Thursday, April 18, 2013

Flannel Friday Placeholder for April 19


I'm hosting Flannel Friday this week. Please leave a link to your post in the comments. 

Flannel Friday is a group of bloggers, children's librarians, moms and crafters who write about flannel stories, storytime and book activities each Friday. If you are interested in viewing some previous round-ups, please look on the Flannel Friday blog.

Find the complete round-up here!

Monday, April 15, 2013

Book Review: Always By My Side

Always By My Side by Susan Kerner

My Rating: 4 out of 5 Tear-filled Smiles

Recommends for readers of Love You Forever by Robert Munsch and Your Moon, My Moon: A Grandmother's Words to a Faraway Child by Patricia MacLachlan

Summary: Children share ways to remember their fathers in rhyming text.

Review: The story begins with a very young child looking out the window answering the unasked question, "Where's your daddy?" His answer is lyrical, "He's in me and around me, never far away."

The illustrations depict a vibrant range of children, both emotionally and ethnically. Each finds a way to see their fathers everyday in the nature and people who surround them. The book is a gentle approach to death. The final scene of the book shows the same little boy from the beginning sleeping next to a photo of his father. I love the continuity of ending with the same character and the sense of peace it creates.

Sensitive Readers Beware: This book may bring up lots of questions about death, it did with my 4-year-old. If you are not ready to breach this subject, you may want to save reading this book until that time comes.

Sunday, April 7, 2013

Letter G is for Gambit


The two superheroes we focused on for the letter G were Gambit and Green Lantern. Bobo chose to paint this week, instead of coloring.

Green Lantern painting, Bobo age 4
He also worked on his DC sticker activity book.

Green Lantern shadow matching
In addition to working on letters each week, Bobo has also been asking for numbers. He can write 1 through 10 and loves practicing on anything he can get his hands on!

From top to bottom and left to right: Blue letter G painting, Thomas number activity, Gambit, Leprechaun craft, Pot of gold craft, Number writing, Chick craft and Green Lantern painting
His Aunt T gave him some wonderful Thomas the Train stickers and activity book for Christmas. So, I made a simple activity of placing the amount of stickers on the number square (1 to 5). We also attended a library Spring craft event with Miss Meredith. I love his little chick coming out of the egg.


Are your kids into mazes? Bobo can't get enough of mazes right now. I think he's done every one in each coloring book he has. He worked on helping Scooby-Doo catch some ghosts and ghouls in this one.


We watched a wonderful video for the big letter G. Little g is still a challenge for writing. Any ideas, tips or tricks you've used to teach it?


Friday, April 5, 2013

Blinded by Science


The annual Spring Fling at the library this year was all about science. The decorations doubled as photo props with goggles, test tubes and lab coats. 


The cookies were delicious in the shapes of test tubes, beakers and flasks.


We explored sound waves with a hands-on dancing oobleck experiment.


Now that you've got a taste, I'll take you on a tour. After scanning their hands and coming through the quarantine curtain, the children identified these every day objects as if they were looking at them through a magnifying glass. Can you name them all?


We explored air flow by balancing ping pong balls on a current of air created by a blow dryer.


The precipitation began when the shaving cream clouds filled with blue condensation at the weather station.


Each child made their own color wheel. What does blue and yellow make?


You have to look the part while experimenting, right? So we made mad scientist goggles with crazy hair.


Gumdrop molecular models, yum. Is that a double helix I see?


Oh, water beads. Children of all ages (and lots of adults, too) are fascinated with these little spheres of water. I added an element of play by placing the translucent pipe builders with them.


I'm so happy we had lots of older children since we hold this annual event during Spring Break week. Youngest to oldest had a blast with science!


My favorite activity explored static electricity. It was probably the easiest experiment to set up. I just blew up the balloons and placed them next to a basket of wool items. The kids stuck them everywhere, all over the wall and each other. Even babies had fun with this one!


Who can build the tallest tower? I hung bulletin board paper on the wall to mark the progress of each group. The tower had to stand on its own for 30 seconds. I took this picture half-way through the program, so there were actually two towers taller than this one!

I had so much fun planning this event and I can't wait for Summer Reading Club 2014 "Fizz, Boom, Read!" Sharing with Tuesday Tots and Kids Co-op.

Flannel Friday: I'm Driving in My Car


Next week, I'll be starting a special session of Mother Goose on the Loose. I'm offering it during the time we usually take a break from storytimes. So, I've decided to use all of my favorite rhymes and songs.

I'm Driving in My Car
From Mother Goose on the Loose
By Betsy Diamant-Cohen

I'm driving in my car
I'm driving in my car
Beep, beep! Toot, toot!
I'm driving in my car.
Additional verses: I'm driving very fast, I'm driving very slow


I love Byron Barton's car from My Car. So, I decided to make a flannel version of it to accompany the song above. As my flannel board is red, I had to change the colors somewhat so it will stand out. I love the illustration with the car pulled apart. First, I'll put up the whole car and ask what it is and what noises it makes. After we sing the song and share the book, I can pull it apart for a review.


I even made a little Sam to drive! Flannel Friday Round-Up will be appearing In the Children's Room this week. I'm also sharing with Montessori Monday.

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Letter F is for Flash


Letter F is also for Ferb! Our learning board got a lot of Phineas and Ferb love. (1+1+1=1)


Flash coloring... lots of coloring.


I love the dot sheets for learning the shapes of letters, but Bobo doesn't like to use the dot painters very much. He used yellow and red finger paints this week to make a Flash inspired letter set.


Markers are another favorite medium. Look at that crazy hair! The best part of homeschool is getting to wear costumes and NOT brushing your hair.


Epsom salt tray for letter practice. I put all the letter activities we do each week in a fire box. We are still loving the tag system for learning phonics.


Letter F review. We didn't watch any youtube videos this week, but did enjoy some Phineas and Ferb episodes on Netflix.

Shared with Tuesday Tots.

Monday, March 11, 2013

WMCIR: Every Little Thing


I am one of those moms who has struggled with getting her little one to sleep. My safest bet to lull him into oblivion has always been reggae music. I'm not sure if it's the rhythm, instruments or lyrics, but it works every time. One of my favorite songs to sing is "Three Little Birds" by Bob Marley. 

Cedella Marley has adapted her father's song in a beautiful, whimsical way. I love the original lyrics because they are repetitive, which make it easy to remember when your child starts to melt down. The rhythm and beat is soothing with a hopeful message. 

Image borrowed from Crafting in lala-land
I thought this book would simply put illustrations to the words and was pleasantly surprised to find Cedella had made up new verses. They can still be sung to the original tune! The new parts follow a little boy to the playground, kitchen and bed. I will be purchasing a hardback version for our home library. What did Bobo think about the book? I'll let you know when he wakes up. Thanks Cedella!