new for us friday--dinner in a pumpkin

This New for Us Friday isn't really new--that's the funny thing.

I've made Dinner in a Pumpkin for the last two years as our Halloween night dinner.

But when we hollowed out the extra pumpkin on Wednesday as we carved our Jack-O'-Lanterns, Maddy, Owen, and Cora said that they never, ever, ever had dinner in a pumpkin, especially not on Halloween.

You mean 'pumpkin pie? Owen asked me.

No. Dinner in a pumpkin. Remember, meat, teeny mushrooms, rice, all cooked in a pumpkin that Mommy drew a face on? C'mon, it was soooo good. Everyone thought it was funny and strange to have our meal come out of a pumpkin. Remember?

Nothing.

Cora I can understand not remembering, but Maddy and Owen? Seriously? I bet if it was a pumpkin-shaped pizza they'd remember. Now there's an idea for next year. . .

• Dinner in a Pumpkin: I found this recipe several years ago in the Post, and I love it. I thought the kids loved it, too, but apparently it didn't leave much of an impression on them. Several of my friends have asked for the Dinner in a Pumpkin Recipe, so here it is to share.

This dinner is easy to prepare ahead, since it is something that does take a little bit of time, and everyone knows there's no time for cooking on Halloween night. We will actually eat this Saturday before Trick-Or-Treating.

We prepared the pumpkin on Wednesday, and Thursday, Owen and Cora watched--and tasted--as I prepared the meat filling. Button mushrooms? Yum. Water chestnuts. Double yum.

our happy little pumpkin

After it cooled, I drew a face on the meat-filled pumpkin, and Saturday I'll throw the big guy in the oven for about 30-45 minutes to bake for the final time before we pound the pavement in search of candy.

No, they haven't actually eaten this particular meal yet, so this New For Us Friday is a little bit backward, since Maddy, Owen, and Cora actually did have this before but just don't remember it. Does that make it something 'new'--I'm not sure. Kind of? Anyway. . .

I thought that I'd share it today in the spirit of Halloween and fun family traditions.
Have a great one!

action, action 1, 2, 3!

Owen was nutty today.

I honestly think he had enough energy this afternoon to run a marathon. Except that it was raining. Again. And he and Cora were starting to get whiny, crazy, cranky, and rough.

We were going to have a low-key, playing games kind of afternoon once Maddy returned from school, but I could tell it just wasn't going to fly.

I thought fast, grabbed some huge index cards and big red dice, and Maddy and I got to work.

• Action, Action 1, 2, 3: Really, this game was made with supplies that we had close by: large index cards, markers, and a set of huge red dice that just happened to be on Owen's bedroom floor today.
  

I said, Okay, friends, I need some help. I know of a really awesome game we can play together that will make our hearts happy and let us exercise inside today since it's rainy and muddy outside.

First, we need to think of as many actions as we can, and I'll write them on these big cards. After I write the words, you guys can draw a picture underneath that shows the action. Here's the first action I thought of--'Hop on one foot'. Who wants to draw the picture for this one?

A bunch of our Action Cards

We came up with a bunch of actions like Run in place, Swim, Dance, Roll, Clap your feet, and Wiggle. Here are the Action 1, 2, 3 Cards to download.

Maddy drew most of the pictures, but Owen and Cora illustrated a few.

After all of the pictures were drawn, Maddy slowly read the whole pile of cards to Owen and Cora. We laughed at some and talked about the difference between a somersault and a roll.

Then I said, Here's how we play this game: First you roll your choice of one or two dice, and you tell us what number you rolled. Then you flip a card and try to do that action as many times as the number.

I'll roll the dice. Let's count the number--right. Six. Now I'll flip a card. Oooooh a good one! This card says 'Clap your feet. Let's see if I can clap my feet six times.

Woot, woot! Maddy has to catch the ball five times!
Can she do it? Sure!

After my feet-clapping, Maddy wanted in. And Owen wanted in. And Cora wanted in. Woo-hoo! I got lucky with this one. . . We took turns rolling, flipping, and acting. It was fun. And it was a distraction and a little something new. And luckily, Owen rolled a '12' for Running in place and a '10' for Hopping, and everyone Swam, Danced, and Wiggled together.

It got our bodies movin' and threw in a little counting and reading practice, and that kind of learning always makes this mama happy.

Lately, I've tried to have Maddy and Owen read more written print, because kiddos do need practice reading both type and print, but downloading these Action 1, 2, 3 Cards is a time-saver, which goodness knows we all need.

I left space for tiny artists' pictures under the words. Giving little ones some ownership over their learning materials is super-important because it makes them more active participants in their education, plus they'll feel a teeny-tiny bit more invested in the activity.

Happy rainy day reading and action fun!

trying to keep smiling: quick trick--teacher notes

In my desperate attempt to re-organize our lives during the first two weeks of school, I created a few things that I've really leaned on lately.

With Maddy and Owen's recent bouts with coughs, bad bellies, runny noses, coughs, and (we're pretty sure) the swine flu, I've had to communicate more frequently with both of their teachers. Goodness knows that the mornings I have five seconds to scribble a quick note, paper and writing utensils are nowhere to be found.

Today's Quick Trick has made my correspondences with their teachers a little more easy.

• Teacher Notes: I made one set of these Small Teacher Notes with Maddy's name on the 'Re:' line and another set with Owen's name on the line. The notes are tiny--two to a page--so that not to much paper is wasted.
  

I left the 'To:' and the 'Date:' line blank so that I could fill it out on the fly. I included only a few blank lines for a hand-written note, and then I have a line for my signature. My name, email address, home phone and cell phone are included on my template so that a teacher--or administrator--can quickly get back to me if necessary.

I printed out four copies for each Maddy and Owen, paper clipped them to small envelopes, and I put them in a safe spot, easy to find and unable to be lost. (Hopefully.)

I also made a Large Teacher Note and printed a few in case I needed more room for a message.

I modified the templates to share; they have none of our personal information included. Here are the Small Teacher Notes and the Large Teacher Notes to download if you'd like.

I remember the days when I was teaching and was so busy I couldn't sit down anywhere--let alone at my computer--until the end of the day. If I have a last-minute something to convey to Maddy or Owen's teacher, maybe--just maybe--they'd find a second to read an old-fashioned note before they find time to sort through all of their emails.

Who knows? I'm learning as I go. . .

let's eat. . . and read

As Maddy learns more reading strategies and picks up new words each day, it's been awesome to watch her unlock the world of words around her.

Her excitement is contagious, and Owen, always trying to keep up with his older sister, is also attempting to read more. Even Cora yells letters when she's not screaming out the Alphabet Song--or throwing the occasional 2-year-old tantrum.

In order to capitalize on the 'reading bug' that's been going around in our house lately, I've tried to use our mealtimes more wisely.

Sure, we still read the paper at breakfast, check out the pre-school or Kindergarten calendars, and make sure we know the day of the week, but I'm also leaving our cereal boxes on the table.

• Eating and Reading: I've always tried to buy or make holiday decorations that had words on them. Anything that promoted reading--along with a little holiday cheer--was worth buying. I'm a holiday-decorating nerd.
  

Last year, I remember Owen--mouth full of waffle--yelling, Mommy! If I put my hand over this other 'e', it says 'Owen' in 'Halloween'!

Sure, it was only after 25 straight days of him staring at 'Happy Halloween' on his placemat, but it was a small victory in my book.

Holiday decorations to help them learn

We do word hunts in our placemats or Trick or Treat wall hanging. I'll say, Okay, Word Hunters, I'm looking at the word 'treat' in 'Trick or Treat'. I see a secret word hiding in the word 'treat'. Can anyone find it?

We also play with rhymes while sitting at the table, staring at the same placemats and decorations day after day. I've said, Let's go around the table and say words that rhyme with 'happy'. I'll start. If I put a 'p' where the 'h' is, I have the word, 'pappy'. What else rhymes with 'happy'?

The team may not be much, but I'll keep the plate.

Even though the team's not worth talking about this season, the Redskins plates we have are another way we sneak in some mealtime reading. Having the kiddos use their (ahem. . . ) Doritos--or apples--to cover all of the letters of Redskins other than 'red' or 'skins' lets them focus on just parts of the word and led to a conversation about compound words one afternoon not long ago.

We came up with a bunch of other compound words, or words made up of two smaller words stuck together--birdhouse, ladybug, ponytail, baseball, eyeball. I'm not sure they were totally able to understand the concept, but there's no harm in trying.

Owen's favorite cereal. . . because his letter is everywhere.

All it took was one full box of Cheerios to empty onto our kitchen floor for me to make a habit of pouring cereal then immediately moving the boxes away; now, I keep the boxes on the table because they're awesome for word-learning.

Every few days we'll do some cereal-box reading (or juice, milk, or yogurt container). I may say:

• 'Honey' begins with the 'hhhh-' sound. What letter makes the 'hhhhh-' sound? Right, 'h'. Who can find the word, 'honey' on this box?

• How many times can you find the word, 'pop' on the Pops box?
  

• Let's see what numbers we can identify on the Frosted Mini-Wheats box. There are lots of them; it's going to be tough!
  

• 'Corn' starts with the letter 'c'. What sound do you hear at the end of 'corn'? Think about the letters that begin and end the word 'corn' and let's try to find it on this box.
  

• 
• How many letters are in the word, 'juice'? How many times can you find it on the front of the juice container?
  

• Who can find the two hidden words in 'lowfat' on our milk carton?

• Everyone look at their own cereal box. Let's say the alphabet together and hunt for each letter on our boxes. Who can find a letter 'a'?. . . then b, c, d, etc.
  

• Can anyone find a word on their box (or milk carton or whatever) that they know that begins with the letter 'm'? . . . or c, j, etc. Call it out when you find it.
  

Not every day, not every other day, but several times a week--when the stars are aligned and we're not running late and Maddy's lunch is already made and no one's busy arguing and no juice gets spilled and everyone's in the mood--we'll play some reading games at breakfast, or lunch, or dinner.

My goal is not to make my kiddos despise learning but to make it fun, natural, and easy--and to find some way to sneak something into their every day.

to market, to market. . .

Today was another one of our monthly business tours. This time we visited our local organic market.

We've been there tons of times but today were lucky to get a behind-the-scenes look at our favorite place to pick up new-for-us natural snacks, Pirate Booty, and our fishy pills.

• Market Tour: We met some pals from our local moms' group and were on our way.

One of the managers greeted us and began the tour by pointing out the Fair Trade chocolate display and teaching us a little bit about why purchasing Fair Trade goods is so important.

She showed us around the produce area and the huge refrigerators, and we said a quick 'hello' to the woman who was in charge of creating the yummy prepared foods.

We watched in awe as the sushi was prepared, and we examined the hundreds of cheeses, even tasting an awesome cheddar.

cheese, glorious cheese

Two of our little pals were recently diagnosed with peanut and tree nut allergies, so the manager showed us to the aisle where they could find tons of safe, nut-free foods. We were amazed at how varied the choices are.

After a spin through the vitamins and supplements (and even trying a few!), we took a look at the earth-friendly water bottles and snack taxi's. Yep--snack taxi's.

Owen and Cora each picked out a pattern they liked (there are a ton of choices!), and we choose one for Maddy.

SnackTaxi's are reusable bags for snacks and sandwiches. They're food movers for a happy planet, which just makes me smile and want to buy twenty. I had to grab some. I love them already. Super-cute patterns, tough velcro holding them shut so snacks won't fall out, washable, durable, reusable, and Mother Earth likes 'em. Woo-hoo!

On our way out, the super-kind manager gave each of us a bag full of goodies--snacks, samples, Horizon and Stonyfield Farm activity books, a silly straw, and tons of helpful and informative information on all things organic and natural.

It was a short tour, but I know at least for Owen, Cora, and me, it was really fun to get a behind-the-scenes look at one of our favorite stops and to be made aware of some really awesome products we otherwise might not have stumbled upon.

These tours are easier than easy to organize, and we always find that the owners or managers are more than happy to show a group of thankful moms--and dads--and their too-cute kiddos around for a bit. All you have to do is ask. Learning about the people and places in their community is definitely a worthwhile lesson for our little ones!

Some of our teachmama.com logged tours:

• Hospital
  
• Recycling Center
• Rita's Italian Ice (scheduled but we couldn't be there)
  
• Fire Station
• Garden Center
  
• Auto Shop
• Pizza Restaurant
  
• Bagel Store

Some of our pre-teachmama.com tours:

• Grocery Store
• Flower Shop
• Cold Stone Ice-cream

Happy organizing!

putting the pieces together--story repair

Today is the National Council of Teachers of English and the International Reading Association's new National Day on Writing!

The National Day on Writing is designed to draw attention to the variety of writing that occurs as part of daily life in the United States as well as to celebrate composition in all forms (Reading Today, Aug/Sept 2009).

What better day than today to share one of my favorite ways of teaching reading and writing?

• Story Repair: Maddy and I have done this several times now, and she really loves it. When used in combination with a Writer's Notebook and other authentic writing prompts and exercises, it's a great way of varying instruction and making learning fun.

Maddy and I were talking about the guinea pigs and then we moved to the rabbit that I had as a pet years and years ago. We joked about how Marty (the rabbit) was not a gentle pet like Golden and Guinea and that he hopped around our house and often bit my husband and me. And he gnawed wires, clothes, and furniture, but that's a whole other story. . .

After we had talked for a while, I said, Maddy, let's write a story about a bunny. Actually, you decide on the story, and I'll write it for you.

She started dictating quickly, and I wrote the first few lines of her story. The focus here isn't length but more the creation of two or three meaningful sentences.

Maddy's story is starting to come together.

After I wrote her first two sentences, we read them together, and then I cut the words apart.

I mixed them up and put the words in front of Maddy. And then I asked her to put the words in the correct order.

She slowly repeated the first sentence and hunted for the words. I put her Writers Notebook in front of her, and she laid out the words on the paper. As she moved each word, she read it aloud.

the finished story

When the sentences seemed complete, we read them together to make sure they were correct. Then Maddy taped the words on the page, drew a picture on the bottom, and we were finished!

This activity is pretty simple, but it's really worthwhile. Used in some intervention programs--like Reading Recovery--it helps emerging readers get back on track, I've also used it frequently with the younger readers I've tutored.

Here are some reasons it's a great activity:

• It gives students a break from actually composing their ideas--that way they can create any story they choose without the pressure of spelling words correctly or writing their letters accurately.

• Students get a chance to see what their "stories" look like on the page.

• Students can play with the words, and they realize that they can read more than they thought when they locate the words and put them in the correct order.

• It works their growing brains--first, their creativity in the development of the story and second, by having them retain the story in their mind as they put it back together.

• Students can learn that they can figure out words by using whatever they can recognize--beginning letters and their sounds or ending letters and their sounds. Or, they learn to look for word length to figure them out; either way works!
  

• Emerging readers will also recognize grammar conventions--sentences begin with a capitalized word and end with a period.
  

And that's it for today. . . happy National Day on Writing!

cora's color game

During one of our first rainy-sick days last week, we all worked on making a color game for Cora. We had just re-discovered Owen's Follow-the-Path Game for beginning sounds, so I thought we'd create a special one for Cora.

Goodness knows we had the time. . .

• Cora's Color Game: All I did was print out two U-shaped boards from Bear's Words Their Way (2004). Here is U-shaped board 1 and U-Shaped board 2 if you'd like them. They're blank, so the game possibilities are endless. . .

Next, I glued each board to the inside of a manila folder, and we got to work! I tried to spread out the colors throughout the board, but in the end, it didn't really matter.

While Maddy and Cora were working on the board, Owen and I colored the little squares. I cut two pieces of white card stock into rectangles then traced a small black square on each. Then we made sure that we used the same colors that were going on the board and did our best to stay in the lines.

They may look like Candy Land cards, but they're made by us, making them
much more cool (at least we think so).

After the squares were all filled in, we beautified.

We added sparkles, birds, flowers, grass, the sun, and anything else we could think of.

Then we let it dry.

For pawns, we used Cora's little Princess dolls.

The game board is almost ready.

Each player flipped a card, called out the color on the card, and then moved his or her doll to that color on the board.

The game literally takes ten seconds to play--perfect for a 2-year-old's attention span--but it was fun because it was especially for Cora.

Cora's Color Game in action!

We played a few times, until the dolls wanted to go visit Golden and Guinea or until someone wanted a snack. I can't remember now what broke up the game, but I do know that Cora was calling out,

Pink! I loooove pink!
Ooooh, I got a yellow!
Mommy, go to green!
Purple! Owen, you have purple!

Just a little bit of secret learning and a whole lot of playing.

Our next game?: The Letters of Cora's Name Game. Can't wait!

Thanks again to Words Their Way (2004) for providing the awesome blank game boards. If you come up with a cool one for your crew, let me know!

new for us friday--disney digital books

One evening during this otherwise crazy week, I was able to sneak out to the city for a chat with some super-cool people from Digital Media at Disney Publishing, some experts in the field of education, and some other really awesome people (like my good pal Leticia, from Tech Savvy Mama) to learn about Disney's latest venture: Disney Digital Books.

To say that we've been Digital Book nutty this week is an understatement; Maddy, Owen, and Cora have really enjoyed exploring the site and discovering what it can do--and what they can do with it.

So this week's New For Us Friday actually began on Wednesday (but who's really checking--it's still falls under the New For Us category, right?. . . ), and I have the good people at Disney to thank:

• Disney Digital Books: We have tried our hand at digital books before--and really loved them--but this was a different experience entirely. And we all enjoyed the ride.
  

What Disney is providing here is essentially an online library--access to over 500 books--and an "interactive experience" for young readers. Disney favorites, like Cars, Mickey Mouse, Disney Princesses, and Toy Story are hanging with Hannah Montannah and other classics; new titles exclusive to Disney Digital Books subscribers will be added to the database on an on-going basis.

500 books? The number amazes me. Most families can't even fathom ever seeing that number of books, let alone having them at their very fingertips. . .

The three reading levels are highlighted here.

A cool feature of the site is that books are organized into three separate reading levels: Level One (for beginning readers and shared reading with parents), Level Two (for independent readers), and Level Three (for children ready for chapter books).

Children can search for books according to the level they need, or they can search for them by character, program, or movie.

And one thing I love--and Maddy and Owen really loved--is that by clicking on the headphones on the white bookshelf, children can search by availble "Look and Listen" books--or books they can hear being read as they follow the words on the screen. A huge bonus? The words are highlighted as they are read, helping our little ones understand that all-too-important one-to-one correspondence concept!

A Toy Story book--see the tiny highlighted word? Sweet!

Another feature of the site is that children can create their own books; they go to the Story Builder feature (a little dump truck on the bookshelf), choose a title they want to work with, and from there, it's up to them! They can first design a picture using the characters or props that pop up--resizing them, moving them, whatever--then they can finally save them when they like what they created.

A Pirates story from Story Builder

From there, children can fill in the blanks of their personal story, choosing a word from a list that conveys the idea they want. When writers click on one of the words, the word is pronounced, and when they're finished completing the story, they can save it, print it, or share it via email with a friend.

There are a ton more very worthwhile features on the site--a dictionary that readers can use to help them figure out a difficult word in the text, little certificates to print out after reading books, points to accumulate with each book read, a "My Place" that children can personalize and make their own, a virtual bookshelf where all of their finished or partially finished books are saved, and more.

I look forward to figuring out more of the site's "secrets" in the next few days but just couldn't help but share our love tonight. . .

Overall, here's the skinny, from our perspective:

We liked:

• the graphics--like everything Disney, they're beautiful. Like nothing my kids have seen on the computer before. . . ;
• the huge variety of stories from which to choose;
• that kiddos can search for texts in different ways--by reading level, by character/ show/ movie, or by "Look and Listen" books;
• the little "Trivia Challenges" that are placed throughout the texts--these little quizzes test what the child has read up to a certain point;
• the fireworks that appear after a story is finished--seriously, everyone loved these;
• the "Magic Pen" that readers use to turn pages of the books or highlight words to hear words pronounced, or to see definitions;
• that readers can receive mail from their parents--little notes of encouragement--in their very own mailboxes;
  
• that children can connect with "friends" who share their same interests and tastes for literature;
• that they're offering a Free Trial--7 books, 1 Look and Listen and 1 Story Builder for anyone and everyone to try.
  

We wish:

• that it was easier to register-even with a free month (thanks to the good people at Disney!), I had a tough time with figuring out where to go and what user names would work;
• that some of the "Look and Listen" books were a teeny bit shorter--maybe even levelled so that the beginning levels carried some of those precious high frequency words that emerging readers are just becoming familiar with;
• that there was a place to click on for related readings that included non-fiction texts--science, math, or social studies related topics--and that these texts were of a variety of reading levels. Maybe there could also be texts of different genres--short memoirs, poems, news articles? . . . ;
  
• that the site ran a bit more smoothly. It's new, there's a ton of stuff on the site, but twice we were told that the book we wanted to read was not available;
  
• that the "Story Builder" was also leveled--for Maddy to create her stories, I had to be there to read the text with her. Even though the word choices were pronounced, she needed help decoding the rest of the text;
• that there was a section for parents where the reading research that supports this site and its goals and intentions was available. I love to see why exactly my children or I are spending our time on a certain topic or activity. I care about who researched it, when and where it was published, and that it was timely;
  
• that it was a wee bit less expensive--$79.95 / year for up to three children or $8.95 monthly. I suppose it would be an awesome gift come holiday season, and there are 500+ books. . .
  

Whew! That's a lot to say, and I didn't even come close to saying it all. Forgive me for forgetting; check the site for any clarification!

I do want to thank Disney Publishing for offering us a free one-month trial of Disney Digital Books, for an especially enjoyable evening out filled with new information and great conversation, and for a super-cool product that we're excited to continue exploring.

Happy Reading!

Please note: Although we received this trial at no cost, the gift in no way swayed my opinion on the product. Like always, my ideas are most influenced by three littles: Maddy, Owen, and Cora.

playing cards, playing with numbers

For the last few months--yes, months--Owen has been obsessed with playing War.

With any deck of cards, anywhere, any time.

It's probably safe to say that we play the game at least ten times a week, with any pack of cards that he can get his hands on.

So my little boy is fast becoming a number whiz. And war? A secretly worthwhile game. . .

• Card Game--War: The premise of this game couldn't be more simple.
  

First, we take turns counting out our cards, crossing our fingers it's a full deck and we each have 26. If it's not, we just make sure we have the same amount.

Then we flip the top card at the same exact time, and the higher number wins. That's it. Winner takes both cards and puts them in a pile. After each original pile is gone, players use the pile of cards that they won.

The game continues until one player is out of cards or until one player desperately cries Uncle. It's usually Mom or Dad.

A game on the couch, sometime in the summer. . .
. . . and it's a war!

The big excitement of the game? When players flip the same card--then it's WAR! Players put two cards face down underneath the "war" card, then they flip a new one, and the higher number is the tie-breaker.

The winner gets to keep all of the cards, including the two "surprises" that are face down.

Talk about crazy--it's a double war!

When we're really feeling nutty, we'll play triple war or quadruple war and add others to the game.

Tons of variations of this game exist, and almost everyone I know has played one of them before. I think it's a game that we might put off until later, or we simply underestimate its learning importance.

As a Reading Specialist, I always forget about sneaking in those important math concepts, but I'm continually learning and always trying. This game--as super simple as it is--really is worth adding to anyone's game shelf.

Here's why:

• kiddos learn and practice number values--which numbers are higher or lower than others;

• they get to use math vocabulary--more than, less than, equal to, etc. (Here's the math vocabulary sheet to download);

• they learn to play with and talk about numbers--Hey! If I had one more to add to my seven, I could war with your eight! OR, Oooooh, your two won't win anything because there's no number one card in the deck--two is the lowest number we have here!;
  

• they practice counting--from dealing the cards to counting their piles to see who has more (if the game ends before one player is out).

That's it for today. Another rainy afternoon playing War for a short bit before Owen's rest time. Thought it was about time I shared it. . .

tooth fairy, we're ready

If you check around the internet, dozens of sites exist with perfect, beautiful tooth fairy pillows. If we had more time, I would have ordered one of them for my loose-tooth Maddy. I'm all about out-sourcing when I can.

With her first teeny-tiny baby tooth hanging on by a thread, last week we hit the craft store and bought a little box for Maddy to paint and prepare as a perfect landing spot for her tooth.

Without a sewing machine or the proper sewing skills, this mama needed a tooth fairy pillow back-up plan.

• Tooth Fairy Box: Yes, ours is a box. But it's star-shaped, and now it's all glittered up, and it's totally. . . beautiful. Maddy worked her little heart out on it.
  

It started out as an inexpensive little wooden box.

And with a little paint, it slowly became gooooorgeous.

After a few days of a high fever and feeling completely lousy, finally today Maddy said she wanted to finish decorating her Tooth Fairy Box. We flipped our -at and -an family flip books aside, and we did some old-school free crafting, all in the name of our favorite little fairy and my baby being on the mend.

We haven't met the Tooth Fairy yet, but we know she loves sparkles.

Owen's Tooth Fairy Box

Knowing that once Maddy starts losing her pearly whites, Owen won't be too far behind, while Maddy decorated her box, I made one for Owen, who really wasn't up for creating one on his own. Painting Tooth Fairy Boxes or playing golf, baseball, and tire swinging out back with Dad? Guess what Owen did. . .

We've got Owen feeling lousy today, but once everyone's back on their feet, we'll hit the library for some of these Tooth Fairy book titles:

• You Think It's Easy Being the Tooth Fairy? by Sheri Bell-Rehwoldt
  
• What Do the Fairies Do With All These Teeth? by Michael Luppens
• Dear Tooth Fairy by Alan Durant
• The Night Before the Tooth Fairy by Natasha Wing
• Nice Try, Tooth Fairy by Mary W. Olson
  
• Dear Tooth Fairy by Jane O'Connor
• Dad, Are You the Tooth Fairy? by Jason Alexander
  

Some of my favorite Tooth Fairy Pillow spots:

• Pink and Green Mama: This art teacher mama had a Tooth Fairy Pillow featured on the Instructables web site. She seriously rocks, and now she's even got some pillows on her Pink and Green Mama Etsy shop!

• One Crafty Place: Although this blog is no longer being updated, Chrissy did an awesome job of assembling some very cool crafts. Check out her Tooth Fairy Pillows from around the web.

tutor me happy

Maddy has been really adamant about me "tutoring" her, so for the last few weeks, I've been trying to do a little more obvious--less sneaky--work with her every few nights.

I started by giving her the Primary Spelling Inventory from Words Their Way (2004), which is recommended for kindergarten through third grade. I use this assessment when I tutor any of my younger students because it shows me where I should begin work with word learning.

Maddy's results showed me that she is at the Middle Letter Name-Alphabetic Stage*, so my work with her will focus on having her increase known features at this level.

• -at family picture/ word sort: We've done this sort before with both pictures and words, so we followed a different order of events. Here is the -at picture/ word sort to download.
  

Usually, teachers might take a day for introducing the sort in a group, then a day for re-sorting and writing, then a day for a buddy sort, a day for a word hunt (hunt for the given words in a Guided Reading text or other text) or sort with teacher, and then a final day for testing and/or games. Rarely does it work so perfectly, but any repeated practice is worthwhile.

Maddy rocked this sort. Seriously.

So when Maddy and I revisited this sort, I just said, Okay, Maddy, I assessed you last night, so just like the students I tutor, now I know exactly where we need to begin. We'll start simple and get a little more difficult as we go. Tonight, we're going to start with a picture and word sort for the -at family. Let's put these pictures in a column and say them as together.

We identified each picture, and then I said, Here are all of the word cards that go with the pictures. Can you try to match each word to the correct picture?

I let her go on her own, and it was way too easy; I should have begun with a two- family sort, but I also didn't want to frustrate her. Now I know. . .

What she did want was more writing and word learning, so we took out her Writer's Notebook (really just a spiral notebook), and I had her copy each word on a page labeled, AT Family.

This, she loved. As she wrote each word, she read it and flipped it over, just to make it a little easier.

Working in her Writer's Notebook

Why on earth would I have written 'fat' and 'rat' with uppercase letters?

When she finished, we brainstormed new words and added them to the list. It doesn't matter if the words are non-sense words; in fact, it's fine. Just as long as she's pronouncing the words correctly, any word counts. It's usually the silly ones that get giggles--and who can complain about a kiddo laughing and learning at the same time?

The night after this, I had Maddy re-sort the words and then we did a few speedy sorts, which Maddy and Owen always seem to enjoy. Then we took out a few of her reading a-z books, and we went on a word hunt, searching for any -at family words in the texts and then she wrote them in her notebook.

That's it. So fun and so easy. And absolutely, totally, and completely not sneaky at all. . .


My next few steps related to these lessons will be:

• to do an -at/ -an family sort and play with them for a few days;
  
• to use the -at/ -an family flip book from Words Their Way;
• to expand a bit but stick with short -a and do an -ad/ -ap/ -ag families sort.

*Learners at the Middle Letter-Name Alphabetic Stage are usually in Kindergarten through grade three, but, like situation, some are older and some are younger. Usually these students can correctly spell initial and final consonants in words and some blends and digraphs. They often use letter names to spell vowel sounds and omit silent letters (min/ mine; driv/ drive; tep/ tip; bak/ back). Often they finger point and can read aloud, slowly and word-by-word.


Thanks again to one of my favorite resources ever, Bear's Words Their Way (2004) for the Primary Spelling Inventory, the -at family picture/ word sort, and the flip book.

I created the -at/ -an sort and the -ad/ -ap/ -ag sort, not because I enjoy reinventing the wheel but because I can't stand that WTW uses the fancy 'a' instead of the 'a' they teach our kiddos to actually write.

trying to keep smiling: quick trick--brain kiss

Mmmmmuahhhh!

Give your brain a kiss.

I learned so, so much from Maddy's incredible preschool teachers when I parent-aided in her first classroom.

She was only there two mornings a week, and I was there a few times a month, but these women were amazing, patient, and seriously skilled at with working with the teeniest of teeny two-year-olds.

So today's Quick Trick is from them. Just like arm circles and a lot of the Conscious Discipline that they demonstrated, this is something that we've used for quite some time and have had much success with.

• Brain Kisses: Whenever Maddy, Owen, or Cora show us that they're really thinking--really using their growing brains to figure something out, remember something, or to share something they learned with us--we say,
  

Give your brain a kiss! Your brain is really working hard today. Or,

How did you figure that out? . . . Give your brain a kiss. Or,

Did you really remember that? Oh my gosh, your brain is working so hard. Give it a kiss.

And then that person kisses his or her hand and then puts the kiss on the top of his or her head.

It might sound strange or quirky or weird to some (and it is a little funny. . .), but it's really normal for us around here to talk about brains and the hard work our brains do to help us learn and grow.

Teachers talk with their students about metacognition--thinking about thinking--so why not start here at home? By giving our brains a little love now and again, we're helping our kiddos to become more aware of their own processes of learning and developing.

Sometimes, if we see Maddy, Owen, or Cora doing something especially loving towards one another or someone else, we say, Give your heart a kiss. I love it.

A lot of discipline techniques do sound different before they become norms for households, and this is certainly one of them; believe me, I know.

Brain--and heart--kisses reflect the idea behind noticing--or sharing with children the times when we observe them demonstrating positive behaviors in hopes of having them repeat those behaviors independently. We're all about celebrating little successes, kind of like the big ole Special Plate, letting them make some choices, or looking at things through a positive lens.

Here's to a weekend full of brain kisses and getting-smarter-(and kinder)-everyday kiddos!

we're counting--hats, cats, and pumpkins

My kiddos are Halloween nutty.

They love our scarecrows out front, our pumpkins around the house, and the little plastic spider that hangs from a shelf in the kitchen. They sing Wee Sing Halloween songs all day long.

So I put all the objects of their affection together in a really basic grid game today and passed some time in the morning before we visited Maddy at recess.

Grid games are seriously awesome. Short, sweet, and so easy to play with very little cleanup.

The concept is the same as our last grid games, but I modified things slightly:

• Hats, Cats, and Pumpkins Grid Game: Unlike our Sunny-Rainy Grid Games, this Halloween-ish one has pictures inside boxes. I wanted to keep the grids visable so that it would be easier for Cora to use.

The premise of this game is super-simple, but the early literacy skills it reinforces are really worthwhile. The goal is just to fill your board with small objects--that's it. The way players do that is by counting their way through each row, depending on the number rolled on a die or the number flipped on a playing card.

our hats board

Today, since I couldn't find dice to save my life, I pulled out a deck of cards and used all of the 2's, 3's, 4's, and 5's. I only chose 2 each of 6, 7, and 8, and I chose only one 9 and 10. With the lower numbers, the game lasts longer, and players can more slowly walk through the left-to-right progression through the line and return sweep to the next line.

Owen and I later played with a Joker in the mix and said that he covered all--an instant win!--and that added a new level of fun to the game for him.

our cats board

We used clear glass pieces--nothing fancy but very fun for little hands--just the ones sold at craft stores that are sometimes in vases or in the bottom of fish bowls. Anything will work, though--Cheerios, marshmallows, Foamies, beads, bingo chips.

For each number rolled or flipped, that number of objects gets covered, line by line, beginning with the top left and ending bottom right--just like reading words on a page.

our pumpkins board, complete with fun glass game pieces

And that was it. Owen loved it and wanted to play a dozen times, and Cora played for a while but really just wanted to play with the game pieces. She played a few games as my partner, and then she ran off to play with a handful of game pieces and her dolls.

Grid games, as I've said before, are a super tool for teaching one-to-one correspondence which emergent readers need to understand that every single number and letter is important and that a group of letters is makes one word. Grid games also work on emphasizing the movement of left to right on a page and the return sweep--reading one whole line from start to finish before moving to the line below.

Math-wise, grid games work on counting--whether it's dots on a die or a number on a card--and then translating that number to a specific amount on a page, or the number of objects that are covered by a game piece.

Like most of our games, Owen and Cora had no idea they were learning as they played. I created this game knowing that Owen is a lover of any number game and that Cora is getting to the age where she can start to learn and understand concepts of print and number counting. We'll play it again in the next few days, maybe this time with plastic spiders or candy corn as game pieces. Yum!

working on a happy face

Similar to when she worked towards creating the perfect cat, a few days ago, Maddy worked herself into a frustrated fit over her attempt at the perfect face.

Again, to try to put emphasis on her effort and determination rather than the finished product, I grabbed her "ditched" faces and bound them in a little book:

• Maddy's Happy Face(s):
  

All I did was make them the same size, punch holes in the corner, and throw on a green construction paper cover.

Surprisingly, she was very proud of her finished product--the book as a whole--and has looked through it many, many times.

I'm not sure what was wrong with this one. . .

. . . but she said this one's eyes would disappear once she colored the whole face.

She didn't like this one's nose.

And this one? I'm not even sure.

This one was thrown aside, but she looks great to me.

Same with this one. . .

. . . and this one she cut out and glued on white paper.

The one on the cover is the one she felt was her very best happy face ever.

I thought they were all great, so I have tried to
point out unique, interesting, and special parts of all of them.

Goodness gracious, I hope this doesn't translate to crazy teen years. . .