Categories

This is a game of critical thinking that we do in the teaching world. I decided to introduce the game to "A" who is going into 1st grade next year. You want to take picture of something that are related, but not completely. For example you could do geometric shapes but not all triangles or animals but not all mammals. I chose to teach "A" the game with animals because I just happened to have a bunch of National Geographic animal cards that come in the Little Kids magazine (love this magazine for primary kiddos). I know they also have similar cards in the Zoobook magazines.


The way you play Categories is to have the child sort the cards into different categories of their choosing. You can tell them they can sort it by type of animal, color, where they live, whatever they want it is their choice but all the cards in that category must be related somehow. Tell them you will guess which categories they chose when they are ton. Then sit back and RESIST THE URGE to tell them what to do or direct them in any way. The point of the game is critical thinking so they need to work it out for themselves. I left the room actually. When "A" was done he called me in to guess. His first were things that live in water, near water, and completely on land. It was a tricky one. Have the child explain the categories and why they chose them (part of the critical thinking process). Next I sorted the cards and he guessed. This is a great way to model how to play. He loved it and we played many rounds of taking turns making categories. Here is some of the categories we came up with:

With shells

Birds

Baby Animals (another group was unsure of age)

Have Spots

Stripes

What continent they live on (that was me not me 6 year old)

The sky is the limit on the different categories you can make just with the animal cards alone. In a school setting we have played this game for almost every unit we teach: plants, colonial life, Native Americans, geometry, landforms, habitat and environment, rocks & minerals, etc. If you don't have cards make ones from magazine cut-outs or Google images. Kids love thinking they can stump, and better yet, teach adults-its empowering!

Happy Playing Everyone!

Tot School-Farm

I have been wanting to do Tot School through 1+1+1=1 since "B" was born. I keep waiting for when he would be ready to do some of the typical Tot School things...and it never arrives. My older son was doing Tot School activities (all though I didn't know it at the time) around 15 months but "B" is just different. At almost 19 months he still says ZERO words, won't play traditionally, won't let me read to him, isn't safe in a seat, constantly puts things in his mouth, and does thrill-seeking (AND DANGEROUS) activities. This week we had him evaluated for speech and it turns out he most likely has Sensory Processing Disorder. Evidently my little guy's brain doesn't feel some of his senses as strongly as most people, which leads to him sensory seeking. This sensory imbalance is effecting him learning things like speech. We are meeting with an occupational therapist and coming up with an Individualized Family Service Plan next week. I am overwhelmed to say the least (but at least I know what to focus on). Before the diagnosis I was focusing more on speech. I learned to focus on farm animals for early intervention speech because farm animal noises correspond with the first sounds babies make (B, W, M, N, D, and P). Here was our first week of Tot school (actually 2 weeks) on farm animals:

18 months/3 weeks

Farm Animals and Blocks Play

Rice Pouring (he LOVES pouring)- he still puts things in his mouth  though  ;0(

This was one of the best ideas I did this week (put mini farm animals in his snack cup). He really has to work to get them in and out which was fun for him. Great tool to use for play !!! Each time he pulled one out I would say the name and make the sound. With speech it is important to only focus on ONE word then add more once they get it.

Farm Animal Bowling. He liked to hit them with the ball still in his hand. Pretty Funny!

They can go in the corral too!

Baby App voted one of the best for Early Speech Intervention (Peek-a-boo Barn) We love it.

He just started coloring recently. I added farm stickers (oh MAN did he love the stickers). Had a fit when they were gone. Putting stickers on what actually a difficult task

More pouring and transferring-this time with porcupine balls

Putting pipecleaners in a Parmesan Shaker. He actually did great sticking them in the hole, but had difficulty pushing them down. It kept him busy for a bit.

A very SIMPLE farm puzzle because his attention span is so low!

"B" just started to show an interest into books. He still won't let me read to him for long but he will sit through one book. I pulled out a lot of the same books I read during my 5-A-Day  books quite awhile back. You can see the five books I read and learn more about  5-A-Day from this post. I would like to get back into doing the 5-A-Day challenge, but was getting so discouraged with "B's" disinterest in reading. Considering my focus has been in libraries it was pretty devastating because I know how valuable reading is. In addition to the five books from the post we also read this Little People's book called Baby Animal Sounds. I can't find it on amazon but is cloth with a button that babies can push that make farm animal sounds. If you can find it I highly recommend it.

Moose Encounter

We have been noticing some lovely moose scat by our front door at our new home. It appears they have been chewing on the empty bushes by the front window. I do know they have been starving due to the record snow fall this year. I had commented how awesome it would be to see an actual moose in our front window and today we got the opportunity.

One large moose sauntered up and started trying to find food on your bushes. I ran and locked the dogs upstairs, pulled the blinds and plastered our faces up against the glass to watch. Even the baby was enthralled. As I watched him attempt to find food the humanitarian in me wanted to rustle up food, but I knew I couldn't. I just had to watch nature be as it should.

Then to our surprise we realized our friendly neighbor was a Momma. Up came her baby a few moments later. I was beyond elated! He was so cute. The baby got right up against the glass. I have never been so close to a wild animal before. Nothing but a few inches separating us! This is one of the reasons I wanted to move the boys up here...so they could have experiences just like this...

Two babies looking at each other

Almost the same size

And because we couldn't resist "A" kissed a moose's bum ;o)

Animal Silhouettes

It was time to pull the watercolors out-it has been awhile! I wanted to try an effect similar to the tape resist painting we did when we studies shapes (still one of my favorite art pieces we have done so far) but this time using animal stencils. The idea was to take animal stencils and make templates. Then water color around the templates and remove them when it had dried. The effects aren't as dramatic because the watercolors always dry a little light but they turned out pretty cool. I would have to say it was harder to make sure not get under the stencil than with tape and you can see than on my elephant painting the trunks didn't turn out perfect. Either way it was a fun morning of painting with my little man!

"Wild Horses" by "A"

"Special Bond" by me

5 A Day Books: At the Farm

I loved the Eric Carle books last week but they were a little advanced from my wee baby! I am returning to some more basic books and chose the theme: At the Farm. All of the books have minimal text, rhyming sentences, and allow me to work on animal and sound concepts.  If you want to know more about the 5 A Day Book idea and the benefits for children before they reach elementary age check out The Imagination Tree blog. Most of the books I got at Target Dollar Bin a few years ago so I am showing them in more detail. Farm books are great for toddlers because you can do fun animal sounds to have child associate animals to the noises they make. Do it even if the page doesn't tell you...trust my your baby loves it when you make a fool of yourself!

Big brother reading to little brother-who has horsey in hand!

 1) Who's on the Farm? Lift the Flap Book: This was a $1 bin find at Target last year. This is the one brother will read because it has pictures to hint at what the animal may be (so "A" can look at picture cues). It's great way for "A" to use schema and inference to figure out what he should read to brother.

2) Farm Animal Guess Who: Another lift the flap that came in the same $1 bin as the above book last year at Target

3) Farmer Mickey: This was also a Target $1 bin book in 2008. When my oldest was younger he LOVED Mickey (especially the old cartoons). For his 2nd birthday I had a party at a local farm with hayride included. I saw these books and picked them up as party favors for the guests. Has great rhymes and our favorite characters too!

4) Tough Stuff -Tractor Power: This I know you can find places. It is part of a really fun series (Tough Stuff). It is great for boys who love trucks and tractors! A lot of books have fun interactive components too. This one is pretty straight forward though. Each book has a character and this one is Farmer Finn as we look at different tractors and their duties.

5) Happy Baby-Who Lives on the Farm: This one I got in a free box at my public library. Why I do not know? There is nothing wrong with it and a great board book with colorful pictures, shiny elements, and rhyming text. Great find if I say so myself!!!

Ha

Top 10 Amazing Animal Tales

Sidenote before getting into this Top Ten recommendations: There is a lot of great animal stories in chapter book format, but I only included picture books in this list. I will eventually do some chapter book Top Tens but it seems most my readers have younger kids. If you like my book recommendations also check out the Shelfari Widget I added. These are books I have run across recently that I love but don't really fit into a Top Ten theme. There are always some good choices on there and I will keep adding to it. Hope you enjoy the new list....

1) The World's Greatest Elephant by Ralph Helfer: A boy and an elephant were both born in the circus in the same day. There bound was unshakable and when the elephant was sold to America the boy stole away and the ship rather than be apart from his best friend. In a shipwreck the elephant saved his live. Even when they got separated-years later they found each other. Some argue if this is a true (as it claims) or not but either way it is a beautiful story!

2) One Tiny Turtle by Nicola Davies: A poetic, illustrated story of the life of a loggerhead sea turtle. The text is very informative but yet remains accessible to young children.

3) Jubela by Cristina Keller: A true story of a rhino that was orphaned by poachers and finds adoptive parents. This story can be sad for younger ones but it does have a heartwarming ending, and is a great way to discuss endangered animals.

4) KoKo's Kitten by Dr. Fracine Patterson: Koko is a gorilla who has famously learned to communicate with sign language. This book is about when she kept asking for a kitten of her own. An amazing tale that also has some heartwrenching & heartwarming moments, but great insight into the emotions of animals. Follow this up by going to KoKo's Kids Club website and learn more about her. You can see videos and even paintings made by her.

Koko reading the book. (Picture from The Gorilla Foundation)

5) Titanicat by Marty Crisp: Another tale that claims to be based on a true story. A young cabin boy for the Titanic was in charge of caring for the ship's cat. When the cat starts to act weird and move it's litter of the ship the day of sailing the boy takes it as a sign he shouldn't sail either. Good thing he didn't. Kid's are intrigued by the Titanic story and this is a different side to the story.

6) A Mother's Journey by Sandra Markle: Another informative text that reads like a picture book. The story the mother's journey of an emperor penguin after she lays the egg and leaves it with the father. It is about her plight and dedication to return back to her chick. A great companion to The Emperor's Egg by Martin Jenkins which is the tale of the father's penguin.

 7)Seaman's Journal-On the Trail with Lewis and Clark by Patti Reeder Eubank: I don't know if it is because we are were the Lewis and Clark trail ended but its a pretty big deal where I live. This is the story of the expedition from the view of Seaman-Lewis's Newfoundland.

8) Craig, Juiliana and Isabella Hatkoff books: The first book was Owen and Mzee. It is the true story of a baby hippo and tortoise over 100 years old. With the success of this book they kept writing about true animal stories. Some other favorites is Knut (all though since the book was written he unexpectedly died just this year), Winter's Tail (about a dolphin with a prosthetic tail, which a movie is being made about), and more.

9) Togo by Robert J. Blake: Many kids know the story of Balto from books and the Disney movie. Balto was the lead dog that brought the serum to Nome, Alaska that helped save the town from Diptheria in 1925. What most people don't know is that all though he ran the last 50 miles and crossed the finish line, a dog name Togo ran 350 miles to get the serum before passing it on to Balto. Togo gave so much of himself he could never mush again. It's a great story about sacrifice, persevering, and being a winner/hero doesn't always mean crossing the finish line-and getting all the glory.

 10) And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell: I have been hesitant to put this on so that I don't get angry comments, but I have to be true to myself- I love this story. It is the true story about two male penguins in a New York zoo who paired up and tried to hatch an egg of their own. When zookeepers observed this they gave the couple an egg (that would have been abandoned), and the same sex pair raised the chick together as a family. I find it fascinating this behavior observed in other animal species, besides humans. If homosexuality is something you have a problem with please just delete this suggestion on the top ten. I on the other hand find this story touching and remarkable.