The Mom I Want to Be

Wishful Thinking

When your child explores the concept of wishes, he explores self-awareness.

• The Fish Who Could Wish by John Bush
• Small cardboard box
• Paint, markers, or crayons
• Stamps and/or stickers
• Magazines for clipping

Talk about what it means to make a wish. Read a story such as The Fish Who Could Wish, by John Bush, and provide examples of things that children desire, such as a new toy, bicycle, or a special pet. What does your child wish for? Explain that sometimes it’s not just about wanting an object, but also about dreams and good outcomes. Wishing inspires hope. Ask your child to think of something that his heart desires and to write it down on a piece of paper. He can also draw a picture or dictate his words to you. Create a wish box. Decorate the cardboard box with representations of your child’s wish, using paint, markers, crayons, stamps, stickers (puffy ones add texture), and/or photos cut from magazines.. Hunt for special objects and invite your child to pretend they have magical powers. Capture his imagination by creating a story about the object (“Once upon a time, we found a magic rock in our playground … “).

Learning benefits:
• Enhances creativity
• Builds self-awareness
• Teaches vocabulary

Water

Enery Drink or Frappachino

Refreshing Wipes

Excedrin

Stain Removal Pen

Blistex

Fruit (apple, banana, pear)

Trail / Energy Mix

Muffin

Sucking Candy

Mints or Breath Spray

All wrapped up in a nice basket with a big bow.

Dramatic play is pretend or make believe play where children use objects and roles in imaginative and realistic ways.  Children think, speak, and act symbolically and in conjunction with others.  Each child takes cues from his partner in sociodramatic play and responds accordingly. It provides children with skills that will be used later in life. 

 

Benefits of Dramatic Play

 

Cognitive Development

              Learn to represent thought symbolically

              Focus attention and concentrate

              Acquire concepts

              Hypothesize, test and revise concepts

              Imagine Possibilities

              Use Divergent Thinking

              Problem Solve

              Discover mathematical and scientific concepts (classification, seriation and measurement)

              Understand economics

              Learn about adult roles and careers

              Think strategically

              Develop Sequential Memory

 

Social and Emotional Development

              Develop friendships

              Take turns, cooperate, and share

              Listen to others

              Share perspective of others

              Communicate appropriately

              Collaborate with peers

              Negotiate, renegotiate and resolve conflicts

              Adapt behavior to group goals

              Explore and express feelings

              Manage stress

              Cope with unrealizable desires

              Postpone gratification

              Respect themselves and others

 

Physical Development

              Fine and gross motor skills

              Balance

              Coordination

              Eye-hand coordination

              Flexibility

              Command of their bodies

              Perceptual motor development

              Spatial and distance awareness

              Physical competence and security

             

Language and Literacy Development

              Communicate meaning

              Practice conventional speech

              Develop narrative language

              Create a meaningful environment for the functional use of literacy

              Act out stories that enhance story sequence, story sense, and language use

              Use situation specific language

              Use oral and written language in realistic ways

              Use language for critical thinking and problem solving

              Use language to organize and structure activities

              Develop various forms of communication

              Increase vocabulary

 

Creativity

              Express originality in thinking

              Explore possibilities

              Add to and change environment in their own ways

              Think divergently, generating a variety of responses to different situations

              Use both divergent and convergent thinking in creative process

              Make connections between previous experiences

              Respond to stimuli in unique ways

              Explore and play with ideas

              Test and evaluate their skills

              Develop and experimental attitude

              Develop curiosity

 

Academic Success

              Enhance memory

              Score higher on tests of imagination and creativity

              Develop longer attention spans

              Cooperate with others

              Follow rules

              Represent objects and ideals symbolically (reading skill)

              Learn to concentrate

              Use symbol systems (math skill)

              Engage in problem solving

              Develop autonomy

              Become risk takers

              Practice decision making

              Think imaginatively

 1. Raising a Reader: Read aloud to your children every day.

Effective storybook reading is an interactive process.  If we wait until after reading to discuss the story, we are missing out on valuable literacy opportunities.  When you precede the reading by inviting predictions and personal connections, you are creating context for the reading.   Taking time to discuss and clarify difficult concepts during the reading can prevent misunderstanding further on, and encouraging your child to respond during the reading enhances both comprehension and interest in the story.  Pausing to confirm and revise predictions, ask questions, and make inferences lay the groundwork for independent reading. Your child will learn that understanding text is a process that occurs before, during, and after reading.

Before Reading

• Preview the book and practice reading it with fluency and expression.
• Plan an introduction—find links to personal experiences.
• Introduce the title, author, and illustrator.
• Introduce any information that may be necessary to facilitate understanding of the story.
• Set a purpose for listening to the story (e.g., “I wonder” statements, such as I wonder what the wolf wants to do with the pigs, provide us focus for listening).

During Reading

• Read fluently and expressively.
• Hold the books so your child can see the illustrations.
• Try to establish frequent eye contact with your child.
• Draw attention to the illustrations and features of the text.
• Pause occasionally to revisit predictions, express curiosity, or comment on something interesting.
• Invite your child to question and comment but keep it focused on the story.
• Explain words and ideas you think your child might not understand.

After Reading

• Allow time for discussion
• Encourage various levels of response with questions
• Make personal connections to the text (e.g. “What did this story remind you of?”).
• Retell the story or reread it to enhance comprehension.

2. Raising a Reader: Get a library card.

3. Raising a Reader: Take your children to the library once a week.

 4. Raising a Reader: Discuss children’s books with your children.

 5. Raising a Reader: Take your children to storytimes, author visits, and other public programs.

 6. Raising a Reader: Buy books that you know will interest your child.

7. Create a comfortable reading space for your child.

 8. Raising a Reader: Visit the Web sites of favorite authors and illustrators.

 9. Raising a Reader: Once a week, cook together using a children’s cookbook.

 10. Raising a Reader: Buy your children a good dictionary and use it regularly.

11. For the youngest children and pre-readers, start an alphabet collage book.

12. Create a Story Sack or two.

 

Just in time for Sesame Street’s big 40th anniversary, KOCH Records and Sesame Workshop are proud to present the Sesame Street: Old School – Volume 1 music collection, a collectible reissuing of three early Sesame Street albums. This new CD collection features three classic albums – “The Original Cast Record”, “Big Bird Sings”, and “Bert & Ernie Sing Along” – fully restored, remastered, and even featuring the original artwork. These titles have never before been available on CD and will come packaged together in a collectible “Old School” slip case.

 

“The Original Cast Album”, originally released in 1970, peaked at #23 on Billboard’s Top LP’s chart in 1970, and was certified Gold by the RIAA. It also won a Grammy Award for Best Recording for Children. “Big Bird Sings” was originally released in 1974. “Bert & Ernie Sing Along” was released in 1975 and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Recording for Children.

 

These CDs are sure to be a hit with collectors, fans, parents, and kids of all ages. This special music collection is planned for release from KOCH Records on November 10, 2009; and will be a perfect compainon to the collectible 40th anniversary book, the special 40th anniversary DVD set and the brand-new 40th annviersary season on PBS which are also planned to hit fans on November 10th (which is exactly 40 years, to the day, since Sesame Street premiered).

 

 

 

Sesame Workshop releases two brand-new books that take a loving look back at the incredible history of the world’s most famous street.

 

“Sesame Street: A Celebration of Forty Years of Life on the Street” by Louise Gikow is a 256-page hardcover book that gives an inside look at every aspect of Sesame Street – beginning with the initial idea for the the show and the creation of the pilot episode and moving through its evolution over four decades. The book will also provide an insider’s view on many of the delightful Muppet and human characters, as well as the writers, directors, producers, and all the other creative people involved in the legendary series. The book will include hundreds of rare photographs from the Sesame Workshop archives giving an historical look both in front of and behind the cameras. The book will also feature excerpts from scripts, plus original character sketches and show notes.

 

Another book that explores the history of Sesame Street:  “Street Gang: The Complete History of Sesame Street” by Michael Davis, will take an extensive look at the development, rise and enduring success of television’s most influential children’s show by capturing the oral history of the beloved show. For over five years, Davis conducted more than 200 in-depth interviews with Sesame Street’s key players in order to collect the definitive story of the show.

Hundreds of schools across the country celebrate reading by participating in National Young Readers Week each year. This is an annual event that was co-founded in 1989 by Pizza Hut® and the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress.

Set aside as a special day to recognize the joys and benefits of reading, schools recruited local “celebrities” to read aloud a favorite children’s book to their classrooms.  Local reading role model “celebrities” included local officials, sports figures, public safety officers, parents, and other guests from the public and private sector.

Reading is first.  What does this mean?  It means every subject in school flows from reading and children who read the most, read the best.  And, the only way to get better at reading is to do it.  Commit right now – today – to set aside time to read at home every day for at least 20 minutes.  Trust us…those 20 minutes are so worth it.

1 cup flour
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 1/2 T. cream of tartar
1/2 cup salt
1 T. canola oil
1 cup water from steaming beets

Combine all ingredients in a pot. Stir constantly over medium-high heat. When it forms a ball, cook for about 1 more minute until dough begins to firm.  Allow to cool, kneading every so often as it cools. Store in an airtight container.

This weeks open ended art project theme is “Matisse”.  It’s a new thing; Open Ended Art will feature a specific artist once a month.  We read “When Pig-Asso met Moo-Tisse” and “Drawing with Scissors” as well as checking out some Matisse art on the internet to get familiar with his work.

^^ THIS is how almost all of my progress shots came out this week.  Yay?

To get started, and show him a bit about the collage work, I first cut a bunch of “matisse inspired” shapes and let him do a collage with those. 

I realize that I am biased, but didn’t he do an amazing job?  I didn’t cut the pieces with any kind of picture in mind at all.  And here we have “Mommy Watches Two Baby Birds”.  I really love how this one came out.

After that, I handed over paper and scissors and asked him to make his own shapes for another collage work.

This are the *only* process shot that isn’t all screwed up, and you can’t see very much.  Sigh!  He cut a lot of long wavy strips, glued several together in bunches, and then attached the mini-collages to the paper.

 

I loved this project.

I started by telling her we were going to study Matisse, an artist, and that she was going to get to see his pictures on the computer.

I told her how he used to paint, but got sick and was confined to his bed. Since he couldn’t paint, he used his scissors to cut out his pictures.
I told her that Matisse liked bright, contrasting colors.

I then showed her a color wheel online and explained that colors opposite on the wheel are called contrasting or complimentary colors.
We looked at the various pairs of colors she could choose
and she chose violet and yellow.
We moved to her art table and I started cutting
organic shapes
for her, explaining that Matisse used lots of organic shapes in his collages and that organic meant that the shapes had lots of curves and few, if any, straight lines.

Then I cut some negative shapes and I explained about
negative and positive shapes.

Bear busied herself glueing the pieces where she wanted on her yellow paper.
She made one piece overlap, so we talked about what that word meant too.

She enjoyed the process so much that she wanted to do another.
We went back to the color wheel and this time she chose blue and orange as her complimentary colors.

This time, Bear became Matisse and cut some of her own shapes.
As she cut mostly rectangular pieces, I cut some organic shapes for her and I mentioned that now she would have contrast of shapes too – rectangular ones and organic ones.

Why this was a great project:
It was a fantastic vocabulary lesson.
Bear was able to tell me that a circle wasn’t organic and neither was a square.
She could point out the negative shapes and tell me they were the empty ones. Best of all, she was all excited to tell everyone she did a Matisse activity (she calls everything an “activity” these days!).