With only two days until Thanksgiving I realized it may be a good time to review table etiquette with my little one. As much as I love this holiday we will be the only couple with chilldren at my family’s celebratory feast this year! Ack! That means lots of adult expectations. This is one year I would have no objection to sitting at the kids table!

So how do we talk about etiquette or table manners but make it fun?

I found some inspiration in that Alice in Wonderland book again! We read the book and then hosted our very own mad cap tea party.

“They buttered the gears. They sugared the springs. They strawberry jammed the wheels.”

- from the Tea Party in Alice in Wonderland

I let my son Wiley enforce the “rules” when our “guests” got out of hand. He felt very much in control and I think now that he knows the “rules” he’ll feel much more confident at a table with all the adults this Thanksgiving.

Tea parties are a great way to teach a variety of things. We counted out the place settings. He set the table. We had made rice crispies treats so we served those to our guests. While pouring the teddy bear some tea, the top to the pot came off and Wiley exclaimed “look mom, there goes the hubcap!”

Filed under: Kindergarten, education, fall, favorite read, gift ideas, picture book, preschool-age, toddlers by admin
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It’s late October and I am chilled to the bone in a drafty gymnasium pen and paper in hand awaiting Frankenstein. (Not the Frankenstein you would expect to hear about so close to Halloween!) The very savvy Diane Frankenstein author of Reading Together: Everything You Need to Know to Raise a Child Who Loves to Read
and a reading expert with over 20 years of experience was at a nearby elementary school to share her thoughts about raising children who love to read. [Photo credit: http://audreyblissful.blogspot.com. Copyright 2009]

Of all the gems of wisdom she imparted that night, the piece of advice that I immediately implemented was this:

“Don’t just read to your children at bedtime.”

It is so simple and seemingly obvious but I needed to hear it. I realized that books could replace television in our home to get us through the late afternoon when my 5 year old Wiley usually started asking to turn it on.

The next afternoon, instead of television, we went to his room and pulled a few books from his shelf and began reading together. Wiley bounced around on his bed, his little sister crawled over the covers in search of a new toy to ogle. We passed the time not just reading a fun story but also talking about it.

This “talking about it” was some more of Frankenstein’s advice:

“Read a book and ask a question.”

Again, it was so simple and intuitive, but I needed a reminder. “Children come into the world breathing out questions,” Frankenstein said. (So true!) “When reading ask your child a personal, open-ended question, like: ‘Is there a character in the story that you would like to be friends with?’ ‘What did you think about xyz?’ ‘What did you notice?’ Avoid ‘ambusing’ them with comprehension questions or yes-no queries that force them into a corner, such as ‘did you like the book?’

“When children talk about a book, we build their confidence” she explained. “Kids will remember the story better if they talk about it and children who have these stories in their repertoire will develop a love of reading and learning. It’s not about how many books they have, but how many conversations they have had about them.”

That leads me to my new favorite quote that Frankenstein shared that evening:

“What good are books without pictures and conversations?” – Alice in Wonderland

Frankenstein didn’t mince words when it came to television and technology. They are no substitute for the interaction between a child and his peers or a child and her parent or caregivers. She offered Jane Healey’s Endangered Minds: Why Children Don’t Think And What We Can Do About It
as recommended reading to parents who wanted to explore the topic further. It looks like a great book, but at this point I am sure it will just confirm what I know—we have got to turn off the television and just read more. Or play more. I can’t let “I’m bored” send me into a panic, afterall:

“The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity.” – Dorothy Parker

So I credit Diane Frankenstein for helping me get back on track with making reading and conversations replace idle time in front of the tv. Since we’ve cut afternoon tv time out, and spend most weekday afternoons in his room, I have also been inspired to update the room a bit to create a “book nook” or a reading area. I want it to be a cozy comfortable little corner of his room. Right now we read together, but I hope he will also find this activity so enjoyable, he’ll retreat there on his own when he wants to unwind.

How do you create a haven for your young reader?

I am such a visual person, I immediately went to Flickr and scrolled through hundred of photos of classrooms, nurseries, playrooms to find inspiration. I have compiled a gallery on Flickr with photos that inspired me. What really impressed me was that I didn’t need to go buy anything special, just by adding a lamp, some low shelves and a some floor pillows, we have all that we need.

Do you have a haven in your home?

I’d love to see it! Or perhaps, like me, you found inspiration on the Internet! If you have an inspiration you’d like to share, include the URL in your comments below. Or include your email address and I’ll contact you. Then you can email the photo back to me as an attachment.

Giveaway!

I’ll be giving away one copy of:

Walt Disney’s Alice in Wonderland (Hardcover), Jon Scieszka (Author), Mary Blair (Illustrator)

To enter:

Leave a comment below (1 entry)
Include a link to your ideal reading haven (2 entries)
Send me a photo of your reading haven (2 entries)

Contest will close at 11:59 pm PT November 19, 2009. Winner will be posted here and notified on Friday, November 20.

Suggested Reading:

• Reading Together: Everything You Need to Know to Raise a Child Who Loves to Read
  Diane Frankenstein
• Endangered Minds: Why Children Don’t Think And What We Can Do About It Jane Healy
• Walt Disney’s Alice in Wonderland
  Jon Scieszka (Author), Mary Blair (Illustrator)
• The Annotated Alice: The Definitive Edition Lewis Carrol (Martin Gardner, Editor)

More Inspiration:

• Audrey Blissful: New Reading Nook
• OohdeeDoh: Children’s book area in a bedroom
• Flickr: Book Look Gallery

Filed under: education, favorite read, picture book by admin
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It’s the day after Halloween and you’ve got a bag full of Tootsie Rolls, Dots, Jolly Ranchers, LifeSavers, Gummy Bears and Hershey bars from your trick or treating masquerades. If you are like me, you are not delighted about the prospect of your little one ingesting copious amounts of refined sugar and artificial coloring, but you hate to completely deprive him of the loot either.

Some would say you should save your candy to embellish your Gingerbread house come December. That is great idea but I find it’s hard to tell my son that he can’t enjoy the candy in some way, shape, or form now, so while I do save a large part of the stash for Gingerbread season, I also portion out a good part of the haul to use now.

So what do we do? Well, what does your child love more than candy? Playing with you! And with these activities, there is something for both of you to enjoy. I find I am best able to really connect with my children when the activity captures my imagination too. These projects did not disappoint.

The first step in your candy project is counting and sorting. This is a great way to demonstrate how we use mathematics in everyday life and allow them to flex their math muscles by asking them to sort their candy. They can do it by size, color, shape, or type. You can do it more than one time. Then they can count the pieces and you can discuss which of the piles is less than or more than the other(s).

When you have exhausted the sorting and counting game you can move on to the creation portion.

For this project you’ll need to use any “gummy candy” such as Tootie Rolls or Dots or anything that the size and consistency of a gumdrop. You’ll also need a box of toothpicks. I have done this with children as young as three, but please use your best judgment. If your child still likes to put things in their mouth (or eyes or ears for that matter!) toothpicks may not be the safest choice.

Anyway, once you have unwrapped all your gummy candy, you are only limited by your imagination. You can construct letters, numbers, shapes, houses, fences, stick figures… whatever you can fashion by sticking toothpicks in the gummies and connecting them together. My five year old did this project for 30 minutes twice this week (we went trick or treating earlier in the week). Today we brought out part of his train set and made fences, crossing gates, and a tunnel to accessorize the track! It was truly the highlight of my week to have us both so fully immersed in something together.

You can also use your candy to explore art and science themes.

Again, if you channel that creativity, there is no telling what kind of amazing creations you’ll produce. With some of the other candies you will need to alter their physical state to produce what we’re looking for. For example if you have Laffy Taffy or Airheads, unwrap them and attempt to run a pizza cutter or knife through them with your child watching. It will be difficult if not impossible. Next, heat them very gently for two to four seconds in your microwave, just long enough that they are warm and you can run your pizza cutter through them easily to make these strips. Roll the strips in your hands to make them nice and round.

Ask your child what they noticed? Was it easier to cut them after they were warmed? Another great way to demonstrate how science is part of everyday life.

Stash those miniature chocolate bars in the freezer for awhile until they are good and frozen. Then place them in a Ziploc bag and smash away with your meat mallet or even just the back of wooden spoon. What child doesn’t love to SMASH with wild abandon?

Sort your pulverized candy by color or texture and let the art emerge!

For our art project we made a little garden. The pulverized chocolate was the soil, the smashed Jolly Ranchers serves as the grass, the Laffy Taffy became the flowers. We even smashed a blue Jolly Rancher to make it “rain” in the garden.

Here are a few other fun “art + candy = fun” ideas I collected from the Internet:

• Creating with Candy
• Candy Critters
• Candy Masks

These activities were really engaging for both of us and enabled us to “enjoy” the candy without “ingesting” it! In all these activities, he only ate one piece of candy the entire time. I think he was just so immersed in the project he didn’t even think about eating it.

That’s what I call a win – win!

Happy Halloween!

Filed under: Kindergarten, education, fall, preschool-age, seasonal by admin
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Last week I met with Wiley’s Kindergarten teacher to discuss planning for the Halloween Party. She gave me a list of items to use to create a sign up sheet for parents to volunteer. We need the usual plates, napkins, juice boxes, fruit, mini bagels and a small sweet treat. On this point she did not mince words: NO CANDY, NO CHOCOLATE, but a mini cupcake or cookie is ok. Hmm, I can’t imagine why a woman who is charged with teaching 22 five year olds would want to limit their intake of sugar, can you?

So I created our fabulous sign up sheet. I even attempted to translate it into Spanish as there are 6 families who speak Spanish at home and whose parents know little or no English. After studying Spanish for 12 years I am embarrassed at how little I remember, but alas, I was able to piece something together with the limited vocabulary I could recall coupled with the online translations sites like wordreference.com. I am happy to report that all the slots were filled within 24-hours. (Can you say rock star room parent!? Ha!)

Are you planning a party for Halloween? If so, here are some tips for minimizing the SUGAR and WASTE factors, but maximizing the FUN.

With the party planning under control, I turned my attention to gathering a few books for the festivities. In addition to Over in the Hollow, these are three other books that are my list of must reads this fall.

Fletcher and the Falling Leaves This book has a winning combination—adorable illustrations and a meaningful storyline. The fox is just as cute as he can be and he is such an endearing character—concerned that his poor friend the tree is losing his leaves. Wiley’s Kindergarten class has been studying trees too so this is just perfect fit. Did you know, only broad leaf trees loose their leaves? Conifers are evergreen. We can’t take a walk anymore without discussing which trees are which.

Room on the Broom is a great read! Like Over in the Hollow, this book highlights the characters and antics of Halloween with a fun rhyming structure. The illustrations really bring the characters to life and while she’s not quite, Glenda the good witch, this witch is not the gruesome scary variety so it’s a safe bet for kids of all ages.

The House in the Night is not about Halloween or even fall per say, but the color scheme (just black & white with yellow) and the storyline: a house at night—makes it appropriate for Halloween. The illustrations are truly unique and remarkable. If they made a print of these pages, I’d order it and frame it! The words are so simple but as we read it together, we spend a lot of time on each page looking at the different items that are highlighted in yellow and talking about why they are highlighted.

I look forward to attending the class party and volunteering to read a story to the very subdued group of sugar-deprived children. Staying true to the CONTROL THY SUGAR mandate from the teacher, I ordered two dozen of these little treats for the kids. How clever! If you are enterprising enough, I am sure you can make them at home too. But I prefer to leave melting to the experts at Halloween ☺

What are you doling out this Halloween?

Happy Haunting!

Filed under: Kindergarten, education, fall, favorite read, gift ideas, picture book, preschool-age, seasonal by admin
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When I was pregnant with my first child, I found that most of the best gifts I received were from other mothers, especially mothers of little ones. Now that I have 5 years of experience under my belt, I like to think that now I am that very savvy, mom in the know. And so, I very rarely purchase something from someone’s registry because it just seems so boring and predictable. You love it? What a surpirse, you picked it out! But also, when it comes to first time moms, I can’t help feeling like they don’t really know what they want (grin). At least that was true in my case way back when and I am so glad fellow moms did NOT buy from my registry, seeing as I had no clue!

So when it comes to baby showers for first time moms like the one I attended today for my cousin, I just can’t resist buying my favorite gift–books. Now I suppose there is still an element of savvy here. I have learned which books make the best gifts for the little ones and I am not just talking about the title of the book, but also how the book is made.

Here are my suggestions for truly memorable baby shower / new baby gifts. WARNING: these will very will get you a lot of attention at the shower. The mom to be will probably gush for several minutes. It may so impress the new parents you may be tapped later to serve as the child’s godparent. Okay, with that in mind, let’s proceed.

• “Soft books” (also called plush books or quiet books) are a great choice for babies from birth to one year. During most of this time babies explore their world by touch, whether it’s with their chubby little hands (so cute!) or those drooly little mouths (erupting with teeth-ouch!). One of my favorite places to purchase these soft books is www.etsy.com. Here you can find all manner of these cloth books already made, OR kits available for download that will walk you through how to make one yourself (again see warning above). Shop early as customization is also available. I like the one pictured in particular because it is has wonderful textured pages and at seven months my little one loves exploring texture. I love to watch her scratch at the pages and marvel at her reaction to the different sensations. The topic is shoes too which was perfect for the expecting fashionista. Best of all many of these books are washable! And they are not made of plastic nor do they require batteries. Hallelujah!
• Board books are another great choice for the very little ones as if you attempt to read the conventional book, pages tend to get malled by those chubby hands and drooly mouths. The pages are extra sturdy and also make it easier for the them to grasp and as their fine motor skills develop, eventually turn the pages. I have found that in those first months with my own kids they are drawn to real photographs moreso than illustrated books. As such the Baby Food and Dog Food books by Joost Elffers are two of my all-time favorite board books. I also love that they are not yet so well known that you run the risk of being the “duplicate” at a shower. This may be a bit selfish, but they are also fun for adults too! I get such a kick out of how the photos and the clever puns that make up the very simple text. There are several in the series: Baby Food, Dog Food, Fast Food. I am rediscovering them again with my seven month old. We currently have the Baby Food book next to her high chair and read it before meals.

Over the years I have received many heartfelt thank you notes or hugs from friends that have received these books. I really LOVE giving them and when I do, I always recal the joy the book gave me as I read it to my own little ones. I hope like me, they come to cherish the evening ritual of books before bed. Their little one, squeaky clean from an evening bath, dressed in the warm footed pj’s, seated on their lap with their back pressed against your chest and listening intently (or gnawing contentedly as is the case with my seven month old who is teething!).

As we all try to be a little more “thoughtful” about our purchases, books like these are also an eco-friendly gift. They work for boys and girls equally, can be passed on to the next child, and later recycled.

Filed under: favorite read, gift ideas, infants, picture book, toddlers by admin
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My son started Kindergarten this year at our neighborhood public school. And while California public schools have been underfunded for many, many years, this year in particular there is a lot of talk about sweeping budget cuts as the state’s balance sheet is bleeding red. During our tour of the school last spring we first heard it. In our summer welcome packet: more about the budget cuts. At back to school night: budget cuts again. Sigh. It’s not the kind of thing you want to hear as a parent of Kindergartner. I imagine by third or fourth grade I will have completely tuned it out, but now, it leaves me anxious and uneasy. What are they cutting? Who decides?

And while things like the elementary music program has fallen victim to the dreaded cuts, I am so very proud that our school still has a library. Interesting, it physically resides at the very center of the school. And that is so telling. Because I have come to realize just how incredibly valuable it is.

Just this week my son came home from school bubbling over with excitement to share the book he picked out at the library. He couldn’t wait to share it with me. As we read at bedtime, I had to stop for a moment, so I placed the open book, face down on his bed. “Mom! No!” I was swiftly reprimanded for handling the book this way. I sort of scoffed at first and then I realized, how sweet he was. To treat a book with such reverence and to appreciate what a privilege it was to have it on loan was really touching.

Mrs. Roquel, the librarian, has apparently schooled him in library borrowing etiquette. And she has made quite an impression; my son speaks so highly of her. I have never met her personally but from the way he talks, she sounds like a treasure. (Note to self: I really should make it a point to thank her.) She is doing so much to encourage an excitement around reading and an interest in discovering new things in books.

I can’t help but think how important a well-stocked and staffed school library is for reading achievement. In doing some Internet research, indeed there are many studies that point to a strong correlation.

“There are a number of recent studies in the library literature which have shown that a quality school library program is a powerful predictor of academic and reading achievement. In view of the current interest in the improvement of student achievement, particularly reading scores, it is especially critical that administrators realize that school library media resources and personnel are not only useful, but an indispensable component of the total school program and an integral part of the learning process.”

Source: http://www.libraries.phila.k12.pa.us/misc/research-sum.html

Do you have a library at your school? Or has it fallen victim to vanishing funds?

Filed under: Kindergarten, education by admin
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Ah, I love September and October. There is something about the change of seasons, the cooler but still temperate weather, going back to school, counting pumpkins on the front porches on our evening walk, baking apples, raking up the scarlet leaves…

As we acknowledge the arrival of my favorite time of year, I am inspired to find the *perfect* book that captures some of the sentiments of the season to read to my son at bedtime.

At our local Books Inc. on Monday I must have picked up ten different books about fall or Halloween. Nothing seemed to impress me until I found this one.

Over in the Hollow by Rebecca Dickinson

The illustrations on the cover had me on the hook as soon as I picked it up. An adorable owl. An enormous harvest moon. A bat. A pair of Casper-esque ghosts.

I turned the pages.

The story mirrors the rhyming pattern of one of my all-time favorite bed time reads — Over in the Meadow.

The author’s dedication makes my maternal-spidey sense tingle:

“For my mother, who shared with me her love of reading and the lovely sounds of words strung together ‘just so.’”

It is published by Chronicle Books. I am a devoted fan. Their attention to detail is always impressive. Everything from the colors, to the fonts (”Whoa Nellie” is one of the fonts used for the quotes in the book, and it’s as cool as it sounds!), to full bleed on the illustrations’ layout, is well done.

The price tag? $15.99 (yep, I splurged, but did I mention I LOVE fall?)

I am not sure who loves it more, me or my five year old. But it held his attention the whole way through. I think he could sense my enthusiasm, as at one point he told me to read in a softer voice

What are your favorite children’s books for fall?

Filed under: Kindergarten, fall, favorite read, picture book, preschool-age, seasonal by admin
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