Constitution Day

On September 17, 1787, the U.S. Constitution was signed by thirty-nine brave men who changed the course of history.  Constitution Day is observed every year on September 17th.  I certainly do not expect C and R to understand the constitution, but I think they are old enough to know that the constitution provides us with rights and freedoms.

This week we read We the Kids by David Catrow.  This picture book is a great introduction to the preamble to the constitution.  Catrow's funny illustrations help to explain what the preamble is, and there is a great glossary in the beginning of the book to help children understand the language of the preamble.  I am not going to pretend that C and R were interested in the language of the preamble.  More than once, I was told it was boring.  They did like the illustrations though.  Like I said, my goal was simply to introduce them to the constitution.

They did enjoy watching the Schoolhouse Rock video of the preamble on YouTube.  I recommend watching this with  your kids.  I love Schoolhouse Rock!

After reading the book, C and R made American flags.  We cut out seven red stripes and six white stripes (I did most of the cutting, but they did cut one or two stripes).  They glued the stripes to a large piece of paper.  Then they glued a blue rectangle in the top left corner and stuck fifty star stickers on the blue.  Our stars were tiny so, unfortunately, they are not proportionate to the flags, but the idea is there.

Don't forget to wear red, white, and blue tomorrow for Constitution Day!

I am linking this post to stArt at A Mommy's Adventures.

GALTime - AMBASSADORS WANTED!!!!

GALTime.com, the online magazine for women, is going regional and is looking for AMBASSADORS in cities across the country.

GALTime is looking for writers and bloggers to help with local content - events, happenings, and anything relevant to your respective market.  In return, you will be promoted on the GALTime.com local and national site, plus you will be tied to a traditional media partner in your market.  There are also opportunities for you to make money through GALTime live events in your area!

Are you interested?  Write to ambassadors@galtime.com.  Put the word "Ambassador" and your city in the subject line.  Please let them know that you heard about it here at Superheroes and Princesses.

Fletcher and the Falling Leaves

We are big fans of Fletcher.  Every autumn, we read Fletcher and the Falling Leaves by Julia Rawlinson, and every spring we read Fletcher and the Springtime Blossoms.  He is such a cute, naive little fox.  In this book, it is autumn and Fletcher is worried about the changes occurring to his favorite tree.  He tries to help the tree by gathering all of the fallen leaves and putting them back on the branches, but just can't keep up with the wind.  In the end, Fletcher receives a wonderful winter surprise when his tree is more beautiful than ever.

This is a wonderful book.  C and R really like the illustrations, especially the last shiny, glittery page!

C and R made their own autumn trees with falling leaves.  They used paintbrushes to make trees and then finger painted the leaves.  C's art is on the left and R's is on the right.

We are ahead of the season a bit because our leaves are only just beginning to turn (barely - only a few scattered trees around town), but autumn leaves are so pretty.  Let's just call this a foreshadowing of what is just around the corner!

A is for Apple

R's preschool uses a letter based curriculum featuring a letter of the week in alphabetical order.  I decided to supplement at home while following along with the letter of the week, so we have been working on the letter "A".  R has done some worksheets, a do-a-dot letter A, and other written work, but she really enjoyed the letter "A" play dough.

I followed my favorite play dough recipe, but added red food coloring and a lot of cinnamon to the dough.  I always add food coloring and spices before heating the dough because it blends better.  I have never had a problem with the food coloring getting on our hands, and I think that is because we mix it in before cooking it.

I gave R a tray with the red play dough, a few tiny twigs from our yard, and some leaves from our yard.  I asked her to form a clump of the dough into a ball shape and then add a twig and leaf.  I never told her to make apples, but she quickly figured it out.  

She also used the dough to make the letter "A".  R really enjoyed this and I am actually considering making play dough to go along with each letter of the alphabet.

*The apple play dough idea came from My Montessori Journey.

The Apple Doll

The Apple Doll by Elisa Kleven is the story of a girl named Lizzy who loves to play in the apple tree in her yard.  When she starts school for the first time, she decides to take a piece of the apple tree with her.  She makes a twig body for her apple and names the doll, Susanna.  Lizzy's mother shows her how to turn Susanna into a real apple doll that will last a long time.  Susanna helps Lizzy overcome her shyness at school and make plenty of new friends.

I love everything we have read by Elisa Kleven, and this book is no exception.  The story is so sweet, and there are directions for making your own apple doll at the end of the book.  Of course, C and R had to make apple dolls.

We found two unblemished Granny Smith apples, peeled them, and carved noses, eyes, and mouths on them.

The next step is to place the apples in a bowl and cover them with lemon juice.  I put a bowl on top of them to keep them submerged in the juice.

Thirty minutes later, we removed the apples from the juice, placed them on a greased cookie sheet, and put them in a 200 degree oven for thirty minutes.  Once the thirty minutes passed, we alternated drying the apples in the oven and on a sunny windowsill.  According to the directions, this typically takes about three days, but it was very humid when we started the drying process and our apples were not dry until the sixth day.  Maybe they would have dried faster if I used the oven, but I didn't really like the idea of having the oven on all day long.

When they finished drying, we used feathers, fake flowers from a lei, pipe cleaners, beads, and cotton balls to turn the apples into Grandma and Grandpa Apple.  C and R begged to do make these, but I have a feeling that the apple dolls will never be played with again.

 I think they are kind of cute.  What do you think?

Tie Dye Milk

Our science experiment this week resulted in an explosion of color in a dish of milk. 

• We poured milk into a glass dish making sure to cover the bottom of the dish completely.
• C and R worked together to put four drops of different colored food coloring in the middle of the dish, keeping the colors separate
• Then, they dipped cotton swabs in dish detergent and put the soapy swabs in the center of the food coloring drips
• This is what happened:

The science behind this: 
Milk contains fats and proteins, and both are sensitive to changes in the surrounding solution.  Adding the soap alters the chemical bonds that hold the proteins in the solution, and the molecules of fat and protein move in all directions.   The soap also breaks the surface tension, allowing the colors to spread.  They both thought this was a very cool experiment. 


I am linking this to Science Sunday at Adventures in Mommydom.

Poetry

 This week we read a lot of poems!  Here are the titles of the poetry books that we read:

A Light in the Attic, poems and drawings by Shel Silverstein,
The Big Little Golden Book of Funny Poems, selected by Thea Feldman,
Fancy Nancy Poet Extraordinaire by Jane O'Connor and Robin Preiss Glasser,
Poetry Speaks to Children, Editor - Elise Paschen, and
A Pizza the Size of the Sun, poems by Jack Prelutsky

We did not read every single poem, but we read a lot of poems!  I would definitely recommend any one of these books, but our favorite is Poetry Speaks to Children.  I really like the CD with some poems read by the poets.  The illustrations are fabulous too.  The thing I love most about this book is that it is a great introduction to William Shakespeare, Langston Hughes, Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, and more great poets.

The Fancy Nancy book does have some poems in it, but it also includes the story of Nancy struggling to write a poem for school.  C and R really liked the "poet-tree" in Nancy's class; this was a construction paper tree on the wall and each student wrote a poem on a leaf to hang on the poet-tree.  I think we may make our own "poet-tree" some day!

Do you have any favorite books of poetry for children?

I am linking this post to What My Child is Reading at Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns.