Some Kids Won’t Say Sorry!

I bought this book in honor of one of my grandchildren who is often pretty resistant to saying “I’m sorry.”  I know that refusing to say sorry is not that unusual, and that the issue can become a battle of wills – which no one wins.  In Samantha Berger’s book, Martha’s family deals with the problem by leaving her out of fun activities and she decides to give in and apologize.  I thought this book could be followed by brainstorming and writing about a time you should say “I’m sorry.”  Here is a writing paper you might like to use.

sorry

The whole issue made me think about what is really important here.  I believe that children need to realize that their actions affect other people.  They need to develop compassion and learn to care about how other people feel.  I’m not sure rattling off an insincere “sorry” really accomplishes those goals.  But there is another part of the problem, apologizing is considered good manners and common courtesy.  When a child refuses to apologize adults might look at him as uncooperative and even unkind.

I came across a blogpost that suggested requiring a child to do or say two kind things to make up for one unkind action or word.  Here is a link to the post in you would like to read about it:

http://kidlutions.blogspot.com/2009/10/when-sorry-doesnt-cut-it-put-downs-and.html

I think you will have to copy and paste it into your browser because I don’t know how to insert a link (sorry!)

I think this idea has some merit – it offers good opportunities to talk about how the other person feels, and what the child did or said that was hurtful.  It also encourages helpful and kind behavior.  But it doesn’t really help the child conform to the social expectation of apologizing.  It kind of sounds like if you do something nice it makes up for doing something hurtful.

In my Kindergarten classroom I often used role playing for situations like this.   Sometimes I would take on a role and exaggerate it myself.  I might ask a child to pretend he did something unkind to me, and then refused to say “I’m sorry.”   I would tell the child that I didn’t like what they had done.  I would tell them that it was hurtful.  I got into my role and acted a little silly, to make the kids laugh and get involved with the role play.  Then I would stop and ask the class what the other child should do.  Then I would prompt the child to say he realized he had done something hurtful and wouldn’t repeat the behavior.  Sometimes I would re-play a scenario that happened in our classroom.  Role playing several times helps children become comfortable with the language.  It raises the expectations of the class that we will treat each other kindly and be helpful and not hurtful.  It gives the children a chance to practice saying “I’m sorry.”

I still think the bigger issue is helping children learn to treat each other, and adults, with compassion and respect.  Role playing can help with this.  I also took every chance I could to talk about how characters in a story were feeling, in the classroom I would take the opportunity to talk about how children felt when there was a problem over a toy or an issue on the playground.  This is something I brought to parents’ attention too, young children are naturally egocentric, but we can help them begin to think about other people’s feelings by talking about characters in books and on television.

Here are two other books that I used in my classroom.

Our school adopted the Bucket-Filler program one year.  This book uses the idea of filling or emptying other people’s buckets when you are helpful or hurtful.

Heartprints, by P.K. Hallinan, really emphasizes how people can help other people feel good by doing acts of kindness.

I love both of these books and used them every year with my Kindergartners.

I just heard of a resource book called Say Goodbye to Whining, Complaining, and Bad Attitudes… by Scott Turanksy and Joanne Miller.   The emphasis of this book is helping children learn to honor other people.  I am fascinated with this idea.  I looked up the definition of honor – it is to regard someone with respect.  I love the idea of teaching children not only to tolerate each other, but to honor each other.  I haven’t read the book yet, but the reviews were very positive.  Here is a link to copy and paste if you are interested.

Say Goodbye to Whining, Complaining, and Bad Attitudes… in You and Your Kids

So what are they doing about my little grandchild who refuses to say sorry?  They are practicing at home.  They are noticing every time anyone else says they are sorry and talking about it.  They are encouraging and praising.   They are appreciating all the wonderful things he does do, and loving him just the way he is.

Our Next Adventure!

I know that I am incredibly blessed to have 3 wonderful grandchildren who live so close by.  In fact, my daughter in law is helping with Vacation Bible School this week which means I get to have Nana Camp with the girls!  They turned 21 months old yesterday and they could not be more adorable!  Today they tried out watercolor paint for the first time!

But the news gets even better!  My daughter is having a baby in August and we had a baby shower for her yesterday.  It was so much fun to plan and even more fun to watch her enjoy it all.  I know it has nothing to do with Kindergarten – but please indulge me – or just skip this post!  I’d love to share some of this special day with you.

My sister Linda is a master with her Cricut machine and volunteered to make the invitations.   Megan wanted a tea party theme and my sister found this adorable scrapbook paper that was perfect.

The ruffled envelopes were so cute too!

We had the food catered – tea sandwiches, petit fours, scones – regular tea party fare.  My cricut wielding talented sister made these little signs to put by all the food.

After Linda created them I typed the different foods on clear address labels, then trimmed them to fit on the signs.  They looked so cute on the food table, but I forgot to take a picture!

It took me a long time to decide what to put on the tables as a centerpiece.  I wanted them to be pretty but personal and meaningful too.  I started collecting Bible verses that I liked that had to do with babies or children.   I thought about painting (very basic) wooden frames to put the verses in at the tables, but when I saw how cute the food signs were I asked if that Cricut cartridge could make larger borders.   So Linda cut out frames that were about 5 x 7 or so.  I typed the verses on pink cardstock and put them behind the borders.

I used the same cardstock to make a 3 sided base, then I glued two Bible Verses to that stood up tent style.

Then Linda – the crafty one – made roses out of baby socks, she found the directions online.  I bought these little bean bag babies from Big Dot of Happiness.  Here is how it all looked on the table.

I used these directions that I found online to fold the fabric napkins – you can find just about anything online these days!  I chose this design because it was simple to fold and had a little pocket for the silverware.
napkin folding

Before Linda turned off her Cricut I got her to make a banner too!  Our new baby’s name is Eleanor and they plan to call her Nora.

I ordered little tape measures with a label that says “Love Beyond Measure” as favors.  I made little tea bag covers out of cardstock that I folded and stapled around a teabag for each place setting too.

Here is the template if you’d like to see how I printed these.

Tea bag covers2

I wanted to include Megan’s brother and close friend who live out of state, so I bought onesies for them to decorate and mail to me.  I bought 10 onesies so I asked other close family and friends to decorate one before the shower.  It was fun watching her guess who made each one.

Can you guess which one crafty Aunt Linda made?  Of course!

Her friend used a quote from Anne of Green Gables – their shared favorite book!

We are a Michigan State Family (except for one holdout son – but he did give me my first 3 grandchildren!)  Her brother even drew Sparty on the sleeve – impressive!

Her brother – the experienced parent – took a different approach – he used a computer graphic – they were all so cute!!

Another friend tried tie-dye, with a tea cup applique!

My daughter in law used a darling lamb theme …

She helped the children do Chicka Chicka – with the Boom Boom on the bottom!  The coconuts were their fingerprints.

Megan’s sister-in-law made beautiful, intricate flowers and her children’s fingerprints became the bumblebees!  So clever!

I made one with a tutu!

My husband was the last one to do his onesie.  I was convinced he was just going to take it out to the garage and smear grease on it, then say she needs to get dirty or something.  But he finally came through, and it was cute too!

There were a lot of people coming to the shower who did not know each other, so I made name tags.  I also wanted an activity to do that would help if conversation didn’t flow naturally at a table, so I asked each guest to make a future birthday card for Nora.

I bought the star wands at a dollar store and tied the little circles on with ribbon.

I set out prefolded cards and craft supplies, the cards were very cute.  I will put them in envelopes and mail each one on the correct year.

Here are just a few examples … I had some people make them for the same year, I assigned ages 1-20.

Not so different from when I planned special events in Kindergarten, I have a tendency to plan too much.  I had made “Advice cards” but I didn’t end up using them because of time.

We played two games – I adapted the first one from the internet.

Here are printable copies:

revised candy game questions

Candy Game answers

For the other game I made signs that said Eleanor and posted them around the room (Mine were all different – I’ll save you from that!)

I asked people to look through their purses to find things that begin with each letter of Eleanor’s name!

I bought pretty tea cups for prizes and wrapped them in clear cellophane bags with bows so guests could choose the cup they liked.

I had one more game ready to play, but decided I was asking too much!

Match Megan game

I found an old trunk of Megan’s baby clothes in my basement, and knew that I wanted to use those somehow.  So I dug through old photos (lots still in shoeboxes or stuck in those sticky page albums!) and found pictures of her wearing some of those clothes.  I took pictures of the clothing, then added pictures of Megan in the clothes and the Bible verses that I had selected for the tables.  I made them into a book on my computer – on a MAC you can make an 8 1/2 x 6 paperback book for $10.

Here is a sample.  This is the front and back cover.

The picture is of newborn Megan.

I was able to include pictures of my mom, who passed away, and other pictures that meant a lot to me.  I wrapped up the clothes, the photos and the book and gave it to her with her gifts.  Some of the guests remembered giving me different articles of the clothing.  It was very sweet and fun.

I had so much fun planning it and watching Megan enjoy it!   Thanks for letting me share it with you.

I planned to share the Bible Verses that I typed and put in clipart frames for the book, but I have been informed I have reached my upload maximum.  Please let me know if you would like them and I will add them to a new post!

 

Play Props

I love to play with children.  These days I spend a lot of time playing with my 3 grandchildren and it is so much fun watching them become more sophisticated ‘players’ all the time.  The twins are almost 17 months old now and they love to hold a phone to their ear and chatter words they’ve heard their parents say.  They love to bring a bowl and spoon from their play kitchen and feed anyone who is willing to appreciatively munch their imaginary food.  They take anything resembling a car and push it along on the floor saying “zoom, zoom.”

Owen is in a stage of constant discovery and experimentation.  ”I wonder what would happen if …” is the way he approaches playing with anything from mixing colors to stacking blocks.  Of course they are very well supplied with all kinds of play materials – we do our part to support Fisher Price, Mattel and Little Tykes.

For many years I tried to encourage my kindergarten students in their play too.  I loved to set up play centers in my classroom.  I spent a lot of time going to places in our community to collect/borrow/buy materials that would transform my play center into McDonalds, a travel agency, or a fix it shop.  But I learned that less is often more!   I would set up a darling, realistic play center and the kids would be so excited to go there, but sometimes I was a little disappointed with how the children would play.   Sometimes when I supplied many realistic props the children would lose interest more quickly than when they had the opportunity to use their own imaginations and pretend a little more.   I think it’s great to set the theme of a play center with some materials, but when the children create props or use things from around the room they are usually much more engaged and involved in their play.

There is an important connection between pretend play and reading.  When children use one item to represent another, they are building a foundation that helps them understand how a letter represents a sound.  Of course they are also developing wonderful language skills as well as problem solving, motor skills and so much more.

I have a tub full of generic things that my Kindergartners loved to use.

There is nothing special about the particular things I put in this box, I just collected some generic things from around my house that I thought the children might use in fun, interesting ways.  It really doesn’t matter what you use, but here are some ideas of things my kids enjoyed.

The children used these hoses and tubes in lots of ways.  They were fire hoses, astronaut air tubes, car washing hoses or even elephant trunks.  There is no right or wrong way (except to be safe) to use these materials.  Sometimes I would get involved in playing with the children and pull out something from the box to pretend with, and that often encouraged them to use this stuff in lots of fun ways.

Funnels were used as telephones or megaphones.  The red thing is a heavy wire covered in rubber that can be twisted into shapes.  The black thing was an old unused car ashtray that the kids used in some creative ways.

Here are some sponges, an old remote control, a frisbie and a bean bag ball.

Empty containers and old telephones are always popular too!

The children would find materials from around the classroom to use, too – like extra headphones from our listening center or clipboards from the writing center.

My husband helped me take some of these generic things and attach them to a triangle shaped peg board that he put together for me.  This was used as a Mission Control board when we studied outer space, and a count down for race cars during transportation.  They used this in lots of other ways – the film container attached to the springy cord was often a microphone for a recording studio!

I originally spray painted this box and cut the slit in the top to use as a mail box, and it served well for many years.  It was also used as a suggestion box, a math game, and lots of other things the kids thought up.

I made this pretend television set many years ago.  Sometimes the children stood behind it and pretended to be actors or weather forecasters.  Other times I supplied paper taped onto dowels that the kids used to draw a story.  The dowels slipped into the sides of the box and when they turned them their pictures “scrolled” across the opening.

If you have had a chance to look around my blog you probably saw pictures of the cars I made out of xerox boxes.

One of the most popular things in my classroom was this bench with a steering wheel that my husband put together.  Three or four children could sit on it at a time and it transformed from a bench to a car, plane, bus, train … and even more.   My little ones are loving it now too – so far Owen is always the driver, and he never forgets to turn around and pretend to fasten my seatbelt when I “ride” behind him.

We all know that when young children open a gift they are often more excited about playing with the box!   Maybe you can find some things around your house that can be turned into exciting play props too!

Choosing a Preschool

I never realized how complicated choosing a preschool can be!  Owen’s mom has been researching and visiting schools, and pondering this important decision for the past few weeks.  I have gone along on a few classroom visits, and I’ve been doing a lot of reading and thinking about how to choose a preschool too,  it can be overwhelming for parents who are trying to make the best choice for their child.

A few years ago one of my professional goals was to build relationships between early childhood teachers in our school district and local preschools.  I began by sending questionnaires to Kindergarten parents asking their opinion about the preschools their children had attended.  Overwhelmingly parents were very positive about their child’s experience at preschool, which was great to hear.  I think that takes some pressure off parents making this decision – most children have a good experience.  But this personal decision is very emotional, as well as financial and practical.

I love hearing from teachers who have read this blog, and I know you are all professional and very capable of evaluating a program on your own.  I also know that providing a program that parents will choose is important because preschools are a business that depends on tuition paid enrollments.  Before I went to visit preschools with my daughter-in-law I needed to sit down and think through what I thought was important.  When I was teaching, parents would ask me for preschool recommendations every year.  Maybe this post will give you a few ideas if parents ask you too!

I recommend starting this process by making a few important decisions:

-Compile a list of possible schools

-Decide how far you are comfortable driving to take your child to and from school

-Set a limit for the amount you feel you can pay for a program, check to see if you are eligible for Head Start or a subsidized program.

-Decide if a specific type of program is a priority for you.  Here is a link to some very simple definitions of different programs and terms you might come across.  I found these definitions online – if you have more or conflicting information about one of these, please share that with all of us.

Definitions

Think about your goals for your child in preschool, are you looking for a socially based program or more rigorous academics?  A co-op or day care?  Faith based or Montessori?  There is not one answer that fits all children and families.  What matters most is that the preschool experience helps your child gain an appreciation of what school is like and a positive attitude toward school.

-Think about how much time you’d like your child to spend at preschool – how many days per week, how many hours each school day.

-Then, if possible, talk to neighbors and friends whose children attend these schools.

Hopefully answering those questions will help you cross some programs off the list you created, and steer you toward a few schools you would like to visit.

My daughter-in-law told me she found plenty of check lists online about what to look for when she visits preschools, but most of them gave her questions to ask, but not how to evaluate the answers she was given.  Here is a link to one checklist I found online – there are lots if you take a little time to search.

Choosing-Child-Care-Checklist

Here are some basic guidelines from NAEYC.

Today I would just like to share some of my thoughts about what to look for and things you might ask when you are choosing a preschool.  Basically there are 3 parts to each preschool – the people, the place and the program.  So I broke down questions I would ask, and my thoughts about what makes a quality preschool, among these 3 categories.

The People

-What are the qualifications of the staff?  I would look for preschool teachers and assistants to have some early childhood training.  In our area most preschool teachers have a 2 year degree.  Years of experience working with young children is often more valuable than a 4 year degree to teach high school.

-What is the staff turnover?  If teachers don’t stay long that might indicate problems among the staff or dissatisfaction with the school.

-Who is in charge?  How comfortable are you speaking with the director?  I think it is important for teachers to understand and be able to explain why they are doing specific activities with the children.  You should feel very comfortable speaking with the director of the program.

- What is the adult/child ratio?  NAEYC’s guideline is one adult for every 7 children aged 2 1/2 to 3; with a limit of 14 children in a class.  For ages 3-5 the ratio should be about one to ten, and up to 20 in a class.

-What is the age range of the children in the class?  In a 3 year old class, what is the cutoff for entry – must they be 3 to enter the program?  How many children will begin the class as a 2 1/2 year old, and how many will start the same program at age 3 1/2?

Some things you might notice about the teacher:

She should relate to the children at their level as much as possible

She should be warm and affectionate with the chidlren

She should communicate through conversations, not commands

It would be great if she delights in the projects, the play and the children’s interactions

Research shows that strong positive relationships with a teacher can predict children’s cognitive advancement at preschool.  (They don’t care what you know until they know that you care!)

I came across a YouTube video of Vivian Paley, the well known author, Kindergarten Teacher and play advocate.  She begins this short speech talking about the importance of imaginative play and ends talking about the special relationship between a teacher and child – it’s worth watching if you have a few minutes!

Vivian Gussin Paley at 92Y Wonderplay Conference 2008

www.youtube.com

http://www.92y.org/content/wonderplay_conference.asp

The Place

- Is the preschool licensed by the State or Social Services?

Preschools meet in elementary schools, church basements, and free standing buildings.  Many preschool classrooms were not built specifically for that purpose, and which leads to a lot of creative storage solutions and challenging bathroom situations.  When a preschool is licensed you know that the facility, materials, and general practices have been checked for health and safety, and approved.  They adhere to an appropriate teacher/child ratio and teachers have the required credentials.

-Do you have a good feeling when you go into the classroom?

-Check for general cleanliness and organization.   Clutter and disorganization can affect some children negatively.  When you look at the classroom from your child’s point of view it should be welcoming and friendly.  All visible materials should be there for the children to use each day.  Stored items should be out of sight, behind doors or curtains if possible.

-There should be adequate toys and play items for the amount of children.  These materials should be clean, safe and in easy reach of little people.

-Materials and shelving should be labeled so the children can clean up independently.  That is an important skill for them to be working on in preschool.

-Is the bathroom easily accessible?  Are children allowed to go to the bathroom whenever they need to, or do they have to wait and go as a group?  Are sinks located close to the bathroom and accessible for children?  Are sinks available in the room to for hand washing before snack or after messy projects?

-Research also shows a clear relationship between physical play and brain function, as well as long-term health benefits.  Is there room for kids to run around?  Do they have a climbing structure, tricycles, balls?

-Are outside play spaces safe and fenced?

-Is the parking lot safe?  How far do you have to walk (maybe bringing along younger siblings!) to get into the building?

-A few programs offer drop off service, where a staff member or volunteer greets your car and helps your child out, and into the building.  This can be very convenient, but you also miss out on the chance to see what activities are set up for the day, have a quick word with the teacher if needed, and help your child get settled for the day.

The Program

Teachers should be able to tell you not only what they do in the classroom, but also why they do it.  In every classroom the time is limited and teachers need to carefully prioritize and choose how to use this precious time.  For every thing you choose to do, you must eliminate other things you won’t have time for.

-Do they focus on important social skills like gaining independence, sharing and following directions?  Do they incorporate activities designed to help children delay gratification and wait for their turn?

-Do they plan concrete activities because they know that children learn best through hands-on, active learning that engages their senses and emotions?   How much time is spent on coloring sheets and worksheets?

-Do they encourage collaboration, interaction and discussion?  Cognitive and social development are enhanced when children work to discover the hows and whys of their actions.  Today Owen was using my warming tray to melt crayons and “discovered” that blue and yellow make green.  He was so excited – we’ve read Leo Lionni’s Little Blue and Little Yellow many times, but it wasn’t real to him until he accidentally mixed the colors on his own.

-Can the teacher describe or give examples about how they promote problem solving and creative thinking?

-Are children allowed to choose some of their activities each day?  Children benefit most from open-ended materials like blocks and construction toys, play dough, dress up and dramatic play, and creative art supplies.  These should be available for a good portion of time every day.  When teachers step in to take a role in the play it is even more valuable.  Sometimes free choice activities are mostly games or materials designed by teachers to fulfill an objective.  The children are really self directed if they are allowed to choose what to play with, and how they would like to use the materials.

-How is play woven into the day?  Do they encourage imaginative, pretend play?  Are there opportunities for physical play?

-Do they include lots of rich literature and story telling?  Do they usually follow up reading with discussions, role playing or retelling, or projects that relate to the story?  Developing comprehension skills is a vital step in learning to read, and it begins when children are engaged and involved in stories they hear.

-Do they integrate letters and numbers into play as well as routines of the day?  Some parents tend to evaluate a preschool based on how many numbers and letters their child is learning.  Research from NAEYC shows that children who recognize at least 8 letters when they enter Kindergarten are usually successful in school.  When preschools spend a lot of time focusing on letters and numbers they do not have time for many of these other rich, valuable experiences.  This is especially important in a class of 3 year olds who will be exposed to letters and numbers over and over before they reach first grade.  One of the best ways to encourage children to learn letters and numbers is to show them how they are used – letters in their name, letters in words around the room – like “on and off” on the light switch, and “open and closed” on doors, numbers on the clock or a telephone, etc.

-Are they open to unannounced visits from parents?  Do they ask you to call before stopping in to observe or pick up your child?

-What is their discipline policy?  I think discipline is an opportunity to teach.  Of course teachers must keep every child safe and they often need to stop inappropriate behavior.  In order to help the child learn to make better choices the teacher needs to be sure the child understands what (s)he did wrong, and help the child come up with some ideas of better ways to handle the situation.

I don’t think any parent will find a perfect preschool program.  When you choose from the list of schools that fit your basic needs you are looking for the best fit for your child.  As a parent you can help your child love preschool by always talking about the school and the teacher in very positive terms.  When you are excited and eager to hear about what goes on every day, your child is likely to love it too!

 

Dear Future Teacher …

Owen’s parents are thinking about preschool.

I know it would be great for him.  I want him to love it.  I sure will miss him!

Seriously, how can I be feeling sad about this when he won’t possibly go until next year?

Change has never been easy for me!  I loved every stage of my own children and never wanted them to grow up!  But of course they did.  And then I found out how much fun it is to be a grandmother!  I always say I am the luckiest Nana in the whole world.   My wonderful son and daughter-in-law generously let me invade all the time, and willingly share all the exciting marvelous wonderful things these three little beings do.  And this time around I have all the time I want, to listen and play and just be with them.  See how lucky I am?

So with the whole issue of choosing a preschool being discussed I have started thinking and reading about how to choose the right preschool.  It can be overwhelming!  I will be writing more about that process very soon – but today I wrote a letter.  It is written to Owen’s future preschool teacher, telling her a little of what I hope he will find in her classroom.

I know that preschools are a business.  In a sense they are in competition with other preschools, so they must make some decisions based on gaining students.  Parents approach this whole process of education in so many different ways.  Some parents demand a preschool that will push academic subjects and they are happy with worksheets and homework.  I understand this, but I also think that all early childhood teachers are responsible for educating parents about child development and how children learn too.

I started thinking about what I would want in a preschool for Owen (and I do realize that it is not my decision, his parents are very capable!)  At three Owen already recognizes upper and lower case letters — he learned them through everyday experiences, like looking at STOP signs and reading alphabet books, and talking about what is on his cereal box in the morning.  He knows sounds too – I’m not really sure how he learned those!  He was interested, he asked questions, luckily he had lots of people ready to respond to him.  He LOVES numbers.  He notices them everywhere – on piled up warehouse boxes at Costco, on weather forecasts, and on his favorite matchbox cars (he calls any car with a number on it a race car!)   I know he doesn’t need a preschool that focuses on drilling letters and sounds.

Research conducted by the National Association for the Education of Young Children has shown that children who enter kindergarten knowing at least 8 letters are usually successful.  That means they know important letters – like the ones in their name and a few others – maybe the T of Target and M of McDonalds.  It certainly won’t hurt them to learn about letters and numbers in preschool – but I hope that doesn’t become the focus of what goes on.  Especially for children like Owen who have a late fall birthday.  We have a Dec. 1 cutoff date, and I have encouraged his parents not to send him to school when he is still 4.  If he does wait, and goes to preschool 2 years, and then Kindergarten – I am concerned that he will be taught and retaught letters and numerals that he already knows!

So why should he go to preschool now?  I think he needs to be with peers – his little sisters are quickly growing into worthy play partners, but they are younger and littler.   I think he would love all the experiences and fun of going to school.  Anyway, all this thinking is what led me to write this silly little letter to Owen’s future preschool teacher.  I would love to pin it to his shirt on that first day of school, but I won’t.  I will share it with you, some of you will be meeting, hugging, playing with other Owen’s next year.  Maybe you will take a minute to listen to one child’s Nana.

Here is a printable version in case it is too small to read on screen!

Future Teacher

Nativity Advent Calendar

I have been shopping for a Nativity Advent Calendar but I haven’t found exactly what I am looking for.  What I had in mind was some kind of cute box with 24 or 25 little doors that open, and room inside for figures for a nativity scene.  Preferably already stocked with the figures!  I do have child friendly nativity sets, but haven’t found any boxes that would fit.  So I decided just to make one on the computer for this year.

 

I made this calendar with spaces to put a picture for each day in December up until Christmas Eve.  Then I realized that Owen (who LOVES numbers) would probably like to be able to tell how many days left until Christmas, so I revised it:

Next I made slightly smaller boxes and filled them with all kinds of Christmas clipart pictures.

If you have one of those Nativity calendars with small boxes or doors, you could cut apart these pictures and put them into the boxes instead of candy, etc.

There are a few extra choices on this sheet because I knew Owen would like to pick the pictures he liked best each day.  The idea is for him to choose a picture and glue it on the calendar every day.  His cutting is improving, but he might need some help with this!

In Kindergarten we always made a Kindness calendar.  At school we made a Santa face that was numbered to count the days until Christmas.  Each child counted out 25 cottonballs and took them home in a plastic baggie.  I sent home a note and a list of kind things children could do each day to earn the cottonball for their project.  If you’d like to see that – check out my posts for December and Christmas last year.  You could easily use the Kindness ideas along with this Nativity calendar too!

December Kindness Calendar

I thought all this clipart was so cute that I decided to make another project.  I wrote out the story of Jesus’ birth and printed clipart to go on each page.  My idea is to read the book to my little bunnies and add a picture each day through the month.  By Christmas the whole book will be illustrated.

Here is a link to see how it looks – I printed out the book pages and put them into a red folder with prongs, and glued the cover on the front.

Christmas story

Nativity calendar pictures

cover

Here are printable copies of the calendar too!

December calendar

December calendar coundown

calendar pictures

Do you get as excited about Christmas as I do?  It’s even more fun sharing it with grandchildren!

Warming Tray

I received a warming tray as a wedding gift many (many) years ago.  I never really understood how to use it – I guess it was to keep appetizers warm, or maybe even a casserole dish, for a buffet.  But when I started teaching Kindergarten I used it a lot!  In fact I started shopping at garage sales to find a few more.

This one has a knob to adjust the heat, most just plug in.  I don’t really know how hot they get, certainly very warm, but not hot enough to cause a blister or really burn.  I never let children use this by themselves, a parent always sat at the table and reminded them not to touch the surface and never had a problem.

I removed the paper from crayons by using an exacto knife.  Tearing the paper off would be a great way to strengthen fine motor muscles, but it is time consuming and messy so I usually did it myself.

These are very sharp tools, I did occasionally use it to make slits for pop-up books, usually I did not get it out around children, but I did tell them that it was very sharp and not to touch it.  They work great to make a slit in the crayon paper to remove it quickly.

I used this art technique often during the year because the kindergartners loved it, the melted wax looks like paint but dries in just a few seconds to the touch.  That makes it easy to use on a page in a book – or a separate craft activity.  It makes great colors for leaves!
leaves

I cut them apart and turned up a corner or part of the paper for the child to hold onto, then placed it on the warming tray.

Then I colored slowly with a crayon.  The large primary crayons don’t melt as easily.

When you take it off the tray the melted crayon dries very fast, by the time the child takes it to a table to cut it out it is dry.  Depending on the amount of crayon that gets melted it has a different texture.

Some kids might choose to use only one color, others might mix the colors up.

Giving the children that folded up corner keeps their other hand busy so I didn’t worry as much about them touching the tray.  Two kids could fit their leaves on this tray at a time.

Another way to use this tray is to cover it with foil and let the children color directly on the foil.

If children were using this I would be sure to cover the entire tray, but if crayon does get on the surface it wipes off easily while it is warm with a paper towel.

If you leave a crayon for a longer time and melt more of the wax you can actually peel it off the foil when it cools – in just a few minutes.

My heart wasn’t thick enough, but the blob peeled off easily.  It would be fun to do this with white crayon and make “ghosts!”

Thanks for asking about this Wanda, and thank you all for reading!

The Apple Orchard

I love making language experience books – I made them often in my classroom, and it’s even more fun with my grandchildren.  Basically I take a bunch of pictures and then ask the kids to tell me what we did – it is great practice for retelling a story and sequencing events.  If they don’t remember, or have trouble telling the events, the pictures will help.  At school I used to write as the children dictated what they remembered about a field trip or special event, and then we made it into a book using photographs for the illustrations, or sometimes the children added their own drawings.

So after a trip to the apple orchard this week I asked Owen to tell me what he remembered about what we did.  I used his words and tried to find a picture I had taken to match what he said.

 

 

When I make a book like this for Owen I print it on cardstock, each page is 5 1/2 x 8 1/2.  At school I used regular copy paper.  These books always became favorites in our classroom library, children were really motivated to try to read them.  When the children retold and sequenced the events they were practicing some great comprehension strategies too!  Owen and I just do it for fun!

Cupcake Birthday Party!

It’s hard to believe, but our babies turned 1 today.  When my daughter in law found out that she was expecting twins she offered to write my resignation letter for me – and I was so happy that they wanted our help and support.  I got to have Owen during the day most of last summer while we were waiting for the babies, because my DIL was on bedrest.  I called it Nana Camp!  What a privilege and special opportunity to have that special time with him!  We went to the farm and the zoo and the park and the grocery store.  We talked and played and read and cuddled.  We did a lot of talking about the new babies – we called them Cupcake and Muffin.  And so it just seemed fitting to have a Cupcake theme for their first birthday party!

Of course a first birthday party is often more for the benefit of the adults, but I tried to gear this one so that Owen, the girls and all the guests could participate.  You just have to get the grown ups in the mood to play!

 

So this was the basic plan – but we were very flexible!!

I started out looking for some cupcake clipart:

For the prize bags I cut apart the clipart – putting the frosting part on one page and the bottoms on another.

I ran them off on scrapbook paper and colored paper.  Owen helped by coloring in the sprinkles on each frosting.

Then I glued the frosting part on the top of a white lunch bag and folded it over.  I glued the bottom part on the front of the bag – actually the opposite side of the bag so when they were folded over they matched up.

I filled the children’s bags with small toys from a dollar store – sponge shapes, police badges, plastic animals, etc.  For the adult bags I bought a large bag of assorted chocolate bars and included squirt guns, little picture frames and Halloween skeletons and rings.  They lined up all the prize bags on the fireplace to help decorate.

The pictures mounted on construction paper were for one of the adult oriented games – trying to correctly sequence pictures of the girls through the year.  No one got them all right!

Owen has not been very interested in coloring, but he wanted to help make decorations so I printed off some cupcakes and he did a fantastic job coloring them!!

The Dollar Tree had lots of cupcake themed decorations – I got hats, napkins and plates, and these large 2 sided cupcakes.  They did double duty as pin the candle on the cupcake games.

If you choose to play this type of game – instead of using a blindfold I just cut black circles from construction paper and taped them over the lenses on a pair on inexpensive sunglasses.  Of course they are not fool proof – but much easier to use and less likely to spread head lice in a classroom!

A very long time ago I made capes for my own children’s birthday party – and I wanted to do it again.  It isn’t hard to make up a pattern, but I found this special one on this website:

http://applecyder.wordpress.com/2008/04/19/clever-little-cape/

They came out pretty cute!

I put each child’s initial on the back – the capes are reversible, so I put Owen’s initial on one side and the number 3 on the reverse – his birthday is next week!

There were only 5 children at this party – but the capes were really very quick and easy to make.

I guess you just can’t take the teacher out of the Nana – I made a little check off list for the guests, the recording sheet for the photo game was on the back.

I ran these back to back and cut them in half – there are 2 on the page.

I found this cupcake ring toss game at Party City.

For the “drop the beanbag” game I taped a few cupcake pictures on a plastic pail.  When the children played the bucket was right below the stool – for the adults we moved the bucket across the room – I have quite a competitive family.

Here is our tape the candle game!

I made this cupcake from a large cottage cheese container – I just used craft glue to fasten fabric around the outside, then put fiberfill on the lid and stapled fabric over it and around the edges.  I really wasn’t sure how to use it – so I offered 2 games.  Some people balanced the cupcake on their head and tried to walk across the room.  Others used the tongs to put red pompom cherries on top.  One person combined the games and tried to walk with the cherries on the cupcake!  Over-achiever!

 

I made a little booklet with space for the guests to write a Birthday wish for each of the girls.  This booklet was copied on both sides and folded in half.

We played a few whole group games – I put M & Ms into one of the prize bags.  We played music and passed the bag around the circle.  If you were holding the bag when the music stopped you got to have an M & M.

I made 2 special bean bags (filled them with popcorn).  On one beanbag I stitched a face of Anna on one side and Lily on the other – just a simple pink felt circle decorated with fabric paints.  For the other beanbag I used cupcake fabric.  We sat in a circle and passed the cupcake beanbag around, and when it got about half way we passed the Anna/Lily one.  The idea was to try to get the child beanbag to catch up with the cupcake one.  I used to do this at school with a turkey and a pilgrim – could be a bean bag or a ball – or just pictures of them.

I planned to have a bubble popping game but I forgot!!!  I was just going to give out 3 or 4 bottles of bubbles for adults to use and the kids would try to break the bubbles.  Maybe I can save that one for the next birthday!!

And of course we had to have cupcakes!  I actually made a regular cake and cupcakes.  The girls seemed to enjoy them!

I found a plastic mold for little tiaras at Walmart – I made them out of chocolate and they stuck into the cupcakes.

Here are links for some of this stuff, in case you ever plan a cupcake party!
bucket cupcakes

check off

cupcake 1

cupcake 2

cupcake games

cupcake papers

cupcake top

Lily Wishes

sign

So it was a fun birthday – but I’d better get busy – Owen’s party is next week!

 

More Cooking Recipes

Here are some more suggestions of things to cook with young children.  In my last post I was talking about how loosely I define cooking – sometimes it is much more assembling, or tasting, than actually cooking.  No matter what, the children love to use real utensils and to participate in these projects.

5 Senses Tasting

There are some lesson plans out there that include bringing in a popcorn popper, then hiding it so the children can hear and smell the popcorn before they taste it.  I have tried some of the old AIMS lessons that suggest taking the lid off the popcorn popper and letting it fly, and the children predict how far they think kernels will go.  Here is another popcorn project from my files.

Popcorn snack-1

Another project I enjoyed was bringing in sugar and salt.  I encouraged the children to investigate it any way EXCEPT tasting it.  They smelled it, touched it, looked at it.  They tried to guess which one was sugar and which was salt.  Then I gave each child a few grains of each to taste.  After that I provided a variety of sweet and salty foods and a recording sheet.  The biggest challenge for my children was often to follow the chart over and make their X in the right column.

sweet and salty

Applesauce

I always took my Kindergartners to an apple orchard, and we followed up that trip by making applesauce.   I found a little book called Who Will Help at a teacher’s store.  It was a variation on the story the Little Red Hen, but it also sequenced how to make applesauce.  Check out the Little Red Hen post to see a picture of that book.

After washing the apples I would cut about 6 apples into slices – I did not core or peel them.  Then I put them into an electric skillet with a little water, and cooked them until they were soft.  When the cooking Mom called the first group of children she would take the cooked apples out of the pan and put them into a food mill – kind of like a saucepan with holes in the bottom, and a handle to turn.  That group of children would all help to cut up the next batch of apples, then they would turn the handle on the food mill – the peeling and seeds and core stayed in the mill, the applesauce came out the holes.  I provided a shaker of cinnamon and sugar and they could sprinkle a little of that on top.

I also own an apple peeler/corer.  Sometimes I would bring that in, each child would help turn the handle to peel and core an apple – we cooked them the same way.  You could serve those without putting them through the food mill but I found that most children like a smoother texture instead of chunky.  The applesauce always smells so delicious, and most years the cooking mom said she planned to make it again at home.

Pumpkin Muffins

These muffins were one of my favorite cooking projects.  Each child took a few spoonfuls of spice cake mix and a spoonful of canned pumpkin, and a little water.  They put all these ingredients into a 5 oz. paper cup, and stirred it up.  (Don’t start with the cake mix or they have a hard time getting the mix all blended in.)  Then the Mom put the paper cups into an electric skillet and “baked” them with the lid on – don’t add water or anything to the skillet.  It is so cool!!  I sometimes provided cream cheese along with these muffins.  They smelled so great too!  The hardest thing is to resist the temptation to peek while they are cooking.

I found a printed recipe for baking cupcakes in a skillet.

Cupcake in cup-6

To make the pumpkin muffins you would eliminate the food color, and add 1 Tbsp. pumpkin to each child’s cup!  So fun!  Don’t worry about not adding egg to the recipe – they come out great.

I also had an activity to go along with the colorful cupcakes – if you were making those instead!
Cupcake Activities

Ghost Toast -

Check out my post where Owen and I made ghost toast – and the printed recipe for Rainbow Toast.

Cornbread and Butter

We used Jiffy cornbread mix to make muffins – you could make them according to the cupcake recipe or you could just bake them in an oven or toaster oven.  We made our own butter by shaking a small amount of heavy cream in closed baby food jars.  It’s fun for the children to watch as it thickens and turns into butter, and it tastes great!

Butter

Apple Turkeys

I plan to do this with Owen and post the pictures closer to Thanksgiving – but here is a short description.  Each child got 1 small apple and 4 or 5 toothpicks.  They pushed one toothpick into the apple and put a colored small gumdrop on it for the turkey’s head.  Then they put the other 3 (or 4) toothpicks in the top.  The children used Froot Loops to make a different pattern on each toothpick feather – AB, AABB, or ABC.

Here is another turkey project made out of Nutter Butter cookies.

Nutter butter turkey

Humpty Dumpty

When we were working on Nursery Rhymes we made scrambled eggs and toast.  Many Kindergartners have never had a chance to intentionally break an egg.  I always bought extra in case some ended up on the floor.  We cooked the eggs in an electric skillet – the kids broke and stirred the egg, and buttered their own toast.  The parent did the cooking in an electric skillet.

Mini Pizzas

These small pizzas, made on an English Muffin or Bagel, were always a hit.  Sometimes we made this recipe when we were learning about different food groups.  I bought pizza sauce in a jar or can, mozzarella cheese, and pepperoni.  So we had foods from the vegetable group, bread group, meat group and milk group.  We had apple juice to drink so that covered fruit.

We also called the pizzas flying saucers when we were learning about Outer Space.

Mini pizzas-6

Snowman Soup

Snowman soup was really just a fun way to serve hot chocolate, and I usually included it with my Winter Unit.  Each child got 1 packet of cocoa mix, 5 mini marshmallows, 2 Hershey Kisses, and 1 small candy cane.  I stocked up on the little candy canes before Christmas – or got them on sale right after!  I made up numbered cards showing the recipe step by step.  I used the school’s big coffee maker to heat the water – the parents did the pouring, and they often diluted it a bit with cooler water because the children didn’t really want to drink it while it was hot.

Apple Smiles

This was a great snack when we were talking about Dental Health – or during the fall.

apple smile

I often turned my Dramatic Play Center into a Dentist office that week too.  We had a large model of teeth, and a big toothbrush.  I also made pretend teeth by mixing up Plaster of Paris and putting it into the cups of egg cartons.  It had to set overnight, then the “teeth” came out easily.  You can get Plaster of Paris at Walmart or a hardware store.  I made a cavity on each one with a permanent marker.  The “Dentists” used a popsicle stick to dig out the cavity and filled it with the putty used to keep things on the wall.  We tried Play Dough for the fillings, but it didn’t stick inside the plaster teeth.

Still more recipes to come!  I am sharing them roughly in the order I used them through the year.  I hope some of you give cooking a try!  If you can’t do it with your Kindergartners, try it with a child you love!