owen's got grip!

No joke! My boy finally found his grip! It's taken a while, and over the last few months, I've researched (our friends at HWT do have great ideas), tried slip-on grips (wouldn't use them), crayon bits (a good start. . .) to no avail. Even though I don't know much, I do know that learning happens when everything's aligned--the stars, planets, mind and body--you name it. We were patient (kind of), and it happened!

I have to thank our friends at Crayola for their Jumbo Crayons and Owen's tireless, talented preschool teacher for introducing Owen to them. And for the box she sent him home with on Monday that he hasn't let rest for days.

Woo-hoo! When he "showed me how they worked", he slipped immediately into a normal tripod grip, and it makes sense. They're thick without being bulky or heavy, and for a guy who is still developing his fine motor skills, the thicker (and shorter) the better!

I praised him over and over and silently thanked the village it takes to raise a child these days. Tomorrow he may lose it or forget to use it, but at least now I know that when he really needs to know how a good grip feels, I can reach for the Jumbo's.

Owen's finished product--completed with a great grip!

dandelions and clovers

It was gorgeous out today--the perfect day for a picnic. We didn't go far; after picking up Maddy's Kindergarten packet, we played in the field at our nearby elementary school. The grass hadn't been cut in ages, but Maddy, Owen, and Cora were in heaven. According to Maddy, the field of dandelions had become "the most beautiful place she had ever seen." I do what I can.

We used this grassy field and the time before we settled down to picnic as our opportunity for some outside learning today:

• Dandelions, dandelions, dandelions: We were lucky to have dandelions at every stage of their life cycle in this field, so that's what I talked about with my little ones. Dandelions. Their most favorite flower in the world.
  

I picked a flower at each stage (flowering, drying out, seed ball (we call them "wishes"). Looking at each plant, we talked about how the dandelion moves through each stage and why there are so many beautiful flowers in the field--the "wishes" that they were blowing around the field were sending millions of seeds everywhere. And, since no one was mowing the grass, they just kept growing and growing.

I'll show the kids this website tomorrow, which has pictures of dandelions at each stage, and when we hit the library next week, we'll pick up some books (maybe The Dandelion Seed, Joseph Anthony or Dandelions: Stars in the Grass, Mia Posada) to support and reinforce this simple science learning.

Sure, ideally you may want to secure the book before you go out and explore like we did today so that you have it for immediate reinforcement, but any way works. It might even be a good excuse to fit in a little lesson on "library searching" on a topic they want to learn more about!

• Clovers: During our "field trip", I found a 4-leaf clover. Lucky me! Perfect time for a little math lesson. I called Maddy, Owen, and Cora over to my lucky spot, and we talked about how many leaves clovers have. Everyone picked a few and counted-- 3, 3, 3, 3, 3.
  

I showed them my 4-leaf clover, and their eyes got wide. I picked it and told them how exciting it was to find one because when you find one, it means you'll have a lucky day. Today, with our beautiful weather and picnic basket packed, we really were lucky. They searched for a while for their own lucky ones, then we decided it was time for lunch.

On our way through the field, headed home, Maddy grabbed a handful of buttercups--her new favorite flower--and said,

Mommy, it is so beautiful here, I don't think I ever want to leave.

I told her that I couldn't agree more.

cleaning, counting, and sortin' colors with cora

This past weekend had us busier than usual, with my sister getting hitched (woo-hoo!) and Maddy in the wedding. It was awesome, but we're dragging today. It was nice to have a quiet Cora morning to catch up a bit while Maddy and Owen were at preschool, and she and I had some fun in the kitchen--a little different than before.

• Counting Veggies: This time, we cleaned, counted, and color sorted our favorite vegetables. That's all we did, really, but she loved it. And I loved that I had our veggies cleaned and ready for the week.
  

I washed and cut the cauliflower and broccoli, then I put them on paper towels to dry, and as usual, Cora was up at the counter ready to help. I had her "dry" the veggies with another towel as I cut the rest of them. She was happy to help, and we talked about the colors (a work in progress) as we went:

I said, Cora, Is this broccoli green like my shirt, or red, like this apple? . . .
What else can you find in the kitchen that is white like the cauliflower? . . .
Are the baby carrots or are the tomatoes orange?

I put a bunch of veggies in a pile on the counter, and then I set aside a carrot, a tomato, a piece of broccoli. and a piece of cauliflower. I said, Can you put all of the orange carrots together? Now, let's put the red tomatoes together. . . etc.

Once everything was sorted into like piles, I put one cauliflower out, then two broccoli florets, then three carrots and four tomatoes. I counted as I went and said, Let's point to the veggies as we count them, and we counted together.

Finally, after we had touched nearly every vegetable we had just cleaned and Cora took tiny bites out of 80% of the carrots (not really), we put them away. Cora sorted the veggies into like bags or containers, and we counted together as we went.

It's the repeated counting play with numbers that helps children commit number counting to memory, and it's simple, everyday activities like these that are great opportunities for sneaking in a bit of learning into any day. . .and teaching little ones their way around the kitchen.

planting pansies

Today we visited our local garden center for another one of those super-fun local business tours that I've been organizing for my local MOMS Group. It is a beautiful store, and our tour guide was fantastic. We learned how to properly plant pansies, which I realized I've been doing poorly for the last few years now. I also realized that we left the house with Cora wearing two different shoes, but we've all done that before, right?

Here, we're learning how to pot pansies.

• Garden Center Tour: Like the other business tours, all I did was call a month ahead and ask if they'd mind showing anywhere from 3 (my kids) to 12 children and their parents around the shop and teaching us how to plant flowers. They agreed, and they gave us one of the kindest "plant experts" around.

Sure, it's not always easy to keep the littlest ones occupied, but once they were able to get their tiny hands full of dirt, most were happy and content. The older children liked searching for fallen flowers on the floor, and I know mine loved wearing their gardening gloves and watering their new flower. And everyone got to leave with a potted pansy.

This kind of learning is easy and fun; our tours have given us a look inside a bunch of the stores we frequent. We've toured the fire station (we'll do it again in June), our grocery store, flower shop, bagel store, icecream shop, pizza place, auto shop, and we've got a ton more lined up.

I've said before, that all you need is a to ask a few days or weeks ahead, and you'll be surprised at how generous and excited your local businesses may be to have you visit.

What we do to prepare is just talk about the tour at breakfast (or a few days before, if they're psyched about it), chat about things we already knew about the store/restaurant/shop/ etc., and then we come up with some questions to ask our tour guide once we get there. Afterward, we chat about what we learned, and my kiddos can hardly wait to tell Daddy what they did that night at dinner.

These are the same types of strategies teachers use to get students ready for new learning: we talk about what students already know about the subject, we talk about what they want to know about it, then once they've learned it, we have students about what they've learned. Easy as that.

hello, high frequency words!

My little Maddy's got the reading bug. She's trying to read anything and everything she can, whether its the writing on our snack boxes, road signs, recipes, or her own books. I'm having a blast watching her slowly acquire the skills she needs to unlock the words around her, so I decided a few weeks ago to introduce her to some high frequency words.

A gazillion activities disguised as games exist to use with Sight Words. As I use them, I'll share them.

• Point to the Word: I chose half of the readinga-z first set of high frequency word flash cards (24 total), then I took only 12 of those words. I told Maddy that we were going to practice reading 'Kindergarten' words, and I read through the words first, slowly, putting them face up in front of Maddy as I went.
  

Then I put three words in a row. I told Maddy to grab Puppy (her favorite lovey of the day) and said,

Maddy, would you please put Puppy on either the word 'to' or 'am'?

She put him on 'to', so I gave her a good Woooo-hoooo!! and we tried again. Awesome reading! Can you put Puppy on the word ____ or _____?

We went through the words two or three times, I gave her tons of praise for trying her best. I didn't want to overwhelm her or bore her, so we soon moved on to bigger and better things--playing veterinarian with Puppy and his pals as our patients.

An extension for this easy activity would be to find an emerging reader book that had several of the words we practiced in it and to read it together, but if you're not ready for that, then try:

• place four cards face up, two on top and two below, and do the same activity as above;
• do either of the above activities and have the reader use a "magic wand" or some other fun pointer to point to the words;
• do the above activities and have the reader write the word(s) you ask her to (on a white board, on fun paper, with markers, in watercolors, etc);
  
• play 'flip-it' where you flip a card over and you and the reader "race" to read it first (an activity for a stronger emerging reader).

Here are some pretty cool places to pick up Dolche sight words or cards: Mrs. Perkins' Dolche Words, Dolch Kit, a beautiful set by Jan Brett, abc teach, and lanternfish which has awesome cards to print from your computer.

FYI: I belong to reading a-z, which I find incredibly rich with resources for tutoring, teaching, and using for my own kiddos. It's literally an on-line book room packed with leveled printable books, lesson plans, activities, easy assessments, and tons of letter and sound activities.

Whew! That's a ton of learning for today, even though Maddy didn't realize it. Now let the reading fun really begin!!

yappin' about education in mcps

Do you think it's enough to graduate from high school these days?

Could your child's success in Kindergarten really be a determining factor
in how well she does in college?

What should your child be doing in Grade 8 in order to
better prepare him for earning a college degree?

Today you can find me at DC Metro Moms talking about a new way of looking at things in Montgomery County Public Schools. I'm curious as to what you think.

Please leave a comment on the site (it's really easy!) and share your thoughts.

Tomorrow I'll begin to share the little things we're doing over here to help Maddy get reading and ready for the big jump--Kindergarten!

every picture tells a story

The Gardener, by Sarah Stewart and illustrations by David Small, is honestly one of the most beautiful children's books I have ever read.

The story takes place during the Depression and is told through letters that Lydia Grace writes to her Grandmother and parents after she leaves them to spend a year working with her surly uncle in his bakery in the city. She brings her love of gardening to her uncle's shop and ultimately brings some sunshine to a previously depressed town.

• The Gardener: Because we've been re-potting our terrarium, talking about our upcoming tour at a garden center, and beginning to start our outside garden, this was a great book to read tonight before bed. Maddy has also been doing a lot of reading in her own books, so I could tell that Owen's been feeling frustrated. Tonight, I wanted to show them both how some authors use pictures to tell the story.

Several parts of this book use two-page illustrations to carry the narrative, so I modeled how to examine the inside cover illustration. I modeled my thinking:

Oh my goodness! Look at this incredible garden! I can see so many plants and vegetables growing here. Look at the sunflowers! See the lettuce? What else do you notice? . . . Look at the little girl showing the woman--maybe her grandma?--that huge tomato! It looks like she must feel proud of that tomato. They must work very hard to make their garden grow.)

Then we looked closely at the following pages' illustrations and talked through what we saw. We asked questions (I wonder why those two people look so sad? What will they say when the little girl comes back with food from the garden?) and made observations.

When I finally got into the reading, Owen got the hang of it and could clearly explain what he saw. When he talked us through Lydia Grace's arrival at the train station, I cheered--You did it! Owen, you're reading! You don't always have to use words to read; sometimes there are no words, so you use the pictures! That's exactly what reading is--using the words and the pictures to tell the story! That's exactly how Maddy is learning to read her books--and you're doing the same thing. Good for you.

And that's how we walked through The Gardner, talking about how the author uses both Lydia Grace's letters and the illustrations to tell the story. What a beautiful walk it was--I'll take this kind of learning any day.

Woo-hoo! Speaking of gardening, thanks to my pal over at resourceful mommy, I stumbled across this awesome site that I hope will help with our summertime garden. I'm going to lean on Lisa and her Backyard Botanical Garden Blog to make my thumb a little greener come planting season!

trying to keep smiling: quick trick, money

Money, money, money, mooooonnneyyy . . . MONEY!!!

Money saving, money planning, money managing--I have to admit that I am only really good at money spending, but in these tough economic times--and with three young children--I'm trying to improve.

I am also now equipped with the determination to raise money-smart children, and this reminds me think before I buy, especially when I'm shopping with my little ones. However, when your children are the first grandchildren--and nieces and nephew--on both sides of the family, understanding money can be difficult.

A few years ago, I stumbled upon an article in one of my parenting magazines, and it was worth remembering. That's where this Quick Trick originates.

• Spend, Save, Give Jars: We picked up three jars each for Maddy and Owen--and then Cora after she was born--from Ikea, and they've been a part of their little lives ever since.

One jar is labeled give. . .

. . . one is labeled spend, and one is labeled save.

And that's where the money in each jar goes--money for spending, money for saving, and money for giving to others. The article recommended to save 60%, spend 30%, and to give 10%, but our breakdown is loose at this point until they are older, can count money, and appreciate its worth.

What they do understand now is how good it feels to dump their "give" money into a bag and hand it to the Salvation Army volunteer at holiday time, put it in the donation box at church, or bring it to our relay team at Relay for Life. They also have watched as I put their "save" money in the bank after birthdays or visits from Nanny and Pap or Grandma and Grandpa, and they love to grab a dollar or two from their "spend" jars and go for icecream a trip to the toy store.

It's not perfect, and I'm sure there's more we could--and should--be doing, but it's a start. And it's pretty cool to hear Maddy or Owen yell, Hey! A penny (even if it's a quarter or a nickle)!! I have to put it in my save jar!!

follow-the-path game

I'm trying to work on isolating sounds in words with Owen. When he listens to Maddy sounding out words, he gets confused about sounds he hears in the beginning, middle, and end of words.

If Maddy says, Mommy, how do I spell 'sun'? Owen will say something like, Ssssuuunnnn, sun. Nnnn. Sun starts with 'n'. He's trying, so I want to get him on track.

It's really not a big deal considering he's still a little guy, but I know there are easy and fun ways of teaching the isolation of sounds in words, so I broke out a game from my favorite, Bear's Words Their Way (2003).

• Beginning Sounds Follow The Path Game: All I did to prepare was copy the picture cards for S, T, P, and D and then copy two of the blank "paths" (there are about six to choose from). Then I glued green construction paper inside a manila folder and put the paths on top of that. I wrote either an uppercase or lowercase letter S, T, P, or D in each of the boxes. Then Owen and I put some Lightening McQueen and star stickers all around, and he grabbed a few of his favorite cars to use as pawns.

We cut out the picture cards and mixed them up. Then we took turns picking cards, figured out which letter the word started with, and moved our cars to the correct letter. The object of the game? Be the first guy to get to the end. Not too hard.

When a card was flipped, I would say, Tie. Ttttie. What sound do you hear in the beginning of the word, 'tie'?

Owen would (hopefully!) say, Ttttt! And I'd say, Right! What letter makes the 't' sound? Of course, I'd hope that he'd say, 't'!

Then he (or I) would move our car to the letter 't'. And so it went for the duration of the game. Sometimes the cars would crash into each other, and sometimes they'd speed off the game board, but eventually we got to the finish line. I know he was happy to have "his own" game that he designed and that had cars all around it; I'm convinced he didn't even realize he was learning while he was playing.

As much as I love Words Their Way and have referenced them often in previous posts, I stumbled across this awesome site, Literacy Connections, that has permission to share a number of WTW activities. It's worth checking out, especially because they have information on tons of important literacy-related topics. So cool. Enjoy!

once, big old box. . . now, sensory box!

A few weeks ago, during yet another rainy day, I decided to turn a box that had just been dropped off at my door (full of fun clearance finds from Target.com!) into a Sensory Box. It is so simple and easy to do--just a little tape here and there--and Maddy, Owen, and Cora have been playing with it on and off for days.

• Sensory Box: (fyi: Since this picture was taken, some markers, crayons, and--our favorite--Foamies have found their way to the box, so it looks much more beautiful now than in the picture. I'm just too tired to take another one.)

All I did was cut a flap on one side and a small hole on the other. I taped the top shut and then taped around the smaller hole (so little arms wouldn't be cut or scraped). And then we got our senses going!

I started by collecting some small objects (like the ones used in 'one of these things') from around the house: a Clementine, a marshmallow, Matchbox car, doll, doll shoe, small snake, etc. Then I secretly put one in through the flap on my side. Since it was Maddy's day, she started. She put her arm in the hole and told us what she felt.

**Retrieving adequate adjectives is difficult for younger children, so for Owen and Cora, I asked questions when they got stuck: Is it small or large? Does it feel rough or smooth? Is it squishy or hard? It's a great opportunity to expand vocabulary and use some really strong words (slithery, freezing, slimy, leathery, etc.) or similes to express ideas (feels like a . . . ).

Even if someone thought they knew what the object was, the "rule" was that they had so say three things about it before taking a guess. That way, they were practicing using their sense of touch, then choosing a word to describe it (adjectives), and finally using that information to take a logical guess.

Of course, it got silly after a while after Maddy and Owen got to their third or fourth turn and started picking crazy objects (like a dirty sock or wet tissue--yuck!), but it was fun and new for them. And it does count as learning even if it was a last-minute decision and did involve a semi-dirty box. . .

prayers for a little angel

Prayers go out to Heather Spohr and her family during this incredibly difficult time.

counting bunnies

This weekend was super busy and fun for us with family and friends here to share the holiday and with a perpetual buzz of chocolate and sugar moving through little bodies. Okay, and mine, too. Before the party started, though, I stumbled across a very simple but worthwhile activity that Maddy, Owen, and Cora ended up loving. We played it after everyone left and then again before bed for the last few nights.

• Bunny Counting: Thanks to Denise at Explorations for this great idea and for many others that she does with her two girls that I'm already planning on using over here. Woo-hoo! I love to find fantastic sites!! Thank you, Denise!

I used Denise's templates that I downloaded and printed on cardstock.

The Rabbit Grid Game is here to download, and the Lettuce Grid Game is here to download if you please.  Both are pdf files.

One had three rows of five bunnies and the other had two rows of five heads of lettuce. I grabbed a bag of bingo chips--clear red and green--and we used these as our counters. We had one die, and here's what we did:

1. Maddy and Owen each had a bunny board and a lettuce board. They rolled to see who would go first. Several times, the lowest number went first, and other times the highest went first.

2. One person rolled the die, counted the dots, and placed a chip on that many bunnies. We focused on starting from the left and moving to the right, and filing one row at a time. Then the next person rolled and did the same thing.

3. The first person to fill both boards was the winner.

Talk about a simple activity that sneaks in some learning under the guise of a game!

I plan to make different boards in the next few weeks and to do some variations--drawing circles, boxes, or triangles around objects to practice shapes, grip, and writing; picking foamie or magnetic numbers out of a box and letting that be the way our numbers are chosen, or even scooping beans or bingo counters out of a bowl to determine the number of circles, boxes, etc we make.

This activity is awesome and totally worth your time because:
- it works on one-to-one correspondence like in Dice Match-up;
- it also helps with the return sweep (reading left to right then down and left again) which is a concept of print that children acquire with early literacy; and
- it can be varied depending on how old your learner is--fewer objects for younger, more for older, etc.
- it can be used in so many ways . . . it makes learning exciting for little ones and easy for parents. Thanks again, Denise!

water painting

Today was gorgeous outside, so after the kids had played for a while, helped their dad with yardwork, and played some more, I brought out some paintbrushes and water. We were going to paint with water--a sure sign of springtime around here. Maddy, Owen, and Cora love this warm-weather activity.

• Water Painting: Talk about great practice for the tripod grip (a continual challenge for mine) and a great excuse to practice letter and number writing, word writing, and simple picture drawing. All with no paint to clean up afterward!

We started by first painting the rocks in our yard--we have small and large--and even this is a calming activity that requires focus and attention. For some reason, kids love doing this--even part of the science room at Port Discovery had an area where children could "paint" rocks with water.
When Cora tired of painting rocks, she moved to the porch, which was actually a better place to "paint" since the water showed up darker there. We made happy and sad faces and simple pictures like we sometimes do to help practice her words, and then Maddy skipped over to work on her letters and some simple words.

It was fun and fleeting, just like our water-pictures and messages on the porch, but now's the time to do an activity like this one. Come summer, our letters will dry up faster than we can finish writing them!

museums, here we come!

Just last week (Friday, April 8, 2009), the Post had an awesome insert in the Weekend section--A Kids Museum Guide.

We LOVED the picture on the front who wouldn't?!), and the minute Maddy saw it, she was destined to hit the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History to see the charging lioness that "almost got the little boy" (see left). Below is my feeble attempt at re-creating the picture for our kiddos. Como se dice, 'new camera, please'?

• Museum of Natural History: We love this museum because it not only holds a gazillion awesome exhibits, but the Discovery Room for children is a must-see. There, children of all ages can examine objects under microscopes, open dozens of drawers that are eye-level and hold tons of cool artifacts, they can pick up different shells and compare textures, and they can try on costumes from around the world. Our kiddos loved it.
  

I can't even begin to do justice to what the museum holds, so I'll share what our small, curious, and busy group wanted to see. (Keep in mind, we were visiting with two 5-year-olds, a 3-year-old, and two 2-year-olds, so our visit was quick and directed.) We needed to see the pouncing lioness, the whale and underwater exhibit, and dinosaur bones. The museum brought so much to life for them all--they loved it.

So, yes, we missed the awesome Hope Diamond, the butterfly exhibit, the Imax theater, and pretty much every other thing that you'd want to see when you're visiting this museum. But hey--we're taking baby steps, and we did get to take the Metro (which is a dream in itself for our kids), eat hotdogs outside, and ride the carousel afterward. Plus we got to meet up with a couple of good friends along the way. It doesn't get much better than this!

FYI: For all of our friends and readers who are outside of the DC Metro area, please don't feel left out! The website for the museum totally rocks; there are awesome online resources that parents can--and should--explore, even with little ones. Go to the home site, then 'education', then 'classroom resources', and from there you can go to some really incredible places--right in your own home.

We're huge fans of incorporating our newspaper reading into our everyday learning; it's a great way of showing our little ones how we read to learn a little every single day.

at-home vacation

Woo-hoo! Woo-hooo!! Wooooo-hoooo!!

(And boo-hoo!!)

Posting this means that my amazing husband is finally home from his golf trip, and I couldn't be happier to have him back. But it also means that my at-home vacation with Maddy, Owen, and Cora has come to an end. That's right--we were playing vacation here (kind of) while Dad was away.

Here's what we did to "up" the fun factor for a few days to keep ourselves busy and to keep my little ones from missing their daddy:

• Movie Night: This may be a staple for others, but for my Maddy and Owen, this was a real treat. Madagascar 2 after Cora went to bed. Snuggling under a blanket on the couch. Tons of giggles. Popcorn. Lots of it. Need I say more?

• Dress-up Marathon: Under the guise of a dress-up extravaganza, I organized our massive amounts of dress-up clothes while "trying them on" the kids for size. They were happy to see what fit and laugh at what didn't, and I am now happy to have a clean toy closet.
  

• Computer Game Free-For-All: I set the timer for a longer amount of time than usual, and Maddy and Owen were able to "free play" on the computer. They love to have control over their favorite sites, and adding an extra 5 or 10 minutes was out of the ordinary for this mom who tries to limit screen time.

• Creek Walkin': We got crazy lucky that our friends invited us over to play and have dinner on Saturday and doubly lucky that they were in the mood to do some exploring in the creek near their house. We brought boots, extra clothes, and dove in. We splashed, explored, skipped (okay, threw in) rocks, and we even saw a tadpole-almost-frog. Being invited to our friends' house was one thing, but to walk in a creek and climb on rocks--that's another.
  

• Breakfast Out: Going out for breakfast is one of my favorite activities, so one morning I rallied the troops right after they popped out of their pj's and headed to a nearby breakfast joint. Pancakes as big as their plates? Check. Buttering and cutting their own pancakes? Check (Minus Cora). Full bellies? Check. Super fun and kind of vacation-y? Check!

• Big-time Bike Ride: My kids love to ride their bikes. Love it. So one morning, I packed drinks and snacks, threw Cora in the wagon complete with baby doll and baby doll stroller, and I let them ride and ride. Or, at least they rode the paths to the park, where they rode--and Cora pushed baby--some more. Having snack at the park is always fun, and so is climbing the pine trees and getting all sappy. . . well, fun for these little vacationers.

• Backward Dinner: Dessert before dinner only happens on vacations, so we had to throw in a backward dinner during our . . . trip. Icecream sandwiches before hotdogs and Smiles? Talk about bliss--for three kids 5 and under, at least.

• Ikea: For our family, a trip to Ikea is an event in itself. I had a few organizing dreams in mind and knew that it would be a great place for the kiddos to burn some steam on (yet another!) rainy day, so we got there right as it opened at 10am. We walked through the staged rooms, played at each--and I mean each--of the kid stations, met some cool pals in the children's area, had lunch in the cafeteria, and even shared icecream cones with our new friends before we left. Fun, indeed!
  

• Hibachi Dinner: Woo-hoo! The best part of our at-home vay-cay is that my husband returned early from his trip, so we decided to celebrate by taking the family to a local Japanese hibachi restaurant. I packed our favorite chopsticks, and we were off! It was everyone's first time there, so when Maddy, Owen, and Cora saw the flames in front of them, they were surprised, but once the food hit their plates, they were smiling. Talk about an adventure--sure beats Cheeburger, Cheeburger! (Guy at right is not our chef, but you get the picture.)
  

And that's it--our at-home vacation while Mom's rolling solo. Now I'm ready to pack my bags and head out on my own for a bit!

FYI: The idea for a vacation at home was inspired by an article I read awhile back in either Wondertime, Family Fun, or Parenting--three pretty darn cool magazines that I subscribe to but rarely have time to read. I'm happy to hand over my pile to anyone who's interested before I recycle. . .

backyard number boxes

It was beautiful out today, so after of lots of playing and exploring in our own backyard, I gave Maddy and Owen the challenge of introducing our ole pals the Number Boxes to Mother Nature.

• Backyard Number Boxes: I brought out two pieces of colored cardstock with boxes numbered 1-8 on top and two rolls of Scotch tape.

I said to Maddy and Owen, All right friends, you've done this before, but you've never done it outside. I'm challenging you both to fill each of these Number Boxes with the correct number of things you can find here in our backyard. Like in this box (pointing to number 1), I might put one piece of grass in the middle and then stick it in the box with tape. Do you think you can do it?
Maddy literally grabbed her paper and tape and ran into the yard, and Owen seemed equally excited but stayed close to me on the porch. Maddy was happy working on her own, so occasionally I checked to see how she was doing, but I mostly hung out with Owen. He loved the hunting and counting parts but had trouble with the taping.

Yes, this is Owen's partially finished one, and yes, that is a cat treat he put for Number 1, and no, (for those of you who know us) we don't have a cat. We give our neighbor's cats treats (with permission!), and Owen found one in the corner of our porch; because of allergies, we'll never have a cat of our own. We need to lure them close enough to pet somehow. . .

So there is our little bit of learning for the day! Happy Spring Break!

trying to keep smiling: quick trick, 1 2 3

I found this Quick Trick via one of my "awesome--always-knows-what-she's-doing-and-is-a-fantastic-parent" pals who threw it at me a few months ago after I was complaining and moaning that my kids weren't listening to me anymore. Ever since then, my husband and I have used this technique with Maddy, Owen, and Cora at times when we:

a. need to immediately stop unacceptable behavior;

b. are just too tired, defeated, or frustrated to use the good ole Dr. Becky Bailey strategies; or

c. need to remind our kiddos that they're the kids and we're the parents (we're so hardcore).


Here's the quick and dirty:

• 1, 2, 3 Magic: You use counting to deal with Stop (obnoxious or difficult--think arguing, fighting, whining, yelling, tantrums, etc.) behavior.

• You put on an emotionless face when the behavior starts, and you count: That's a one. (pause, and if it continues. . .) That's two. (pause again, and if it's still going on. . .) That's three. Move to a time-out and cool down. (OR, Take 5. / Or, some other Time Out Alternative like losing toys, playtime, computer games, etc.)

• Parents say nothing while counting. No negotiating, explaining, reasons, etc.

Here are some benefits of counting:

• Easy to learn for parents and children.
• More time for fun and love in the family.
• Parents' authority is not negotiable (and bargaining with little people is unnecessary and exhausting).
• Punishment is short and sweet. We use a time-out (just sitting on a small carpet piece away from others) that corresponds with age--3 min for 3 years, 5 for 5 years, and I have a small egg timer to keep track. If the offender does not have a quiet, respectful time-out, then they've earned a double time-out. Oooooooohhhhhh.

It's certainly not perfect, but we seem to have found a balance between Conscious Discipline , 1, 2, 3 Magic. and just being horrible, angry, constantly-yelling parents. . . for now, at least. FYI: The book is actually called 1, 2, 3 Magic by Dr. Thomas W. Phelan, and I've just found that their website is super-informative.

It's worth checking out and giving a try--the book is very easy to read, hysterical in parts, and it answers every question you may have now or tomorrow, after you start. Happy counting!

dream a little math dream

I am no math wizard. So when I recently stumbled upon an awesome website that helps children with K-2 Math skills, I literally did a jig of joy right there on my computer chair.

• DreamBox Learning K-2 Math: This site offers "a robust math curriculum, individualized to each student" which is what I find amazing about it. It's seriously one of the coolest sites around because it's almost like having a private tutor for your child. For any parent who's looking for a way of enriching their child's math skills while they are playing "games" on the computer, this is totally worth checking out.
  

I've had Maddy and Owen registered for the last few weeks, and after they chose their own character and password, they immediately got started playing.

I have to say that Owen--at 3 1/2 years old--is definitely on the young end for this game, but he still enjoys playing--he just finds more success if he plays the games after he watches Maddy work through them. Maddy, at 5, is at a perfect age--she loves the challenge of learning new skills, feels so proud when she successfully makes it through an activity, and only occasionally asks me for help.

Parents can view their children's progress in the program by looking at the "Parent Dashboard", and students' scores in each section as they work through the curriculum are posted and explained for each category. You can also receive notices via email when your child plays and reminders if your child hasn't played for a few days. It's awesome. I need and appreciate reminders.

The site also has a "Parent Resources" area on the Dashboard where several articles about students and math learning are posted and where potential questions are answered. I've found these resources to be particularly helpful and informative.

If you have a child K-2, or even as young as 3 or 4, here's why you should check out Dreambox Learning:

• You get a free trial!! Just register here.
  
• The curriculum is aligned the Focal Points of each grade set forth by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM).
• Each player is offered choice in the direction he or she wants to take the game (kind of like our old Choose Your Own Adventures!).
• A ton of positive reinforcement is used throughout each activity; points are earned and some prizes can be redeemed through games at the carnival--this is Maddy and Owen's favorite part!
• The graphics are simple but not boring, and the colors, stories, and characters are engaging.

I find this site a great way of having some help in sneaking in a little bit of math learning every day--or every few days! Let me know what you think!