Harold The Pink Elephant

As I mentioned in my previous post, while we were visiting The Eric Carle Museum, Reagan wrote and illustrated a book.  Here it is:

Writing Camp

Collin and Reagan attended writing camp at North Monday through Thursday from 9:30 to 12:00. They weren't really excited about the whole thing, but they both enjoyed the week and asked to do it again next year!

There was an article about the camp in the Spectator, and look who they decided to photograph!

On Thursday, families were invited to come in to hear some of the writings by the students.  Collin read a haiku poem that he wrote, and Reagan read a story she wrote about where she is from.

Here is a video of Reagan reading her work:

My video of Collin reading his haiku glitched, so I made him read it again for me when we got home:

Reagan - Love Notes and School Work

George Washington

A Case of the Peace Signs

C's Autobiography

Letters to Santa

I was inspired by Little Wonders' Days to have a letter writing party for C and R - they loved it!

I had everything set up for them when they got home from school.  I printed the letter template from ichild and the wooden Santa coloring kits are from the dollar spot at Target.

R was so cute.  She knew exactly what to write about how she has been good this year, and she quickly wrote it in "kid writing".  It says, "I help the kids at my school and my family".  When it came time to write her wish list though, she asked me how to spell everything; I guess she wants to make sure Santa knows exactly what she is wishing for!  She asked for a Barbie with pets, a baby that wets, and a princess bag.

C wants a lot of Lego toys.  He is hoping for a few Lego Hero Factory figures and some of the Pirates of the Caribbean Lego sets.

They enjoyed hot cocoa stirred with the candy canes and topped with whipped cream and sprinkles, and Christmas cookies.

The letters are on their way to Santa!

Secret Messages

C is home sick from school today.  Our most recent newsletter from the Children's Museum had a method for writing and revealing secret messages, so I thought we would try it out.

Directions:Mix together 4 TB baking soda and 4 TB water.
Dissolve baking soda in water in the cup.
Dip the cotton swab in the mixture and paint a design or message on the paper.  (It will be invisible)
Wait for your artwork/message to dry.
Brush watercolor paint over the paper to reveal the message or art.

Ack, this didn't work!  The messages were not invisible on the paper

and when we tried to paint over them, we could not see the messages.  (So, the messages become secret after all!)

I wasn't about to give up on secret messages though.  I went with the old standby:  we wrote messages in white crayon on white paper and painted over those with watercolors.  Worked like a charm.

After a while, I ran out of clever things to write and started writing C's first grade words for him to reveal.  I never thought about this before, but it is a fun way to practice spelling words or sight words!!

Flower Power Summer Reading

This summer we are tracking all of the books we read.  This is not the first year we have tracked our summer reading, but it is the first year that we created a special reading mural. 

I gave C and R a large sheet of brown craft paper that I cut from a roll we have.  They mixed yellow and blue paint and covered the entire paper.  They had fun experimenting with rollers, bath poofs, sponges, and paintbrushes to cover the paper. 

We cut green strips and yellow circles out of construction paper and taped them to the "meadow" once the paint dried.

I cut petal shapes out of different colored construction paper.  Every time we read a book this summer, we will write the title on a petal and tape it to our mural to create flowers.  I am so happy that I did this because C and R get very excited every time we add a petal, and they ask to read more books!  This is also great writing practice for C because he loves to write new titles on the petals! 

I am sure we will have to expand our mural before the summer is over.  I am thinking of adding leaves, butterflies, bugs, etc. with book titles after we fill up all of the flowers.  We'll see!  Whatever we do, I know we will be proud of the final results!

Silly Bands Storytelling

Are your children quite literally up to their elbows in Silly Bands?  C and R have a bunch; I think they multiply while we are sleeping.  Anyway, C began using them for storytelling this week.  It was one of those proud mommy moments because it was all his idea and all I did was watch.  I thought I would share what he did so that you can try this with your kids.

He was inspired by the cowboy shaped bracelets from his collection.  He began by sorting them.

Then he drew a few pictures and added the bracelets to the completed drawings.

At this point, he invited me to listen to his story.  Here it is:

     First, the four cowboys got dressed.  Then they rode around on their horses.  They found a bull and they ran away.  Then they saw a bull fight.  The strongest bull won.  He got a trophy.


If your child is not inspired to create his or her own story revolving around Silly Bands, sit down with your child and a few of the bracelets and begin telling the story yourself.  Then encourage him to add something to the story, or even draw a picture to illustrate the story.

*I know that the brand name is actually "Silly Bandz".  As a former English teacher, it really bugs me when companies purposely spell words incorrectly.  

Numbers and Letters

We had school vacation last week and I wanted to work on letter formation with R and number formation with C.  R is just learning how to form some of the letters of the alphabet.  C occasionally writes his numbers backwards (I think this is pretty common for his age - 5).  Anyway, they both needed some practice and I didn't want it to be boring.

I was looking in the cupboards when I noticed a few boxes of Jello.  Instantly, I remembered a post my friend, Amy at Teach Mama, wrote a while back about writing in Jello.

I dumped some Jello powder on two trays and put C and R to work!  I called out letters for R and numbers for C.  At this point, R is working on forming uppercase letters. 

I called out two, and occasionally three, digit numbers for C to write.  The numbers 2, 3, and 7 seem to be the trickiest for him so I made certain to call out those numbers often.

The best part about this practice is that mistakes are easily fixed, just smooth out the Jello and start over.  I was able to sneak in a little letter and number formation, and C and R just thought it was fun! 

Yummy too!

Valentine's Day Tree

I love the Valentine's Day trees that have been popping up all over the place.  I think I first saw one on my friend Jenny's blog, Our Nifty Notebook.  Then, Amy at Teach Mama wrote about the learning benefits of making a Valentine's Day tree.  We could not pass up this fun, educational experience! 

We filled a clear plastic container with foam and sequin hearts and sticks we collected from our yard.  Then, C and R wrote the names of people they love on hearts cut from card stock.  Glitter glue and stickers were added to the hearts.  Holes were punched and ribbons tied through each heart.  Finally, they hung their hearts on our "tree".

This was fun.  C got some writing practice,  R strengthened her hand muscles by punching holes, and they both worked hard at threading ribbon through those holes. Now we have a great centerpiece for our dining room table.

Most importantly, sometimes it is just nice to think about the people you love.

A letter to the bus driver

C decided to write (dictate) a letter to his bus driver. I had to share this with you:

Dear Mr. D,

I like riding on the bus. Thank you for bringing me to school. Thank you for bringing me home.

Skeleton bones,
Spiders eat you up,
Ghosts and monsters on the bus,
Mummies growl,
Lollipops sing,
Pumpkins' scary faces,
Witch hats brew.

Love, C

I think it is the best letter ever written! Okay, maybe I'm a bit biased, but I do love the poem!

(The photo is from C's first day of Kindergarten)