Cartoon Book and Paper and Magazine Recycle!Create!

T-Rex loves to read cartoons. Every Sunday, he eagerly retrieves the Sunday paper, eager to read the new comics.   Sometimes, he can even read them all by himself.  While I have nothing against cartoons as a medium, some of the humor is not appropriate for my five-year-old.

I decided to use the comics from the Sunday paper to make him a custom comic book.   All I needed was the Sunday paper and a cheap composition book.

I cut the cartoons apart and glued them into the book.

T-Rex enjoys being able to read the cartoons over and over.  I feel better about the content he is reading, and as a bonus, the book is much easier to keep in order than all those big floppy papers.

This month's challenge from Recycle!Create!  is to make something for or with your children using paper, newspaper, or magazines.  Learn more about the Recycle!Create! project .

Check out the projects from the other co-hosts.

And, if you have a project of your own, be sure to link it up!

An InLinkz Link-up

How Parents of Pre-schoolers get the most from their Free Public Libraries

If you live in the United States, it is almost guaranteed that you have a fantastic public library close by.  We have lived in towns and cities in six different states from Florida to Washington.  In every case, we were able access top rate children's programming and a unique selection of books that enriched our experience.

Here are some hints that will help you make the most of your local library.

1. Plan to get a library card if you do not have one. Typically you will need your drivers license (or identification) and proof of residency.  This information is usually available via a web-site, and some one will always be happy to help you via the phone.

2. Bring a bag to carry your books home.

3. Pick up a schedule of children's programs.  Occasionally this is available on the web, but I have found that the  most accurate information is usually found on a hard copy, even in the 2010's.  Ask if you don't see it, you will almost always get an enthusiastic response.

4.  Find the children's area, the juvenile non-fiction area, and where the alphabet books and math books are.  Pull one book from each area. Librarians live to help you find good books, so do ask them.  

5.  Sit down near the picture books and encourage your child to choose one.  Read it to her.  If she is interested, read her a second, third, whatever you have time for.  When it is time to go, let her choose two books to bring home.  Check out the ones you pulled, and hers.

You may want to skim the book quickly for appropriateness before reading.  Sometimes I close a book in the middle if I don't think it is healthy for our minds.  I think this sets an example of being aware of how our environment effects us. I also sometimes give more limited choices as to which books come home.

6. Check out all your selections, and make a note of the due date on your phone or in your planner.  

We will talk more about using books with your pre-schooler next week. 

If your kids are like mine, they will be excited about their finds. Enjoy!

Click here to see some of the great reads we have found at our local library.

This series is part of my At Home Pre-school Boot Camp. Click here to start at the beginning.

Click here to return to the Week 1 Summary Post.

The post Getting started at your library, by Christy McGuire, first appeared on WisdomKnowledgeJoy@blogspot.com.

How to Plan a Road Trip your Kids will Love: Tip 2

When it's time to hit the road, my kids are excited to strap themselves in.  It might be weird, but it has been a huge benefit as our family has needed to cover some serious miles over the past few years.   Last week, I shared tip one, make road trips into an adventure. My second piece of road trip advice is this, Make car time a treat. Here is how we do it.

New books

I ordered a few new books for this summer's road trip. Over the past few years,  I have made a habit of buying a children's book about each state we visit. It has been a fun way to appreciate and remember where we have been.  The State Shape Books are great and so are these state alphabet books .

New Car activities

Magnet board activities work well in the car.  At Christmas, a friend recommended doing a nativity from Made by Joel.  I colored and laminated it, and both kids really enjoyed it.

You can also plan simple crafts.  Last year we did this shamrock from Roots of Simplicity while traveling on St. Patrick's day.

I am working on prepping a few new activities for this summer's trip.  I will share as I finish.

Of course, extra screen time is a major reason for my children's love of road trips as well.  I Game Mom is the go to site for great Apps for kids, and we have our own stash of favorite videos.

Snacks and water

Although vacation is the time to splurge, too much extra sugar or red dye still makes us feel bad.  We carry reusable water bottles, and a stash of nuts, crackers, dried and fresh fruit.  My children look forward to these "car foods", and we make better meal choices along the way, because we can afford to eat earlier or to wait for a better choice.

If you are looking for more great car trip ideas check put this Pinterest board organized by Anna at The Measured Mom.  My personal road trip ideas are here.

Related Posts:
How to Plan a Road Trip your Kids will Love: Tip 1


This post contains Amazon affiliate links.  Click here for more information.   Thanks for your support!  The post, Planning A Fun Educational Family Road Trip:Make Car Time a Treat, by Christy McGuire originally appeared on WisdomKnowledgeJoy@blogspot.com.

How to Plan a Road Trip your Kids will Love: Tip 1

Last week, my son told my husband that he wasn't very happy.  He would like to go somewhere new.  We are not planning to move any time soon, but we do have a major road trip planned. Maybe that will settle his need to wander.  This week, I am sharing a few hints  for planning a road trip your kids will love.  

Tip 1: Make Traveling an Adventure

Carry a map

No expedition is complete without a map.  We have a Notebook Map of the United States that we consult as we are getting on the road in the morning and through out the day. My kids love it and ask for updates.

 Plan to stop at major attractions

Today, I spent about ten minutes on our state's tourism page and found several cool places.  One of the best is four hours from home and only thirty minutes out of our way.  I am really looking forward to visiting that museum with my children!

Whenever we drive into a new state, we stop at the visitors center to pick up a state map.  Often the visitor's center will have information about attractions, clean restrooms, and coffee.  Sometimes they even have small museums.

Make unplanned  stops

Last summer we were driving through the Navajo Nation when we saw a home made sign that said "dinosaur fossils".  We made a split second decision to pull over, and spent thirty minutes taking the tour.  My kids are still telling people about that stop.  You probably can't afford the time to pull over every time there is an attraction, but stopping when there is something a family member is especially interested in is time well spent.

In post two of this series, I share another tip for planning a road trip your kids will love.

How to Plan a Road Trip your Kids will Love:  Tip 2
How to Plan a Road Trip your Kids will Love:  Tip 3

This post contains Amazon affiliate links.  Click here for more information.   Thanks for your support!  The post,  Planning a Fun, Educational Family Road Trip: Make traveling an adventure by Christy McGuire originally appeared on WisdomKnowledgeJoy@blogspot.com.

Analyzing Informational Texts and Teaching Critical Thinking

My son, like many little boys, is intensely interested in dinosaurs.  We often bring home dinosaur books from the library. This week, we brought home a book that had some glaring errors. It was a great opportunity to teach my children, ages four and five, about thinking critically.

As we opened the book, I pointed out the copyright date:1994.  That was twenty years ago!  A lot can change in in twenty years.  As we read through the book we found several facts that have changed. For example, Tyrannosaurus Rex is no longer the largest known carnivore.   

  Science, by nature, is always changing.  Anytime you research a scientific topic, it is important to make sure you are working with the latest possible information.  Realistically, kids books will never be sources of cutting edge information.  However, we can make an effort to note whether the information they contain is generally current.

 The book we were reading used the terms "ever" and "never" repeatedly.  I took this opportunity to show my children the danger of universal statements.  If the author had simply said, "large" instead of "largest" her work would still be relevant. T-Rex was big, even if it was not the "biggest carnivore ever." 

More importantly, we can not know everything that ever happened, nor observe everywhere.  Any time an author claims to be omniscient, we should be a little suspicious.

When we come across errors in our reading material, it is tempting just to substitute what I believe to be the correct information and move on. This was a start in teaching my children to analyze their reading material.  Hopefully, they will develop healthy thinking habits in the years to come.

What other types of fallacy do you think are important to note in informational texts?


Other Posts you may find useful:

Must Read Science Book :  A Review of Boy Were We Wrong About Dinosaurs

First Lessons

If you found this post helpful, I'd love for you to add this blog to your reader!

Fry's First Fifty Sight Words by Part of Speech

I have been working on a little project.  I wanted to make phrases of the first fifty Fry Sight words.  I did find a great list of phrases from the first one hundred, but our kindergarten goal is only the first fifty.  My purpose is to make readable phrases to review words that my child already knows, not introduce new words.

First, I categorized the words by part of speech, then I wrote some phrases.  My children already enjoy making nonsense words from their sight words, and I plan to let them make some more.

Please help yourself to these free printables.

Printable  of Fry's first fifty words by part of speech

Printable of Fry's first fifty words in phrases.

I am going to use these lists to make a version of these Spinners from Still Playing School.  How will you be reviewing sight words this summer?

Our own "Dumb Soldiers": Robert Louis Stevenson project

This activity can be used to address the following Next Generation Science Standards 

K-ESS2-1.	Use and share observations of local weather conditions to describe patterns over time

K-ESS2-2.	Construct an argument supported by evidence for how plants and animals (including humans) can change the environment to meet their needs.

April is poetry month, and we are doing a few simple poetry projects.  Poetry has always been one of my favorite subjects.

Last week, we read A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson.

We started by reading "The Dumb Soldier", a poem about a toy soldier left purposely in the yard so that he could report on the goings on there.   I pointed out how Stevenson chose words that paint a beautiful picture.  We went over a few terms that I expected to be tricky, like "dumb".  We talked about what was meant by "sea" of grass, and whether the soldier could actually see.

T-Rex and the Pony Artist created their own soldiers from our store of clean trash and a few other craft supplies. Before they started, we discussed what types of material would do well outside in the rain.

Here are the finished soldiers!

They found stations for their soldiers in the yard where they felt they would be safe.

All week we enjoyed more selections from A Child's Garden of Verses. T-Rex  and Pony Artist enjoyed their own yard and the spring weather.  On Friday, they were eager to bring in their soldiers and write their own tales.

Thank-you to Christy of Christy's House of Chaos for inspiring our poetry studies.  She wrote a fascinating post on Christina Rossetti  includes some great extension activities. You can check it out at http://housefulofchaos.com/christina-rossetti/.

Happy April Fools!  In honor of the holiday, I purposely included some misinformation in this post. Can you guess what it is?

Color Word Printable and Activities

Recently, we hit a bit of a wall with reading. When I asked my son what we needed to read, he said, "Real books." Fortunately there are plenty of great easy readers at our local library.  These books use lots of basic sight words, and repeat the tricky words and sounds, so that my child can master them within the context of that book.   Several of these books center around colors, so I developed a lesson around color words that emphasizes vowel combinations.

An activity we have loved for some time is acting out Hap Palmer's "Parade of Colors" from "Learning in Two Languages" with colored scarves from the craft store, so we started our lesson with some music.  

Next, I instructed my children to lay the scarves out all over the floor.  I handed them the black and white color word cards one at a time, and instructed them to put the correct word on the correct scarf.  A few of the vowel combinations needed some review, so we did that along the way.

When they had finished, I told them to check their work.  They matched the colored word cards to the right scarf, and double checked that the letters on each card matched.

We have done this activity twice so far, and I expect it to be useful at least once more.    Some of the books we are reading with this unit are Pete the Cat, I Love my White Shoes,  One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish Blue Fish,  Alice in Wonderland, A Colors primer.

If you would like to give this or a similar activity a try, you are welcome to download theses simple, free color word cards.

Color Word Cards

Ending the holidays with Thanksgiving

                                               

Back in November, as we kicked off the holiday season,  kid bloggers and pinners were publishing and passing thanksgiving ideas by the handful.  Today, my kids and I ended our holiday season with our last big event, thank-you note writing.

The long list of relatives and loved ones who generously showered love in the form of great toys, books, and clothes do not expect thank-you notes from my kids.   However, I think it is a helpful holiday tradition.  The things come into their lives so fast, it would be easy for them to lose the connection between the gift and the giver.  I want them to understand that this gift came from someone specific.  I want them to understand that they owe something to that someone who bothered to give something of value to them.  That "something" is gratitude.
 
So, we went back over the list of gifts they received during the Christmas season, and I tried to coach them to tell each giver why they liked the gift.  Some of the notes were enlightening, some will probably bring a much needed laugh.  Some of our family are walking through tough situations.   (By the way, do you have good tips for prompting kids to say something meaningful in this situation?  I would love to try them.)

I think it is good composition practice, and I counted my son's signature as his hand writing practice for today.  Hopefully, it was more though.  Hopefully, it was a lesson in Thanksgiving.

Thanks for reading.  This blog helps me be a better teacher and a better mom by causing me to slow down and consider what I do each day.  Those of you who take the time to read it motivate me to be my very best.

What will a five-year-old boy want to read?

I have read several articles recently that talk about how difficult it is to interest boys in reading, and gave elaborate suggestions on how to wet their appetite.  Now, there are no guarantees about what anybody else's boy wants to read, but this is what my five-year-old chose.  

Birds because he loves flying, and wants to understand everything possible about flying.  Comics...I don't know, but he loves them!  Although, I have decided to cut them up and just give him the ones I am willing to read and explain.

Covering Kindergarten Common Core with Questions

My son loves to listen to books, and looks forward to our daily reading time.  Now that we are working on kindergarten, I am using questions during reading time to cover Common Core objectives.  Tonight I need to figure out what we have done and what we need to to do.  Here is the list of questions we have used or will use to finish covering Reading and Literature objectives.

Read more about this book by clicking here.

Reading: Literature

Tell me about [key details in the text]. (RL. K.1 )
Now that I have read this story to you, you tell it to me. (RL. K.2)
Who is the most important character in this story/poem?
Who else is in this story/poem?
Where did this story happen?
What happened in this story/poem ? (RL.K.3)
What do you think the word [unknown word from book] means? (RL.K.4)
What words from this story/poem are new to you?  (RL.K.4)
What kind of book is this?  (RL.K.5)
Who is the author of this book?
What does it mean to be the author?
Who is the illustrator of this book?
What does the illustrator do? (RL.K.6)
What is happening in this picture?  (RL.K.7)
How is this story like [another story read recently]?
How is this story different from [another story read recently]?

(Actively engage in group reading activities with purpose and understanding,  RL.K.10)

Read mroe about this book by clicking here.

Reading:Informational Text

Tell me about [key details in the text]. (RI. K.1 )
What is this book about?
What are the most important things to know about [main subject of the book] (RI.K.2)
What does [person, event, idea, fact] have to do with [second person, event, idea, or fact]? (RI.K.3)
What do you think the word [unknown word from book] means? (RI.K.4)
Show me the front cover of this book.
Show me the  back cover of this book.
Show me the title page of this book. (RI.K.5)
Who is the author of this book?
What does it mean to be the author?
Who is the illustrator of this book?
What does the illustrator do? (RI.K.6)
What is happening in this picture?  (RI.K.7)
Why does the author say [point made in the text]?  Note:  The reasons should be derived from the text. (RI.K.8)
What other book have read recently on this topic?
How are [two books on the same topic] the same?
How are [two books on the same topic] different? (RI.K.9)

(Actively engage in group reading activities with purpose and understanding, RI.K.10)

Italics mean that this question is the same for both literature and informational texts.

In addition to our reading times at home, my children participate in a reading time at our local library our home school co-operative.  These extra activities give them some opportunity to engage in group reading activities  as per RL.K.10, and RI.K.10.

Now that I have made my list, I will choose six or so of the questions that we have not thoroughly covered, and write them on an index card and place the card on the kids' bookshelf to remind me what I need to be asking during Monday's reading time.


Are there other questions you would use during reading time with a five-year-old?

Library Treasures: I Columbus, My Journal

Today, I found in the children's section of our library, a copy of Christopher Columbus's journal of his first trip to the Americas.  Fortunately for my four-year-old and me, Robert H. Fuson translated Columbus's memoir into modern day English.  This book was edited by Peter and Connie Roop.  It is no surprise to learn that they are both accomplished teachers.

What does surprise me is that this work was never required reading for me.  It will not need to be required reading for my son.  We finished the whole thing this afternoon.  Several times, he urged me to keep reading.  When land was sighted, he literally jumped up and started clapping.  He was especially captivated by the illustrations, done by Peter E. Hanson.  At this point, he does understand that Columbus's venture was a key event in the history of what was to become our country, although he misses the philosophical shading of the memoir.  When he is ready to consider the more nuanced cultural and historical implications of the migration of Europeans to the Americas, this would be a perfect starting point.

Typically, I add the books I find in the library to my wish lists, but I  I, Columbus: My Journal went straight to my cart.  It is definitely a book I want to read, and to encourage my children to read again.

Baking and Writing

I have been on the look out for activities that would allow us to incorporate a little bit of letter writing and reading.  As my little girl and I were making some banana bread this afternoon, I realized we had the perfect opportunity.  Using my finger I wrote her name in the pan I was buttering.  We followed with her brother's name, then did a simple "sound it out" word (sun), and then the more complicated word "Daddy", which uses the "y" that says "ee".

She was so amused that she decided that she wanted to write in the flour on the cookie sheet as we were ready to add it to the pans.  This picture from my post about sugar cookies explains how we came to have flour on the cookie sheet.

Do you have any fun every day ways to practice letter formation and reading words?

Library Treasure: Go Bugs Go!

This week's treasure was my son's find.  The scenes in Go Bugs Go! Jessica Spanyol are  attractive to kids.  Apparently the her son helped develop some of the characters and scenarios.  It features of physical action and intriguing little details.  There are also some nice repetitions of phonetically simple words  The result was that my children each sat and "read" this book to themselves many times.  I suspect we may see this one again.

Have you found a great book at the library recently?  Please share!





Linked to: Mum's Make Lists, Reading Link-up

Library Treasures: Camping Day

Camping Day  by Patricia Lakin, illustrated by Scott Nash

This was our first week at the library in our new town.  Happily, this town lets you pay for a library card if you cannot qualify by presenting your address.  

This was also my four-year-old son's first time to visit the library in a few months, since my daughter and I have been going while he was at preschool.  He was happy to be there, and this book was his pick.  It has camping and dinosaurs in one book!  Yes, those are alligators, but dinosaurs make an appearance.  He thinks the story is hilarious.

I have to say, I like it too.  This is a great early reader book with lots of simple words and repetition.  Much of the print is large, which makes it easy to ask my children to fill in the sight words they recognize as we read.    Usually, my son is bored by the content in early reader books, but I have observed him "reading" this one to himself and to his sister more than once.  

Do you have a library treasure to share?  Please leave it in the comments!

Previous Library Treasures: The Read Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease

                                             Franklin is Messy

Linked to: 

Montessori Writing Method: Homemade Tracing Cards

 I am working toward providing a Montessori system of learning to write for my kids, ages three and four.  The three-year-old is wordy and the four-year-old is hands on, so Montessori's system a great fit for both of them now.

Montessori advocates that rather than asking a child to simultaneously remember what the characters represent, how to hold a pencil, and how they are formed, the child should be allowed to separate these tasks.   My husband found the ABC slate app,and it has been a hit.  The portability and the draw of "screen time" make it a fantastic tool. However, I thought that we should have a tactile option in addition.   Montessori talks about wooden blocks with sand paper letters.That seemed like a pretty daunting project, so I stepped things down a little. 

My materials are index cards, yarn, and glue.

1.  Roughly estimate the amount of yarn to make the figure.

2.  Glue on the straight parts.

3.  Glue down the rest, and clip of the excess.

       

My three-year-old has tried these out a couple of times, and has been very interested in learning to make the letters correctly.  She concentrates really hard, and it is obvious that it truly is an accomplishment every time she makes a figure correctly.

Related posts: Montessori Writing Method: Magnetic Letters

Montessori Writing Method: Magnetic Letters

During my most recent re-read of Maria Montessori's The Montessori Method. I realized that her system of teaching a child to write would be a perfect fit for my kids now.  They have  both mastered letter sounds and letter names.  It is fascinating to see that they are developing very differently from this point, which is one more reason to use Montessori's methods.

  Montessori breaks down the process of writing into three parts: proficiency in using a pencil, knowing how to form the shapes, and forming words.  In her book she describes using wooden letters to form the words.  I think she would be ok with using plastic alphabet letters instead.  

I found these letters on Amazon.

Lesson Plan

Montessori directs the teacher to give the child the set of letters.  She is then to pronounce the word clearly, asking the child to choose the letter that corresponds with the sound he hears.  Once he has spelled out the word, the child is then asked to read the word he just wrote.  It surprises me how difficult it is for my children to read the word they've just written.

 So far my daughter, three, enjoys writing names.  My son, four, wants to jump right into some rough sentences as you can see above.  He also wants to write complex words, not just beginner words.  According to Montessori, this process of forming words precedes reading, but continues to help the student perfect spelling skills as long as needed. I'm intrigued to see how their writing progresses.

Have you tried a similar activity?  What were the results?

Related Posts:  Travel friendly storage for magnetic alphabet letters

Montessori Writing Method: Homemade Tracing Cards

Montessori Writing Method:Pencil Practice


Linked to Blog Hop at Monday Kid Corner:  

Travel friendly storage for magnetic alphabet letters.

My brilliant husband gets credit for this idea.  I told him what I was trying to do, and he made it happen.  This lovely storage box came from Grangier.   It isn't the cheapest possible option, but I like it because the letters fit easily,  the clasps fasten the lid securely, and it has a handle.   If you're looking for a cheaper option, check a craft supply store for a bead storage container.   If you want seriously cheap, an egg carton will work.  The main goal is to put each letter in its own compartment so that it can be found easily.

Before we put the letters in, I followed Montessori's direction and wrote the name of each letter on the section where it goes.  Clean up time is not the time to tax tired little brains!

We put capital and lower case letters in the same compartment. There's plenty of space, and so far my kids don't seem confused.  If one of them was struggling, I'd make a point to store capital and lower case letterers separately.

I'm looking forward to pulling this out many, many times in the coming years.

Library Treasures: Franklin is Messy

Every week I have this urge to write about one, or even more, of the great books we find at the local library. Starting this week, I'm going to unleash my inner bookworm and follow the urge.  I will try to just pick one book.  The rest are going on my Amazon wish lists, because it annoys me to no end to be unable to find that "great book we read once."

This week we found Franklin is Messy by Paulette Bourgeos and illustrated by Brenda Clark.  My three-year-old has been crazy about Franklin ever since the Chik-fil-a promotional a few months ago.  I dutifully pulled a few titles today.

As we read through this book tonight, at the request of my four-year-old, I became excited.  We have been trying to instill the value of neatness, which is the theme of the book.  I could feel my son sympathizing with Franklin's struggles.  At the end I asked, "Why did Franklin lose his things?"  He does not know tonight, but I think maybe by the end of the week he will.

This is also going to be a great opportunity to work on Core Standard RL K.1. With prompting and support, as and answer questions about key details in a text.

Have you found a treasure at the library recently?  Please share in the comments!

Virtual Book Club, Julia Donaldson's A Squash and a Squeeze

Julia Donaldson was a new author for us.  The book that we found was a delightful little story called A Squash and a Squeeze.  My daughter was fascinated by the story immediately.    It has rhythm, rhyme, and some simple counting. 

 Read more at Thriving STEM.