Tonight, I was sent a really awesome link by my SIL. I can have a FREE personalized video of a message from Santa sent to my kids! It's really awesome, and easy to use. At Santa's Portable North Pole, you simply plug in a few basic bits of info such as age, name, something he or she may be receiving for Christmas so Santa could mention it in his message etc.. You can even upload a picture of your little darling and make it even more memorable for your child! One note on that though: be sure it's a fairly decent close up since it does seem to be cropped pretty closely to make it fit. Also, this is from Canada. If you don't live in a Canadian province, just choose "other country". You also have a option for French. Not all names are listed either. It does give you an option for unlisted names. You will be able to type them in. They won't be spoken in the video as they would if they were listed, but the name will be in Santa's special book along with the child's special picture.
Once you have submitted your info, along with your valid email, you will be sent a link to your video and you will be able to watch. It's not very long, but the kids go wild over it. I know mine did! Here is a smaple vid so you can get an idea of how it works. I randomly typed in information. There is no picture in Santa's book; instead there is a picture of a tree but you'll still get an idea of the size. Enjoy making these for your kids and watching their little faces light up when they recieve them!
Our fourth day of Mexico! So far the kids have had a lot of fun and learned some great stuff about another culture that really isn't that far removed from us anymore and is becoming more entwined every day. Spanish is now one of the leading languages spoken in this country.
I had planned on doing this Fiesta tomorrow night since I thought it would b an appropriate end to the week. I was going to look at religion today and stuff. However, the wanted tamales for dinner tonight! So I switched them around. That's what's cool about homeschooling; you change it to fit your needs. Besides, in the end, I discovered that it was best this way anyway. I forgot that we're usually out of the house all afternoon on Thursdays! It's the weekly children's story hour at the local library and then craft hour done by a local organization for kids birth to age 6. These are both great, fun ways to ge tthe kids out of the house and let them have fun with other kids with no pressure. So, instead we looked at lots of books about Mexican cuisine this morning. We looked at pictures of prepared foods as well as lists of different ingredients that are used in Mexican cooking. Besides the more commonplace burritos and tacos most often seen in our country, there are the foods reserved for special occasions such as tamales, atole, mole, empanadas etc. These are all foods that are labor intensive which is why they were often made only for special ocassions.
We looked at a lot of vids, pictures and books about the cuisine. We smelled & tasted spices such as chile powder, garlic, and cinnamon. I even had a little cone of piloncillo which is a hard cone of pressed sugar (can be used as a sub for brown sugar). We talked about other foods used such as peppers (both hot and bell) and tomatoes. We talked about the desserts we might find there such flan, churros, fried icecream, tres leches cake (three milk ~ really good) etc. We learned the names to lots of different dishes such as enchilada, tostada, tamale, tortilla, quesadilla, burrito, taquito, carne asade. I also bought a few Mexican sodas and candies from the ethnic section of our grocery.
So, tonight we had authentic tamales made locally (it helps to have a brother-in-law whose family is not only Mexican but owns a very popular local restaurant), beans, rice and atole. I've had tamales and stuff before of course, but I've never had atole before so I was interested in trying that. I already have the ingredients so why not! I'm one of those people who will by a food if it looks or sounds interesting, even if she doesn't know what it is. So my kids have tried lots of interesting stuff because of that. We've even eaten cactus! For dessert, I made my own impression of Pan de Muertos, the special sweet egg-rich bread made at this time of the year. I made it more as a cake but kept the orance and anise flavorings. I made my own frosting and then decorated the cake to look like a skull. It was all really good.
Today is our third day of our adventures in Mexico and we've found out a lot. Today, we learned more about the culture and art. We looked at books about art and crafts, and we watched some videos about Mexican dances.
An area of art assosciated with Dia De Los Muertos are calacas though they are made year round. Calaca is a Mexican Spanish term for skeleton and is a figure of a skull or skeleton. Their origins are traced to Aztec imagery, and are frequently shown with marigold leaves and foliage (marigolds are the flowers of the dead). As with other aspects of this festival, they are generally depicted as joyous rather than mournful figures. They are often shown wearing festive clothing, dancing, and playing musical instruments indicating a happy afterlife. This illustrates the Mexican belief that no dead soul likes to be thought of sadly, and that death is a joyous occasion.
However, a twist on that is the Guatamalan culture where "calaca" is understood as "death." The figure of a bare skeleton represents death as with any culture. However, it implies fear of death thus, it is not depicted as a joyful image as in Mexico. Calacas aren't just depicted in art through clay, carvings, paper mache, drawings, etc. They are also in the movies. If you're ever seen The Nightmare Before Christmas or The Corpse Bride (both are done by Tim Burton), you're looking at calaca type figures. These can also be found in games such as the Grim Fandango (lots of fun, a mystery game that I used to enjoy when I still had the time to do so).
Todays craft is string paintings. As we explored Mexican art, we discovered beautiful artwork done by the Huichol Indians of Mexico. These are actually gorgeous and extremely intricate works of art. The artist spreads wax on the surface and then pushes yarn into it. It doesn't sound like it would be that great but they're exquisite. That got me thinking it would be a fun craft for my little guys. However, I didn't feel like pulling out the wax I have set aside for the lip balm and salves I'm supposed to be making. So, instead, I got the idea to pull out the glue instead.
All you need are books or pictures of Mexican art, cardboard or heavy paper, glue, yarn in various colors, and scissors. Look at examples of art and then have the student draw out their picture. Spread glue over it and lay on your yarn. Alternatively, you could use calaver and calaca pictures as templates and use them as a guidline. There are also coloring pages in the teaching packets I posted yesterday. I hauled out my copy of Art Activities from Around the World by Paula Corbett (this is OOP but you can find used copies at Amazon and Alibris). This book is full of reproducibles with one and sometimes more from several different countires. I did a post on this a couple of years ago and you can see that here.
There are three crafts for Mexico: a picture frame with flowers that could work for the Ofrenda if the flowers are colored red, orange, and yellow; a skeleton puppet wearing a hat and holding a guitar; and a string art frame with a thunder bird in the middle. I printed (or rather drew) the skeleton puppet out. Because of the way it was drawn, there were several areas for the kids to lay on the yarn. The whole idea behind calacas is that though the body may be gone, the essential personality remains which is why the skeletons are depicted enjoying so many things as they did in life. That's why the skeleton puppet was a perfect choice to blend these two art forms together. I'll get pics of their art posted as soon as I remember where I stashed the battery charger for our camera.
A few examples of string paintings, some lesson plans and templates you might use:
Today, we continued our foray into the Mexican culture and it's holiday of El Dia De Los Muertos. First, of course, we read The Day of the Dead by Tony Johnston again. Then we learned a little bit more about the culture by listening to samples of Mexican music and the Spanish language. And today's craft was calavera masks.
Calavera is the Mexican word for skull. It refers to several types of assosciations dealing with this holiday. It can refer to the "calaveras de azúcar", or specifically, the sugar skull that is often eaten at this time of year, as well as found on the special altars (ofrenda ~ offerings). Calaveras are songs, poems or satirical obituaries about the dead or Day of the Dead. Calaveras are also artistic impressions of skulls, such as these by José Guadalupe Posada.
~ Calavera Masks ~
This is the craft that the kids chose to do and they look really cool. I would have preferred to leave this craft for the day we explored Mexican folk art but, ah well. It was still a lot of fun, and the kids learned stuff, which is what counts. This is super easy. All you have to do is print the template, color, cut out the nose and eyes, and then either glue a popsicle stick to the bottom to hold the mask with, or use a hole punch to make a hole on each side and run string through it to tie on your head. Super easy and fun! And very colorful as well. Ours were actually a little more complicated since our printer is still incommunicado. I suck drawing things out by hand so I didn't do it that way. We do however have our computer hooked up to our big flatscreen tv (great way to conserve space!) so I brought up the document, taped a piece of cardstock over the template and then then fiddled with the viewing size until it fit within the paper and then I simply traced it out. I took advantage and used different colored markers for different areas so they were already brightly colored when I handed them to the kids to color. Oddly enough, only Deedee really got into coloring hers and the others chose to pretty much keep them as they were.
I have five different templates you can choose from, all really cool. Two of them are included with Day of the Dead units (one for k - 2 and the other for older kids).
Day of the Dead (pdf) ~ unit for K - 1 (This is the one that Charles, Deedee & Kitty have.)
Dio De Los Muertos teachers packet (pdf) ~ This is the one that I made. Unfortunately, the top of the skull is cut off in this template. However you can see a pic of the original here so you can draw out the end (or the top?) yourself.
The Calaveras Skull ~ For those with a scientific bent, this is an article about a fossilized human skull found in California in 1866. To the Pliocene Skull is a poem written by Bret Hart only a few days after the find.
I caught Deedee on video singing her ABC's! She's very proud of herself. I'm not huge on the whole "learn the alphabet so you can learn to read" thing since I don't believe being able to recite the alphabet helps with your reading skills. However, I saw no reason not to teach it to her when she requested it. So we sang it whenever we thought of it. We got some really weird looks from people as we walking around town and sang the alphabet! We started out with me reciting the letters and she would repeat them. After a while we added the tune and she would sing along. And then it was all her! It took approximately a month for her to be able to sing without any mistakes. This is her favorite song and a day doesn't go by that I don't hear her singing it at least once during the day, at the top of her lungs. :D In fact, she's listening and singing along to the video of her singing it right now. LOL She sings this so much that Kitty is picking it up to. She knows the tune, the little end bit (Now I Know My) that she will often attempt to sing and several of the letters. One of her favorite things is to follow along behind Deedee and repeat it after Deedee as she sings it. :D I don't think it will be too long before this one knows her alphabet either.
Yesterday, I'm sure you caught the referances to The Day of the Dead. Since my Church has planned a Day of the Dead service for November 2, I decided that this week, that is what the kids and I would work on. So not only would they learn about a great holiday, they would also learn about a county rich in cultural traditions, unlike our massive commercial based holidays here. While lots of things are marketed for Day of the Dead, the Mexican culture understands it's roots and they still observe it in it's full glory.
So, to kick off the week, we read Day of the Dead by Tony Johnston. This is a great little preschool level book. Each page hase beautiful pictures in rich vibrant colors. It tells the story about a families preparations about this important holiday. The sentences are short, with only one or two per page. I like how some Spanish words are interwoven into it such as "Tias" for Aunt or "esperense" for wait. It talks about the special food, preparations and altar (ofrenda) that lead up to the joyful ocassion of remembering the dead. My children really liked this book, and we read it a couple of times. Google has a good preview of it here.
I'm going to run this similar to the Five in a Row curriculum. Every day we're going to read the book again and do a new activity. So, today, we looked for Mexico on a big world map. Then we looked for it on Google Earth. We also messed around in Zoom School Mexico at Enchanted Learning. I had originally planned on printing out a picture of the flag for them to color, but since the printer is still on vacation, we just looked at pictures instead. ABC Teach has a good printout here (pdf).
They wanted to know a little more about the holiday so we also looked up images on Google and then we watched a couple of vids on Youtube. Interesting enough, they already knew a little bit about Day of the Dead when I was reading them the book. They told me about the sugar skulls and the dances at the cemetary. I wasn't sure how they knew this until I remembered The Halloween Tree! This is an awesome movie (it was always my favorite Halloween movie growing up and I watched it every year) based on a book The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury.
The book and movie, while both really good are also vastly different but I recommend both. The movie has only five of the original eight children and it adds a girl. The movie also drops several of the cultures in the book and handles only medeival England (witches and Stonehenge), Paris (Notre Dame & gargoyles), Ancient Egypt (mummies and the pyramids) and Mexico (Dio de los Muertos). Since this is one of my favorite movies, of course I own it so of course the kids have watched it. I never reall thought about this movie/book as a teaching tool before but I guess it is since it opens up great conversation and learning opportunities about geography, history and culture.
Day of the Dead Vids (The last one is a rather dark computer animation that you may wish to view before your child as it may frighten them. I didn't know this and my boys watched it and loved it.)
The Halloween Tree excerpt ~ Mexico and The Day of the Dead
Today, we were held late at Church. As usual I taught the pre-k & K religious education class for the first service. Or, at least I was supposed to. There was a break down in communication between the rosters of teachers and I wound up not having an assistant, which by guide lines I have to have since teachers aren't allowed to be by themselves. So, it was thought that we could borrow one of the nursery assistants but instead we joined one of the classes upstairs. One one student attended today so it was no problem incorporating him in with the first & second graders. Besides, although we had lots of fun activities planned about Jesus (we were going to read a nice little book entitled Meeting Jesus and then look at pictures of Jesus as protrayed by different cultures) in the end I think he was happier upstairs helping to cut out papel picado's instead. The older children we cutting these out as decoration for the Church next Sunday for the Day of the Dead service.
Everyone is really looking forward to it, and I'll be doing a unit on that over this week with my kidlets so they know more about this wonderful day when we honor our ancestors. The parishners have been requested to bring pictures of family, friends and even pets that have passed to honor them. However, I'm getting off topic. Although I teach during the first service, I attend the second service and it's at that time when the boys go to their religious education class and the girls go to the nursery. It was because the boys were having so much fun cutting out their papel picado's that we got out of their a bit late and because we walked, it wasn't until 1.30 that we got home. We were all starving of course. Expending all of that energy always begets a big appetite, but there's also something about a beautiful crisp Autumn day that does it as well.
We already had a beautiful braid of hand made bread. One of our parishners also works at a bakery and he brings lots of left over bread every week for anyone that wishes one to take home and as usual I snagged one. Carey had the grand idea of soup but the only canned soups I ever buy are the creamed soups for recipes (cream of mushroom, etc.) because I'm usually too busy to make those on my own. And I don't even buy them that often. However, recently I hit an awesome sale on organic creamed soups so I stocked up. :D I threw a whole bunch of those together, spices and garlic, and a hodge podge of veggies and it was awesome with the thick bread to dunk in it. Deedee helped too (she added lots of milk when she was only supposed to be stirring it :D). But it was so good I thought I'd share it.
Easy Hearty Creamed Soup
3 14.5 oz cans of creamed soup (I had one each of chicken, mushroom and celery that I used; these weren't condensced.)
14 oz of fresh or frozen cooked vegge (or canned if you must) I grabbed a random bag from the freezer. It had potato chunks, asparagus spears with julienned carrots and zuchinni.
1 c of milk (more or less to taste but please don't add a quart, which is what Deedee did)
Garlic, pepper, herbs etc. to taste
Combine the soup and milk along with your herbs and spices and start it gently heating. Choose your vegge & any other ingredients such as cubed chicken that you might like to add. Cook time depends on whether your veggies are frozen or not. Keep it on a medium heat and don't let it boil. And don't let the 2 year old stir it if you happen to be occupied elsewhere. :D That is, if you don't care what may happen to it. The soups was still good with the excess milk. It certainly went further but it was a bit weak. This is excellent with big chunks of fresh bread to dip in it or serve with croutons on the side. Minus the excess milk, this should feed four adults or a family of six that is comprised of four rambuctious munchkins and two much suffering adults.
I know, I know, this is a bit late but I only just found it today. Honest! FamilyFun.com has a great Count Down to Halloween. It is 31 days of fun printables that are all really cute and a new one is posted every day. So, go to the beginning and start the frightfull fun with witch craft and have a full complement of spooky decor for your haunted house as well as other fun activities or start on todays date and still have time for a bit of fun before the big day. I alas, will not be able to join you; my printer has decided it's time for a vacation and is refusing to work. >:(
In preparation for Charles bday party coming up next month, I have been researching old fashioned games such as marbles, jacks, pick up sticks, etc. The theme he chose was "The Snowman". You know, the story by Raymond Briggs? Well, it was also made into an animation that I absolutely love. There are no lines spoken in the whole thing except for the lines sung by a choir boy in a song entitled "Walking in the Air". The movie, which is only about 25 minutes long, is entirely set to beautiful, soothing music. I will often turn it on just to listen to it while I got about my work. LOL.. I have seen this so often that just hearing a particular bit I can picture what's happening.
Anyway, I was completely stumped when Charles informed me that's what he wanted. How was I supposed to work with that? However, the film always give me the impression of the era when TV was still new fangled and children still played outside more than anything else. There were no video games, computer, etc. so they still played all those old fashioned games, which gave me the idea of looking up stuff about those as games for the party. Super easy stuff since we already have a huge marble set and even a great set of wooden pick up sticks and I happen to know that our local RX that we frequent the most has an awesome set of metal jacks. But, I digress. This post is not about any of those things. It's not even about your average game of marbles. This is an online computer game of logic that's quite interesting to play.
I had typed in trying to find diagrams and instructions for the old fashioned marbles game and instead I was directed to Brain Vista, a site with lots of interested brain teasers and ames one of which is Marbles. It takes planning and logic as you try to choos which marble to jump which way and end with only one marble on the board. I can't get less than 6. And no, you're not wasting your time. You're building your skill of logic and thinking. Have fun!
The tang of wood smoke, leaves swirling in the wind and the smell of snow on the air naturally bring thoughts of pumpkins to mind. Once that happens, it's not long until the logical jump to this cute little rhyme. It's an easy one to remember and to incorporate into the kids' day. It's a great littl counting rhyme that can also include fine motor development and besides, rhymes are just really good for language development which is why learning a new nursery rhyme ever week is so beneficial. Check out the Rhyme-A-Week Curriculum for more about that.
So, today I printed out the pumpkin set and poem. I utilized the pumpkins from DLTK . They have the poem to print out in a sheet or as a little booklet (sized down, it would work well in a lap book) as well as larger seperate pieces for puppets or a felt board, which is what I printed off. I used the fence from Preschool Printables. They too have a felt board set that's really cute.
I read the book Five Little Pumpkins to them and then we used the puppets to act it out. Deedee really liked that. Then again, she's very dramatic so that's no surprise. I also found a cool Youtube vid with hand motions and we all had lots of fun with that one too. I think she liked it better than the puppets.
Patty's Pumpkin Patch ~ a fun unit to accompany the book that incorporates 5 Little Pumpkins. I wish I had found it earlier. I'll plan it for next year.
Flashcards from Super Simple Songs (Lots of different sets. Scroll down for the 5 Little Pumpkins. These have a different wording but it's still a counting poem.)
Pumpkin Unit from Mrs. Nelson's Class (Lots of fun pumpkin stuff, including growing a recycled pumpkin which I've incorporated into our lessons this month.)
I have gotten lots of questions about what being a UU means. The Seven Principles do say a lot:
The inherent worth and dignity of every person.
Justice, equitey and compassion in human relations.
Aceptance of one another and enouragement to spritual growth in our congregations.
A free and responsible search for truth and meanting.
The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in socety at large.
The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all.
Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.
But then, I would hope that this is true for all religion, not just Unitarian Universalism. I admit that I'm not the greatest when it comes to expounding on anything, let alone something close to my heart. I will never be the theological statesmen (woman?) that could change the tide with just a few well placed lines. The best thing I can say about it is that it's a large supportive community of people that are choosing what to believe instead of being told what to believe; we look at many books for spiritual inspiration instead of only one. But, in an effort to answer those questions further and not leave you reeling in dizzyness because you have no idea what I just said, here are a few Youtube vids and some links.
Ok, the Wizard of Oz referance aside, my homeschool group had a fieldtrip to a local bear enclosure yesterday, and it was awesome.
Washington State University is the only facility in the world that houses adult grizzlies for research so people from all over have come to study at WSU. The program examines the hibernation, bavioral and nutritional habits of grizzlies and it's findings have helped with management of bears around the world.
It's free any time to stop and watch the bears. There are several dens, each with an outer yard that open into a main walkway that also leads to a large pasture fenced off. Each den can also be closed preventing the bear either from leaving entirely or keeping it in it's yard away from the walkway. There are double layers of fencing seperated by a few feet so there's no fear of getting clawed. It's always fun to stop in and see the bears romp and play but that's as close as we could get. Our group wanted more.
So, between us, each family paid a small fee to make up the complete $125 that the center wanted for a more in depth tour and a guide to answer our questions.
I, of course, managed to get myself lost. :D So, although I picked James up from class and dropped Kitty off at a friends house (I decided it would be best if I had only three kids to chase at this, especially since I'm the one that set it up) with plenty of time to spare to drive the 8 or so miles to get there, I still managed to be the last one there and literally snag the last parking spot. :( Grrrr.... I was very embarassed. There were two turnoff's onto the road I needed and I managed to turn in at the wrong one. At one point, if I had taken a left instead of a right to go up and find a place to turn around, I was actually really close and could have seen it it not for some trees and a hill. :( So I drove in a big circle before I finally stopped and called a friend for directions. I'm just thankful I had the cell phone yesterday. It's usually with Carey but he forgot it and I rescued it from the kidlets before stuffing it in my purse.
The kids had fun running around outside the main enclosure and when our guide (a graduate student) was ready, he took us through the building along the back of the dens and into a large area along the back side of the walkway. The hall we walked through was very narrow and it had windows with heavy metal mesh that looked into each den. People were able to stand at the window's and view the bears if they were in the den. Smaller children had to be picked up since the windows were approximately five feet up. One child got into a bit of trouble when he rang a cow bell at one of the windows and a bear charged up chuffing and growling. It startled several people but of course the child had run off by then so didn't gain the full experience of his actions. There was also a bear on the end that people were directed away from since she didn't do well with people and she chuffed at us a lot as we passed. If I understood the guide correctly later, she was a bear that entered a mans tent, dragged him out and then proceeded to eat the food he had in his tent. The man certainly didn't know much about camping if he was keeping his food in his tent! She was a very pretty bear with nice markings on her face, unfortunately I was unable to get any pics through the heavy metal mesh forming her yard; she was kept in seclusion.
Outside was a beatiful day and everyone enjoyed watching the bears romp and play while the adults listened to guide as much as they were able. One thing I was interested to learn was that kodiak and grizzlies (otherwise known as brown bears) are one and the same. I had always thought they were different. I heard lots of scientific names that of course, I don't remember. However, I did look it up and grizzlies are in the order Carnivora, family Ursidae and the genus is Ursus arctos.
Want to learn more? Here are some articles and vids about the research center.
Homeschoolshare ~ Blueberries for Sal (This is one of the many books read and that we happened to Row. Will have a lapbook posted for this soon as well.)
Grizzly Rhyming & Singing Games (This is part of a Lewis & Clark Journey of Discovery Curriculum. I had also happened to get the August Book Bag from Currclick.com which not only had apple stuff in it (the group did an apple orchard field trip that we wound up not being able to attend) but it also has a segment about Lewist & Clark! So I tied these two together. Also, the September Book Bag had bear stuff in it. The monthly Book Bags from Teacher Book Bag are really cool and the kids have a lot of fun with them. I highly recommend them.)
Well, the good news is that my son has survived and will heal with a very interesting scare. The bad news? He got 15 stitches in his chin!
James has only recently learned how to ride a two wheeler so couple that with the fact that the "new" bike we bought to celebrate moved the brakes from the pedals (where he was used to them being) to the handlebars spelled disaster. He loves flying down the hill outside our house and has been doing so since we moved in. He always timed the brakes just right so he would stop just where he wanted to. This time however, he misjudged something and wound up in a heap on the ground and his chin meeting the curb. He even lost one of his shoes! I didn't see this happen, although I could hear him screaming and was already on my way out when the neighbor kids all descended en mass on our doorstep to deliver the news.
I hauled him inside with the hope that since head wounds, no matter where they are always bleed copiously and that it would not need stitches. I have had lots of stitches, especially in the head area (can you tell I was an accident prone child?) and couple that with my military medical training I felt confident that I could care for it. However, as soon as I got him to calm down enough to remove his helmet and got the blood wiped away so I could see it, I knew he'd have to go it. It was over an inch long, and very deep. For those that don't have experience with head wounds, they always bleed like a stuck pig but surface abrasions are easy to care for as long as they aren't too deep. However, if you can see the layer of subcutaneous fat, go to the ER because you'll need medical care. It's highly likely you'll need stitches.
So Carey hauled him the few blocks to the hospital and proceeded to spend the next three hours there. He said James was a little trooper and did very well. He actually fell asleep while they were stitching him up (this is something I've always done to deal with bad pain as well but I didn't realize that it was inherited; I slept through most of my labor with both of my boys).
In hindsight, I should not have sent Carey with James. Carey has never had major stitches, so he didn't know how to answer any of James' questions. He is also notorious with his queasiness at the sight of blood. He said he felt faint as he was holding James' hand, but it wasn't until they had to trim the jagged flesh from around the wound that he had to lay down on the floor. :D
In the end it wound up being a wonderful bonding experience for them, although, I wish James needn't have gone through that pain and fear for it to happen. It was also only last night that we hit a "WHY" time with James such as why does Deedee have candy and not me, why is the moon orange and why do I have to wear my helmet? So ensued about a 10 minute talk about they why and wherefores of bicycle safety but we could tell it wasn't sinking in. He's barely old enough to really start reasoning and he was having trouble wrapping his brain around the fact he has to wear the helmet because he "might" get hurt. So Carey got the bright idea of googling pictures of bicycle accident victims and showing James. He didn't shield him because he wanted him to understand just how important this was. A while later, while James was working on his homework, Carey took out the trash. He came running back in and hauled James off with no explanation.
After a few minutes, they returned with James looking a little shaken and upset. Apparently, when taking out the trash, Carey noticed a commotion at the end of our street and being the concerned citizen he is, of course he had to poke his nose in. :D A bicyclist had gotten hit by a car, wasn't wearing a helmet and got a nasty head wound. Not one to waste this fortuitous opportunity, of course he came running back to show James first hand what can happen. It must have made an impression because he didn't whine at all when happily securing his helmet today with no premonition that very shortly it would become very important. Although it didn't prevent James' chin getting torn up, a witnessing adult said his head was thrown forward and only the protruding plastic on the front of helmet kept him from getting hurt a lot worse. He wore an Alibi Helmet by Bell.
Bicyclesafe.com~ How Not To Get Hit By Cars ~ This is especially important in a world where bicycles are increasingly becoming a major mode of transportation.
Kids Health~ Written for kids to understand, has some good pictures of hand signals. These too are very important, especially when riding as a group. Carey and I have adapted the many hand signals we learned to use in our extensive military vehicle experience. It's nice to know when the bike ahead of you is stopping or doing something else unexpected!
In the Hands of a Child has awesome lap books that my kids have always had a lot of fun with them. Don't know what lap books are? You're in for a treat! Imagine something that integrates all of the 3 R's and more on a given subject. What would you say to a unit that incorporates reading, writing, math, logic, crafts, foriegn language, and health(and more) AND makes it a lot of fun in the process? And then when you're done, if you want to revisit that unit in the future it's all in one place? The kids have a lot ot fun looking at their past work and seeing now only what they've learned but how they've progressed! By any name, lap books are a lot of fun.
Grade Level: 4th - 8th
So check it out! Just click on the picture and it will take you.
"Thomas Alva Edison is one of the most famous inventors in history. This 54-page pack includes a 12-page Research Guide and 16 hands-on activities about his childhood, family and marriage, inventions, awards and honors, later years, and a complete timeline. Invite your student to learn there was more to Thomas Edison than just the lightbulb!" HOAC
Want to learn more about lap books? Check these sites out:
I confess that I hadn't really been paying attention to the dates. I knew that today was the eleventh, but I wasn't really thinking about the connotation of what today actually meant. I was more concerned with getting my applesauce and blackberry jam entered at the fair on time, and getting James off to school.
So I was broadsided when I got all of the tribute emails in my box this morning. I just sat down and cried as I remembered where I was at the time this had happened. My husband and I were living out in the middle of nowhere, with no TV or computer access. We were newly pregnant with our first child and if I remembere correctly I had either just had my National Guard drill for the month or it was coming up. I can distincly remember ironing my uniforms when Carey called me and told me what had happened. The iron fell to the floor and I can remember spending the rest of the day crying as I listened to the radio. You have to remember that no only was I upset with what had happened to all of those brave men and women, I was also wondering when we would go to war and I would be going as well. It was actually another few years before my state activated her troops and in the end I didn't go to Iraq only because God had other plans for me. He decided to send me Meradydd instead I was meant to stay home.
It's weird to realize just how much time has passed, that it's been seven years already. James is 6 and we have four children instead of just expecting the first one. Life has gone on and we have moved forward. Still, the shock, horror, grief and those complete influx of feelings I felt that day linger and will never be forgotten, although, I didn't see any pictures until the next day when Carey brought home the paper. It seems like yesterday as I remember the sound of the iron crashing to the floor and the sound of the dead line as Carey and I were cut off. So I am not ashamed to admit that I cried as I remembered.
Although it's hard to watch, there is a good tribute here, America Attacked.
OK, want a game that is educational (don't tell the kiddos) and combines logic, strategy with even a little physics that the kids (and adults) love to play? Well, here you have it in Fantastic Contraption created by Colin Northway
It's a basic online Flash game that seems very simple. Basically, you make a device using wheels and sticks to get the widget located in the light blue area to the pink area. Sounds simple, yes? Well, it can be but it's definitely harder than it looks! There is more than one solution to every puzzle and this certainly takes your whole brain! Having trouble? You can back up to a different puzzle or you can also save your contraptions as well as view other peoples answers to solving the puzzles. Some are really cool, some really freaky accidents.
There are only 20 levels in the free game (still hours of entertainment and learning), but $10 gets you access to more, along with a extensive variety of player-created levels. There's also a level editor, so you can create your own.
As a rule, my family doesn't watch much TV. What little they do watch is limited to whether they do their chores and if it's appropriate (in other words, mostly educational). To tell the truth, we don't even subscribe to sattelite or dish because we just can't afford it. Besides, even if we could, we wouldn't subscribe because I can't stand all of those darn commercials. One of my biggest pet peeves is the commercialization of TV and the children wanting a product simply because they've seen it on TV or it has a certain character on it, not necassarily because they need it or really and truly even want it.
I must admit, that not exposing my children to a ton of TV and the bombardment of the assorted advertisements that come along with it has led to a quieter, if busier life. While it's true that I have to work harder to keep my little ones occupied (sitting them in front of the electronic sitter is not the norm here) they no longer clamor to have that box of cereal because it has Dora on it or that pair of shorts because of Spongebob. They do know who these characters are because they watch TV at other people's houses but they also understand that we won't by them that item simply because of the character on it.
But, I digress. Once in a great while, I find a TV show that I think is great (it isn't full of banal repetition and boring or full of violence like so many children's shows are now) and the kids like too. Such as the vintage Seseme Street (I can't stand the newer shows made within the last 12 years or so), The Magic School Bus, School House Rock, etc. Those are some of the few shows that I will make an exception to and will seek out episodes on disk or perhaps to watch online (there are several places to do so for some of these, including Netflix).
We recently discovered this show while visiting Grandma Sue (Carey's mom). She often watches the children for me during James' appointments, and this was one such time. She doesn't always turn the TV on, so it's a special treat there as well. This time, she had tuned in PBS and I didn't really notice the show they were watching when I arrived to retrieve them until I was trying to gather them up over numerous protestastions. So I finally took a look at what had them so absorbed and then quickly found my own attention caught as I watched the bright characters scurry across the screen and play out their adventures.
I have now added WordWorld to that small list. WordWorld is "the first preschool series where words are truly stars of the show". In WordWord words come alive, words save the day, and words become a childs best friend. This animated world is full nimals and other objects whose bodies are literally made up of the letters that spell the word they are. The stars of the show include such animals as Pig, Bear, Frog, Duck, Dog and Ant. Each adventure the friends make center around a certain theme such as "ST" of "SH" and that's the words they focus on. The viewers will join in on a series of comic adventures that are resolved only by finding the correct word and in the process sounding out words, rhyming and more as you accompany a host of colorful friends in a computer animated world with fun music that has an engaging beat that the kids love.
For example, one of the kids favorite episodes is one entitled "Snug as a Bug" and the adventure centers around Frog and Bug. Bug is tired and he wants a place to sleep but he doesn't know where so he enlists Frog's help (Frog of course, isn't too happy about this but follows along). The basis is that classic "snug as a bug in a rug" line that everyone knows and loves. So off they go, trying to complete the rhyme and meeting such words as Jug, Mug, Hug etc. before they finally find the word they're looking for and Bug has a comfy cozy place to go to sleep. And, of course, they have to sing a little song about finding their word before forming it and sounding it out. :D
So, lets see:
Fun, upbeat music
A colorful world
Pre-reading skills
Rhyming
Only 12 minutes long
Hrmmm............What's not to like? This is a wonderful show that I have no problems recommending to other parents and the best thing is, my kids love it too! There are lots of so called educational shows out there that bore the daylights out of my little guys and they wander off rather quickly but I'm glad to say this isn't one of them. Even the two year old loves it and has memorized the opening theme. If she hears it, she comes running from whatever project she had going (usually digging in the kitchen drawers or pawing through the numerous book shelves overflowing with books) just as fast as her little legs will go and screeching "Puppy!" (it opens with Dog) as she hurtles herself onto the couch. LOL
Go to the main WordWorld site and you'll be able to watch a few short clips and even download an entire episode entitled Runaway O! And the PBS site of WordWorld is full of information and fun activities too! It opens with flash games to keep your little one engaged. There are games many Build A Word Adventures for several characters of the show. One of them is helping Bear form a band. Each member of her band needs an instrument and you help collect the "words" to form the instruments. (You can watch a video similar to that Adventure here entitled Dancing Dog.) Or, you can go to the main map to find other adventures such as Alphabet Falls to collect letters to decipher a code and collect the treasure. Or, go to the Parents & Teacher's Area where you'll learn more about the show, watch a couple of short vids, find lots of activities based upon different episodes, etc.
One of the activities is related to "Snug as a Bug" and it's to make an UG!! book. The kids had lots of fun over this one. They enjoyed finding different pictures of 'ug" words to fill the pages. There is also an activity page with three printable pictures to get you started (bug, mug, rug). I provided colorful stickers for them to spell out their names and the other assorted words. So not only did this reinforce rhyming skills but also letter recognition. Oh, and before I forget, you can "read" that same "Snug as a Bug" adventure here as well as print out the book!
LOL, I chose this episode as an example because it's one of five that we have available to watch (the only ones I've found online so far, and this one is at Netflix) and then I found several activities pertaining to it, so it worked out quite well. :D I couldn't have chosen a better one if I'd tried.
And for other fun activities not necessarily related to WordWorld, check out PBSparents.org
So, today we journeyed an hour North to stay the week with my parents. It will be a very busy time, combining several things needing to be done in one trip.
James really enjoyes visiting his grandparents, often several weeks at a time. However, he won't be able to do this once he starts class next week so here's his last chance to spend some time up here until probably Christmas.
Mom has decided it's finally time to go through a lot of my grandmother's stuff and we need to consolidate two storage units into one (a small one into a large one).
I also have an appointment to see a doctor a further hour North of here who will hopefully help me figure out what my problems are. I'm tired of being told that I'm too young for what I think may be happening, and have a family history of. The last three women on my mother's side has all had it, but we have no idea if it goes any further back because my great grandmother's mother died in the flu epidemic when GG was around 9 so not only was she too young to have been told any history, she probably wouldn't have been told anyway.
A chance for Carey to relax before he starts class next week.
Definitely very busy this week. I was happy that we got out of the house right on time, in fact a little early and all we forgot was Charles' suspenders. I had to leave the house a little earlier than planned because I had to stop in a little town on my way, about 30 miles out. There is a local cheapcycle group and a man listed some records of which a few I bought. I had to meet him at the local store and I wound up being there almost 30 minutes early. At first we waited outside, but it was so darn hot and the kids needed to use the restroom anyway so in we went. I especially needed to get Kitty in. She's been diaper free for over four months and I did't want her to have an accident now.
I only had three of the kids since James went up last night to my parents to have a little alone time with them. He's been very angry lately and I'm hoping this will help calm him down. They were all well behaved in the store. They calmly picked out a snack (it's Kitty's special day so she got to pick and she choose Scooby Doo fruit snacks), some banana's and a few other items. They even calmly put the candy back at the cashier when I explained they had already gotten the Scooby snacks and they couldn't have both. I got them loaded back in the van, and then noticed the guy with the records was there so I snagged them real quick.
It's an eclectic mix from Sons of the Pioneers to Frank Sinatra, Peter Paul & Mary, Johnny Cash, even The Night Before Christmas narrated by Louis Armstrong. They're all in good condition and I can't wait to hear them. I paid less than a $1 apiece, and although that's not quite as good as paying only $0.20 at Salvation Army it beats paying several dollars or more apiece.
We quicly continued our trip, and it was a blessed relief when I went from the open valley of agriculture fields and 100 F weather to the hills covered in trees. It was a marked contrast in temperature. It was cool and shady going over the pass and it felt wonderful to be home. I grew up in a logging community, surrounded by hills full of trees and forest only 10 feet out my grandparents back door. And while I'm OK surrounded by the agriculture fields of my current home, I think that's only because the closest tree's are only a quick 20 minute drive, if that. I could never live on the wide open fields of a prairie or the desert. It would drive me mad.
I rolled down the windows, turned off the raidio and breathed in the clean, cool, forest air. I told the kids to look out their windows, breath in the scent and look at the trees as well. This lead to Deedee asking if she could hug a tree. Since I was driving through a section of road that's part of a scenic byway with at least a couple of parks, it was simply to find a place to park although in the end I just chose a turn out because Deedee was getting antsy and we were between both parks. In the end, that was the perfect choice anyway.
It was right in the trees and it was level vs. several that angeled down. This one was also complete with it's own mostly complete deer skeleton. So the kids spent an interesting 10 minutes just looking at that. It had been a doe and was completely picked clean. So we looked at the teeth and talked about how they're different from our teeth and why. Bits of the fur was still there as well and they held some of it to feel the texture and stuff. But they're little so they quickly lost interest and went on to the original goal of hugging a tree. We walked about 20 yards into the trees and it was perfect. It was far enough way that we couldn't see the highway and the traffic wasn't quite as loud. We talked about the birds we heard, and the kids were happy to find a little brook they splashed around in. We wandered around looking at the different plants and flowers and even discovered a spider or two.. Oh, and Charles was really excited to find a little patch of thimble berries that he quickly scarfed down. His whole mouth was stained red and he looked like he'd smeared lipstick on like a clown. LOL Deedee said hello to several trees and collected some fallen leaves for us to identify later. She also said she found several gnome hom
