How is your Saturday night shaping up? 😀 Mine has included spa night with my two favorite girls and now a date with this lovely dude above.
I will readily admit I love spa night with my two girls AND I love my laminator. Back to cutting out my completely revamped Page Protector Bundle 1. Here’s a sneak peek …
For the first 48 hours after this post has gone live (9 p.m. CST), this product will be half-price. Click HERE!
I have seen this idea all over Pint*erest, but I never seemed to have a large enough wall to do it at our old house. I decided recently that the wall between our kitchen and library would be the perfect spot for an art gallery.
I didn’t need to search far for beautiful artwork. I have saved special works over the years and in recent months. All but one of these works of art were created by one of our children.
By Curly, at age 9, 3rd grade (now age 14)
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Why oh why did I not do this sooner???
I just didn’t. That is why. Post over.
No, seriously, I meant to and then we were packing and well, life just got in the way.
Thing is though, my sweet 8-year-old son still couldn’t tie his shoes (or his swim trunks!). And it was really starting to bother him, which in turn really bothered his Momma. So, I had to do something.
One morning, I grabbed some cardboard salvaged from packaging and decided to try out an idea I had pinned months ago.
And within MINUTES, he was tying not only the laces on the board but his shoes as well!!!
Months of trying and then weeks of not trying and wondering if he would ever be able to do it … and within minutes of creating such a SIMPLE exercise for him … he could TIE HIS SHOES!!!
He was so proud by the way that he asked me to post “on your blog WITH the photos!” So here I am albeit a couple of weeks later posting about it.
This summer, we’ve been busy with unpacking, creek stomping, unpacking, and taking a break from school … for the most part. But I’ve been busy the last few days with an idea that led to this fun resource below. My 8YO son and 7YO daughter, both entering 2nd grade this year, didn’t want to quit using it today when I asked them to try it out! In fact, they did so well with this learning tool that I have several ideas for more I SPY learning games.
**WARNING**
This post contains close-up photos of a spider. A quarter-sized brown recluse spider.
Please click off now if you have a serious fear of spiders.
Chances are, if you live in most parts of Tennessee and quite a few other states, you have encountered one of these spiders. While they are elusive, they have a distinct marking that makes correctly identifying them an almost certainty … if you know what to look for.
Take a look at the following close-up photo and see if you can see the identifying mark.
For those who know, I’m sure you can see it. For those who don’t, do you see something that resembles a violin?
Do you see it? The neck of the violin points toward the back of the spider. This particular spider has a very distinct violin marking. I have to admit he is a beauty as far as brown recluse spiders go. And yes, it is highly likely he is a he, because the females rarely travel away from their mating/nesting area. Survival of the species at its finest.
Do I dare say this amazing specimen was found at our new home?
I mean, how many people share on a public blog that they have some unwelcome guests who reside IN their home. Not many I’d say, but hey, it is what it is. It is also not uncommon in Tennessee, particularly in areas with mature trees nearby.
There are treatments available, but most traditional methods are ineffective because not only do these spiders stay RECLUSIVE but they also walk with their entire bodies OFF the ground/floor/surface so that most pesticides are not absorbed by them.
Ahem.
So, what to do? Well, shake your towel, shake your clothes, check your shoes and give them a good shake as well. While people will say they don’t like moist areas, this big dude above was found by our girls in their tub last week. Now, mind you, we had record-breaking rainfall amounts, but we’ve also found them in our WET creek shoes. So, by our unscientific observation, they do not mind our wet spaces. Seem to even like some of them. Sigh.
For perspective, the cup housing this specimen is a bathroom-sized dixie cup. While the spider wasn’t dead at this point, he was paralyzed and soon died. As for who captured the spider, that would be my seven-year-old daughter who said, “Mom, we had gotten in the tub and he was in there. So I got out and told Li’l Bit to get out, and I got a cup and just got it with the water around it.” Yeah, she knows not to pick them up, but she is a country girl and a spider in her bath water is not going to phase her too much. By the way, she also let the water out and got clean water!
Is anyone feeling things crawling on them yet?
The good news is that you are most likely NOT going to encounter one of these lovelies if you were to come to our home, as they come out at night when all is quiet. And even then, we haven’t seen them crawling around! We have found them on an item of clothing, in the attic, and in the aforementioned creek shoes and bathtub.
If you’d like to learn or read more about the brown recluse spider, lots of specifics can be found at the Etymology Department of the University of Kentucky.
I was catching up on laundry and trying to organize our language materials in the library today.
A certain little someone was nearby as usual and was saying, “P-UH-lease play with me Mommy!” I decided a break from laundry was needed.
She wanted to play with the packing materials again. If you’ve ever purchased the squishy styrofoam peanuts that can be moistened and shaped into objects … these are just like those except all white and repurposed from a package Grammy received.
Well Li’l Bit loves playing with a tub of them. Today I decided to hide magnet letters in them and ask her to name them as she placed them on a dollar*tree cookie sheet.
She loved doing this and had no clue it was “work”! I was able to assess which uppercase letters she can identify and which she can’t. I put most of them in there at least two times, so I feel like my informal assessment is accurate.
She had so much fun that she wanted to hide some for me to find too. I always give her “tools” as well like old measuring cups and spoons as well as various containers.
Please share ways you extend fun activities for purposeful learning and/or assessment of your preschooler or early elementary students! I love hearing other ideas for purposeful play!
Today’s Time-tested Tip: When reading a picture book aloud to a non-reader who is eager to turn pages, tell them to wait for you to tap the bottom corner of the right page twice before turning it to the next page.
(This really works and quells any desire to pull your hair out as you read to a non-reader who seems more interested in the turning of the page than the story itself. I’ve used this trick since our oldest was a toddler and he is now 14!)
I can’t remember how I was inspired with how to turn things I might have thrown away or given away into worthwhile learning pursuits … before Pinterest. I don’t always copy the ideas I see exactly, but more often that not I see an idea and my brain takes over.
Here are a few ideas I had pinned and have now made a reality in our learning pursuits:
1. Counting Beads
I saw this idea on Pinterest awhile back and knew I could do this with what I had on hand *almost*. I had the beads, and I had some rings.
I just needed a few more large rings, and it would be a fun project to work on together. I found those rings at the Dollar Mart Plus (kind of like the Dollar*Tree but not quite) today. It will also hopefully be something Li’l Bit can use as she continues working on counting to 10.
She loves to count, and she loves beads. This one is a win-win if her initial interest today is any indication. This was SUPER EASY and I can see many uses, and I can say it will travel well too when I need to grab something for occupying her little mind on the go!
I do love Pinterest.
All you do for this is find 10 of the same size rings, and add beads on each one for numbers 1 through 10. I didn’t do a ring for “zero” but I may add that later. I then put them all together on a smaller ring. She was already counting the beads up to five today.
2. Tub of Ribbons
I found a bunch of old ribbons in our attic at our previous home while packing. I almost threw them in the get rid of pile. I just couldn’t though. They were the thick and brightly-colored wide ribbons that many of us wore as BELTS (yes, belts!) in college circa early 90s. Along with duck*head shorts. And they were still like-new. 😀
They were in a little holder my Dad made. I have different plans for that now in our nature area, but back to the ribbons and the aforementioned tub (which used to house baby wipes by the way).
I had seen an idea to sew ribbons together before putting them into a container to be pulled out of, but I decided to just do something simpler. Besides, I didn’t want to sew the ribbons together, because I knew our little dancer would prefer to twirl about with multiple ribbons about her.
Sometimes I just know how it will go, and watching her twirl and explore each new ribbon as she pulled it out of the container was priceless!
This one was simple. As I said, I had the ribbons already, but you could find these on a clearance table and/or grab some at a local craft store. Or you might find these hidden gems in your attic like I did!
First, I just put them all together in one hand by one end. Then I unfurled them all to make sure they weren’t tangling together.
Second, I placed them in the empty wet wipes container. I used the kind with the pop-top dispenser.
Third, I pulled out just a couple of inches of one end of one ribbon.
Fourth, I watched our three-year-old squeal with delight as she pulled out ribbon after ribbon.
I have about 20 ribbons in our tub, and it took her a good 15 minutes to pull them all out because she explored each one and “made matches” as she went. She also broke into spontaneous ballet twirls and spins as she pulled out the ribbons.
You may wonder what is the point? Well, I used to wonder too, but she was seeing cause and effect in action, using her fingers to pull those ribbons out (it wasn’t easy and did require some finger muscle action especially for those ribbons which end was not poking out of the container and she had to really hunt for). Also she was exploring through movement and spontaneously matched the ribbons with similar colors and/or patterns.
3. Pasta Strainer and Pipe Cleaners
Who knew? So fun, engaging, and yet so simple to do!
A dollar store pasta strainer and well-loved pipe cleaners already on hand provided 20 minutes of open-ended play that required great fine motor strength and diligent thought.
And at the end of it all, the pasta strainer made a fun hat too! Try it and let me know if your preschooler liked it as much as mine!
We are thinking … well some of us are … that it might be a great study of science to have some baby chicks around here. We have at least a couple of hens who seem to like keeping our eggs warm.
We will have to keep them perhaps in our garden shed for a while. Chickens will … how shall I say it … prey on one another in nature, and they will prey on baby chicks unfortunately.
On the other hand, I have wondered if the real science lessons might come in allowing nature to take its course.
I think we do have an actual baby chick to hatch that I’ll do a weekly post with updates on the chick(s).
In the meantime, I have three little people here who are immensely enjoying having our “ladies” (as Grammy calls them) here at our house.
I go every morning with our three littles and check for eggs, check feed and water and deliver the expected scraps, which usually consists of strawberry caps, bread crusts, apple cores and things like that. We don’t give them any meat or dairy scraps.
In the evening, the older boys usually make sure their little hen door is closed after they are all safely inside. Thankfully, the ladies take themselves inside their house along with Mr. Squawks at dusk or soon after.
We are learning that Mr. Squawks knows exactly how to fertilize eggs (our little ones say “they are married right now!). 😀 We are also learning that hens like to graze and that the old saying of a “pecking order” is literally true.
We are also counting eggs and will keep an average. We are going to graph the daily morning and evening totals over a week-long period and then calculate the average.
All in a day’s work on the farm!
Now, will you help a Momma/Teacher out? What do you think? Should we try to hatch baby chicks? Would you be interested in reading weekly updates and seeing their growth and hearing of their daily pursuits??? Please comment and help a Momma/Teacher convince the adoring Prez that his wife has not completely lost her wits. 😀
This may be part of a series.
Ha, ha. The probability of that is not too high.
OK, who am I kidding? When I say the word series, that is usually part one of one. One reason for that right now might be the state of my desk and work space. It still needs quite a bit of tender loving care.
Who knows though? Maybe I will continue updating our summer school pursuits. I hope to anyway! It will at the very least keep me on task.
I have continued organizing our library, which will be used for school and other learning pursuits as well … especially reading. Just look at all those books (and space left) for little people and bigger people to easily access.
Our science and nature cabinet is organized, and everything science-related excepting a few books has been placed on (or in) the cabinet.
Our arts and crafts area is in need of more work. I do have it all set aside and much of it is ready for use, but I need my cool metal cabinets that are at the moment still in the workshop in need of cleaning and some tender-loving care.
Someone really is in summer school as he knows he has no choice but to finish his science curriculum that he has been studying since midway through his 7th grade year (yes, he just finished 8th grade). I will say science is his least favorite subject, the curriculum is very in-depth, and he still scored well on science on his standardized testing. He has just one chapter left and a couple of tests to take.
All in due time I keep telling myself. We did just move 30 miles into the country along with six children and all of our belongings. In addition, we’ve been renovating our 3,000-square-foot home (that was still original to circa 1976) as well as finishing a 2,700-square-foot space in the basement, which includes two bedrooms, a full bath, a kitchenette and a living space. Here’s a sneak peek for those who keep asking for continued renovation updates.
*The Toy Room* (out of sight and they are out of their minds to have these toys again after them being packed for more than two months!*
*A view from the inner door coming in from the garage area; you can see the big boys’ bedrooms at the far end of the room*
*LEGO zone*
I am really hoping also this summer (or what is left of it; seriously, what happened to June???) to spend some extra time with Li’l Miss and Li’l Bro on reading and language. And of course, what do they want to do? Math of course. Sigh.
So, we mixed it up and started with language, which I have no pictures of because I needed to be that involved. Math was their reward, and they loved it thus more photos!
Speaking of rewards, I love Pin*terest. Who doesn’t? But anyway, an idea inspired me to use an OLD metal hanging thing I have to create our own behavior chart.
And yes, I intend to have clips for EVERY student in my room! I don’t often have behavior (or attitude) issues from our oldest two but I do have expectations and have no problem clipping them down if needed (or up when warranted).
I like the way it turned out. It needs a little something on the top, and I need to find an orange clip and a yellow clip or something similar. I tried it out on Friday during a Summer School session, and it worked like a charm!
Beside our behavior chart, I have hung up our world maps, one large one, one smaller one that shows countries under persecution, and one that is in Chinese characters.
In language, we tried out a “new” used book I found at the curriculum sale: Preparing to Build by Rod & Staff Publishers. I was able to get two Level 2 students books as well as one teacher book for $15. It will definitely be worth that, and we’ll use it at least four days a week.
After a lesson in “What Is a Sentence?” with some exercises after, we tried out another pinterest-inspired idea: number cubes.
I can see so many uses for these dollar*tree finds (3 of the square plastic tubs for $1), but on this day I put three dice in each of them. I asked them to shake them up and then add up the three numbers. I allowed them use of their abaci, but they really didn’t need them. It was fun to see their abilities even after being away from formal math for a couple of months.
“Mommy, 5 + 5 is 10, so 5 + 5 + 4 must be … 14!”
“Mommy, I know that 3 + 3 + 3 = 9 because I can skip count my 3s! 3, 6, 9 and that is 3 groups of 3.” Sounds a lot like multiplication, doesn’t it?
I love it when they make these associations, and I love it that our math style of learning encourages them to pursue this instead of just come up with an answer. I could see using these math cubes for place value work as well as reading multiple-digit numbers along with other possibilities. I am making each of our 2nd graders math and language cubbies with manipulatives such as the number cubes in them ready to go each day. I hope to utilize many hands-on approaches.
I will be *hopefully* sharing more of our summer school learning. I am officially starting us back to school for 2013-2014 the first week of August. Between various camps, moving and renovations, I haven’t had any time to plan and prepare for this coming school year. I finally just gave myself the green light to relax and realize that our children are still learning every day with their incessant reading, daily nature walking/creek jumping/hiking/exploring, math in the everyday and helping to care for our animals as well as experimenting with a very late garden (for this area).
Oh and watching turkeys walk across our backyard as we relax with a book on the back porch!
