FieldTrip: The Fire Station

For me, teaching preschool and kindergarten is an incredibly experiential few years. There are very few things that we formally learn about that we do not also find a way to touch or interact with on some level. Reading books can peek a child's interest in a topic and a first hand look at that topic can seal the deal~ a readers becomes a doer! It is much more difficult to forget that which we actually do with our own hands. Even if young children do not remember the specific event they will still integrate the experience into their continuously growing minds.

A field trip is the perfect opportunity to take a subject matter and turn it into hands on fun!

Using the book, Tito the Firefighter, which has both English and Spanish text I created a unit study that touched on fire safety, introduction of Spanish words, people in the community (firemen) and my son's favorite~ the big red LOUD  firetruck!

The unit study ended with a trip to the local fire house that really put the power (water power that is!) behind the story.

Tips for making a field trip to your local firehouse:

It is easy! Simply call your local fire department and express interest in visiting the fire station. Tell the ages of the children attending. Many fire stations will simply let you come for a visit and as long as no emergency is taking place they will give a tour, talk fire safety, and even let you sit in the truck! For an added bonus, check and see if your fire department puts on a special program for Fire Safety and Prevention Week October 9-15, 2011. And, make sure to make a special visit in May for International Firefighters Day and express appreciation for the work these men and women do each and every day!

Some more resources:
Crayola Fire Station Field Trip 
Apples for the Teacher Fire Safety Resources 
Sprout Online Fire Safety Activities

Many blessings raising readers!

Katie

Creation of a Reader

A new year and a new venture, or adventure is more like it. Thanks to the vision of my oldest daughter, Katie, we are trying out a blog about one of our favorite activities in the world- READING! While I have degrees, professional experience etc… with this things called reading from a teaching and research vantage point, I still think that the insights and lessons I gained from my own children learning to read, and struggling to learn to read make up my greatest bank of knowledge which I am happy to share with others in hopes that it may help another child bridge the gap into becoming a successful reader. I’m going to start with my oldest and work my way through the five, very different children, and very different learners of reading. Thanks kids. I love you all!

I’ve already changed my mind! Readers (and writers) can do that you know. I’m going to start with myself. My own transition to becoming a reader is surely my foundation from which all else was fixed.

I have so many memories as a child. Good memories. Marvelous adventures. Many wonderful relatives who spent time with me, building my bank of experiences on which I draw to this day. Reading, however, is somehow linked to most of my memories. As an only child of educated people, and from an extended family who valued education, books were part of my life from my earliest experiences. Bedtime stories were the norm. Books as gifts were looked forward to on any occasion. I remember when I was three, I had the chicken pox. My mother worked as a secretary and I usually went to “nursery school.” My dotted physique remanded me to being home with a babysitter. I can see in my mind’s eye my mother coming home early one afternoon. She had with her a bag. When the sitter left, mother sat by me on the couch and produced Golden Books, one after the other. There was Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, and one about farm animals.  She read them to me several times that evening and I loved it. I still have the Sleeping Beauty book. Even though it looks as aged as I do, I have read that very book to my children and grandchildren and the pictures and story is just as wonderful!

My paternal grandfather had a great reading lap. I wonder how many times I crawled up there with books in my hands? He never told me that he was too busy yet I know that he probably was. In his deep, commanding voice, he read me the classics, and Bible stories. He changed his voice to become different characters, and he would add personal stories that fit just right with whatever book we were reading. Papaw, as we called him, would get tired and skip a page here or there. I don’t think that I ever fell for it and as I reminded him that he missed one, I can see the smile on his face as he obediently turned back to read every page.

My maternal grandmother was the smartest person I know. She was the daughter of immigrants and was selected to attend a public school for gifted children. Life was hard and she only went through the 8^th grade. She raised 5 children as a single parent when her husband disappeared and those children say that they never knew that they were poor. Poor wasn’t the word for it! Somehow in their poverty, books were available treasures and they all read. Grandma read herself into knowledge that I would have put up against Ph.D.s any day. She was wise and smart.  She worked in factories until she retired. I would go and stay with her and couldn’t wait to explore her bookshelves. Every night, I would snuggle in her twin bed with her in our flannel jammies. She would read to me until she literally fell asleep and dropped the book! It was Grandma that read me Grimms Fairy Tales and developed the movie screen in my mind from stories. The Twelve Dancing Princesses was the kicker. I could see the beautiful ball gowns, the secret passage, and the lake that had to be crossed to get to the underground palace where they danced with their princes, and the book wasn’t illustrated! If I had a dollar for every time she read me that story to sooth my pleading for it, I would be a rich woman today.

I went to Kindergarten as a reader. I understood how stories and books worked. They were totally familiar to me and working with them was not overwhelming to me. While I don’t believe in teaching reading strictly from a curriculum of phonics, that is what I experienced in Kindergarten.  I caught on quickly to that aspect of reading because I had already had the balance of reading for meaning at home.

When my dad traveled, mother and I would read novels aloud to each other, The Wizard of Oz, Little Women, The Borrowers, and books I bought from school book clubs. As our family traveled, it was inevitable that we would locate a book from that region. Staying on Prince Edward Island for a month as a middle schooler pushed me over the edge of falling in love with Anne of Green Gables and all of her companions.

I was brought up as a reader and transitioning into the skills and activities it takes to be a reader just melted in to me seamlessly. I wish it worked that way for everyone, but it doesn’t. That will be what I share with you next.  

 Debi

The Busy Little Squirrel

Sorry, its sideways!

The Busy Little Squirrel written by Nancy Tafuri is simple in its content and wording. The storyline~ an adorably drawn squirrel that is busy preparing and collecting for winter. He can not stop and play with friends, despite their offers for fun, because he must store up food and make warm his nest.
I really like the value that this story portrays of preparation. We must work in order to rest. It is a good lesson for our children, one that we can find numerous ways to reiterate during the daylight hours!
At the end of the book the sweet squirrel is plum tuckered out in his nest sleeping soundly and safely, just as our hardworking and hard playing children are nestled in their beds each night.

Pre-K Unit Study Idea: 

One of the activities that I created to go along side Tafuri's book is a lesson on observation and data collection. It is simple. And, to extend this lesson I would suggest doing this once each season and then comparing the results. Do we see more activity from the Squirrel in the fall or the winter? 

We created a chart, came up with our own keys for potential activities and set the time for observations. For one week we look out of our window, front door, or porch (depending on how cold it is here!) and observe the squirrels behaviors. I had my son come up with his hypothesis' on potential behaviors. He listed eating, sleeping in his nest, playing, running across the street, foraging, and visiting his grandpa! We narrowed it down to eating, foraging, playing, and sleeping. (But, I did full-heartily agree that squirrels do indeed visit their grandparents!)  Each morning, afternoon and evening for one week we observe and then report on our chart. At the end of the week we turn the chart into a graph and my son gives a verbal account of the squirrels behavior to his Daddy.

This activity takes only moments a day and teaches reading, science, reasoning, and mathematics skills. Plus, it is a wonderful way to participate with nature as the weather turns colder.

Many blessings,


Katie

Running Shoes

Just in time for preparing your Operation Christmas Child shoebox, I have come across a lovely book that can help open up some dialog between you and your children.

One of my boys picked this up from the library without my knowing and I am so thankful.

The story, Running Shoes, written by Frederick Lipp is an inspirational story of a little girl and her wish for running shoes. The shoes will enable her to make the long walk to school each day. The book sweetly and beautifully emphasis the absolute gift that is literacy, as well as gently encourages compassion and teaches perseverance.

I cried while reading this story, and then had to laugh as I looked up to see my children perplexed by my emotions!

Here are a few ideas for using this book in a Pre-K Unit Study:

1. Find Cambodia on a map, introduce three unique things about this country, and have fun trying your hands and feet at a bit of traditional Cambodian dancing.
2. Go to different closets in your house and count how many pairs of shoes each person has. Have your children make a chart to record the types of shoes. Does your family own more running shoes or sandals, more dress shoes or slippers?
3. Go outside and have your children try to run in different shoes. Which shoes are best for running and why?
4. Use this book to do a character education study on gratitude, compassion, and hard work.
5. After reading participate together in an activity of service that will encourage your children to give to others. Perhaps, compile a box for Operation Christmas Child and include small picture books that delight and inspire even non-readers. Another great organization that is close to my heart is Ethiopia Reads. 
6. Make molds of your feet into sand, dirt, or dough and measure them (as is done in the book).  Practice using a tape measure and recording the findings. Compare and analyze.


Many blessings!

Sunrise Reading (And, how to find the time to read!)

This morning I woke up early and put on the coffee. Little footsteps came quickly behind me.

Grrr. (Just being real for a moment!)

I might have growled inside my head. Sunday mornings are supposed to be my morning to read~ alone~ before heading off to church with the family.


My four year old asked for a cup of coffee, with sugar. I had to laugh.

He has been drinking coffee with me in the mornings for a few months now. A few sips here and a few sips there to emulate Mommy. I don't mind.

I sat down to read and instructed him to find a few books of his own from our library book bag or the shelf in our home library. He stacked a huge pile together and sat opposite of me on the couch, our toes touching.

For an hour this morning my four year old and I sat in quiet, sipping coffee and reading. There was an occasional question or illustrations so funny he just had to share. My planned alone time was interrupted, but for this I am grateful.

My son watched me read. He watched me drink my coffee. He watched me bow my head to pray.

As a result, my son read, drank coffee, and bowed his head to pray.

There are many things in my nature which daily I work to not pass onto to my children. But, reading, praying and a fine appreciation for sipping something warm in the early morning hours, those things I am happy to impart.

One of the very best ways to "teach" your child to read is to let them catch you reading.
If you do it, they will know it is important.


But I am a busy Mom! How can I find time to read? 
1. Get up a little bit earlier. 
2. Read while nursing a baby. 
3. Put books all over the place in your house and pick them up whenever you may get a chance. 
4. Set aside reading time during your day, or at least during your week. 
5. Take your book with you on car trips (when you are not driving!), to appointments, and anywhere you might be waiting for a while. 
6. Read on a blanket while the kids play at the park. 
7. Read before bed rather than computer or TV. 
8. Ask your husband to watch the kids for an evening and go to a coffee shop for an hours just to read. 
9. Join a book club that is Mom/Kid  friendly. 
10. Have a weekly library time with your family and make sure that in those bags full of childrens books there are a handful of books for you too! 
11. Bathroom reading (Hey, you spend 7 years of your life in there, why not read!?) 


Be creative. Let them catch you reading. And, sometimes......break the schedule....toss out the plan...touch toes....drink coffee....and read next to your children when they should be sleeping......

Many blessings,


Katie

Lines That Wriggle

Lines that Wriggle (Candace Whitman and Steve Wilson) is plain old fun!

Every page in eye-popping bright, alive and filled with lines that are traceable for curious fingers.

Words such as sprout, tickle, curve, wiggle, wave, bend, and swish appear to jump out at the reader. This makes for good reading and a lot of invitation to move and groove to good words.

"What would it look like if we swirled?"
"How could we make lines in threes with these pieces of yarn?"
"Are their any lines hiding in this room?"

Lines that Wriggle is a fantastic early math book disguised as pure entertainment.

Here are several ideas you could use in a unit study with this book:

1.  Simply open the book and have little fingers trace the textured lines. Encourage the kiddos to express what they feel, see, and think. Talk about lines, lines, lines!

2. Cut up pieces of yarn in variety of sizes. Let your kiddos play with the string to make lines similar to those in the book.  They can make the string wavy, criss-cross, and mend for starters. Plus, let them do a free for all and have fun making the yarn into whatever they want!

3. Open the back door and have your kiddos pick up leaves that have fallen to the ground. Using tape secure the leaves to your table. Assist your children in using the yarn to replicate the lines on a leaf. You can do this on a table top of make a really big replica on your wall!

4. Go on a "line" scavenger hunt. Look for lines in your house and about in the world.


Many blessings!

The Best Children's Bible Storybook Ever!

Perhaps I can not make the statement that I know the best children's Bible ever with absolute certainty but, I can say that I have been blown away by the insight, poetic language, intelligence, thoughtfulness, and presentation of truth from one in particular.

The Jesus Storybook Bible written by Sally Lloyd-Jones and illustrated by Jago is my all time favorite Bible devotional book for children.

As the mother of two boys we have been happily on the receiving end of several children's devotional bibles.  Being a family of color I am very sensitive to the illustrations. I tend to get myself all flustered when the books depict the men and women of the Bible with blond hair and blue eyes. There is none of that in Jago's  illustrations!

My little guys and I sat on our front porch this afternoon, soaking up the October sun, and read these words:

And Adam and Eve joined in the song of the stars and the streams and the wind in the trees, the wonderful song of love to the one who made them.

An opportunity was created for us to dash around our yard finding bits of creation that sang to us a song of love. Pumpkins! Grasshoppers! Falling leaves! Spiders! Flowers! Squash! Clouds! Air!
We were excited. I wrote down everything and we read the list again and again to Daddy when he came home.


But all the stars and the mountains and the oceans and galaxies and everything were nothing compared to how much God loved his children.

Another opportunity arose.  We named off all types of people. Small. Tall. Blind. Round. Dark. Light. Mean. Loud. Smelly. Silly. Interesting. Two legs, one leg, no legs. Believers. Those that do not believe. And, how much God loves them all.

One chapter, one book, two powerful teaching moments about creation and worth.

 These stories are beautiful, they gently whisper the coming of the Messiah into the heart of the readers and I felt an anticipation to turn the page, to read on despite having "known" these stories all of my life. That same delight was experienced by my children today through this book. The best part, though, is that these delightful, powerful, sensation filled stories are....true.

I adore this book.  I need to say it again. The best Children's Bible Storybook ever!