super easy, super spooky halloween treats

Woo-hoo! It's the busy few days before Halloween, and as I've said before, I'm more a fan of tricky and treaty than I am of scary and creepy.

This week, I planned my first-ever elementary school Halloween party for Maddy's class (with the help of the coolest co-Room Parent ever). We put our heads together and came up with (we think!) some really fun ways of rockin' Halloween, first-grade-party style.

We played a bunch of Halloweeny games but our super-easy--and super-spooky--Halloween treats are what I think were crazy cool.

I put all of the recipes our family used this year at home and at school (except Dinner in a Pumpkin) on one sheet so that next year it's all together.

Super-Easy, Super-Spooky Halloween Treats is here to download as a pdf if you'd like.

Here's the skinny:

eyeballs on a plate

• Eyeballs on a Plate: Not to worry! They're not really eyeballs! They're just powdered donuts, gummy Life-Savers, a chocolate chip, and gel icing.

My super-awesome co-RP made these, and they look so fabulous! I am not sure I would have had the patience to make them look so realistic, but I've learned that my pal has crazy eyeball-making skills!

The fingers were all ready. . .

• Fingers in a Bowl: So easy--and for some reason, so funny to me--these 'fingers' turned out completely hysterical. Peeled carrots, a little cream cheese 'glue' and a slivered almond for the nail are all they are, and they only took a few minutes to make.
  

. . . to meet their hands.

I tried to pick out the long and skinny, twisted carrots, cut them in half, and that's it. The fun part for me? Putting the hands together in the bowl of dip.

• Boogies on a Stick: I'll be honest, these did make me gag as I made them. Cheese-Whiz meets green food coloring and together they meet a pretzel rod.
  

That's it. I read that to make 'goopier' boogies you could let the 'boogies' cool, then dip them again, but I couldn't do it.

I could barely handle the bubbling mixture as I blended the Whiz and food coloring.

Maddy admitted later that the Boogies on a Stick might have been 'the absolute grossest thing she ever saw in her life' and they tasted 'disgusting'. Nice.

Boogies on a Stick, lookin' oh-so-yummy on their tray.

• Frozen Ghosts: One that I've wanted to try for some time, Frozen Ghosts are really just bananas dipped in white chocolate and frozen. Yum.

I did try to make mine lighter and more ice-creamy by adding a tub of Cool Whip into the melted chocolate, but these were not as easy as I thought they'd be.

Some of my bananas broke when I pulled them out of the chocolate (like that poor, first guy in the photo), so things did get a little messy for Owen and me as we made them this afternoon.

Soon we hit a stride, though, with me doing the chocolate dipping, and Owen adding eyes (and a mouth when he could).

Owen was my right-hand Frozen Ghost makin-man today.

I also had a bunch of extra tiny banana pieces left over, so I dipped them in the chocolate, broke a popsicle stick in half, and gave them eyes--just for fun. Some are really ugly.

I put both trays of ghosts in the freezer and will take them out for an afternoon pre-Trick-or-Treat snack tomorrow!

And that's it. I like these recipes because they're easy. They're funny, and they're quick. And the huge plus is that they're all pretty inexpensive.

It's Dinner in a Pumpkin tomorrow and it's been super-easy, super spooky Halloween treats all week long!

Many thanks to a handful of sites and books for inspiring our Halloween treats: Family Fun & Family Corner to name just two!

new for us friday: when talking to kids about cancer

This New For Us Friday I'm sharing a little something new to me and a little something new for all of the Yahoo! Mother Board Members: Yahoo! Shine and our October blog topic, Breast Cancer Awareness.

Shine is a place where women can find the latest information and advice from experts and the Yahoo! community on parenting, health, fashion, healthy living, and almost any other topic of interest to women. Shine has been around for a bit now, but what's new is the way that the Yahoo Mother Board is working with Shine--we've got our own Yahoo! Mother Board page.

In honor and recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, several of us wrote about the topic, and our posts are shared on the site. Because I personally think the topic is just that important, my post (written originally on teach mama blog on shine) has been re-posted below:

Talking to Kids About Cancer--5 Things to Keep in Mind

• How much does a 5 year-old--or a 15 year-old--need to know about a family member's diagnosis?
• Should you bare all of the facts or try to gloss over cancer information with children?
• Is it better to wait or share information immediately?
• Does it really matter if a child knows the truth about a diagnosis or not?
• Exactly what words, phrases, or terms are best to use with children?

Although it's Breast Cancer Awareness Month, breast cancer is a disease that deserves more than just one month of "special" pink, star-studded attention. Too many of my friends and family members have been affected by breast cancer--spirits ravished, bodies destroyed, families forever changed--that it's high time to put some serious money into research, research into practice, and practice into finding treatments that will ultimately lead to a cure. Until then, many, many children will be touched by breast cancer--and cancer in every other form.

So how do we talk to kids about cancer? What are the best ways of approaching a subject that for years was brushed aside, not even spoken out loud, and still carries with it such uncertainty and fear that many adults don't know how to handle it themselves? There's certainly no 'correct' way, but I've done a lot of reading and research which brought me to five general guidelines.

Here are 5 things to keep in mind when talking to kids about cancer:

1. A child's age will determine exactly how much information to share and how much they will understand. Little ones, 3-5 years old, are able to handle only a fraction of the information that a teenager can, so especially if there are mixed ages of children in a family, age must be a consideration when sharing news about a cancer diagnosis. That means that time needs to be set aside for each individual child to talk with an adult about a diagnosis so to attend to each child's cognitive ability is taken into consideration.

2. Kids need to know the facts. No matter what age, children should be told four things: 1. the name of the cancer; 2. the part of the body that is affected; 3. how the cancer will be treated; 4. how their lives will be affected. They need to be kept up to date with age-appropriate information throughout the course of treatment.

3. The language we use carries a ton of weight. Only using the word 'sick' might make children think that they can catch cancer, that it is contagious. For this reason, it is important to use the words 'disease' and 'cancer' along with whatever other words your child can handle from the American Cancer Society's list of words to describe cancer and its treatment.

4. Children need constant support and time for processing. Kids need to know that the cancer is not their fault and that they are in no way responsible for a loved one getting cancer. They need to know that they will be taken care of during this challenging time and always. Repeat these facts with clarity and with frequency. And understanding that the way kiddos process heavy information like this may manifest itself in acting out, isolation, or just unusual behavior, so adults need to be aware.

5. There's a wealth of information out there--find it and use it. More detailed guides for parents are available, and many are incredibly well designed. Books, coloring pages, pamphlets, and websites can help cancer become a familiar topic in your family (with the understanding that everything need to be done in moderation). Local support groups, school counselors, and trained social service professionals are ready and willing to provide families with connections to the resources they need, so there's no reason to walk this uncertain road alone.

I've read dozens of documents over the past few weeks trying to gather information for this post. Many thanks to the following sites for providing me with the majority of resources:

• American Cancer Society: Helping children when a family member has cancer--dealing with diagnosis
• Cancercare.org: Talking to your kids about your diagnosis
• University of Michigan: Talking with kids about a loved one's cancer
• NYU Cancer Institute: Straight talk to kids--how to talk to kids about cancer
• Caring4Cancer: Talking with children and grandchildren about cancer

And thank you to author Neyal Ammary-Risch for allowing me to use an image from her text, In Mommy's Garden, a fantastic book on talking to children about cancer, for this post.


fyi: I found inspiration for this post from several of my close friends currently battling breast cancer. In particular, I thank my good friend Susan who is one of the most amazing, talented, intelligent women I know and who is currently undergoing treatment for inflammatory breast cancer. Thank you, Susan and many others, for being models of strength and beauty during your most difficult times.

fun ways to learn spelling words

Not only did we lose Maddy's very first homework packet over here in the chaos of the first few weeks of school; we also only spent only a fraction of the time we should have on her first spelling word list.

Needless to say, that first test wasn't pretty, and Maddy really didn't learn the words like she should have--or could have. So we've been trying new ways of tackling the spelling word beast over here.

This teachy-mama has done a little research and has come up with some very exciting Fun Ways to Learn Spelling Words for my sweet Maddy so that she doesn't look at it as homework--she looks at it as fun.

So here's what we found:

The entire Fun Ways to Learn Spelling Words is here as a pdf to download, but here's a sampling of what we're trying. . .

With spelling word flash cards:

• Flash Cards: I'm a flash card fan--not to endlessly flip in front of a kid's face--but to use in games, activities, and sneaky-learning ways. I've created flash cards for each of Maddy's lists but I've also created a Blank Spelling List for those weeks I just can't type one myself (or for anyone else to use). Blank Spelling List is here as a pdf.
  

• Spelling Word Memory: Create a double set of word cards and play a game of Spelling Word Memory by spreading out the cards face down and then taking turns flipping two cards at a time to find a pair!

• Flip 4 Steps: In just 4 steps, your child can practice reading, spelling, and writing his words. Have him flip over a word card, look at the word, say it out loud, say the letters, then flip it back over, and write the word on paper.

• Trace, Copy, Recall: Fold three columns on a piece of paper, and label one column ‘trace’, the next ‘copy’ and the last ‘recall’. Write the word in the first column, and have your child trace the letters. Next have her copy the word by looking at what she’s just written. Finally, have her fold (and hide) the first two columns and recall the spelling on her own as she writes the word independently.

Maddy tries Flip 4 Steps

With a pen, pencil, marker, & paper:

• Spelling Word Race: Create two teams, with a player from each team taking the ‘pen’ at a time. Teacher (or parent) calls out a word from the list, and players race to write the word.

• Spelling Puzzle: Make a home-made puzzle by writing each word in large letters on an index card and then having the child cut each card apart. The fun is in putting the puzzle back together!

• Stairsteps: Write the words as if they are stairs, adding one letter at a time.

S

Sp

Spe

Spel

Spell

• Tic-Tac-Toe: There are a ton of cool ways to play with this old game! Create a larger-sized board and play tic-tac-toe where each player uses a spelling word. OR, have each player use an ‘X’ or ‘O’ but in order to place a mark on the board, she has to spell a word correctly.

• Flip and Rainbow Write: Flip a word card and have your child go through the rainbow, painting or writing each word flipped in rainbow colors. Make the first word red, second orange, third yellow, etc. OR write each letter in a color of the rainbow.

• Water Paint: Use water and a paintbrush to water paint the spelling words. On a hot, sunny day, words disappear quickly—so spellers have to move fast!

With a computer and other fun electronics:

• Type it Out: Open up a Word document and have your child type the spelling words on the screen as you call them out. Enlarge the font, make it a cool color, and he’ll have a ball.

• Spell on Tape: Have your child spell the words into a tape recorder or using the voice recorder on your phone or computer.

• Video Record: Pull out the ole video camera or flip cam and take a video of your child spelling the words. Have him put on a funny hat, dress-up, or use a silly prop to add to the fun.

• Karaoke: That karaoke machine can double as a super-fun spelling machine if you turn it on and allow your child to spell her words into it!

• Use Puzzlemaker: Have your child type in all of the week’s spelling words and then let her search for them using this cool resource from Discovery!
  

• Use Let them Sing it: Type in a spelling word on this site, and the word is sung back to your student. (This one is bound to get giggles!)
  

• Use Spelling City: Head over to Spelling City, have your child type in the spelling words, and then he can learn the words, play games with them, and be tested. This site is a gem!
  

With space to run, jump, and play:

• Chalkboard Race: Form two teams, with one player from each team holding a piece of chalk and standing at a designated spot about 10 feet from a chalkboard. Teacher calls out a word, and players run to the board and write the word correctly as quickly as possible. The winner finishes the word first and spells it correctly.

• Ball Toss: Players stand in a circle with a Nerf ball or something else safe to toss. Teacher calls out a word, tosses the ball to a student, and that student spells the word. If the word isn’t spelled correctly, the student tosses the ball to another person who will try to spell it; if it is spelled correctly, the player tosses object to another student and teacher gives her a new word to spell.

• Swing and Spell: Teacher gives the student a word to spell, and the student says a letter of the word with each back and forth movement of the swing.

• Run the Bases: Student starts at home plate, gets a word to spell and for every word correctly spelled gets to make a move around the bases, beginning with hitting the ball, then running from first base, second, third, and home.

With anything and everything else:

• Spelling Word Hunt: Look for those spelling list words in the newspaper or in another book, magazine, or text! Circle them or use a highlighter to highlight them.

• Scrabble, Boggle: Use these cool game pieces to ‘build’ spelling words on the on a cookie tray, on the table, or on the floor.

• Crazy Words: Put something ‘crazy’ (like jell-o mix, shaving cream, sand, or rice) on a cookie sheet, and have your child use his finger to ‘write’ spelling words on the tray.

• Paint bag Writing: Put poster paint in a gallon-sized ziplock bag and seal it tightly! Then have your child use her fingertip to write the letters of each word on the paint bag.

• Stamp It: Use alphabet letter stamps to ‘stamp’ the spelling words, first by looking at the words and then on your own!

With magnetic letters or letter cards:

• Word Scramble: Scramble up the letters of each word and have student put them in the correct order. (Don’t forget to point out patterns and families!)

• Word Train: Use the letters to have your child create a ‘word train’ by using the last letter of the first word to begin the second word and so on: cat / tap / pan

No prep, no materials:

• Spell and Eat: While making breakfast, lunch, or dinner, have your child spell a word, and after each word is spelled correctly, reward her with a small, healthy “treat” from your meal prep.

• Examine the Word: Really look at the words, talking about the tough parts and analyzing patterns. Make up silly ways of remembering the ‘tough’ parts: ‘president’ has an ‘I’ in the middle because one day I’ll be president, OR ‘setting’ has two t’s in the middle just like two tall trees in a fairyland forest.

I've put all of our ideas on Fun Spelling Word Games--Cards to Cut into a Spelling Fun Box for days when we're stuck, bored, in a rut, or want to leave that day's spelling excitement up to a little at-home lottery.

If you'd like to download Fun Spelling Word Games--Cards to Cut as a pdf, please feel free and make your own Spelling Fun Box at home.



And that's it--that's our spelling fun. If you choose to use this list or these ideas--awesome! Just kindly let me know and link back if you would!

fyi: I certainly didn't do this on my own! Many thanks to these folks for inspiration and ideas--

• A very, very big thanks to the incredible folks at MCPS--in our particular cluster of schools--for creating their own ‘spelling ideas’ document and for handing it to students this fall. It is a HUGE help, and it’s much appreciated.
• Elrod School: Spelling Ideas http://www.sd5.k12.mt.us/elrod/multiage/Spelling.html
• Resource Room: http://www.resourceroom.net/readspell/6waysspelling.pdf
• Many other sites, pamphlets, books, articles, and resources I have here at home!

just 1 book: the house with a clock in its walls

My good pal, Amy Kraft jumped on board today to write a post for our just 1 book series saying she had the perfect, most spooktacular book for October. Amy is one of the coolest gals I know, so I'm sure this book is worth checking out. . .

Amy Kraft is a kids’ media producer, writer, and game designer living in New York City with her family, and she also writes about children’s media in her blog, Media Macaroni.

• just 1 book: guest post
  

One Wonderful Spine-Tingling Book, by Amy Kraft

If someone asks me my favorite book as a kid, without hesitation I answer The House With a Clock in its Walls, by John Bellairs. Written a generation before Harry Potter, The House With a Clock in its Walls tells the story of young Lewis Barnavelt, an orphan who soon discovers that the uncle he has come to live with is a wizard. Before long, Lewis tries his hand at wizardry, too, in this wonderful book of magic and mystery.

This book was very special to me–it felt like the first book that was mine and no one else’s, as though it was a discovery only I had made. Lewis is kind of an awkward kid, and so was I. It was easy to put myself in his shoes, feeling shivers up my spine as I went on adventures with him.

It’s a scary book, and I felt proud for reading it without getting too scared. Some of the imagery is so haunting (aided by the creepy illustrations by Edward Gorey), that it has always stayed with me, especially this scene where Lewis is trying to raise the dead to impress his new friend, Tarby:

The iron doors jolted, as if they had been struck by a blow from inside. The chain rattled, and there was a clunk on the pavement. The padlock had fallen off. And now, as the boys knelt, terrified, two small spots of freezing gray light appeared. They hovered and danced before the doors of the tomb, which now stood ajar. And something black-blacker than the night, blacker than ink spilled into water-was oozing from the space between the doors.

I mention Harry Potter because when I read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone I immediately thought of The House With a Clock in its Walls. I thought of the girl I was when I read it, knowing that Harry Potter would have delivered a very similar punch. For all the kids that will eventually name Harry Potter as their 1 book, I hope they discover John Bellairs somewhere along the way. I can’t wait to introduce them both to my kids when they get just a little bit older.

Now not only am I a parent, but I work in children’s media as well, designing and producing games and writing books and scripts. The lesson for all of us in this industry from our one book is that when you give kids characters they can relate to and send those characters on amazing adventures you have the power to create lasting images that will stay with those kids long into adulthood.

I promise, if I weren't such a scaredy-cat, I'd pick up John Bellairs in a heartbeat, Amy! Thanks a ton for guest posting, and be sure to check out Amy's rad blog, Media Macaroni for the latest book-techie-game-and a little bit of everything cool.

The just 1 book feature is a little something new over here, and we're giving everyone a chance to share their love of literature and the power of books. Guest writers are invited to share a book that moved him or her:

'all it took was just 1 book'. . . to get you thinking, get you moving, get you arts-and-crafting, get you talking, get you writing, get you counting, get you traveling, get you thinking, get you cookin', dancin' or dreamin'.

And if you're interested in guest posting for the just 1 book series, please let me know! Anyone and everyone is welcome; just drop me an email at teachmama@verizon.net

halloween tricks and treats (& boo at the zoo giveaway!)

Not being a fan of scary movies--or being startled, scared, or frightened--in the least bit, Halloween is not at all one of my favorite holidays.

Rather than focus on the creepy, I try to keep things on the cute, sweet, and tricky side over here. So when the good folks at the National Zoo asked if I wanted to offer my readers a family four-pack of tickets to Boo at the Zoo this Friday, I thought it would be right up my alley.

And this giveaway would also give me a chance to solicit some great snack, craft, and game ideas for my new job as a Halloween Party Planner for Maddy's 1st grade class. I've got a fab parent Co-Room Parenting with me, so we're sure this party will go down as one of the coolest ever, but we're new at this, so we can sure use some help.

So here are just two ways we ring in Halloween over here, one not-at-all spooky decoration treat and one pretty funny trick:

• Halloween Not-So-Spooky Ghosts: Our Halloween Ghost decorations are so simple and are so, so cute.
  

We had medium-sized styrofoam balls that we stuck into gardening sticks we broke in half. We cut an old, old sheet into squares, covered the styrofoam lollipop, and tied a string under the ball as a ghost sheet.

our not-so-spooky Halloween ghosts

Then we drew on eyes and a ghost mouth, and we were finished! The ghosts line our 'needs-to-be-weeded' front garden and greet us as we come and go.

• Halloween Googly-Eye Trick: Googly-eyes always make us laugh over here, so around this time of year, usually the last 10-15 days leading up to Halloween, I get googly-eye crazy.
  

Just for fun, I put googly eyes in funny, secret spots each day and see who will be the first to find them and giggle.

One day the eyes might show up in the 'O' on a placemat. . .

. . . or they might end up on somebody's breakfast spoon.

I really thought myself waaaay clever when they landed on our pencil sharpener, but the most laughs came on the day that the googly eyes were on the bathroom counter door.

They're so inexpensive, they stick with the teeniest dot of glue, and they pop off and on like nothing. Happy googly-eye spotting!

GIVEAWAY: 4 tickets to Boo at the Zoo!

Do you want to head over to the National Zoo this Friday night, 10/22/10, for a fun family night at Boo at the Zoo? (Tickets are $30 each, and Saturday is already sold out!)

• All you need to do is leave a comment here with a suggestion for a fun, not-so-spooky treat, game, or craft that might work for a 1st grade Halloween Party. We don't have a lot of time or money, so keep that in mind! (And please leave your email address so I can reach you!)
  

This contest is quick! For planning purposes, this contest will close at midnight on Wed., 10/20/10. Winner will be notified and will pick up the tickets at the gate on 10/22.

(And even if you aren't local to the DC Metro area and can't use the tickets for Boo at the Zoo, I'd sure love to read any of your Halloween Party ideas! Thank you, thank you!)

Many thanks for your ideas, friends, and many, many thanks to the great people at the National Zoo for giving a teach mama reader the 4 tickets to this event. This is an unsponsored post, but we love the National Zoo so much, we're happy to share our zoo love with others.