Printables

[mlc1982]

If you do printables (letter, shape, color, number coloring, tracing etc) do you send the sheet home with the child? Do you hang it up for a bit and then just recycle it? What do you do??

I was just thinking about this and planned on printing out a bunch of different sheets to use in the upcoming weeks. Then I thought of the cost to me to print - paper, ink - and wondered how well it would work to print a few of the same sheet, laminate them and then let the kids use dry erase markers on them. That way we should be able to use them over and over again, right?? Any experience with this???

[playfelt]

You can also just put the pages into the heavy duty page protectors. You can also use a crayon on the plastic and erase with a papertowel. One trick if you are going to laminate is to double laminate so the layer is stronger and thicker as it will take abuse as you erase constantly.

For things the kids make we hang them on the back of the front door - my front door is metal and I have strong magnets. We can stand at the gate to the area and see their art work hanging all day long and then it goes home at the end of the day. I also hang parent receipts, notes here too.

[Spixie33]

I have always printed them and sent them home at the end of the day.
It can add up though if you do a lot of them though

[playfelt]

Proabably a compromise is in order in the sense of some pages have 3 shapes to trace and that is it. Others you simply circle the correct answer and move on. Neither takes enough time to warrant the printing unless you are going to have the children do the work and then turn the page over and draw/scribble what they want. For the ages we deal with the worksheets are only minimally useful anyways. You could accomplish just as much using a magnet chalkboard or whiteboard. Put two seasonal pictures on the board and have the child draw a line from one to the other or from what in row one matches row two. Erase and let next child have a turn. You can also do the same with file folder type games. From the amount of artwork I see crushed in the bottom of backpacks I find it hard to believe that the parents are appreciative of the what you are printing. I would be inclined to rethink it's usefulness. If nothing else print in draft mode which will use the least amount of ink but still be dark enough to serve the purpose.

[KingstonMom]

does anybody have a good website they use for printables? thanks

[playfelt]

Invest in magnadoodle type toys or individual chalkboards. That way the kids can practice over and over. Some chalkboards even have the letters on them they can copy and then erase - see something like scholars choice or a teacher store.

Printing can get expensive and you have to wonder at our level if it is worth it. Probably I would do the erasable kind for most of the week and then on Friday do it on paper that goes home so the parents still get to see the progress week to week and they are not bombarded by paper to recycle. Anything that keeps our costs down is so worth it not to mention the environment.

For name cards print on cardstock and laminate TWICE for durability from constant erasing. Then they can trace over their names over and over. I have done this and put seasonal pictures at both ends such as a snowman and snowflake and then sent them home monthly for them to continue practice if they want.

http://www.kidslearningstation.com/tracing-lines/

Good site for sheets to put in page protectors and have them do. Once they can complete these they are ready to move on to actual letters.

Do a search but there are several websites that you can input the name/word and it will print out a dotted line for tracing. Can't remember off hand the sites though so if someone wants to list that would be great.

[jec]

http://www.education.com/worksheets/preschool/
Here is another great site

I always send things home with my kiddies as well as I have activities laminated that we play and learn with here too. I also have told my parents just because they don't see something come home doesn't mean that we aren't busy at play and learning during the day!

[Emily3]

Hi!

I just buy a whole book for $2 at Walmart for each kid! They work on a little bit each day. They have a lot of pride in their 'special writing book' and then take it home when they have completed each exercise!!

[sunnydays]

You can also get activity books at the dollar store. I usually pick through them to choose the pages that work for younger kids as some of it is geared toward older kids, but they are quite economical.

[Momof4]

I was using preschoolpalace.org and printing out letter and number and other printable pages. I stopped though for the reasons mentioned, the cost of ink and paper, and now I use the flashcards. This year I am cutting big letters, number, shapes, etc. out of construction paper and we are going from A-Z from Jan.-Aug. to prepare the kids going to JK. For A I cut a carrot with a little notch so they could stamp into red paint onto the big A's and it looked like little red apples. This week for the B's we glued bubble wrap on them. Next week for C's we will glue curly papers on and so on. I've made matching shape games with velcro on the backs on a bristolboard.