Polite Presents

It is amazing that we often expect our children to be polite but never teach them how to be polite. This is especially important for Brooke since her ability to overhear conversation is minimal; I need to teach her polite conversation skills.

One thing that really gets under-my-skin is receiving presents. My children are sometimes rude when I bring them home a present. I hear things like, "I don't want that!" or "Why did you get me that kind, I wanted the other one." Even worse, if they receive a present from someone else and respond with a "I already have that" or "I don't like it".

Recognizing that my anger is a sign that I need to teach my children a real-life skill, I took action.

I gathered 3 gift bags and put a present, something from around the house, that I knew they wouldn't like. I made them funny with the hopes that the skill will stick in there heads. I put some pink panties in Jake's bag, a toy spider in Kate's bag and Brooke had a dirty towel.

Our lesson:

1. When you are handed a present, before you open it say thank you to the person who gave it.

2. Once you open the present say thank you again

3. Say one nice thing about the present (this was the hardest part so I gave lots of examples about liking the color, what you can do with it, or where you will put it.

4. Say thanks you again.

It looked like this:

I hand Brooke a present and she says, "Thank you Mommy."

Open the present and say, "Thank you. I can use this towel to help you clean. Thank you."

Now this doesn't always happen as planned, but at least we are learning to be polite!

Repetition is essential for young children to learn social graces. You should give your child as many opportunities to practice as possible before your child is actually given a present. Be creative.
1. You could have a gift box with a lid that can be used over and over. You could put different toys, clothes, or books your child already owns in the gift box and role play giving the gift to your child. The object will be a surprise, and your child will have to think of something nice to say about it.
2. You could have gifts of small presents for your child to practice saying thank you throughout the holiday season. Some parents have small daily gifts throughout December, especially to focus on teaching their child to say thank you.
3. If you have more than one child, they could take turns giving and receiving real or pretend presents.

Be Specific in Your Praise when Your Child Remembers the Proper Etiquette Technique

1. “I was so happy to see the way you smiled at Grandma, hugged her, and told her, ‘Thank you.’”
2. “I appreciate that you remembered to say what you liked about Grandma’s gift.”

3. “You cleaned up every scrap of wrapping paper!”

Don’t Criticize or Embarrass Your Child in Public if He or She Forgets the Etiquette Technique
Remember that young children need lots of practice.

Repeat the lesson again later.

Give more opportunities for practice.

Which one is different?

Objective:

a) learn and use concepts of same and different

b) answer why? questions

Points to Remember:

1. Use the vocabulary of same and different as many times as you possible can?

2. Give your child enough time to think about and answer after you ask a question. This is harder than it seems. I often count silently to 10 while I wait for Brooke to give me an answer.

3. Download the sheets from http://www.montessoriforeveryone.com/

Lesson

1. Go to the Free Download section and then to Language Materials or click here

2. Print the activity sheet labeled What Doesn't Belong?

3. Cut out each group of 4 pictures.

4. Show your child the first group of pictures. Ask, "Which one is different?" and then wait. If your child doesn't understand, try to use other words such as "Which one does not belong? " or "Which one is not the same?"

5. Then talk about the pictures. "These 3 are all same because they are all animals. All these animals live on a farm. Do sneakers live on a farm? No, what are sneakers? What do we do with sneakers? That's right, we wear sneakers? " and keep on talking about the pictures as long as your child is interested.

6. Ask your child, "Why is this picture different?" Since you have already talked about these pictures, your child should be able to answer this why? questions.

7. Move on to the next set until you have completed and talked about all 4 sets of pictures.

Modifications:

1. Look around the Free Download section to find more great activities.

2. Use the red X's that came with the download as markers so you can re-use this activity again. 3. Make an effort to use the concepts of same and different in your everyday conversations.

Rest Time Activities

I has been years since Brooke and Kate have actually taken a nap. So, we now call nap time "Rest Time". I typically rotated the toys in their room every few days in an attempt to keep them occupied and quiet during rest time. I've taken a new approach that seem to be working a little bit better. I have 3 flower carpets: blue, red, and yellow. These carpets stay in the closet and are brought out only for rest time. I put a different activity on each carpet with the directions that "It stays on the carpet!" Here are a few examples of rest time activities.

On the blue carpet are lacing alphabet beads, the red carpet has the Little People Thanksgiving set, and the yellow carpet is for sorting. I try to have one letter learning activity, one concept activity such as numbers, colors, shapes, sorting, or patterns, and one fun activity.

On the yellow carpet are alphabet building blocks, the blue carpet has an alphabet puzzle, and the red had number pegs. (I guess we needed some extra alphabet practice this day)

For most of the activities, the girls need to complete it before rest time is over. For example, the number pegs and the alphabet puzzle need to be completed before rest time is over. I'll check their work and we'll clean up together. All activities go back to their homes and the carpets are returned to the closet until tomorrow.

I think organizing Rest Time this way, encourages Brooke to work independently and gives her repeated practice as her level. I often find that she will give-up quickly when working with me and say, "I can't do it". But on her own, without me next to her, she will work harder and with less frustration. It is also great preparation for kindergarten when she will be asked to work independently at centers.

Word Family Awareness

objective:

a. to listen ti initial word sounds

b. to begin to recognize word families

Points to Remember:

1. You can play this game anywhere...in the car, waiting in line, at bedtime

2. This may be difficult for you child in the beginning but keep practicing

Lesson:

1. Choose a word family to practice. For example the "....at" word family
2. Parent says, "C….at. What’s the word?"
3. Child says, "Cat."
4. Continue with the same word family to reinforce rhyming, vowel patterns and sound blending such as B....at, F...at, R...at, M...at, S...at,

Modifications:

1. Use an, ran, fan, man

it, bit, hit, sit

en, hen, pen, men

ot, dot, cot, tot, lot

ake, cake, make, sake, bake

ane, plane, cane, lane, mane

ole, sole, pole, whole, mole
2. Use your itsy-bitsy miniatures to create rhyming groups. Have your child pick up the object that you are saying. For example, say C.....at and your child picks up the cat.

3. Use rhyming picture cards if you do not have itsy-bitsy miniatures.

Christmas Listening

While watching Santa Buddies last night, I got a great idea for a fun Christmas listening activity for Brooke that I think all my children will enjoy. In the movie, Santa said, "Ho, Ho, Go!" Kate noticed it and repeated it since she thought it was funny. And my idea was born. I'll take common Christmas phrases and change one phoneme (sound) and have Brooke listen and then repeat what I said "wrong."
objective:
a. listen for beginning consonant sounds
b. recognize common Christmas phrases

Points to Remember:
1. Create a list of phrases before you begin this activity. It is hard to think of them as your playing but easy to think of them before. Make sure the phrases are familiar to your child. Don't use mistletoe if your child has never heard the word before.
2. Blends are often hard to hear....try not to change the blends. For example, in the phrase "Little Drummer Boy" don't change the /dr/ sound. Change the /l/ in little or the /b/ in boy instead.

Lesson:
1. Say, "We wish you a fairy Christmas"
2. Your child will say, "Not fairy, it should be Merry
3. Say, "Rudolph the bed-nosed reindeer"
4. You child will say, "Not bed- nosed, it's red-nosed."
5. Continue to play with other phrases and even re-use some phrases by changing a different phoneme

Modifications:
1. Try changing ending consonant sounds
2. If your child enjoys the game, change more than one phoneme and see if she can find both changes.

Phrases:
Christmas lights
Advent calendar
Christmas tree
Santa Claus is coming to town
silent night
ho ho ho
candy cane
gold, frankincense and myrrh
baby, it's cold outside
I'm dreaming of a white Christmas
Frosty the snowman
We wish you a merry Christmas
Here comes Santa Claus
Jingle Bells
Polar Express
hot, hot hot chocolate
let is snow
deck the halls
have a holly jolly Christmas
Happy birthday Jesus
away in a manger
have yourself a merry little Christmas
joy to the world
the wise men travelled far
run run as fast as you can, you can't catch me I'm the gingerbread man
snowflake

Day 20

Day 20

Today we read Little Drummer Boy by Ezra Jack Keats

In the book, the little drummer boy has no money to buy a gift for Baby Jesus so he plays his best song for Jesus. We talked about the "best" gifts we could give Baby Jesus. I was hoping to get a song, dance, or guitar solo from my kids but ended up with a Taggie, sleepy bear, and all of Jake's stuffed animals. To a child, those are precious gifts!

We turned on the Little Drummer Boy song from the ipod and marched and sang.

Day 19

Day 19

A few years ago, I began keeping a separate Christmas tree as our "Jesus tree". We have our typical Christmas pine tree with all sorts of keepsake ornaments from a swimsuit Santa to a happy tooth!

But I wanted to keep a special tree that allowed our family to focus on the real meaning of Christmas - Jesus' birth. So, I use a wire tree to hang ornaments of Jesus' birth. The tree sits in the entryway of our home. We see it every time we go up or down the stairs and guests see it as soon as they enter our home.

Here are a few of the special ornaments that hang on the tree:

I purchase a new ornament every year and I would love to have enough ornaments to decorate our entire real Christmas tree one day!

Today as part of our Christmas Advent activities, we will talk about why these ornaments are so special!

Day 18 - Christmas Advent

Day 18

I found my girls acting out the Christmas story this morning. I heard someone yelling: "Baby Jesus get over here!" and went to find out what was happening!

Brooke is Mary, Kate is Joseph and Tex is Baby Jesus. They even filled a wagon with presents for Baby Jesus!

Day 17 - Christmas Advent

Day 17

Today we had candy canes in our Christmas Advent calendar. We read the book, The Legend of the Candy Cane by Lori Walburg.

Then we played with red, peppermint playdough. you can find my playdough recipe here. Add some red food coloring and peppermint extract.

Day 16 - Christmas Advent

Day 16
Today we read the books we made!

It is wonderful to hear your children read (or make-up by the pictures read) the real Christmas story!

Snow Crafts

Here are a few snow day crafts to keep you busy and learning.

This project was designed differently than it came out. My plan was to place the white snowflake on the white paper and then paint the paper with purple, blue and white swirls. Once it was dry, we would peel off the snowflakes and have the white paper remain. The kids wanted to paint first and then stick on the snowflakes - fine by me! They blended the purple, blue and white paint a little more than planned but that's okay too!

Good ol' fashioned snowflakes. It tool me a little while to remember how to fold the paper and I'll not sure I saw even doing it correctly. I took a piece of computer paper, cut the edge off to make a square. Then folded it into a triangle. Fold again into a triangle and then one more small triangle. We used a variety of scissors and even a hole punch.

Using a snowflake-shaped cookie cutter as a pattern, trace the outline onto black construction paper. Older kids can do this themselves, or even for a younger sibling too. Cut out the snowflakes, and place on top of a sheet of clear contact paper with the sticky side up. Invite your child over to sprinkle the snowflakes with tiny pieces of tissue paper. Cover with another sheet of clear contact paper over top, and trim the edges. Hang in a bright window!

Day 15 - Christmas Advent

Day 15

Read 1 John 4:9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.
John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

How do we know that God loves us? Discuss how Jesus' birth was how God showed his love for us. God gave us Jesus at Christmas because God loved us so much; what can you give God for Christmas?
These are my children's answers:
Jake: my sins (which I think is a really good answer)
Brooke: gold (I'm glad she has been listening to the Christmas story)
Kate: my Taggie (her prized possession)

We talked about how we could God our hearts at Christmas since what God really wants is for us to live in heaven with him.

Read The Tale of Three Trees

Day 14

Day 14

Read Matthew 2:13-23 about Angry King Herod trying to kill baby Jesus.

Make a page of the Nativity book: King Herold tried to kill baby Jesus. God protected Jesus
Read A Star so Bright: A Christmas Tale

Day 13 - Christmas Advent

Day 13

Read Matthew 2:1-12: The Visit of the Magi

Make a page for your book: "The Wise Men came to bring gifts to Jesus."

Read The Visit of the Wise Men by Martha Jander

Snow Day fun

Today is our 3rd snow day of the 2010-2011 school year.

The first 2 snow days looked like this:

Today's snow day looks like this:

I am expecting another 1 or 2 snow days this weeks. Here are some snow day science experiments to keep everyone entertained and learning!
Science Experiments:
1. Do an experiment on how to make snow melt. Have your children predict if snow would melt faster in their bare hands, or with a mitten on. Then, we test the prediction. You can do this outside or bring some snow inside to experiment with.

2. I like to bring the snow indoors for snow painting. I like to use a large, clear storage box...then you can really see the colors! Use food coloring or water color paint to paint my snow. The water colors make vibrant colors. Use eye droppers, spray bottles, scoops, measuring spoons, and drip bottles. Talk about all the beautiful colors, then go back after rest time to see what happened to the colors when the snow melted.

3. Bring in some snowballs from outside. Ask children to predict which snowball will melt the fastest, considering where it is placed. Snowballs can be placed in sunny windows, a dark closet, out side of a window, near a heater etc. Permit youngsters to offer their suggestions. Make a list or chart of the predictions then test your theories. Encourage children to express opinions about why a particular snowball melted the fastest and why another melted the slowest.

4. Make a snowflake:

You will need Borax (in the laundry detergent section of the grocery store), boiling water, wide mouth jar, pipe cleaners, and string. Using pipe cleaners, have your child create a snowflake design. Pour 2 cups of boiling water into the jar and stir in 6 tablespoons of Borax. Once dissolved, try a string around your pipe cleaner snowflake and hang it in the solution. It took a couple hours before our snowflake crystals began to form.

Day 12 - Christmas Advent

Read Luke 2: 21-38

Make the name Jesus with glitter!

Read Sing, Glory, Glory! Jesus is Born by Gail Pawlitz and Santa, Are you For Real? by Harold Myra

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