our love tree

I saw these Love Trees back in January, over at super-talented Jenny's Our Nifty Notebook, and I thought that Maddy, Owen, and Cora would love to do this.

And they did.

We worked on them over two days last week, and they each had a favorite part--from gathering sticks, to tracing the hearts, to glittering them up and punching the holes, to hanging them on the tree. This Love Tree is too cute.

Not to mention, this teach mama loves that this little tree requires practice on lots of important skills (fine motor work--tracing, cutting, punching, threading, twisting--writing names, and painting).

• Love Tree: Really, the Love Tree is just a bunch of sticks stuck in a pretty container, hung with construction paper hearts all shimmied up in glitter and names of people we love.
  

My kiddos would jump on any opportunity to decorate any kind of tree--even if the 'tree' is just sticks in an old candy tin. But this tree required some thinking, careful writing, and it speaks of the people we love.

What's not to like, and how could it be more perfect for Valentine's Day?

at first they were a bunch of plain, old sticks. . .

We started gathered sticks and put them in one of our sand buckets. Owen loved this part.

our heart patterns

Then we traced hearts onto construction paper and some random pieces of pink and red cardstock I had left, and we cut them out. Maddy loved the tracing, and Cora loved the cutting (or trying to).

The Love Tree Hearts are here to download if you'd like. (But really any hearts will do!)

Next, we wrote the names of people we loved on each heart.

Owen was stuck on writing only people whose names began with 'J'. I'm not sure why.

Maddy wrote Owen and Cora's names, then 'Mommy'. She spent most of her time decorating Joseph's heart. She loooooves Joesph.

Then the kiddos painted glitter on the hearts. I poured a bunch of white glue on the paint tray and then dumped red glitter on top.

The artists mixed the paint-glitter mix with their brushes and then decorated their hearts.

The next day, when all of the hearts were dry, Maddy and Owen punched holes in each heart.

Hole punching is a super way of working on fine motor skills; when Owen was having a tough time with his tripod grip last year, his teacher recommended having him punch holes for exercise.

He was hole-punch happy for quite some time, so he was all smiles when we brought this guy out.

Then I cut red and pink pipe cleaners in half, and Maddy, Owen, and Cora threaded a pipe cleaner through the hole in each heart.

After some twisting, the hearts were ready to be hung.

I put a couple heavy things (two rolls of coins and a rock) into the bottom of an old candy tin that we had downstairs, and we moved the sticks from the pail to their new home.

our finished Love Tree

Then we all hung our hearts on the tree, and by the end, it looked beautiful.

It's hardly complete--there are tons of people we'd love to have added, but for now, for the time we had on two cold winter afternoons, it seems complete.

And that's it--a sweet Valentine's Day decoration made with things we had around the house and lots of secret skill-building along the way. Thanks again, Jenny, for the great idea!

happy heart decorating

Valentine's Day is almost here!

You better believe that our house has been heart-happy and all fancied-up in pink and red since last weekend. I've always loved decorating for the holidays, and why not? Any reason to celebrate, right?

This is a craft that we made last year but just brought out for our windows again this year: Beautiful Valentine's Day Hearts.

They're so easy to make, and the simple cutting of tissue paper, extra plastic goodie bags, and streamers actually might even count as a little fine-motor skill tuning for our little ones!

(fyi: This is basically a re-post from last year, but I thought it was worth sharing! )

• Valentine's Day Hearts: I picked up some contact paper this week, and here's what we did: I taught Maddy and Owen how to make a heart by folding construction paper in half (how fun!), and they cut the hearts I traced.

These beautiful hearts make me smile every time I see them.

Then we cut red, white, and pink tissue paper, leftover plastic goodie bags, and silver sparkles up into tiny pieces. We put the heart on the sticky side of contact paper, then carefully placed the tiny pieces of pretty paper in the center.

When we were finished, we put another piece of contact paper over the whole thing and cut around the edges.

We put them on the windows, and they looked awesome, especially against the falling snow. Cora loved picking out which tissue paper she wanted in the center of her hearts, and it was a great activity for scissor practice for Maddy and Owen. All preschoolers need scissor practice. . .

Thanks to the cool ladies in my MOMS group for sharing the idea with me when we decorated NIH last year. It's a super-easy activity, and it doesn't take too much time at all. And the holiday possibilities are endless: shamrocks, eggs, pumpkins, fall leaves. . . fun!

This year's Valentine's Day craft totally rocks; we've been working on it for the last two days, and it's really cool. Hopefully I'll get around to sharing it this weekend--

stamping crazy--open grid games

Lately the kids have been on a stamping craze. They're stamp-happy, stampin' nutty, and stopping everything to stamp up somethin'.

So I thought it would be the ideal time for me to capitalize on their current interest and to throw in a little learning along the way.

There are tons of cool things to do with stamps, but I created an Open Grid Game so that Owen and Cora could work on concepts of print (left to right, return sweep), their counting, and their fine motor skills.

All the while, these two are just thinking their mom is giving them one more reason to play with stamps. . .

• Open Grid Games: The concept is the same as any other Grid Game--Halloween, Rainy/ Sunny Games, or Bunnies, but this board is open--you can use stickers, stamps, or write a letter or number inside each box.

The Open Grid Game has two boards: one with four rows of eight boxes (for Owen) and one with three rows of five bigger boxes (for Cora). The Open Grid Game is here to download.

Owen counts his stamps

As Owen and Cora were busy stamping at the table the other day, I said to Owen, Hey Owen, grab your favorite small stamp, and I'll grab mine. You and I are going use the dice to see who can get the most stamps on the page. Ready?

Owen--always up for a game--said, Okay. Okay!

We used a small red dice that had numbers on it rather than dots, and it had nine sides, which I like. That way, we had the chance to roll higher and count higher. For Cora, however, I used the regular white dice with dots and six sides so she got extra practice counting the dots.

Owen has played Grid Games many times before, so he knew that after he rolled a '6', his first stamp would go in the top left box and that he then moved to the right, just like we read words on a page.

After he stamped his six stamps, I rolled, and I did the same thing only using a different stamp. When the boxes were filled, we wrote our names at the top of the page, counted our stamps, and wrote our number next to our name.

The winner had the higher number of stamps on the page.

We played a few times, switched stamps, and that was it. Quick, easy, and just a neat way of sneaking in a bunch of important skills.

I played next with Cora, and of course I wrote her number at the end, but she was totally and completely able--and excited--to play the same game that Owen played. She didn't even notice that she had a different board.

I think I'll try this again next week and use heart stickers. . . oooooooooooohhhh.

I'll say it again because it's that important:

Grid Games, as I've said before, are a super tool for teaching one-to-one correspondence which emergent readers need in order 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.

For as long as they'll let me and for as long as they need 'em, I'll throw in a new Grid Game every few weeks.

it's a bird. . . it's a plane. . . it's a--

. . . squid dog.

Yep. You got it. A squid dog.

This is what happens when I get a new Family Fun Magazine in the mail on a Friday, my husband heads out to a Saturday night college basketball game, and I'm left alone with three kids.

And I've got some hotdogs and spaghetti that just wanna-- get together and become. . . squid dogs.

My crazy-cool, incredibly talented friend Jessica once asked me if I ever shared ideas that just didn't work for my kiddos, and I told her very honestly, that it's about all I can do to share things that do work.

I assured her that sure--I do try things that flop--but that I'd rather spend my time blogging about activities and tricks that worked for us rather than those that didn't.

This one, Jessica, my friend, is for you.

The squid dogs were a complete and utter b-u-s-t. Bust with a capital B.

the squid doggies before they really became squiggly squids

When I said, Squiggly squid dogs for dinner!! and handed Maddy her plate, she said, Wow! How cool, Mom!

Owen picked his up--just like the little guy in the magazine picture--and started making it dance in the air, crazy spaghetti legs flyin', big smile on his face, nibbling at the wild, long pasta legs.

Cora--oh, my sweet, sweet Coco--said, I don't like these dogs. I do not want these squig dogs, Mommy. I do NOT WANT THIS SQUIG DOG ON MY PLATE!

a one-eyed squid dog and his two-eyed buddy

And before I knew it, Maddy said, Mommy, actually, this is not something I want to eat. I don't think I care for hot dogs with spaghetti inside, and I've already had two bites. (Our house rule is at least two bites to try something new. Her bites were teeeeeeny.)

And Owen said, These taste funny. I can't eat this, Mommy. I just want the mac and cheese shells.

And Cora was just happy that the 'squig dogs' were off of her plate.

There you have it--the first ever shared-with-the-world, teachmama total flop.

That's not to say that other kids won't love squid dogs; I'm sure many do. But my kids weren't feelin' em. I wonder why?

Please tell me you have your own food, activity, craft, or game busts. . .

time to rhyme--go fish!

Lately all Maddy wants to do is read, read, read, which is fine with me. She'll read to me, my husband, and she'll read to Owen or Cora.

She'll read to anyone who will listen.

And it's great that she is so willing to do this, because it gives me a chance to hear how she's progressing. I'm able to give her high-fives for what she's doing well or sneak in some extra teeny-tiny bits of fun learning in areas that might help.

I noticed that lately she needed more work with short e and short i sounds--reading even simple words quickly, automatically, and correctly--so for the last few days we've played with the short vowel families.

The 'Go Fish' format works well with anything, so all I did was crank out some easy, short vowel rhyme cards for this simple game.

• Rhyme Time Go Fish: These game contains rhyming words with all of the short vowel sounds. There's at least two or four rhyming words from the -at, -an, -ot, -op, -og, -en, -et, -ug, -ut, -it, and -in families.
  

The Rhyme Time Go Fish Cards (okay, actually, they're just short vowel rhyming word cards, but that just sounds so boring. . . ) are here to download if you'd like.

Maddy's rhyming pairs

The game is verrry simple.

All I said to Maddy, the first time we played, was, Hey, you big-time kindergartner reader. Are you up for beating your old mom at a game of 'Rhyme Time Go Fish'? It's just like regular 'Go Fish', but it's with rhyming words. Some of the words will be easy, and some will be tough. Ready to beat me?

And of course she was. And of course most of the words were way too easy for her. But some of them she had to think about, and that was my goal--to just get her a little more familiar--more confident--with all of the short vowel sounds before she's introduced to some of the long vowel patterns.

my left-over, un-matched, very lonely cards

We turned all of the cards face down in a pile in the middle, and we each picked six cards. (She wanted six instead of five, since she just turned six.)

We put down all of our rhyming pairs, face up in front of us.

Then we picked up more cards if we needed to so that we each started the game with six cards in our hand.

Then I said, Okay, when it's your turn, you say, 'Mommy, do you have a word that rhymes with--and then you say one of the cards in your hand.' Okay?

Like I might say, 'Maddy, do you have a word that rhymes with 'dog'? Because right here, I have the word 'dog' in my hand. And if you do have a word that rhymes with 'dog', you give it to me. If not, you say, 'Go fish'. Make sense?

So we played. And we played some more. And the person who has the most pairs at the end wins--as long as she's able to read all of the words.

Looking back, sure, I could have focused entirely on one or two sounds, maybe contrasting a sound she's totally got with one that she's just learning, but I wanted this to be fun and not really that much work. And the last thing I want to do at the end of a busy day of school for Maddy is to turn her away from these kind of games or give her early school-burnout. I've still got to be sneaky, right?

Anyway, this game is pretty cool because it continues to develop and increase the number of known features in the Letter-Name Alphabetic Stage, an early stage of word learning, which is where Maddy--and many of her kindergarten pals--are developmentally.

In an interesting article in the March 2009 The Reading Teacher, Pikulski and Chard recall Ehri's 1998 study on fluency, saying that when encountering a printed word such as 'bug' as few as four times, children come to "accurately, instantly identify the word bug without attending to the individual letters, sounds, or letter-sound associations" (Fluency: Bridge Between Decoding and Reading Comprehension).

This automatic recognition of words makes things easier!! It ultimately increases fluency so students can focus on comprehending the text instead of decoding words. Wooo-hoo! Bring it on, Rhyme Time Go Fish!

let's go, teacher bloggers!

Warning: This is a post about a blogging conference--the same one I went to last year, but this time it's in The Big Apple.

I know it's early.
I know it's kind of annoying.
I know my non-blogging friends are rolling their eyes and sighing deeply and my family is probably shaking their heads.

But I've got a purpose: I'm trying to rally all of those super-cool, uber-talented teacher-parent-bloggers out there to consider attending the conference this August.

We education-ny, teacher-ish, a little bit crafty-types, usually sharing-ideas-kinda bloggers were totally under-represented last year, so I'm trying to pump up the troops a bit. Get more of us out there.

And, I'm really, really, really pushing for a session about teaching and sharing ideas on the web.

Here's the skinny on the proposed session:

We are classroom teachers. We were classroom teachers.

We homeschool full-time, and we homeschool part-time. We're eclectic and structured, unschool-driven and Montessori-minded.

We talk literacy, mathematics, science, and social studies, languages and the arts.

We practice a "lifestyle of learning", and we all blog about it.

This session will be an opportunity for anyone and everyone who dabbles in the field of education--at home or in the classroom--to chat about why we have chosen to share our journey on the web. We'll focus on best practices and resources, and we'll discuss our obligations, as educators, when we do share information.

What are the best ways of idea-sharing? What are the most safe ways of conveying information? What makes one site more reliable than the next? Why do we always return to the same ones, and how can we better branch out? How can this growing group of bloggers network more so that no one needs to re-invent the wheel?

We're parents and teachers who are on the hunt for ways of enriching our children's lives, whether it be for a full day or ten minutes here and there. Let's finally meet in real life and figure out how to make this adventure easier--and more fun--for everyone.

Here's how we can make this happen:

• Go to BlogHer and login or register.
  

(It takes five seconds, and YES! that is me on the BlogHer banner looking like I'm bff with Paula Deen--how funny is that?!)

• Click the list of Room Of Your Own idea proposals.
  
• Click on Teacher-Parents and the Web: Let's Make it Work.
• Click I would attend this session.

I'm so looking forward to seeing you in August!!

Thank you, thank you, thank YOU for your help, and if you're interested in facilitating the discussion with me, let me know!

a little more lunchbox love

I have to admit, I'm still not used to packing a lunch five days a week, and my planning isn't always the best.

Usually I'm scrambling in the morning like a caffeine-driven crazy person to make Maddy's lunch--and Owen's for the one day a week he stays for Lunch Bunch--on top of getting three kids out of bed, dressed, teeth brushed, and breakfast in their bellies.

Lunchbox notes were slowly falling to the wayside until I did two things: put permanent marker to plastic and created new wintertime lunchbox love notes.

It's January, a time for new beginnings, so I'm doing more advance-packing and note-adding, and I know (at least I'd like to think) my kids appreciate it.

• Lazy Lunchbox Notes: Ikea sells a huge pack of plastic containers for next to nothing. I wrote little messages on top of a few of the ones that I use regularly for Maddy or Owen's sandwiches and small snacks.

some plastic Lunchbox love, thanks to Ikea

So on the days I don't have a second to sign my name to one of my cute and snazzy pre-printed Lunchbox Love Notes, I am just sure to add at least one of these containers to a lunchbox.

(Along with my now-frequent use of Snack Taxi's, I'm trying to be a little bit more green in 2010. . . )

• Lunchbox Love Notes 2.0: Maddy pretty much memorized my last Lunchbox Love Notes by the end of September, so I should have made these earlier, but I didn't.

Lunchbox Love Notes 2.0 are just the second edition of teeny-tiny notes, perfect for adding to Maddy or Owen's lunchbox at the last minute. Usually I keep an envelope of the cards in the kitchen so that I can sign my name, draw a funny picture, and throw one in the lunchbox.

Lunchbox Love Notes 2.0 are here to download.

luncbox love notes 2.0

This group of notes has some wintertime pictures and more of a "you are special" focus. The kindergarten "he's-not-my-friend/she-won't-play-with-me/I-can't-write-my-letters-nice-enough/I'll-never-make-my-numbers-right" drama has hit Maddy quite hard.

I'm hoping these little love notes will continue to remind her of how special she is and how much we love her. Any chance our little ones get to hear--or read--that they're special can only help, right?

That's it for today. Happy sneaky lunchbox reading!

talking to kids about the earthquake in haiti

It's been nearly impossible to avoid the topic of the earthquake and devistation in Haiti with my three little ones. I've always been reluctant to share scary, tragic news with my children because they are so very young; I haven't wanted to fill their brains with nightmare material if I could avoid it. It's hard enough for adults to fathom.

But because we read the newspaper daily, the images of suffering on the front pages of the paper for the last week have been difficult to hide. The photos are heartbreaking for anyone to see, let alone a 6, 4, and 2-year-old who might not understand the events.

So I was thankful yesterday when I came across a link on Valerie Strauss's The Answer Sheet in The Post. She linked back to PBS Parents, a site I love for information on just about anything.

Here's the skinny on what I learned , thanks to PBS Parents. . .

• Talking with Kids About News, Age by Age:

Babies and Toddlers (0-2)-- According to the site, "babies and toddlers should not be exposed to disturbing news." And because of the fear little ones feel from loud noises, gun shots, and scenes sometimes found on the news, they suggest that parents "don't subject them to news on tv." Okay. Easy enough.

Preschoolers (3-5)-- Children this age often mix up reality and fantasy and think that what's happening on tv could be happening right there in their house. Parents should "shield preschoolers from news coverage of violent events whenever possible" and "avoid repeated viewings of the same event." Makes total sense.

They say that "it is not necessary to discuss violent events on the news, unless you know your child has been exposed to them." News "connected your preschooler's life" is worth spending time talking about, though, like election news, weather, or something directly related to their day-to-day. Yes. Agree, agree, agree.

Asking preschoolers, "What do you know about that?" when they ask about an event and then clearing up misconceptions is the best idea. Diane Levine, PhD, suggests that parents don't "over explain in ways that are not age-appropriate" but that they "clear up the confusion."

Parents should explain that children are safe and do a lot of snuggling, loving, and listening to their children. Especially if these guys have had a hint of scary news, they'll need some extra love.

School Age (6-8): This is a time for "limited media exposure and good follow-up discussions" because although children this age are beginning to understand that the world doesn't revolve only around them, they still have a hard time understanding the space between the world and themselves.

It is recommended that school aged childrenn listen to the news rather than watch it and that parents should discuss important news with school aged children.

Do this by asking what he already knows about the event:
-Have people talked about the earthquake in Haiti?
-What have you heard about an earthquake in Haiti from your friends or teachers at school?
-What questions do you have about it?

And if he says he hasn't heard anything, then say that you are always available to talk about it if he'd like or "describe the event in an age-appropriate way, depending on the circumstances."

Like with younger children, parents are advised to assure children they are safe and not to over-correct or over-explain. They are then encouraged to follow the news and learn more about the topic if possible.

Older Kids (9-11)-- This age group is still "me-focused" but is able to think more logically about the news and world events. Although they are better suited to handle difficult news stories, they still get confused and need careful, age-appropriate, clarification from parents. (See more relevant information on PBS's site.)

So what have we done, other than talked to Maddy about the earthquake and events in Haiti? We donated.

Here are a few of the many, many ways you can help if you are able:

• Donate to Unicef or The Red Cross
  
• Donate to The Goods--products to be sent to Haiti
  
• Check out White House Haiti Earthquake Relief
• Check out The Huffington Post's HUGE list of Haiti Earthquake Relief sites
  

hooray for disney!

In early December, I received an invitation to attend a really awesome event this February--The Social Media Moms Conference at Walt Disney World.

It's an event created by Resourceful Mommy Media, Mom Bloggers Club, 5 Minutes for Mom, Mom Select, and--of course--the good people at Walt Disney World!

It is the first-ever event of its kind: a family-friendly social media conference, where participants will be able to hear incredible speakers, participate in relevant workshops, and spend time enjoying one of the greatest theme parks of all time--Walt Disney World!

We are beyond excited; I can hardly wait to meet the many talented planners--and bloggers--who will attend, and it will be my family's first trip to Disney.

So, in order to control the crazies that seemed to have hit my three little ones as they wait not-so-patiently for this big trip, we're trying a few things: our countdown calendar and Disney Dollars.

our countdown to Disney calendario

• Countdown Calendar: Right after the holidays, I hit a site I love for calendar-creating and made my own. Then I counted backwards to the last week of December and covered each number with a Post-It Note square.

Then Maddy, Owen, and Cora started taking turns tearing off the Post-It Note and putting a big 'X' over the day. It's been easy for Maddy and Owen, but my little Cora is really benefiting from practicing her x's!

Our Countdown Calendar is here for friends to download and use themselves (even though it's getting close!

• Disney Dollars: Because I remember my Disney-savvy pal, Amy, telling me that her family used Disney Dollars in the weeks that preceded their first trip to the park, I thought I'd totally use her idea for our family. And so far, Maddy, Owen, and Cora are rolling right along.

some of our Disney dinero

Disney Dollars are just pretend dollars I 'doctored' a little that Maddy, Owen, and Cora can earn by being caught doing anything super: cleaning up without being asked, helping someone with something, being extra kind to each other, extra patient, extra-special good kids. That's all.

My husband or I hand one of the kids a Disney Dollar, and the 'money' goes into their collective Disney Dollars container. This is a group effort; they're working towards earning a special treat they will all enjoy. It's not intended to be a competition between siblings.

Once we hit the park, their Disney Dollars will turn into some sort of special treat at the Park or souvenirs that they can take home.

Nothing big--believe me, this impromptu trip is gift enough. We're thinking a special dessert one night or something small to take home.

Because our kids are so young, they will not stress over the correspondence of Disney Dollars to real dollars, so we're lucky in that way. Really, this is just a little something to help the kids behaviorally during these otherwise nutty, stuck-inside-way-too-much, way-too-long winter weeks before our trip.

And who knows? Maybe if the Disney Dollars work, I'll use Doggie Dollars (money to go towards our dream dog) and Beach Bucks (leading up to our summertime beach trip) when we return. I'm dollar-doctoring crazy. Unstoppable.

So that's how we're passing time until our trip. For all my friends who will not be there this year, don't be sad!

It looks like they'll be doing this conference again in the future, so if you're interested in going, please consider joining one--or some--of the social media networking groups that are hosting the event or join us virtually by following us on Twitter: #DisneySMMoms

And please feel free to leave a comment or contact me to let me know you'll be there!

a rainy, soapy sunday

The rainy, grey day had us all feeling cranky, complainy, and just plain down.

So I brought out two big bins that were once filled with baby clothes (boo-hoo!) which are now empty because I gave them to a neighbor who really needed them (woo-hoo!).

I filled one with soapy water and one just with water and toys, and I crossed my fingers that the splashes would end up cleaning our way-too-dirty kitchen floor. (They didn't. So it's still dirty.)

Then I threw in some things that I knew would take a little bit of thinking in order for Maddy, Owen, and Cora to figure out how to use them.

• Soapy Sunday: I had a huge container of tiny plastic droppers and syringes from the millions of Baby Advil and Tylenol that we've gone through in the last five years. Now that Cora can take children's medicine, we really have no use for these, which is why I felt comfortable letting the kids play with them.

Today, I brought them out because we needed a change from our Legos-puzzles-stamps-stickers-week, and my kids love to play in water.

Maddy plays with the dropper.

I said, All right--let's pretend it's summertime and play in the water for a little before we head to church. I've got some of your sponge shapes in here, some Polly Pockets, and some cars.

And I have some things that you'll need to put on your thinking caps to use. Let's see who can figure out how to fill up this tiny cup (one of our plastic kids' yogurt cups) using any of these things (the droppers and syringes).

They splashed around and played in the bubbles and pretty much ignored my question for a bit, but then they tried it. And tried. And tried some more. And finally, before they frustrated and everything got nutty, I said, Try to pull then push. And use two hands.

Owen cleans his car.
I wish he'd take care of Dirty Vanny, too.

That triggered something for Owen, who then started squirting Maddy, who was angry because Owen figured it out before her, and then Cora started whining because she wanted the big dropper and Maddy wouldn't give it to her, and then Owen started splashing and making huuuuge bubbles and thank goodness because everyone got distracted and forgot about what they were upset about in the first place.

They played until their fingers were pruney and the bubbles started to disappear, and by the end, the bins were filled with dolls, cars, sponges, and syringes. An odd scene, but for a good long time, three kiddos were pretty engaged.

I had no idea how difficult the syringes would be for Maddy and Owen to use; I figured that Cora would use the droppers more, but really, I was surprised. Anyway, just a little bit of fine-motor-figuring-out on a rainy, dreary, runny-nosed morning.

Spring. . . hello? Where are you?

no more troubling doubling

I'm really trying to get over my mental angst about math and set aside more secret--and fun!--math learning throughout the day.

Maddy's been working on doubling, so for the last week or so, we've been having a little doubling fun.

We're not drilling the facts nightly. We're just showing Maddy different ways of checking her work, and (okay...) we're talking silly about doubling now and again.

And we're making math-related computer games a more regular pastime around here.

• Double Trouble: Before we started with the Doubling Activity Sheets I created, we talked about doubles.

the doubling practice sheet with Maddy's little
tally marks below

I'd say, out of the blue, to try to make her giggle: I'm glad I have two eyes, but if I had two more eyes, how many would I have? Or,

I only have three kids--a Maddy, an Owen, and a Cora. If I doubled that and had three more kids, how many would that be? Or,

In my dreams, I'd eat five ice-cream cones today. And then I'd eat five more right after I finished the first five. How many would I have just eaten? Do you think my belly would double in size?

Then one night after dinner, we played with the Doubling Activity Sheets a bit. The Doubling Activity Sheets are here to download as pdf's if you'd like.

I grabbed a handful of marshmallows, and we used them to demonstrate the doubling problems. The low numbers she knew already, but as we reached 6's, 7's, 8's, 9's, and 10's, the marshmallows helped her count out the problems.

We also showed her how to make tally marks or dots to count the numbers if she was stuck, then add the numbers together for the answer. She was totally fine doing a few problems a night--every other night or so--even when we didn't use marshmallows.

I've been on a search lately for some really cool, reliable, ad-free sites packed with worthwhile math games for little ones.

So far, here's what I've found:

• Haunted Hill: Maddy loves this--she gets to practice her tally marks!
• Spooky Sequences by 1's: Silly ghosts line up, and kids pick the missing number.
  
• Spooky Sequences by 2's : Same as above but counting by 2's.
  
• Spooky Sequences by 5's
  
• Spooky Sequences by 10's
• Rats: A funny rat tries to catch objects--colors, shapes, numbers, or letters--and little ones use the arrow keys on the keyboard to show him where to go.
  
• Number Train: Simple counting and mouse-movement practice.
  
• Count Your Chickens: Easy--counting chickens and then clicking on the correct number
  
• Mr. Elephant's Matching Game: Loud. Loud. Way too loud. But it's a simple memory-type matching game, and Owen loves it.
  
• Ambleweb: Not a game, but three levels of straightforward, simple addition facts practice.
• flipping monsters: Finally-- game to practice left and right. We love this one because it's kind of a brain-teaser puzzle and left and right practice in one.
  
• Pattern Blocks I and Pattern Blocks II:Kids design patterns that match the ones given. More difficult, even for Maddy, but I hope to move to this one in a few months.
  
• Interactive Math Site: Most of the sites I've mentioned are listed here, under "Elementary". Some links don't work, but most do. This site is pretty awesome.
  

I'm hoping our math-shift helps a bit.

Even at Maddy's Math Curriculum Night last week (where I was introduced to some of these sites), I nearly had an anxiety attack right there in the media center when they put us in groups and had us work out a few word problems. I ended up copying the guy across from me, and I'm not kidding. I did ask before I did it, though, which in my mind makes it okay. . .

Feel free to send me any other math-related sites you think are worthwhile, and I will add them to this list.

I am scheduled to post our favorite literacy-related sites next week, I promise!

quick trick: bye, bye birthday cards

I have never really been a birthday card sender. And as much as I do love to receive cards, I've already come clean and admitted what we do with cards over here.

I do see the value in taking time to write a short, meaningful message to the birthday guy--or gal--but for our little 2, 3, or 4 year old friends, how much does that message really mean?

Sometimes it's all I can do to get a present wrapped on the correct day for any of Maddy, Owen, or Cora's little pals, let alone have my kids sit down to create and then write out a birthday card.

So lately, rather than spend the money for a card that may--or may not--beread by a little person eager to open his birthday gift, I've nixed the card altogether.

This Quick Trick is simple, and for us, it's been working:

• Creative Cards: When I catch a sale on Crayola watercolors or small packs of crayons, I've been stockpiling.
  

And I attach one of them, unwrapped, to the birthday gift, and there's the card.

With permanent marker, I'll throw on a "Happy Birthday to (whomever)" and "Love, (Maddy, Owen, or Cora)", and that's it. There you have it--our new take on birthday cards.

I know that my kids could always use--and love--a new set of paints or a small pack of crayons, so I'm running on the assumption that it's the same for most kiddos, no matter the age.

Here's to many happy birthdays in 2010 and many tiny packs of crayons to go around!

asking the heart questions

This morning at breakfast, before we even had a chance to check out Maddy's kindergarten calendar or talk about the weather, an article in The Kids Post had us practicing another super-easy (but incredibly important) reading comprehension strategy before we even knew it.

We practiced questioning.

The article lent itself to questioning, and my three little questioners were asking me questions before I even realized it was a perfect time to talk about questions. By the time I read the short, kid-friendly, question-provoking article, we were question-queens (and a king!).

Here is Margaret Webb Pressler's article about Savoy Bradford, and here is the pdf (this is what we read at breakfast).

• Questioning: I think it was the picture of a young boy sitting on a hospital bed while giving a nurse a 'high-five' that caught Maddy's attention.

Mommy, why is that boy giving that lady a 'high-five'? What'd he do? Why is he on that table?

I really don't know, I said. The title of the article is, 'For Teenager, A Lifesaving Machine.' When I hear that title, it makes me wonder what kind of machine could save someone's life. What do you wonder?

Maddy said, I wonder, does that mean something is wrong with him? And where is he?

Owen asked, Is that a machine on his arm?

And Cora said, He is a happy boy. And his face is happy.

I said, Yes, he does look happy, Cora. I wonder why. Owen, I'm really not sure what's on his arm, but right here it says, 'Small artificial heart pumps boy's blood'.

The caption (I pointed to the caption) under the picture says, 'Savoy Bradford, who has an artificial heart, high-fives nurse Carolyn Hanney Gilbert at the Washington Hospital Center'. So what do we know now?

Maddy said, He's in a hospital. On the bed, and that lady's a nurse. And something about his heart.

We talked a little about the word, 'artificial', and what things we knew that were artificial--like some flowers in the house (gulp--hope Nate Berkus isn't reading this...) and what an 'artificial heart' might be.

I said, Let me read the article and we'll see if we can figure out if something is wrong with him, where he is, and why he looks so happy.
So that's what we did. I "checked in" at natural breaks in the article, after I read something that clarified one of our questions, and I'd say something like,

-Hey! Did you hear that? Now we know what happened to his heart. . .

-Hmmmm, doctors saved Savoy's life by putting a machine near his heart. Cora said he looks happy. Why might Savoy be happy?

Sure, don't think I didn't remember my audience; I skipped over some of the detailed medical information and got right to the parts I thought Maddy, Owen, and Cora would understand. They were really interested in Savoy and his heart story. Who wouldn't be? It's completely amazing, and their questions kept them engaged.

The article's photo gallery is incredible, and although I just discovered it tonight, I'll definitely share it with Maddy, Owen, and Cora tomorrow, and looking at the pictures together might be a pretty cool way of having them work on a little re-telling; they can use the pictures to talk me through what they remember about Savoy's heart.

Harvey and Goudvis (2000, Strategies That Work) say that "questions propel us forward and take us deeper into reading," which is exactly what happened today at breakfast, even though I was the one doing the reading. Maddy, Owen, and Cora were interacting with the text, listening for the answers to their questions and interested in the article because they had invested something--their questions--before reading.

There are tons of ways of using questioning to improve children's reading comprehension. This is just one sneaky way to use it, on the fly, with cereal bowls on the table and a long day ahead.

teach mama: call for ideas

Which bloggers' sites do you visit regularly to "check in"and grab a few ideas to keep in your back pocket?

Is there one activity you've tried that really saved your sanity one long rainy afternoon?

Has someone's idea changed your way of thinking, parenting, or interacting with your children?

Do you have a weekly or monthly rituals now built into your family's schedule that were inspired by a blog post you once read?

What activity did you do last spring that had your kids giggling and asking for more?



Have a few ideas in mind? Great. Now it's time we all get a little organized.

Hundreds of incredibly talented parents and teachers share their super-cool parenting and teaching ideas on the web every single day. I am attempting to compile--and organize--the best of the best.

Please consider nominating the most awesome "learning in the every day" ideas that you have created, encountered, used, or hope to try on your own children or students in the future.

Feel free to include your own ideas and any ideas you have stumbled across by your favorite authors and blog writers. There's no limit to how many ideas you'd like to submit; I only ask that you send me the ideas that you think are truly worthy of being recognized.

All you need to do is click here for teach mama's call for ideas form.


fyi:

• Please, please, please share the love--share this post with anyone and everyone you know. The more people who read it and respond, the better!

• Remember that the goal is to compile ideas that demonstrate "learning in the every day", learning through play and meaningful interactions with others.
  

• There is no limit to the number of ideas you submit; I only ask that you send ideas that you feel are truly "the best of the best".

• My goal is to take recommendations throughout January 2010.

• I may not include every entry but will try my best to do so.

• I will contact each and every "idea creator" to request permission to use his or her idea, and every entry will be linked to its author.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

a scared and lonely bear: predicting

Predicting is one of the easiest comprehension strategies to use with emerging readers, and like many of these important components of early literacy, predicting can be taught even before children can read on their own.

Today, while Owen, Cora, and I took a break from watching our electrician make sense of some aging and finicky outlets, we picked up a book I ordered a few weeks ago but had not yet read with the kiddos.

It is written by an author we all adore--Karma Wilson--and the title itself had me wondering what on earth would make our poor, beloved bear feel scared.

It happens to be another masterpiece, full of rich language spun through a strong story, and it was perfect to work on predicting.

• Predicting: Predicting, as a reading strategy, is actually just using pictures or text to make a guess about what will happen in piece of literature. Even our little ones can do this by looking at the cover of a book, the illustrations on a page, or hearing the title or story read aloud.
  

We began by looking at the cover of Bear Feels Scared and by talking about what we saw:

I said, This is a new Bear book for us, and the title is 'Bear Feels Scared'. I wonder what Bear is afraid of. Hmmmm. Look at the cover. What do you see?

Owen mentioned that there were things in front of Bear's face, like maybe rain or snow. He also said, It doesn't look like it's sunny out.

You're right, Owen. It doesn't look like it's a warm and sunny day, does it? Cora, what time of day does it look like it is for Bear and his friends? What do you think?

Cora said, Maybe night-night time for them? (Woo-hoo!)

Yep, I think you're right. It's dark, it's rainy and windy, and some of Bear's friends have worried faces. What might make Bear feel scared in this book? Can you make a prediction? A prediction just means you're making a guess about something.

Owen said, Maybe Bear is afraid of the dark.

Cora added, He thinks there's a monster in his room. (Oh my gosh--maybe this is why Cora's been up waaaay too late recently?! Maybe this is why she's been so cranky? Note to self: tackle monster topic asap.)

You both made some really good predictions; Bear may be afraid of the dark, and maybe he does think there's a monster in his room. Let's read and find out.

About mid-way through the story, we chatted about their predictions; we confirmed that it was indeed nighttime, and we learned that what made Bear feel scared was that he was lost and lonely in the dark and he wanted to be home with his friends. Yeah for Owen and Cora! They learned about predicting!

As I read the story, we chatted about the author's diction, or word choice:

-What does it mean when the 'sun starts to set'?
-If I 'mutter' something, I might say it like. . .
-When Bear 'sheds big tears', what is he doing?
-Aaaaahhhhh, I just 'sighed a big sigh'. Let me hear you both sigh a big sigh.

-Later, when Maddy asked me to read it to her before bed, we chatted about other words: 'lumber', 'flounce', 'trudge', and 'cluster'.

Ms. Wilson throws in so many super words here, it's hard to let them go with an initial reading, but for us, the 'Bear' books are read and re-read, so it's easy--and better for little brains--to focus on just two or three things per reading so as not to lose the rhythm of the language or overall storyline.

I've had predicting on the brain ever since I read an article in this month's Reading Teacher , a chapter from Liang and Galda's Children's Literature in the Reading Program, 3rd ed. The chapter actually focused on ways to combine response activities and comprehension strategies to enhance students' engagement--and appreciation--of texts. It was really interesting and is worth checking out. The focus on responding and practicing predicting was actually with upper elementary students but also mentioned were some cool ways of using responding and practicing visualizing for the younger readers. I hope to try them out soon.

Liang and Giada say that "predicting is easy to teach and is an easy strategy for students to learn" and that "it is also a strategy that research shows to be quite powerful in helping students better understand a text."


Predicting--try it today because:

• it can be used with just about anything, including just about any decent children's book;
  
• it gets kiddos thinking (woo-hoo!);
  
• it keeps them engaged in the text because they wonder if what they think will happen actually will (they'll feel like little detectives!);
• it will help them to remember what they've read;
• if we start modeling--and practicing--these reading strategies now, with our little ones, our kiddos will become adept at doing these kind of things on their own as they become stronger readers;
• soon predicting will be just another natural reading activity that our kids will do unconsciously, which will make them better readers and thinkers. (seriously!)
  

And that was our sneaky learning for today. Thanks, Bear!

Thanks, Karma Wilson! One last thing that makes me feel like I want to hug Karma Wilson and be her BFF--not only because she, too, is a mama of three and writes books I could only dream of writing myself--but her website totally rocks. Tons of resources for parents, cool activities to use in conjunction with many of her books, pictures of her adorable family, links to her blog and Twitter name, and it's just plain gorgeous.

quick trick: patience, patience

It's funny sometimes that my youngest--the smallest of the house, my tiniest bambina, and one with such a sweet, angelic face--can be the loudest, most demanding, most impatient child under our roof.

Actually, it's only funny for the people who don't live here; for us, Cora's temper can be difficult, frustrating, and just plain exhausting.

Sure, my husband and I continue to notice positive behavior, we use the special plate, and we offer choices when we can--for all of our children. Goodness knows we try as hard as possible to look at all of our children with positive intent-lenses, and we always attempt to give 'em a 'go'.

But we cave--we give in--when we're tired and worn down. We add fuel to the fire by handing that little temper-throwing kiddo the lollipop when she didn't deserve one. I'll come clean and admit that I've strongly suggested to Maddy and Owen that they consider "just giving her that book she's crying about" when really Cora should wait her turn.

I even might have pretended I didn't see our youngest little cutie pie grabbing the extra M & M because I knew, deep down inside, that making a big deal about it was not worth the throw-down tantrum that would ensue because I tried to capitalize on a "teachable moment".

However, I'm ready to start the New Year with a new focus. We are working on patience over here, so this Quick Trick is about just that--the two ways that we are trying to play with patience: for both parents and children.

• Patience, Patience, Parents: I'm talking about what Dr. Becky Bailey mentions in the whole first half of Easy to Love, Difficult to Discipline--exerting self-control, demonstrating composure, and "living the values you want your child to develop".
  

Easier said than done, I know--I know--but I need a reminder after these nutty holidays, so I'm simply trying to breathe deeply before I do anything: respond to an email, a phone call, my husband, or my children. That's it--taking a deep breath before moving too quickly.

It's amazing how helpful one deep breath can be to clear your head, lighten the load, and just allow you a tiny bit of time to think.

Wish me luck.

• Patience, Patience, Children: Seriously, my kids need to learn to be patient. Every child does. And it is a hard, hard lesson to learn, especially when (gulp!) occasionally mom and dad lose their tempers.
  

But our kiddos need to know that their mom or dad isn't required to jump up at the sound of "I need more juice!" or "I'm hungry!" or "Please help me open this box!" or even, "I want to be with Mommy!"

Sure, good manners are a must, but even with using proper manners, children should learn to wait patiently until help arrives--and I'm talking about waiting without repeating their request, without yelling, or without crying.

So our second patience-focus is with our kids. We are trying to add in a little wait time when we are asked to fulfill requests, give answers, respond to inquiries.

Today, at dinner, when Cora said, I need more milk, I said, Okay, I heard you, Cora, but let me hear you say that in the most polite way you know.

She said, More milk, please.

I said, Yes, 'may I have more milk, please?' is a more polite way of asking--it just sounds so much nicer to my ears. Thanks. I'll get you more milk when I'm finished with a few more bites. I am am very hungry, and I just sat down. I'll get it for you in a minute.

She groaned, but she waited. And when I filled up her little cup a minute later, I said, You were very patient while you waited for your milk. I appreciate it.

We are tired of children incessantly interrupting our conversations, so when Maddy, Owen, or Cora need something while my husband and I are talking, rather than run up and start talking over us, we ask them to put their hand on our arm as a signal to let us know they need us.

This tends to work more for Maddy and Owen than Cora at this point, but I'm happy with baby steps. . .

Welcome, 2010--you're our year of patience. Deep breath, deep breath.

Wish us luck.

new year's family interview

No, this post isn't about picking strawberries, although with how cold and blustery and miserable it was outside today, I surely wish it was warm mid-June, and I had a few pints of fresh strawberries on my kitchen counter.

Rather, it's about a new tradition we began today--kind of on a whim--that I think will be really cool to keep up with as the years go on.

It had us thinking about and sharing our best memories of last year, lots and lots of our favorite things, and looking ahead to 2010.

After a loooong day of cleaning, organizing, and more cleaning and organizing, we finished our dinner and had ice-cream sundaes for dessert.

While we ate our sweets, we took turns answering questions for our New Year's Family Interview, and what I realized--or remembered, rather--is that little ones love talking about themselves more than anything else in the entire world. Of course they would love this. . .

• New Year's Family Interview: This is way too simple, and our family had a riot doing it. I wish I would have started it years ago. . .
  

The New Year's Family Interview is here to download if you'd like. It is a "generic" form--no one's names are typed in; we wrote them at the top of the chart.

Really, the interview consists of one page of questions that I asked Maddy, Owen, Cora, and my husband and then answered myself.

I left a space in the first box on the table for everyone to sign his or her name because I've always been amazed at how frequently my own signature changed throughout my life. I thought it would be especially interesting to watch as Maddy, Owen, and Cora's changes through the years.

Then, I just added a bunch of easy questions, like:

How old are you?
When is your birthday? (always funny to see how little ones answer this one!)
What is your favorite food?
How do you like to spend your time?
What is your favorite book?
What is your teacher's name?
What did you love about last year?
What do you look forward to this year?

Maddy and Owen's Interview answers

And that's that--I jumped around, asking Maddy one question, then Owen a different one, and then Cora a different one from that. We didn't want everyone jumping on one guy's idea and running with it, and our system seemed to work well.

It was completely refreshing and fun to brainstorm all of the exciting things we did this past year--like strawberry picking, going to swim meets, wave-jumping, Trick-or-Treating, day-tripping to DC, Baltimore, Dutch Wonderland, and Annapolis--on an otherwise uneventful winter day.

Later in the night, after everyone had finished, I had each child--and my husband and I--sign our names. I'll pick up a folder in which we can store each year's answers, and after we complete each year's New Year's Family Interview, I think it will be too cool to look back and read the previous year's answers.

Thanks so much to The Activity Mom, Giggles Galore, and Jenny Garland (I hope I got that right!) for sharing the idea of the family interview; I loved it so much when I saw it first, that I took the idea and played with it a bit. Thanks, ladies!

Happy Interviewing, my friends!