Penguin" (quarters were a bit tricky, but they got!).

I had to attack the penguin to get all the coins out.  Sorry.

We sorted and counted:

16 quarters

81 dimes (which we are still confusing with the word "diamond")

47 nickels

487 pennies (this is a bit iffy. the 5 yr olds recounted for us and got a lot more. but counting over 400 pennies is HARD with 4 yr olds!)

Busy sorting all the coins!

For my first class-only fundraiser - we did awesome! I'm so glad to all my students and families for donating and helping support not only the World Wildlife Fund, but their kids' learning!

Save the Animals Fundraiser - Plan 1

I've had Party Rock Anthem stuck in my head for the last month.  Seriously.  Every day I'm shuff-shufflling. Kids think I'm crazy.  Although it's better than having this song inappropriately stuck in my head...

With all that pop blowing my mind - I'm just glad it finally blew out my most recent epic idea - Save the Animals Fundraiser!

I haven't done a fundraiser since my college days (where I briefly considered making a living of cold calls, event organizing, and long hours of the Nonprofit Development World).  But I liked convincing people to give me my organization money.  How easy will it be to have 26 cutie kids asking their parents for money to support sweet little endangered animals?! It better be easy, because I just devoted the next 3 weeks to just that!

Not only will this teach my cuties about the animals, but cooperation, teamwork, sharing, and helping the environment! I wish we could take the kids on field trips or that I knew more people in the 'hood to come in and chat with us, but this will be a great start to the beginning!




Update:

The kids have voted ....(seriously, how cute are they! Every time I caught them doing a good deed they got a smiley face vote ticket - best manners I've seen all week!)

And Baby Emperor Penguin is the winner (by a landslide!).

Felt Car Plushie

Felt (3 or 4 squares plus scraps for details)

Needle/Thread

Fabric/Tacky Glue

Jon Scieszka really ought to be required reading for every 4 year old child.  I love him.

Since we already have a multitude of stuffed animals (more on them later!) in my classroom, this one was for my nephew, Mr. Manatee! 

A Humongous Thank You For An Amazing Tutorial Goes To Make-It and Love-It

Of course, I'm too cheap to own a sewing machine (slash haven't used one since 8th grade Home Ec), so mine is all home sewn. I sewed the wheels on with a basic button stitch (and then some inventive looping and more button stitching to ensure it'd stick).  The details to the face/window/hubcaps are all glued on with tacky glue (which was all I happend to have on hand).  It stuck amazingly...for about 30 seconds after being unwrapped by Mr. Moo.  Luckily it was the 3 year old who pulled it off and not the 1 year old - so I'll have to sew it on next time!  I've already got some purple fabric to make a little race car for Little Princess!

Kimochis!

I think I've fallen in love...with Kimochis!


As a Pre-K teacher, I am talking about feelings ALL the time! Sometimes very in-depth, sometimes very simply, and for some of my kids - through pictures.  Kimochis (or "feelings" in Japanese) are about helping children identify with their emotions and positively express their feelings.


Here's an awesome giveaway that explains more about the amazing Kimochis!

Baby Gear Today Kimochi Giveaway is an awesome chance for me to get these in my classroom!

Nursery Decorations

Nursery Decorations

Materials:

Picture Frames

Wrapping Paper

Modge Podge

Paintbrush

My co-worker is expecting Baby Girl and asked if I could help decorate the nursery.  Needless to say, I got a bit carried away...

This is an old busted picture frame that I tacky glued and then modge podged some beautiful wrapping paper over (thank you Target $1 section!).  Cut out some polka dots, stick 'em to some leftover construction paper (double-sided sticky tape and/or glue stick), and - adorable!

Co-worker had no idea what theme she wanted, so I went with nature. Polka dot nature.  Cut the dots into different sizes, and tie in the felt with the tree trunk.

I love felt.  Not sure if she'll end up using it as a wall hanging or a mobile, but I think it's adorable as either!  Freehanded the birds and branches, blanket-stitch, and stuffed with ripped up plastic bags (yea, I'm too cheap to buy stuffing...hopefully those will hold up!).

Eeee! 

Enjoy Baby Girl! 

Felt Leaf Bean Bags

Felt Leaf Bean Bags

Materials:

Fall colored felt 

Thread

Beans

I love fall! So pretty!

Seriously!

So easy! Cut out fall leaf shapes (I just freehand it), blanket-stitch around the edges, leave a little hole to fill in the beans, sew it up! 

As much as I love fall, I love these little guys! They are perfect for bribing my Pre-K'ers...
Clean up...here's a bean bag to throw into the basket
Listening...here's a bean bag to sit in your lap
Not listening...here's a bean bag "fidget buddy"
Getting noisy in here...time for a fun hand-eye coordination activity
Seriously, why did I never think of making bean bags for the classroom earlier?

Felt Memory Match

Felt Memory Match

Materials:

Felt (assorted colors)

Thread

Needles

Cut backing felt squares 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" and front felt squares 2" x 2".

Embroider matching pictures on 2" x 2" squares. Stitch onto one side of backing.

Blanket stitch around edges.  Sewing a basic straight stitch also works, but the blanket stitch is much snazzier (albeit time consuming).

Most fabulous felt bag for holding memory game pieces.

Embroider hearts, names, pictures, or leave it blank...all are adorable!

Lots of ideas - lots of fun!