Mommy's Lessons

Craft Thursdays, Kindercrafts, Uncategorized

Rudolph with a Candy Cane

Posted on December 5, 2012December 5, 2012 by Mrs. Malo

With Day 5 the craft came before the book. I was scouring pinterest one night, procrastinating of course, and came across a cute reindeer craft that I thought would be a good ‘weeknight’ craft. I then went through our books to find a reindeer book. In my school box I found Rudolph Shines Again. I think it was from a scholastic package I got last Christmas.

The book is not is no award winner but it is cute. The illustrations are very well done (except for some reason Michael kept trying to find ‘the mouse’), and it is written entirely in rhyme. After Christmas Rudolph returns to be mocked by the other reindeer and this leaves him feeling very sorry for himself and his nose loses it’s shine.

After reading the book we got right down to the craft. You can get complete instructions by following the links here. I found all of the things we needed at Michael’s and in our craft bins. If you want to try it make sure you have very small pom poms for the nose. This was one of those crafts that is was great to have a stocked craft centre. I brought out the bin of misc. google eyes and bells and they picked their favourite. Grandma is a knitter so we raided her stash of wool. The only thing I really had to buy was the plastic candy canes.

This was a perfect craft for Eileen. Easy enough for her to do most of it herself and quick enough to keep her attention. Michael even was able to do some of the wrapping himself.

The finished result. They are super cute and all unique!

Books, Family Adventures

Christmas Carols

Posted on December 4, 2012December 4, 2012 by Mrs. Malo

Day 4 was all about Christmas carols. Last year we started a tradition where the kids gather around the piano and sing a Christmas carol while Daddy plays the piano, and Mommy tapes it as our Christmas message. This year we have decided to extend it a bit – both of the girls will play their Christmas pieces on the piano and then we will sing a carol. I picked up Curious George Christmas Carols to offer them some inspiration. Tonight we read through the book and sang a bit of each of the carols. The book also came with a CD so I have added it to my iPhone and showed them how to play the songs whenever they want.

And the winner is … Deck the Halls. Fortunately it was unanimous. Later this month, after lots of practice, we will record our message.

Books, Literacy Tuesdays

Merry Christmas Splat (& Seymour)

Posted on December 4, 2012December 4, 2012 by Mrs. Malo

Last night’s book was Merry Christmas Splat.

In the story Splat writes his letter to Santa and then worries that he has not been good enough. We used this as an opportunity to write our letters to Santa. You can find many different templates online for letters to Santa. I let the girls pick one out and printed 3 copies. We talked about what you write in a good Santa letter. Kaitlyn wrote hers independently, I wrote for Eileen as she dictated to me, and we tried to get something out of Michael (without too many suggestions).

I wanted to start something a bit different this year so I combined two ideas on interest. I picked up some large clear plastic Christmas balls at Michaels and each child put their handprint on a ball. I then wrote their name on the ball and the year 2012. If you are doing this make sure to use permanent marker or it will wipe off (my scrapbooking markers wiped off too easily). Next was the tricky part. I folded and rolled up a copy of their letters to Santa and put it in each of their balls. Of course we made a copy to mail to Santa as well. All that was left was to add some ribbon so we can hang them on the tree. I am having trouble getting a good picture of them so these will have to do for now. Once our tree is up I will try and take better pictures with them hanging on the tree.

Books, Literacy Tuesdays

A Hypochondriac Christmas

Posted on December 2, 2012 by Mrs. Malo

The Book for Day 2 was Scaredy Squirrel prepares for Christmas by Melanie Watt.

I was very excited to see that there is a Scaredy Squirrel christmas book so I had to pick it up. It is a bit advanced for Eileen and Michael but Kaitlyn loved it. It is quite a bit longer than the usual Scaredy Squirrel books so we didn’t read it all in one sitting.

It is divided into 8 ‘chapters’ and Chapter 1 is called “Christmas is Coming”. Scaredy has a list of 12 things to do do before Christmas so we decided to make our own list (well Kaitlyn did – the other two weren’t interested). She wanted boxes just like Scaredy’s list so I drew the lines for her but she did the rest herself. She did an awesome job!!

Books, Kindercrafts

24 Books of Christmas – Day 1

Posted on December 2, 2012December 2, 2012 by Mrs. Malo

Our 24 books of Christmas was such a hit last year that it has become a must-do for our family this year. This year I feel it is even more important because it make me stop and do something fun with my children every day. Since I have gone back to teaching full time and my kids have such busy schedules our life has become a bit chaotic. All of our books and activities are strategically planned and scheduled this year – with larger more time consuming crafts on slower evenings and weekends.

We of course started off the countdown with The Elf on the Shelf. When the kids woke up on December 1st it didn’t take them long to find that Frankie (our elf) had returned for the holiday season. To celebrate his return our actvities for the day were all elf based. We re-read the book (well Grandma actually read it to them because I had an eye infection and reading was challenging). I was searching for elf related crafts and ended up on the official Elf on the Shelf website. If you go to “North Pole” and “Reindeer Stables” you will find a number of elf crafts. I have also pinned them on my Pinterest Page.

We started with the Elf Clock. I wanted to start the season off with a craft that we would add to our collection and would come out every year. We took a trip to Michael’s Arts and Crafts where we found the Clock Movement Package. It didn’t call for a specific size but we used 3/8″. Grandpa also helped out by making us a box out of plywood. This makes it more durable and more sturdy for saving for future years. The girls started by painting it with red acrylic paint and colouring the elf template (we used pencil crayons, markers and silver glitter).

We gave Granpa the job of attaching the clock parts – I didn’t want to mess it up!

After it was all done it was the first item put on our mantel for the holiday season.

For fun we also made the Elf table. This was pretty easy, but I did all the gluing with the hot glue gun. The instructions are very clear but make sure you get large tongue depressors for the large stick and mini sticks (smaller than popsicle sticks) for the small sticks.

Our elf table took it’s place on the mantel beside the clock – maybe Frankie will decide to sit on it one day!!

Professional Development

Teaching in the Digital Age – Chapter 5

Posted on August 21, 2012 by Mrs. Malo

I keep thinking I want to finish reading “Teaching in the Digital Age” before I get too much into work for the fall but I just can’t seem to get motivated. I actually finished chapter 5 a month a go the first day we were at the cottage but then we had the week at the cottage, a couple day trips and a week a Disney. I am recovered for Disney and actually went in to the school to start setting up yesterday but still having motivation issues. I am going to a 2 day workshop starting tomorrow so hopefully that will help motivate me for the year.

VIDEOCONFERENCING

Personally I have had some experience with videoconferencing on both the personal and professional level. We are avid Skype users at home with my own kids. My husband often travels for work and it has been great for them to be able to communicate with Daddy. Michael is too young to understand the voice on the other end of the telephone but when he can see Daddy on the computer screen he gets very excited. My mother-in-law also lives very far away so Skype helps the kids keep in touch with her easily.

Before I became a Kindergarten teacher I was a teacher-librirain and member our our school board’s Elementary Teacher Librarian group. I helped found a elementary literacy festival that involved 3 different sites in the school board. The first year we attempted to connect all three sites through video conferencing. We had some technical issues but the attempt was solid.

The limiting factor with using videoconferencing in my classroom is the hardware and level of permissions. I love the idea and the possibilities but ideas explored in other chapters are more practical for me to put into place when school starts in 2 weeks. I would love to use videoconferencing to interview an expert, especially in our inquiry based classroom. I also LOVE the idea of skyping another kindergarten classroom. Last year we set up our own class twitter account and I hope to expand this year. We are planning on signing up for Kindergarten Around the World an this would be an amazing opportunity to make the experience more visual.

The first step will be to get a webcam for the classroom. I will add that to my wish list (which seems to be growing rather fast).

Family Adventures

My 5 Tips to Walt Disney World

Posted on August 21, 2012 by Mrs. Malo

We recently returned from an amazing family vacation at Walt Disney World and I wanted to share some of our experiences with readers so I put together my top 5 tips.

1. PHOTO PASS PLUS – Before we went friends had told us about the photo pass system and we had it the back of our minds that we would check it out and consider purchasing the CD after our trip. If you have never been to Disney World, there are Disney photographers everywhere – major attractions, dinners, character greetings and just about everywhere else. They will take your picture, scan your photo pass card and then you can view and order pictures online. Our very first morning we did a character breakfast, where our family picture was taken with Donald Duck. While we were eating they came around to see if we wanted the picture. It was a great family picture of all of us, a rare event, so we purchased it. The photographer then asked us if we were planning on purchasing the photo CD at the end of our trip and told us about Pboto Pass Plus. If we signed up for and purchased it we would get the CD with all our photos including all our dinner photos. You can see all the details here. We signed up at the photo centre at Animal Kingdom that day and I then wore the card (on a lanyard) around my neck all week. We had soooo many pictures taken without any worry. Often we would be watching a parade or show and a photographer would get those great candid shots of the kids. If they saw the lanyard around my neck they would just start snapping and then come up and scan it. When we went to our many character greetings they not only took the posed photos but many cool candids of the kids reactions, hugs and hi-fives. It cost us a bit but it is one of those extras totally worth it – you are at Disney anyway and it is only a small amount of what you will spend for the week. A definite must – especially if you do a lot of the character dinners.

2. CHARACTER DINNERS – In case you are unaware you want to book all your character dinners and any busy restaurants long in advance. We did 4 character dinners. On the first day we had breakfast with Donald and friends at Tusker House in Animal Kingdom. This was a great way to start our week. It is a buffet and very relaxed. Other than Donald, we saw Mickey, Daisy, and Goofy. The kids even did a parade, complete with musical instruments, with Daisy Duck. On our second day we had our first princess lunch at Akershus Castle (in the Norwegian Pavillion) at Epcot. We met Belle on the way in and then were visited by Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Cinderella, and Ariel. Lunch started with a traditional Norwegian appetizer buffet where we got to try some cool things, and then everyone got a main course off the menu. On Eileen’s birthday we dinned at Cinderella’s Castle, the hottest ticket at Disney world. Being inside the castle was very cool, the kids all recieved a wand or sword and the princesses visited but I think they preferred our lunch at Akershus. The castle lunch is more formal and for our young children it seemed a bit much at times. On our last night we went to Mickey’s Backyard BBQ for Michael’s birthday. This is definitely a must do event and made for young kids!!! There was a BBQ buffet with great food for parents and kids. The chef even brought me our some gluten free alternatives. The best part though is that the Disney characters acutally come out and dance with the kids!!! Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Chip and Dale were all there. My kids love to dance but often shy away in public. This was not the case at the BBQ – the girls were dancing up a storm with Minnie Mouse. There was a live country band and a show with cowboy tricks. My only tip would be there right at 6:00 so everyone can eat and have desert before the action begins – your kids won’t want to miss any of it!!

3. PLAN BUT DON’T OVER PLAN – For each day we had a list of things we wanted to do and they were prioritized. Often this was lead but the characters we wanted to see. For example I knew that Tinkerbell’s Magical Nook was always busy so we went there first thing in the morning, 15 minutes before it opened, and we were second in line. We were in and out before 9:30, and missed the 45 minute (minimum) line up. We made sure we were at Hollywood Studios when it opened so we could get Fast Passes for the Toy Story ride – they go REALLY fast. Planning is important but you also need to go with the flow. We planned our table service meals that needed reservations but our counter service meals we simply ate where and when we were hungry. Eileen is a ride junkie so often we would skip a show or a long line so she could go on Aladdin’s Magic Carpet one more time.

4. PACK FOR ALL WEATHER AND TEMPERAMENT – It rains at Disney …. everyday! Take ponchos and throw them in your bag or stroller. Some days it will be a nice 20 minute shower to cool you off and other days it will be a torental downpour for 3 hours. We were waiting in line to see Tiana one afternoon the heavens opened up. We thought we would wait it out but quickly realized it wasn’t stopping. We decided to abandon ship and head back to our cabin and have have a quiet movie night. Also make sure you take lots of water, juice and snacks for your kids. Waiting in a line is much easier with a juice box and cookie. Friends also lent us one of the fan spray bottles and we used it all the time. It seems like a strange thing but it really does help you cool off in the insane heat.

5. DISNEY IS THE MASTER OF CUSTOMER SERVICE – There is so much more I could say but the last thing has to be our dealings with the cast members of Disney. You hear about the amazing over the top work of Disney to make everything memorable but I didn’t think we would actually experience it ourselves. 10 minutes after arriving at Mickey’s Backyard BBQ Michael dislocated his elbow. This is not an unusual occurance in our family as both Eileen an Michael suffer from nursemaid’s elbow, but that does not make it any less worse when it happens at Disney World, and on his birthday. Almost instantly a cast member, who I later found out was a manager came up to see if he was O.K. We offered to call EMT and a few minutes later I agreed. Instantly everyone was awesome helping us out. Security and other staff helped us get organized, kept and eye on the girls (who were watching the show and had no idea anything was happening), called the ambulance, took Gord back to the cabin to get his wallet and insurance card, had them sent to the best children’s hospital in Orlando, gave Gord a card to call to get home, paid for his cab ride home, reimbursed us for the dinner even though the girls and I stayed, made sure the girls and I were OK and would have taken us to the hospital if we wanted, and 10 minutes after Gord and Michael got back they showed up with a bouquet of birthday balloons, a personalized birhthday card from Mickey Mouse and two Disney stuffies for Michael. WOW!! We made sure they knew how grateful we were when they called the next morning to check on Michael. They managed to turn what could have been a horrible and chaotic experience to a memorable one for all of us!!

BONUS TIP – Disney does an amazing job of making every kid (big or little) feel special but parents can help a bit too. Take something special for your kids to wear one day. It doesn’t need to be expensive – we took Princess Dresses from home for the girls to wear to Akershus and the princesses they were dressed up as made a huge deal when they visited them. We also did the Bibbidi Bobbi Boutique on Eileen’s birthday, which was an amazing experience for the girls, but you don’t need to go to those extermes. Wearing their dresses at Epcot almost made them feel more special because you don’t see as many girls dressed up as you do at Magic Kingdom and every cast member we saw made a big deal of it. The other thing we did that was a HUGE hit with every cast member – characters and all other staff – is that we made Michael a Flynn Rider costume to wear when we went for our big Princess day on Eileen’s birthday. It was simply a vest and satchel but we made sure he had a small crown and a copy of the wanted poster in his satchel. He was determined to show it to everyone – especially all the princesses. We got some amazing reactions and he loved every second of it!! Rapunzel thought it was awesome but for some reason Michael was smitten with Cinderella most of all. It was one of the things that made the day even more memorable.

There are so many other things I could share as this was an amazing trip for us but it is best you experience it yourself. We are very fortunate to be able to take our children many places but I am convinced that for a child there is no where on earth quite like Disney World, especially the Magic Kingdom. There is simply a sense in the air there of joy. I know it is commercial and build on a brand but it is something to be experienced. It fills you with a feeling like no other, and leaves you with memories forever!

Gardening with Kids, Preparing for Kindergarten, Professional Development

Teaching in the Digital Age – Chapter 4

Posted on July 19, 2012 by Mrs. Malo

Last night I finished chapter 4 in Teaching in the Digital Age and it was entitled: Use Audio Recordings to Capture Powerful Moments

I thought it would be appropriate to create a podcast with my reflections on chapter 4. I have used podcasts in the past but now have some more ideas on how I can effectively use audio recordings in a developmentally appropriate manner in my JK/SK class.

Audio Recordings in Kindergarten

It took me a bit to figure out how to add an audio file but I managed to get to work. Another new skill!

The linky for the Book blog party and a summary on chapter 4 can be found over at Teach Preschool.

I have been thinking for a year about setting up my listening centre and by the end of the year I had enough points on my scholastic account to purchase the traditional set up but now I think I am glad I didn’t. I think it would be a wiser decision to figure out a way to get an iPod touch into the class. It will be easier for students to use, take up less space, and be much more conducive for sharing audio recordings we make in class. Another item to add to my wish list!

Professional Development

Teaching in the Digital Age – Chapter 3

Posted on July 17, 2012 by Mrs. Malo

Rethinking Projectors

For me personally this chapter was not as insightful as the first two, but I still learned a few things. I am very fortunate to work at a school where technology is very important and subsequently funding is provided. By Christmas of last year every classroom in the school had their own Smart Board with the exception of our two Kindergarten rooms, however we had 2 on loan from the school board office. Our own Smart Boards with proper wall mounted projectors are currently on order and should be installed in the fall. With those we are each getting a netbook to hook up to the Smart Board, and we have wi-fi throughout the school. We also have had PD sessions where trainers have been brought in to teach us the technology and sessions where we share our uses with each other. In terms of other technologies I have my own playbook and mac book that I often take to school with me and it has been hinted that we may be getting tablets for use in the class sometime next year.

Some of the ideas I picked up from this chapter included:

using turn and talk to make sharing images a social experience
using images from books to inspire dramatic reenactments or discussion
demonstrate math concepts using manipulatives
students sharing their art and creations with the class

These are all things that I do with my class now without the projector but am now considering taking it to the projector to make the experience more social and give all students access to the visuals at the same time. I am thinking about all the time it will save not having to pass things around or all huddle around a small object. In our new ELK program there is a lot of inquiry learning but I feel the two main skills that students are working on developing are questioning and sharing. Questioning starts the inquiry and sharing expands it to include the rest of the class. The use of projectors keeps coming back to this but there is one main thing I and starting to think I need to get: A DOCUMENT CAMERA!

After finished the chapter I decided to question my #kinderchat network on their thoughts on document cameras. I got a very good and concise reply from Matt. I don’t want to retype all his great ideas but you should check out his blog. So now that I have decided we need a document camera I need to figure out which one will work best for us and put together a proposal for my principal.

Books, Cooking with the Kiddies

Little Book Adventure – Challenge #4: Inviting Pinkalicious to Dinner

Posted on July 16, 2012July 16, 2012 by Mrs. Malo

We started challenge #4 by discussing the idea of characters. I realized it is a difficult idea to explain without using the word character. We talked about that a character is the who the book is about but that ‘who’ doesn’t need to be a person – it could be an animal or a thing. I tried to use some simple examples such as the pigeon in Mo Willems Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus (example of an animal character), and Thomas the Train (example of a thing character). I sent Kaitlyn, Eileen and my niece Lyric to find a book with a character they all loved. The two younger girls really had no idea what they were doing, as I quickly realized when they both brought me ABC board books. Kaitlyn understood but was bringing me books she liked with more obscure characters. I went to her bookshelf with her to find some more well known characters that her sister and cousin might also like. First I suggested Curious George and was met with a look of disgust (not really sure why). When I pulled out Pinkalicious her eyes lit up. I quickly found Purplicious, and Goldilicious and rounded the girls up on the couch. We read each of the three books and then I explained their task to them. We were going to plan a dinner party and invite Pinkalicious to Dinner.

Now that they had picked the character it was time to get started. First Kaitlyn helped me pick the menu.

Don’t worry we didn’t eat mice for dinner – it is to read mousse. From this I found some recipes online and made a grocery list. My nieces were with is for a few days and they are vegetarian, which is why we had risotto for the main course. My kids LOVE risotto so I thought this was a good fit. There wasn’t too much for me to prepare. I had made coloured devilled eggs for Easter so this was pretty easy. All you do is soak the boiled egg whites in water with red food colouring for about 30 minutes before adding the yolks back in for devilled eggs. We found a pink brie recipe and pink risotto recipe online. We bought a mix for strawberry mousse at the grocery story along with pre-packaged raspberry lemonade. Not to much work but a successful, and kid friendly menu.

Before heading to the grocery store we decide to paint some pink pictures for the walls of the kitchen to decorate. This was inspired by the art class which Pinkalicious had in the book Purplicious. I got out the three paint palette trays I had picked up at the dollar store a few months ago and mixed red and white together to make a variety of shades of pink. I gave each of the girls a large piece of painting paper and let them create.

I love how Eileen has become so meticulous with her painting. She decided she would paint a cupcake and took her time and patience and it looks like a cupcake!

After we returned from the grocery story the girls set the table with Grandma while I worked on the food. We searched the house and pulled out everything pink we could find. I managed to find 8 small pink plastic plates along with cutlery from our Princess Tea Party last May. I also found some streamers and random balloons in the craft bin in the basement.

After that Kaitlyn quietly disappeared – and I didn’t realize how long she was gone unit she came back upstairs with her creation! She had decided that we needed a real Pinkalicious for our party so she made one! This was entirely her idea and it was AWESOME!

She also decided that Pinkalicious needed a proper invitation so she disappeared back downstairs to her craft centre and returned with an invitation.

Front of Invitation

Inside of Invitation

Everything was ready so the girls ran off to get dressed. They found the fanciest pink dresses they could in their closets. The table was set and Pinkalicious was waiting for her hosts!

Appetizers were ready to be enjoyed. Yes, I know the crackers are not pink – I could not find any pink crackers in the grocery store.

Our pink risotto!

Finishing off with some yummy pink mousse (not mouse).

It was a fun afternoon preparing and a fun dinner for everyone! Now I think I may just have to take the girls to see the Pinkalicious stage show before the summer is over!