Cat's Out of the Bag

I have always been attracted to creative people-like a magnet. That's probably the main reason I became a teacher. My first inspiration was: my mom. She always took me to homemaking with her at church, and let me do whatever the "make & take" portion was. She also took me with her to Pampered Chef parties-where they create cute things with food-to Creative Memories or Stampin' Up parties, which speaks for itself. As a kid, I was always intrigued by watching her use her fantastic NIKON 35mm film camera & lenses (like the one I have now-but back then. I can still see the yellow "NIKON" logos on the neck strap :) -we had piles and piles of developed pictures to put in albums at our house! Over the years I've watched her sew NUMEROUS items for us kids & other friends & family. She always spoke words of encouragement about the sometimes "stupid" things I'd make, thus boosting my self esteem, which helped aid my creativity. When she would prepare her preschool lessons, it was me whom she'd employ to draw & color the visual aids, design her school logo & shirts, etc. and I was in Jr. High at the time. I loved watching her use toys & other manips to teach boring stuff to the kids. She always said, "little ones learn best through play, when they don't even know they are learning"-and then showed me what she meant as she led by example with her students. I LOVED doing my high-school practicums in her classroom. I gleaned WAY more than I realized. A fact in which I am incredibly grateful for! I have a very photographic memory, and to this day I am pulling things out of my memory bank from my time spent teaching with mom at "Lads 'n' Lasses Preschool".  Things like her: Schoolhouse Photo Window Classroom Management Chart, the example/non example Alphabet game, silly fun Halloween songs, Graduation video slideshows (though done with actual SLIDES & a projector back then), and most of all applying it all in real life through monthly field trips!
There have been so many people it's hard to list them all-but most everyone I've encountered in my life, I've placed some part of their creativity in my memory bank to pull out of my "bag of tricks" when needed.
Another creative inspiration has been Mike's mom. In high school I was certain that she hated me :) lol. I made a point of telling Mike that everyday for at least the first year we were dating. :) Even still-I didn't care if it was true or not-I loved going over to their house and seeing all the stuff she had made-or was in the process of making. It amazed me. To this day, there is ALWAYS a project going on at that house-and I LOVE that fact! Whether it is tole painting, making christmas ornaments, scrapbooking, sewing, little wood building projects, or introducing us girls to the latest "craft" sensation that she's gleaned from her yearly trips to Utah (that's where I learned about Vinyl lettering, the Cricut, etc.) She's always forwarding on cute ideas she's found on the web, teacher ideas & websites, etc. Kinder By Kim is still my favorite website she's passed on.
I have a billion teacher friends, whose ideas & creativity I like to use to spruce up my own preschool lessons with. Whether it's from their blogs, websites, emails, or from actually having the privilege of spending time in their classrooms. They are my colleagues and know they are more than welcome to use my ideas, or ask me to help come up with something. I use theirs-they use mine! It's fantastic. I am a HUGE believer in not having to reinvent the wheel. There are so many creative people out there who are willing to share the wealth and their talents that god gave them-my favorite past-time..."take it & tweak it." Yep-I'm a tweaker. Proud of it. Check out some of next years items to be tinkered with:

I'm going to call them "Special Agent Oso" cards for pre-reading activity & follow up...

letters in your name hats for Chicka Chicka Boom Boom....SUPER CUTE!

LOVE LOVE LOVE this one for Butterfly life cycle....a definite one for the file!

I'm going to have the Calendar helper add another bump to the Hungry Caterpillar body each day-for a 100 days of school visual. My master teacher did this one when I student taught-I totally forgot about it, but LOVED the idea when I came across it again.

Already excited for next year-but enjoying my summer while it lasts. Fall is my FAVORITE time of year! 

So to all of you out there whom I learn from....THANK YOU! I love ya bunches! There you have it-my secret is out of the bag...you didn't really think EVERYTHING I create was "just" my idea-did you??? lol