Versatile Blog Award

Yay! My first blog award and from the coolest blogger I know: Relentlessly Fun, Deceptively Educational. I am one of the blogs she chose as a Versatile Blogger after she won the award. How I wish I could choose her as one of mine because she has so much creativity when it comes to supplementing education at home it is mind baffling. I love blogging and it feels great to be so supported.

To except the Versatile Blog Award I need to:
1) Link back to the blogger who nominated you
2) Share 7 things about myself
3) Nominate 15 other blogs for the award

Now on to step two: 7 things about me (this was hard because I am such an open book)
1) I love elephants. I am hopping to save up and volunteer at Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage in Sri Lanka.
2) I have been married for 10 years. It has been really rough the last couple of years but I am more certain than ever that we are meant to be together and I am confident a rewarding time is ahead of us.
3) I desperately wanted a little girl. I wanted to relive moments I had lost in my childhood like tea parties, dressing up like a princess, dollhouses, prom, pedicures, the whole thing. I am grieving that it isn't in the cards for me
4.) I loved school so much that I decided to never leave. Just kidding-sort of. I am a total school nerd. I love learning, knowledge, projects, research and everything. I am so excited about being a teacher it keeps me up at night.
5) I start my student teaching in January with 5th graders and will graduate this April.
6) I am not creative AT ALL. I never could pretend, even as a child (this makes it extremely difficult to do free play with my own kiddos). I am great at collaboration and working off an idea I see, but I could never come up with it on my own.
7) I shamelessly love YA books (Twilight, Hunger Games, books  by John Green). This has led me to also sometimes be caught reading watching shows on the CW. Shhhh-don't tell anyone!

And now to who I nominate: (Keep in mind obviously Relentlessy Fun would be my #1 choice but she has it)
1) Counting Coconuts: I love this blog so much. She has great ideas and was my first real exposure to making Montessori methods something to be excited about. She has been on maternity leave from her blog, and I can't wait for her to start blogging again.
 2)Toddler Approved: A great website with activities that are great for the little ones. Recently they have been doing activities on Llama Llama Red Pajama, one of my favorite books to read at bedtime. 
3)The Imagination Tree: I am a regular follower of her 5 A Day Books linkys. She does other great post as well.
4)Superheroes and Princesses: A great blog all around. She does amazing crafts and activities, and often links them back to picture books (which I love).
5)My Delicious Ambiguity: I love some of the sensory stuff she does for her child. I have so many ideas that I want to make for my kiddos based off of her website.
6)Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas: This is another website I frequent A LOT! She has tons of great ideas and I love her Sunday Showcase Linksy
7)Mama Pea Pod: This wonderful woman has such a fresh perspective on living life and parenting. She promotes outdoor play and I love to see the activities she puts out.
8) I Heart Crafty Things: Her blog lives up to her name-crafty! She has a plethora of good ideas.
9)Runde's Room: This is my favorite teachers blog. Perhaps it is because she teaches 5th grade (like what I want to do) but she has great stuff.
10)One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish: Her blog reminds me so much of mine. Just a mom planning activities for her two little ones and recording everything as she goes.
11)Ramblings from the Sunshine State: Lots of great projects and some cool party planning ideas.
12)Little Wonder Days: Crafts, Cooking, Montessori, and Muffin Tin Meals. I love it!!!
13)Helping Little Hands: A lot of great ideas for cooking and felt food (a new obsession of mine). Also a great proponent of children's books.
14)Fireflies and Jellybeans: A ton of great DIY ideas for crafty peeps.
15)Crafts-N-Things for Children: Another wonderful blog about fun crafts and activities to do with your kiddo. Truly a must visit with tons of ideas to keep you busy.

Winn-Dixie

When "A" started school this year he was handed a free copy of Because of Winn Dixie by Kate Dicamillo. It turns out his school has what is called an All School Read, where ever child gets the same book and a reading schedule. This way it encourages parents to read with children, all the children in the school have read the same book so book discussion can take place, and it creates an environment that supports literacy. I had never heard of an All School Read but I love the concept. When I saw what book it was I got even more excited. I love Kate Dicamillo. She is such a powerful writer but she kids still find her accessible. She wrote my favorite book of all time: The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane. Her books have nuggets of wisdom that really resonate with adults.

When I read aloud a big chapter book to my five year old I find it beneficial to stop every two chapters and recap. I normally ask some comprehension questions at this time to make sure it isn't above his understanding. I lucked out and found some great tri-fold questionnaire that goes along with the book at an elementary school. The tri-folds are full of graphic organizers and really utilize Bloom's Taxonomy type questions. If you are unfamiliar with Bloom's Taxonomy it is a tiered system educators use to increase levels of cognitive thinking. For example it goes from applying to analyzing to evaluating. You can find comprehension questions to ask for each tier and more explanation anywhere on the web.

At the end of the book we watched the movie. Mostly we just watch the movie and enjoy it, but sometimes I point out things by saying "Did this happen in the book?" When the movie is complete we made a Venn Diagram. This is something I started when we did our Lion, Witch, Wardrobe read aloud. "A" wisely said he liked the book better, but some of the funniest scenes in the movie where ones not in the book. "A" laughed so hard he fell off the couch when the goat head-butted the police car.

When we were all done we did a little creating (the highest tier of Blooms). I took a white paper plate and put some yellow accordian fold things on the side. My goal was for it to look like a large piece of candy. In the book Littmus Lozenges are talked about quite a deal. They are a candy created by a man who felt so much sadness in the world after the Civil War that he wanted to put something sweet into it. When he made the candy he put all of his sorrow into it. So when people eat the candy they taste the sweetness and sadness all at once. I had "A" decorate the plate with what his sweetness and sadness would be, making his own Littmus Lozenge.

Some of my favorite quotes from the book (all from Gloria Dump-LOVE that character)

"You know, my eyes ain't too good at all. I can't see nothing but the general shape of things, so I got to rely on my heart. Why don't you go on and tell me everything about yourself, so I can see you with my heart."

"You can't always judge people by the things they done. You got to judge them by what they are doing now."

And saving the best for last...

"There ain't no way you can hold on to something that wants to go, you understand? You can only love what you got while you got it."

Playing Card Addition/Subtraction

I am always trying to find easy, new ways to expose "A" to math. I was exploring The Lesson Plan Diva's blog and found a super simple idea picking two playing cards and using that for the numbers to add or subtract. She even has a free printable. Even though this was a relatively simple concept my son loved it. He didn't want to stop and he wrote different equations all over the paper. I guess this was a real winner we could do over and over again. In fact, he already asked me to print off another sheet.

Apple Dumplings-YUMMO!!!

At Or So She Says I found the most simple and delicious apple dumpling recipe ever. This will be a fall tradition from here on out-I am hooked! At the blog above she has a great tutorial with prettier pictures than mine, but I will give the simplified recipe.

The picture was an after thought so sorry it isn't very pretty

Step One:

2-Granny Smith Apples

2-Crescent Roll Dough ( I used Reduce Fat Pillsbury)

Put a peeled slice of apple in a crescent triangle and roll it up. Put the crescent rolls seem side down in a PAM sprayed pan/dish.

Step Two:

2 Sticks of Butter

1 1/2 Cup of Sugar (this is what she says but I think you could cut this in half)

1 tsp of vanilla

Melt sticks of butter and then stir in vanilla and sugar. Then pour over crescent rolls.

Step Three:

12 oz can of Mt. Dew (don't ask/just do)

Cinnamon

Pour Mt Dew over the crescent rolls with the butter on it. It will look gooey and gross, that is okay. Next sprinkle with cinnamon. Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes.

Step Four:

Vanilla Ice Cream

Let dumplings cool a bit, but serve warm with a scoop of ice cream on top. Prepare to be amazed!

5 A Day Books: Autumn

I love Autumn and everything that goes along with it. I have been finding and saving board books for when  October comes around. October is here!!! For the 5 A Day book challenge this week I finally get to introduce "B" to my favorite time of year. Hooray!

This weeks books:

Bright Baby Touch & Feel: Fall by Roger Priddy ("B" is really in to books with textures lately)

 

Trick or Treat, Calico! by Karma Wilson (a lift-the-flap book is another new favorite concept)

Five Little Pumpkins: this is the famous finger play to pictures. This was the 1st book my older son memorized at two.

 

Plumply, Dumply Pumpkin by Mary Serfozo

Spot's Harvest by Eric Hill

To read more about 5 A Day Books please read more about it at The Imagination Tree.

Halloween Sensory Bin

Well now that it is finally October I can start with the Halloween festivities. I love Halloween! It is so frivolous and fun. It's all about suspending belief and being a kiddo again. It has been awhile since I made a sensory bin for my 5 year old, and knew he would love this one. I used black beans and yellow lentils for the filler and then just found some stuff around the house and at Dollar Tree. Turned out pretty cute!

Halloween Bulletin Board

As many of you know I have been transitioning over from working in an elementary library to an elementary teacher. I thought I should show you my favorite October bulletin board I have made for some spooktacular books.

Overall view

The theme: Spooky Plots

Then in the graveyard plots is a picture of a cover of books with the plot of the book written underneath!