squirrel sticks

We have crazy squirrels in our backyard, ones who have tried repeatedly and failed repeatedly to make a nest in our now-infamous swing tree. Each time their nest fails, a million tiny sticks are left in our yard. Today, as we've done many times, we had to clean up their mess. This time, however, we worked hard and played hard--with the squirrel sticks, that is.

• Squirrel Sticks: I set Maddy, Owen, and Cora to work gathering the sticks in the yard so that no one would fall on them--honestly, there's that many some days. Today Maddy and Owen were determined to try out their new soccer cleats and kick around the ball, so we had to have a clean "field" first.

We put them in a pile by the sandbox, and Maddy held up a funny-looking stick and said, Hey, here's a 'y'!! And so the fun began. . .

I said, Let's use the sandbox lid as our paper and make our names with sticks. Maddy already has the 'y'. Let's use the squirrel sticks to build the rest of the letters to Maddy's name.

So that's what we did. While Owen ran back and forth dribbling the soccer ball in his new cleats, Maddy and I spelled her name and Cora's name--not perfectly, of course--but the best we could. And we spelled 'Mom' and 'Dad', since we had the letters already.

Just a little bit of letter practice on this fantastically sunny day (woo-hoo!), using the sticks already spread around our yard by the not-so-smart squirrels. It was a Wikki stix-meets-Building Letters-meets-the Great Outdoors-kind of learning.

a little bit of m & d l-o-v-e

Fun, fun, fuuuuunn games were played over here today, and it was awesome to see how differently my kiddos used them.

The very cool thing about these three toys from my most favorite company in the world is that even though they all are geared toward children, ages 3 and older, Cora (who just turned 2) was just as interested in them as her 5 and 3-year-old siblings. And all of my children played with one of toys from the time they were babies.

The company is Melissa & Doug, and they are the makers of incredible children's educational toys and products. I totally heart them and I swear I don't--but I secretly wish I did--work for them.

• Latches Board: I've seen this board in a ton of my friends' homes, but we finally landed one for ourselves, and it's wild to see how differently Maddy, Owen, and Cora play with it. Six doors, numbered 1-6, are each a different color and have different animals hiding behind them. Cora focuses not on locking the doors but what animals are behind the doors; Owen was counting the animals behind the doors and locking and unlocking them, and Maddy was trying to lock them as well. It's great for color work, counting, and hand-eye coordination.
  

• Wooden Tool Kit: We've had this little tool kit ever since Maddy was about a year old, and it's still hanging in there, looking great, despite the hard play it's endured from three kids and countless little friends banging away at it. It's really just a simple toolbox--complete with a hammer, screwdriver, wrench, and a number of other screws, nuts, and other parts. My kids love it and use it to "fix" our other "broken" toys, tables, and chairs. It's the kind of toy that can occupy a little person's attention for a long while, and it's one that my children have used from the time they were teeny-tiny--and will use--for a long time.
  

• Mailbox: No joke this toy is crazy awesome. It's a mailbox with 6 pieces of mail and interchangeable stamps. There are three sorting slots on the top of the box and a key to open the door.

Cora loves to sort the mail on through the slots, then open the door and empty the box, then do it all over again and again. Owen likes to put the stamps on the mail and try to fit them through the slots then mix them up and repeat. Maddy has had a ball trying to read the mail, and the colorful artwork and writing on the mail pieces is actually very funny--Maddy really gets the giggles when we read who sent the mail and where it's going.

I've mentioned before that we're Melissa and Doug crazy over here, and today was no different. I have a special place in my heart for a company that makes smart, creative, strong toys for my three favorite smart, creative, strong little people.

m-u-d & b-o-o-t-s-- boots!

Mud. It was everywhere today, thanks to the generous amount of rain we've had for the last few days. And my smart little Maddy remembered me telling her a story about one of my most favorite days ever growing up--the day my mom let me play in mud.

So today, Maddy, Owen, and Cora donned their boots (okay, Cora won't wear boots--she wore her Crocs ), and they played in mud.

They played in mud for a long, long time. They splashed near the swings. They dug in the soggy sand, they transferred mud from puddle to puddle, pile to pile, and they made mud pies. Owen collected worms and then hid them under a huge sandy castle. Maddy rolled her pants up to her thighs and splashed until her little legs were soaked. They both took turns running, jumping, and racing to the swings.

Cora ran with Baby to the swings but cried when her toes got muddy and Baby's face got splashed and dirty. Then Maddy's legs got cold and her pants too heavy, and she cried because she wanted a change of clothes. Then the wind picked up and we had to clean up the yard--fast!--because we thought a storm was coming. Then Owen cried because he was the last one upstairs for a bath. And it all was all downhill until everyone was warm and toasty and dry again.

It was a backyard mud fest here for awhile, all in the name of a little bit of science learning for the day. . .

chalk, chalk, and more chalk

Today we all were totally re-couping from an amazing night at The Greatest Show on Earth, a super-fun treat on a school night for us. We had a chance to attend the Ringling Bros. show in Baltimore, take pictures with some of the performers in a meet-and-greet beforehand, and essentially witness Maddy and Owen stare in wide-eyed awe at what is certainly not the circus that I remember from my childhood.

So after a busy morning at preschool, we took it easy. We created a few pages in our Alphabet Books, we read through a bunch of our library books, we paged through our complimentary (huge, gorgeous, and glossy) Ringling Bros. Special Edition Circus book.

• Talking & Listening: We talked about our favorite parts of the circus, and we showed Cora all the pictures. Using the book as a reference was a great way to spark Maddy and Owen's memories of the show and have them try to elaborate and explain the show to Cora. (It's also a sneaky way of practicing speaking and listening, important parts of the balanced literacy framework!)

After rest times, we took a short walk and headed outside. And then we experimented with chalk.

• Chalk: Maddy found a piece of sidewalk chalk that had been left outside in the rain for the last few days, and she became totally excited when she realized that it wrote much differently as a wet and soggy piece of chalk than a dry one. We found another piece, so we smeared, squished, flattened, and spread the pink and blue chalks until they disappeared, and everyone's hands were stained. Maddy, Owen, and Cora drew anything and everything they wanted--racetracks, rainbows, stars, trees, and maps of the planets. I asked questions, helped if they asked me, and praised their hard work.
  

And that's (yawn!) it for today. Only a teeny-tiny bit of learning squished into our super-sleepy Friday.

swing, swing, the wonderful swing

While I was out of town with Maddy a few weekends ago, my husband was busy not only caring for Owen and Cora, he was also busy building the most incredible tree swing in the universe. It is probably about 25 feet high, which means that it has the most wide swing stretch ever.

Needless to say, Maddy, Owen, and Cora love it. They all race to it when we go outside, and they talk about it when they're not on it. I have had to devise ways of demonstrating fair play and turn-taking (arm circles and day designations do not always cut it) while sneaking little ways of learning in along the way. . . all the while praying to myself that I don't have a heart attack watching my babies soar into the clouds.

Here are some ways that help us to take better turns on the swing:

• Counting: The old-school way usually cuts it, but not after we've counted to 10 fifty times already in one day. We've tried to mix it up by having one person's turn end after the swinger counts backwards, 5-1, counts in Spanish, and (this is totally crazy) counts backwards in Spanish.

• Spelling: Sometimes turns are over after a swinging kiddo spells first and last names (we help each other out and yell out a letter with each push), sometimes we spell our family's names, our friends' names, or our neighbors' pets' names (no joke).

• Rhyming: The waiting person calls out a word and the swinging kid calls out a rhyming word with each push, or we all take turns yelling a rhyming word with each push.

• Grouping: The waiting person calls out any word (colors, sports, cars, tv shows) and the swinging person yells out words that go with that topic with each push. (This is very hard for younger ones unless the topic is 'cars' which just happens to be Owen's area of expertise, and I'm talking Lightening McQueen characters here, not models of cars.)

And so it goes, in our backyard, on sunny--I should say any day that's not rainy--days. No wonder we're so popular in our 'hood . . .

trying to keep smiling: quick trick, arm circles

Arm circles. What are they? They're both a distractor and a way for two little ones to try to work out sharing issues. And they make me laugh sometimes when Maddy and Owen initiate it on their own--I know, I'm horrible.

I watched Maddy's preschool teachers do this, and ever since my kiddos could count to 10 on their own, I've used this Quick Trick occasionally with Maddy and Owen.

• Arm Circles: If Maddy has a toy that she's been playing with for a while and Owen wants a turn, here's how the ideal arm circle conversation goes:

Owen: Maddy, can I please play with that (whatever it is)?
Maddy: Absolutely!
Owen: How many arm circles should I do?
Maddy: Do 15 arm circles, and it's yours.
Owen: Okay. (He then makes a huge circle with his arm, counting from 1-15 in a normal pace).
Maddy: (Hands Owen the toy.)
Owen: Thanks!
Maddy: Sure--no problem!

Like I said, that's ideal. Here's how it usually goes:

Owen: Maddy, can I have that (whatever)?
Maddy: No, I have it.
Owen: Please, Maddy?
Maddy: No. I'm using it.
Owen: (Desperately, whiny) How many arm circles should I do?
Maddy: A hundred.
Owen: No! Choose 1 to 30 (FYI: 30 has become our limit, the highest Owen can count on his own)!
Maddy: A hundred and thirty.
Owen: Maaaaddddddyyyyy!
Maddy: Fine. 30.
Owen: (Swinging his arm wildly in fast circles and speed counting) Onetwothreefourfivesix. . . .

Just a little something to keep in your pocket. Some days it really does work and solves the never-ending toy-sharing issue in our house. Other days, it's my little comic relief. I'm really looking forward to the day that Cora gets in on the fun.

let's read, baby, read!

March is National Reading Month, since March 2 marks the birthday of Dr. Seuss (Theodor Geisel was born on March 2, 1904).

I am an admitted not-so-big Dr. Seuss fan, but I am a lover of books and reading, and I love any reason to celebrate. I think that a month set aside to celebrate reading is pretty darn cool, so I'll celebrate by sharing how we show our love of books at our house. . .

Here are some easy things we do--and anyone can do--to try to create a literate environment in our home:

• Literate Environment: We keep books everywhere. They are shoved into an old Brookstone car organizer between Maddy and Owen's booster seats, they are in their side compartments; books are shoved into the pocket in front of Cora's car seat. They are in the bottoms of our strollers, in diaper bags and purses, in our bathtub and outside on our porch.

• We read the paper every morning, and we subscribe to several magazines. It's a treat when Your Big Backyard or High Five comes in the mail for Maddy, Owen, and Cora.
  

• We send letters to our friends and ask them to send replies back (there's nothing like getting real mail for little ones!).

• Books of all genres overflow shelves in Maddy, Owen, and Cora's rooms, and we head to the library a few times each month to borrow more.
  

• I've been known to search through tables of books at yard sales and look forward to Montgomery County General Hospital's Book Booth every year to pick up dozens of books at discount prices--and the proceeds all go to a great cause.
  

• Our extended family picks up books at sales for the children all the time, and they are the ones who bought magazines subscriptions for them as gifts. (What a great gift?!)

• Maddy and Owen often trade books with friends, and we hold book swaps at occasional MOMS Club meetings.
  

• My husband and I read our own magazines, newspapers, or books in front of our kiddos and talk about what we're reading with each other and with the children.
  

Studies show that "literacy in its emergent forms begins even earlier than prekindergarten" and that children's ability to read is related to "skill development, not aptitude" (from Strickland, D.S., Morrow, L., Neuman, S.B., Roskos, K., Schickedanz, J.A., & Vukelich, C. (2004, September). The Role of Literacy in Early Childhood Education. The Reading Teacher, 58(1), 86–100.

The research cited in the above article also found that caregivers (parents, grandparents, daycare providers, preschool teachers, etc.) can support, enrich, and broaden the minds of emergent readers by:

1. creating print-rich environments;
2. having a "cozy" area where children can sit and read comfortably;
3. having a literacy-related play areas (tablets, notebooks, paper and writing utensils available);
4. encouraging interactive reading discussion times (Interactive Reading is so simple. Instead of simply reading to children, parents can "stop, ask questions, encourage discussion of ideas, raise new questions based on children's comments, and generate a participatory role in reading";
   
5. creating mealtimes where children and adults engaged in meaningful conversation;
6. having small group activities (or just times set aside now and then) where children work on basic reading, writing, working on math concepts, etc.

Feel free to comment and share your family's ways of creating a literate environment! Let's share the ways we're trying to sneak in a little bit of learning every day. . .

road trip full o' fun

I traveled yesterday, so I needed some big-time engaging activities for Maddy, Owen, and Cora while I drove. We (gulp!) don't have a DVD player in our van, so I had to get creative. I had 3-3 1/2 hours of driving time to fill, so here's what I planned:

• Lunch: I packed a lunch for Maddy and Owen and fed Cora before we left. They love a packed lunch as long as it involves tiny snack bags and cheese sticks. And eating on the road eats up a bit of traveling time.
  

• Backpacks: Maddy, Owen, and Cora all have backpacks that they take on long car trips. Inside I put a bunch of books (new and exciting ones--different than the ones that are always in our car), a tablet and their pack of crayons, a bag of stickers, and some small toys.

• Electronics: We (gulp again!) also don't have a Leapster yet or any of those small Leapfrog toys, so I packed Maddy's mp3 player and Owen's Little Einsteins computer. They used them solo for a while then switched.
  

• Games/ Activities: In each backpack, I put a blank ABC Hunt and a Number Hunt Card (same concept but with numbers 1-20). I clipped a few sheets of stickers to each card so that when we decided to play, the stickers were right there.

• Small Magna Doodles: I bought mini Magna Doodles when I saw them for next to nothing in some post-holiday sales. Sometimes if Maddy, Owen, and Cora have them in the car, we take turns calling out a letter or an object (ball, apple, sunshine, etc.) and have everyone draw it, or we play guess the letter or object and we have the kiddos take turns trying to stump everyone. Of course, it's easier for Maddy and Owen, but at least Cora's trying. . .
  

• ABC Tablets: On small tablets that we had sitting around the house, I wrote each letter of the alphabet at the top of the first 26 pages. Then I wrote the numbers 1-10 on the next 10 pages. Once all of my other resources had expired, I had Maddy and Owen take out these tablets and draw a picture of something that began with the letter on the page ("apple" under A, "ball" under B, etc.). Or, if they wanted, they could find a sticker to put under the letter or write a word they knew that began with that letter. On the number pages, they could put that number of stickers underneath or draw the designated number of balls, hearts, smiley faces, etc. They really, really liked this but only made it through a few of the pages. Fun for the ride home!
  

Travel is never easy, but when I plan ahead just a tiny bit and have activities for when they need them, it helps make the ride more enjoyable for everyone. And a small stash of lollipops always helps ease the pain when tiny passengers get antsy!

What we didn't use on the ride yesterday will definitely help the ride home go more smoothly tomorrow. Happy Travels!

alphabet spin

We had rain, rain, rain once again, which will hopefully mean that the flowers will be more beautiful than ever here in Maryland. Maybe? I can hardly wait for some outside color-matching activities. . .
Anyway, today was a pretty good afternoon for indoor games.

Once Cora went down for her nap, I let Maddy and Owen choose which game they wanted to play before their rest times--Alphabet Egg Puzzles, Rhyme Bingo, Rhyme Sorts, or Alphabet Spin. Owen choose good ole Alphabet Spin. I don't think I've mentioned it here before, so here's what it is:

• Alphabet Spin: This is yet another resource from Bear's Words Their Way . . . (2004), and we've played it several times now. I am convinced that little kids really love any game with a spinner, so Maddy and Owen both enjoy this one.

The concept is simple: match uppercase and lowercase letters A-I. (Alphabet Spin II has the second half of the alphabet.) Uppercase letters A-I are printed on the spinner board, and lowercase letters are on about two dozen tiny cards. A person spins, says the letter that the spinner points to, then searches for that lowercase letter. The first few times we played, we lined the cards up so that they were all facing the same way. Now, we just spread them around the spinner board. It's funny for them if we stick some of them in the carpet so they stand up--hey, whatever works, right?

The tricky part is when you get to the end of the game, since most cards have been taken, since the winner is the person with the most cards in the end.

I love that this game includes only half of the alphabet, especially because little ones usually confuse b/d and p/q. I also love that i/j are separated and that Alphabet Spin I & II each have half of the alphabet.

With this game, we do a lot of comparing--when someone gets a B or a D, someone locates a lowercase b and d and holds them next to each other so the person can choose more easily, and we always help each other out if need be. It seems to be just enough of a challenge and not too, too overwhelming for them.

That's it--that's our little bit of learning for the day. Now, rain, rain, go away.

creepy crawly backyard friends

Yesterday, being St. Patrick's Day, was busy for us. After we discovered that the troublesome leprechauns turned our milk and yogurt green and we finished our Lucky Charms cereal, we headed to Brookeside Gardens for their annual St. Patrick's Day Walk. Like many local recreation departments, ours has fantastic activities for children of all ages; this one featured a fun walk where children followed a "leprechaun's" footprints around the path, danced a jig in the greenhouse, and completed a simple little leprechaun craft. We packed a lunch and made a morning out of it, so today we were beat.

Lucky for us, during our lunch yesterday, a friendly gardener shared with us a special find--a dark green warty toad. The kids were amazed, and that sparked our backyard animal hunt today.

• Backyard Hunt: Maddy loves, loves, loves searching for bugs and creepy-crawlies under rocks, benches, in sandboxes, or wherever. I'm not sure where she gets it, but I try my best to encourage her little "hunts". Today, since the ground was still wet and soggy from the past few days' rains, she had a field day. All we did was lift rocks, talk about what we saw, and try to catch some worms. We hoped for something exciting, but we weren't so lucky.
  

A few weeks ago, we read an article in the Kids Post (EVER WONDERED. . . how animals grow back body parts? March 9, 2009) about how some animals grow back lost body parts. It was a fascinating article for Maddy and Owen, and they've talked about it several times since reading it. Today was a pretty cool example of how they did some first-hand research relating to that article in their own back yard.

In an attempt to get a bunch of squirmy worms on her tiny hand, Maddy ended up cutting and breaking several earthworms into parts. She promptly reminded Owen--and me--about the article and said we shouldn't worry about the worm, who was now in pieces. We watched how the worm parts continued to move, even after being broken, and they were in awe.

We picked up every rock in our back yard, and by the end, even Owen mustered up enough to hold a worm in his hand. He insisted on a picture to prove it.

And, although it didn't involve letters or numbers or reading or math, this real-life science connection to a news article from a few weeks ago was some pretty important learning in my book.

colors with cora

Colors are going to be my focus for little Cora for a bit so that she's not calling everything under the sun "blue". We actually had some quiet this morning while Maddy and Owen were at pre-school, so, after trying to get the house back in order after a busy weekend, we played dolls for about ten hours then played with colors a bit. I used the same basic principle as in a few number games that Maddy, Owen, and I have played before, but this one is with colors:

• Color Match: I grabbed one sheet each of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, black, and white construction paper. (Note: I should have started smaller--with maybe 4 colors, but I was excited. . .and it's still so gray here, I think I was rainbow-hungry.) I also brought out a bag of bottle tops and lids I've been saving. These I found literally everywhere--milk tops, oj container lids, top of vitamin and cream cheese containers--and I've only been keeping them for a few weeks.
  

I spread out the colored paper on our floor, dumped the big bag of lids in a pile, and let Cora play with them for a little. She squeezed them, tried to fit them inside one another, and gave some to her dolls.

Finally, I said, Okay, Cora, let's help these lids get to their homes. Watch Mommy. I'm going to put the red lid on the red paper. . . I'm going to put the blue lid on the blue paper. I'm putting the green lid on the green paper. Look at this lid. Where does it belong--on the red paper or blue paper? She said, "blue." (Go figure. I should have known. Everything is blue in her little blue world. It was red.) No, this is blue (I held another blue lid.) This lid is red, so I'll put it on the red paper.

I talked my way through the pile of lids, and then I said, Okay, let's do it again. Help me get all of the lids in a pile again. She did, and then I handed her a lid. Can you put this blue lid on the blue paper for me?

She said, No. Baby lid.

So, I played along. Okay, then. Baby, will you move this lid to the blue paper for me? Baby did, and so this is how we proceeded. Cora had Baby move the lids where they belonged. There were a ton of mix-ups, so together, Cora, Baby, and I helped the lids find their homes. (Again, I should have started with only about four colors.) But

Any little bit that we can do from our end helps, and although it takes a long time to learn colors, at least we all--Cora, Baby, and I--had fun with the little bit of learning today.

The whole assembly of papers and lids was left out by the time that Maddy and Owen got home, and they enjoyed matching everything. With older kids, you can actually take it a few steps further:

• talk about which color has the more, less, equal, greater, fewer, number of lids;
  
• put the color papers in order from most to least;
• discuss how many lids you would have to take away from certain colors so that each color had the same amount;
  
• write the number of lids on the paper to demonstrate what the number looks like;
• talk about locations: behind, outside, over, under, top, bottom, in between, etc.

**Research shows that students must have a working knowledge of mathematics vocabulary in order to be successful in mathematics, particularly in the area of problem solving (from Barton & Heidema, 2000; Whitin & Whitin, 2000). We can begin to develop that vocabulary through simple but meaningful activities now, disguised as games like these.

trying to keep smiling: quick trick, divide

My husband taught me this Quick Trick, and he learned it first-hand way back when he and his brother were little. His dad had them use it when they had to cut the grass, and I think it's a simple but ingenious way of having two little people do things in a fair way. I've used it a million times already with Maddy and Owen. Be forewarned: it's tough at first, and there were many tears here, but it's catching on. . .

• Divide & Choose: If I only have one of something that two people want (granola bar, big pretzel stick, banana, cookie, etc.), and I am not in a position to divide it, I'll hand it to either Maddy or Owen (depending on whose day it is) and say, You break it in half and let Owen (or Maddy) choose which half he (or she) wants.

That person then chooses which part he or she wants. If the "divider" breaks one half smaller, then the "chooser" gets to choose a bigger piece (and usually the "divider" has a fit). It takes a LOT of reminding at first, but it's beginning to work.

My super-smart father-in-law often had one of his sons mow a line down the middle of the lawn, and the other one would then get to pick which side he wanted to mow. How great is that?!
It forces the "divider" to think hard before mowing that line or breaking that cookie--not an easy lesson to learn, but sometimes when I'm driving, cooking, or changing a diaper and cannot offer help, it does come in handy. . .

just fishin' for colors

Today I realized that Cora's been calling every color "blue" (I'm such a great mother. . .), so I moved into high "color teaching" gear today--or tried to, at least, when we weren't stressing about how to keep her from crawling out of her crib (which is another story. . .).

Along with having everyone color label things when they were talking or playing (Hey, Maddy, would you pass me the blue doll dress, please? Daddy, please hand me the green bowl over there. Or, Cora, let's help Owen put all of his cars in color rows.)

At snack time, we added a "color twist" to one of our favorite snacks:

• Fishing for Colors: Thanks to Pepperidge Farm, this is a "new" variation of some of those old, fun camp snacks. I put a big blob of peanut butter on Maddy, Owen, and Cora's plates at snack time, then I added about 5 skinny pretzel sticks and a handful of Rainbow Goldfish Snacks.

I said, I know it's a rainy, gray day, but let's pretend we're outside fishing for our snacks today. We're going to take turns calling out fish colors. When it's your turn, you say a color and everyone uses their fishing rod to catch that fish. Watch me.

I showed them how to scoop up a tiny bit of peanut butter on the tip of their pretzel stick. Then, when I touched the tip of my pretzel stick to a goldfish, it stuck. Really not rocket science, but for three kids who really like to play with their food, this made them smile.

We took turns calling out colors of fish, and that's the one we tried to "catch". We decided as a group that the orange/yellow guy would be called "yellow" and that the pink/red one would be "red". They both could be either, if you ask me.

Very simple, but any time bellies are fuller or our bodies are healthier in the name of learning, it's a super-good day in our book. More color learning is on my list for this week. . .

a good-night book walk

Tonight when I returned from tutoring, I went up to say goodnight to Maddy, and she was drowsily looking at a few of the million books we lugged home from the library yesterday. I asked what she was "reading", and she said it was one that she and her dad had just read tonight. She asked me to read it to her again, but, because it was already waaaaay past her bedtime, I said I wouldn't read it but I would read it tomorrow. She asked if she could take me on a book walk instead. I agreed (who wouldn't have?), and here's what we did:

• Book Walk: Maddy literally "walked" me through the book, starting at the beginning and telling me the story in her very own words. She used the pictures and words she recognized on the page as her guide. The title of this book was "D.W. All Wet" by Marc Brown, and it's actually great for this kind of activity. Like most of Marc Brown's books (he writes the Arthur series), there's a very clear plot line, and easy plot lines make books more memorable for emerging readers.
  

As Maddy walked me through the book, I asked a question if I had one, but otherwise I just tried to show her I was listening by repeating what she had said or paraphrasing every other page or so. I laughed at funny parts, or made comments about D.W. as she went on. It is amazing to me how children are able to repeat whole or partial phrases and sentences when they do this.

At the end, we just chatted about the book. I asked if she could tell me about a time when she felt the same way that D.W. did--either at the beginning of the book, when D.W. was afraid to swim, or at the end when she didn't want to get out of the ocean. Having Maddy make this personal connection with D.W. and the text can help her to better understand what happened and why D.W. made the choices she did. It also teaches her how to have an intelligent conversation about a book she likes and a character she can relate to.

Doing something like a book walk is often a component in the first stages of a Guided Reading lesson, when a teacher uses it to familiarize students with a text, but a book walk used the way Maddy did tonight can help improve retelling, which--especially when done without a text--can be very difficult for emerging or advanced readers. Retelling is a learned skill, that, like most other reading comprehension strategies, can be taught even before readers can decode the text on their own.

Talk about some late-night learning in our day! I'm ready for bed. . .

For more information:

Fountas, I. & Pinnell, G. (2000). Interactive writing: How language and literacy come together, K-2. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Hickey, M.G. (1998). Developing critical reading readiness in primary grades. The Reading Teacher, 42, 192-193.

a sparkly shamrock morning

Yesterday morning, we made our decorations for St. Patrick's Day, and because I don't love to bring out paints other than watercolors very often, the kids had a blast.

• Shamrocks: Like most of what we do, this activity was super-simple. I cut out very basic shamrock shapes from green paper, just by folding the paper in half and cutting along the outline I drew. Maddy and Owen both cut theirs out; Owen had some difficulty because of the curves.
  

After we had a bunch of shamrocks, I covered our table in newspaper, had the kids throw on their smocks, and we got rolling. Today we were going to see what happened when we put blobs of paint (we used Crayola washable kids' paint) and glitter glue (I have to exercise some control, now, right?) on one side of the shamrock, folded it, then opened it again. The only tools the kiddos could use were some large Popsicle sticks.

With this new challenge ahead of them, I modeled for them my idea. I poured some green, yellow, and blue paint on a paper plate, then, using the stick, dropped globs on one half of my shamrock. I swirled it around a bit, then squirted some glitter glue around. I folded it, smashed it together, and opened it. It looked great, and from that point, they wanted to get started.

The whole idea of symmetry is fascinating at first for little ones; Maddy's eyes lit up when she cut out a heart for Valentine's Day, and it was the same way today--first opening the newly-cut shamrock, then opening the "painted" one. This craft is pretty easy, but that's how we like it over here. We knew we had our auto shop tour coming up later, so we had to keep it easy. Buena suerte!

our march madness: the auto shop tour

Today was our much-anticipated tour of our local auto mechanic. This tour was unlike most of the tours I've been organizing for my local MOMS group in that we have talked about this tour for weeks. I'm not sure that Owen even slept last night.

Turns out, it was fascinating. Not only because the guy who did it kept it moving quickly and took us through parts of the shop none of us had ever seen, but because the children asked so many smart questions. Their moms (and dads!) really had them do some thinking before they arrived!

• Auto Shop Tour: There was really nothing fancy about this one, but there didn't have to be. There were cars there--many of them--and car parts everywhere. We were living Owen's Lightening McQueen dream. Everywhere we looked there were engines running, lifts moving, wheels turning, mechanics working. We saw an oil change! Ahhh, the dirty oil! We visited the basement tire room! There were tires of every shape and size--all around us! The children got to wear safety goggles! They felt like auto-mechanic super-stars!
  

It only took about 45 minutes, but it could have been two hours. Everyone who worked there seemed happy to see little excited faces who looked up at them with awe-struck eyes. The owner came out to say "hello", and our tour guide handed out Frisbees (with the shop's logo on them) to the kiddos. As far as tours go, this was super-easy, and it was awesome.

All I did was call my favorite auto shop and ask if they'd do this for us. Without hesitation, they agreed. I really don't think you have to be a part of an organized group to ask for something like this, either. I have found for the past year that local businesses like the extra advertising and don't mind sacrificing the hour or so it takes to show a couple of families around their place or show them how they do their stuff. It's good for business, and it's great for the kids to get a "behind the scenes" look at the people and places in their neighborhood. Plus, it's fun and exciting real-life learning for the day.

quick counting in the kitchen

I am a keeper of children's small yogurt containers. I have been one for some time now, and I have used them for the occasional snack, for water to clean paintbrushes, for stacking, for playing "hide the cup", for organizing tiny toys, for building castles in the sandbox. They certainly don't last forever, so I don't care if they get lost of crushed, stuck outside, or thrown in the recycle bin after a few weeks in their new life.

Today, the 16 empty containers served as my helper for making dinner. Here's how:

• Yogurt Container Counting: Usually my kiddos watch a half an hour of Sesame Street while I zoom through the process of assembling dinner. For the last two weeks, though, Cora has insisted on standing on a chair at the counter with me, tasting everything she can get her tiny hands on. Tonight, Owen joined her.
  

My patience nearly gone, the clock ticking because I had to leave for a tutoring appointment the minute Brent walked in the door--I needed something. I grabbed some Sharpies, threw numbers on the bottoms of the containers, and I had an activity for the 10 minutes I needed to finish dinner.

I said, Okay, Owen. I have all of these containers here, and there's a problem. (I unstacked them and put them on the floor as I continued. . .) They have numbers on the bottom of them, but they're all out of order. Can you and Cora put them in order on the floor while I finish dinner? Use the line of the tile to keep them straight. Here's number one. Can you find two? Right! There it is. Put him next to his buddy, Number One. You do the rest and have Cora help you.

Owen liked being the teacher for Cora, and she liked the attention from her brother. It worked so well that Maddy came in running to see what they were doing; I told her that Owen would put the numbers in order first, and she could do it next.

When Owen finished, I had him count to make sure his work was correct, then I told him to scatter his cups so Maddy could try. This was most definitely his favorite part of the whole deal, but that was fine with me; I was secretly elated that I had the counter to myself. Maddy put the cups in order, and then they tried to build pyramids for a couple of minutes while I poured milk and put their plates on the table.

Brent walked in the door, and we had Maddy, Owen, and Cora grab as many cups as they could and stack them together so we could eat. It was quick, it was fun, and now it's a new reason to save these silly cups.

abc tater tots--eat 'em while they're hot!

We discovered this little oh-so-healthy frozen food gem a few weeks ago, and I'd be lying if I said we didn't have these for dinner once a week for the past four weeks.

I know there are a gazillion healthier side-dish alternatives out there, but tiny tater tots shaped as the letters of the alphabet are so darn fun, especially for this Irish girl whose husband and children won't touch a potato. I'll take what I can get, especially near St. Patty's Day. And if it means that my kiddos are still talking about spelling words at dinnertime, you know I'll continue to throw these in my grocery cart. . .

• Ore-Ida ABC Tater Tots: Very simply, my kids love these. They want the letters of their name on their plates, and then they gobble them up. Then they want the letters of words they call out, and then they gobble them up. Then they get whatever letters are left, and they try to make words with them, then they gobble them up.

Without sounding corny, these really make dinnertime funny for us:
Mommy, give me 'cat'!
Please, can I have 'dog' this time?
Ooooh, how about 'bug'?

Then, Mooooommmmmy! What does this (hvut) spell? Really? What's that?
Daddy, what word is 'NPT'?

So that's our little bit of learning today; it was springtime warm, Maddy and I were traveling, and Brent surprised us with a happy word-building dinner! Yum!

monkey business at breakfast time

Whoops! I thought I had a two-post Wednesday but it appears I never officially sent this:

• Newspaper Reading: Today at breakfast when we were glancing through the newspaper, we ran across a very interesting article in the Kids Post (She Can Whistle? Hear, Hear! Valerie Strauss, March 4, 2009). It featured Bonnie, an orangutan who lives at the National Zoo in DC. Maddy and Owen remembered reading a previous story about Bonnie in the paper, and they also recalled seeing her at the zoo last summer, so they were totally excited for me to read this one to them.

The minute I started reading, they were hooked. The Kids Post articles are written for a younger audience, and Strauss did a great job of really getting little readers involved and interested in Bonnie and her new talent--whistling. Who wouldn't be interested in a whistling orangutan??!!

I stopped after each paragraph or two and commented about what I read--my surprise at her whistling, my wonder at what 'inquisitive' meant, and what I remembered about Kiko and Kyle. This "think aloud" seems like it's not a big deal, but it actually helps emerging readers learn to interact with the text; even if they are not the ones decoding the text, it is important to teach reading strategies at this age.

But wait! The most awesome part of our breakfast-time newspaper reading was that the Kids Post made it incredibly easy for us to take our learning one step further--there was an actual video of Bonnie whistling on the Kids Post website. I ran for the laptop, and we watched it right there--over and over and over and over and over. The first few times my kiddos were silent, and their Cheerio-chewing came to an abrupt halt. But then the unstoppable giggles started which were followed next by their own mimicking of Bonnie's little whistle.

It was a riot. But more than that, it was an opportunity for Maddy, Owen, and Cora to become curious about something new that they learned from the newspaper and then take it a step further by watching the video. It also demonstrated to them the importance of reading the newspaper to learn information about the world around us, which we try to do every day at breakfast. And using the Internet as a follow-up for more information shows them that the computer is not just used for games, email, or storing our pictures.

Happy reading!

trying to keep smiling: quick trick, rest time

This is one Quick Trick that now is worth about a million bucks to me:

I remember the day I actually learned it--way back when Maddy was an infant--I just joined my local MOMS group. I was holding her, the tiny little two-month-old bean she was (yes, early to join a MOMS group, I know, but gosh--the interaction with other speaking human beings was nice!

One of the seasoned mothers came up to me (I didn't even know her name--or anyone's for that matter), but she told me this,

I am not one to offer unsolicited advice about how you should take care of your kids, but I will tell you this because I wish someone had told me earlier: if you don't get that baby used to taking a nap right away, she'll never do it. And even when she stops sleeping during the day (Gulp! STOP sleeping during the day? When will I sleep?! I remember thinking. . .), you better get her in the habit of having a rest time every single day, even if she's just playing or reading in her room. You'll go crazy if you don't. Especially if you have more kids.

And off she ran, trying to catch her own running, laughing, crumb-covered children, her baby bouncing from her hip. I seem to remember the baby winking at me as his mom darted away, but I could be wrong. I was seriously sleep-deprived at the time. . .

• So that's the Quick Trick today; it has worked for me and is something I will use until my kids are asking for the keys to my mini-van. I swear by it--A rest time a day keeps crazy mommy away. Or daddy, depending on who's home that day.
  

And this is a rest time away from sisters and brothers, in their own rooms, with books and puzzles close at hand, relaxing music on like at night-time. Cora's still in her crib, and if she doesn't nap, she has a pile of books to look at and some dolls to dress and undress. Owen sometimes asks for a few cars, a puzzle, or his Little Einsteins computer, and Maddy plays with dolls, reads books (now she's into listening to books on CD), or works on puzzles. They all have some water on their nightstands (or for Cora, in a sippy cup), and it's quiet time for an hour.

Granted, it's not always quiet, but quiet is the goal. The norm is that after we play a bit after lunch, everyone has rest time in their rooms; whether it's a short one or a solid hour, like everything we do, depends on the day.

It's my hour to catch my breath. It's my planning period, my re-grouping time, sometimes--it's my salvation. Not to mention that it's just plain healthy for our little ones to sit down and rest their bodies at some point during the day and to learn to appreciate alone time--we all need it. It's my daily adult swim.

today we were salad people

Today we tried a recipe from a book that was recently recommended to me by a friend after I shared our last muffin-making extravaganza and my desire for more kid-friendly recipes. The book is Salad People and More Real Recipes: A New Cookbook for Preschoolers & Up (2005) by Mollie Katzen.

I love, love the idea behind this book: empowering children to become active, excited participants in preparing fun foods in the kitchen. I'm still crossing my fingers for one of my kiddos to become the next Wolfgang Puck or Cat Cora, so I'm doing all I can from my end.

We chose to try Chewy Energy Circles today for two reasons: 1. we had all of the ingredients in the pantry, and 2. who doesn't need more energy in the middle of February? (I do, but the kids don't, and I didn't think of that before we started.)

• Chewy Energy Circles: Maddy and Owen had a blast with this recipe, because unlike the (gulp!) muffins we make way too often, this recipe didn't call for an electric mixer; rather, it called for hand mixing--with hands! Right there in the picture!
  

They also loved this one not only because it was new but because it involved our friendly muffin pan, since that's where the Energy Circles get their shape.

Maddy and Owen both flew downstairs after their rest times, knowing that they'd be able to try their new creation. I have to admit that I am a seasoned sweet-tooth and so are my kiddos, but with a little tweaking and personalizing of these Chewy Energy Circles, I think they may become a new favorite.

The layout of this book and its partner, Pretend Soup and Other Real Recipes: A Cookbook for Preschoolers & Up (1994), is brilliant. Mollie Katzen's artwork decorates the name of each recipe, then she lists quotes from tiny cooks ("Peeling is like giving the cucumber a haircut." -Zachary on Cool Cucumber Soup, in Salad People). Next, she gives some notes to the Grown-Ups and presents the recipe the way we all know recipes to be formatted: ingredients & directions. But the super-cool part is that for each recipe, a comic strip-like step-by-step instruction for how to make the recipe is included. Words accompany the pictures, which I liked and which is totally beneficial for our emerging reader-chefs.

I have just tonight found Mollie Katzen's website, and it totally rocks. It's packed with recipes, children's recipes (with the cool pictures!), and a cool blogger whose pictures and details of mouth-watering recipes makes me want to close the laptop and get the oven goin'.

My kiddos look for any opportunity to throw on their aprons, and today was no different. I know that although Chewy Energy Circles were not an absolute snack-sensation here, that next time I pull out these books and shout out for helpers, I'll hear tiny footsteps in seconds. I love days when our learning takes place in the kichen.

alphabet egg puzzles

Today I brought out another awesome resource from Bear's Words Their Way. . . (2004), but it can be replicated very easily in a number of ways. When super-cranky Cora went down for her nap, Maddy, Owen, and I played this game; it can take as long or as short as you and your little students would like--we played a short version because, after all, Don't Break The Ice was calling.

• Alphabet Egg Puzzle: The premise of this activity is super-simple, which makes it a favorite of ours. Twenty-six eggs are zig-zagged in half; the top part of the egg has an uppercase letter, and the bottom part has its matching lowercase letter. That's it. Printed on pink and yellow card stock, ours kind of have a springy feel, so maybe that's why it was a hit today. This activity is perfect for helping children recognize upper and lowercase letter pairs.

I took the egg halves out of the bag and said, Okay, today we're going to play a quick game of Alphabet Egg Hunt. All of these eggs have lost their partners, so it's our job to help them find their friends. Here I have a uppercase letter 'A'. Let's search for it's partner--the lowercase 'a'. Is this letter or this letter its match? (They were not, so I tried another two.) Hmmm, I just cannot find the lowercase 'a'. Who can find it?

Maddy found it and reached for the uppercase 'A' and checked to see if they fit together. They did, so I said, Awesome! You found it! Let's try to find letter 'B's partner. . .

We did 'B' together, then I let them try to find some pairs on their own. They did well, but when I sensed a lull in their hunting, I'd pick up a letter and facilitate the finding of its partner.

After all of the letters had been matched, we put the letters in alphabetical order. This final step is a nice way of wrapping up the game, or you can skip it to save time.

For next time, I might:

• Match all of the letters incorrectly and have them correct them;
  
• Pull out some confusing letters and focus only on them--p/d/q/b;
• Put all of the uppercase OR lowercase letters in order, then turn the other half of letters upside down and take turns flipping them and putting them with their matches;
• Hide all or half of the letters around the room and have them search for letter matches (this facilitates more activity, of course), then bring their matches to a certain location to put them in order.

Okay, I have to--this was an egg-cellent way of incorporating some letter learning into our day. Any way that we can reinforce alphabet learning is worth setting aside a tiny bit of time for.

moving snow, building dudes

It snowed today! Woo-hoo!! Yippppeeee!!!

Six glorious inches of fluffy, packable, movable, sled-able, wonderful snow.

We were due. My little ones needed a good snow like this so they could (finally!) use the 'Build A Snowman' kit that has been sitting around here for two winters now. They needed this snow so they could learn how to pack a good snowball (to throw at a fence), to build a strong sledding ramp (a really, really small one), and to work together to build a good, ole-fashioned snowman (or Snow Dude, according to Maddy and Owen). So that is what we did today, inspired by one of our favorite authors--Daniel Kirk and his Snow Dude and Snow Family books:

• Snow Dude Building: We built, we built some more, and then we built even more. We ended up with two awesome Snow Dudes today, one in the front yard, and one in the back yard.

Although it seems like building snow guys isn't learning, it is. I challenged Maddy and Owen to figure out a way to gather as much snow as they could, and they did. Maddy decided to pile snow on our sled then drag it over, and Owen ran to the garage for his huge yellow dump truck.

Children love to be able to complete a task on their own, even if it is as simple as figuring out how to move snow from one place to another. They did this several times until we had enough snow to build our dudes, then we hit the nearby hills to sled with our neighborhood pals! And that was our learning for today; we used our outside time as wisely as we could before it melted away. . .

totally terrarium, batman

Ever since I read Adrian Higgins' article in The Washington Post a few weeks back (actually 2/19/09) about the crazy comeback that terrariums are making, I've been a woman driven. I've been thinking about them too often and have been wondering how we can make one of our own. I've visited our local thrift shop for supplies twice, only to realize that what I needed was already under our roof, thanks to Peepers and Pappy and the good folks at Freecycle last spring (which, my friends, is a story for another time. . . ).

Anyway, we ran some errands today, as our whole area is bracing for a winter storm, and, while shopping, I found a great deal on seeds, a 72-plant seed starter, and a 12-pack of those biodegradable pots that you can plant right into the ground once your plants get a good start indoors. And the best part of it is that while we were there, I remembered that the huge aquarium that we got for free last spring would be perfect, perfect, perfect in another life as a terrarium!

So here's what we did:

• Terrarium Building: We picked out seeds--some flowers, some veggies, some herbs. Then, once we got home, we prepared the pads in the big starter, threw some dirt in the pots, and we got planting. We did this on the kitchen floor, which, consequently, still needed a good scrubbing (when will it not?).

Maddy and Owen had a blast pushing tiny holes in the dirt and sticking any size seeds in them; Cora had an easier time with big nasturtium seeds. I usually dumped a few onto a white paper plate to make them more visible, then they would grab a 2 or 3 and go. I tried to keep track of which seeds went where, but I'm sure there will be some surprises as they begin to grow.

Once we were finished planting, we put the cover on the big guy and placed the pots in rows in the aquarium-terrarium. I know it's not a terrarium by definition, but once things start growing, it will kind of look like one, and, like dinosaur names, my kiddos have liked hearing 'terrarium' come out of their mouths tonight.

Children are fascinated by the process by which plants grow, and although we most likely won't get into the whole photosynthesis-thing with Maddy, Owen, and Cora now, I'm sure that they will be intrigued by watching their little seeds go from packet, to planter, to outside garden, to our table (hopefully!) come summer. This little bit of daily learning will at least bring a little spring into our winter-gray house . . .