Deirdre, Author at JDaniel4s Mom

Deirdre Smith writes/owns JDaniel4’s Mom. After twenty years as a elementary school and technology resource teacher in Northern Virginia, she became a stay at home mom in upstate South Carolina. Her blog features ways she and her 5 year old are exploring learning, crafting, creating healthy meals and living life to its fullest. Deirdre can also be found on twitter as @jdaniel4smom and on her blog's FB page. You can also check her out on Google+.

Taking Time to Play- Little Moments

September 11, 2012 By Deirdre

You are going to love Little Moments. It is a blog is filled with wonderful mom moments, tons of love for a very special boys, and great ideas. I adore the post she is sharing here today. Why? I love that she plans activities for her oldest son like the one she shares in her post You Won’t Find Dinosaurs in Your Backyard.

I am very thankful to be guest posting for the Taking Time to Play series here at JDaniel4’s Mom. Before I share what we like to play I have to warn you…I am a plant killer. Aidan has eagerly shared many gardening experiences with me, mostly by decorating the front of our house with potted flowers and plants.

I soon forget them, grumbling when I see shriveled brown leaves as I try to will them back to life in a puddle of water. Every time I buy a new plant my husband laughs under his breath, “what did you bring home to kill this time?” Aidan is better at remembering to water plants than I am, yet I still continue to purchase them.

One year I bought 3 beautiful topiaries that lined a brick wall in front of our house. They were completely bare a couple of months later, so I drew scary faces on three white sheets and threw one over each of them just in time for Halloween…they’re coming back to haunt you, I thought to myself.

As much as I have grown to enjoy gardening, I haven’t taken the time to really understand the basics. I just found out from a guy at Lowes the other week that flowering plants do not do well in full shade…I’m sure he laughed about me after I left. Do you want to know what the really sad part is, aside from all the dead plants? Aidan’s favorite part of the hardware store is the gardening section. I’m not the best model for him when it comes to growing things, but we’re learning together, and it’s one of the ways we play together. Digging in the dirt, finding bugs and worms to inspect, enjoying the beautiful shades of green we arrange together. Aidan has learned basic math concepts while scooping dirt and measuring holes, the names of different plants and plant parts, and the three ingredients plants need to survive.

I am trying to develop some gardening skills for Aidan’s sake. My goal is to grow a couple of different vegetables this fall with him. For now we are playing with fake plants while I attempt to understand what I’m doing wrong. We are still enjoying the real stuff; the dirt, the water, and the sun. Even though the flowers are fake, the enjoyment of our play is real.

Hunting for a Way to Fight Hunger! Bloggers Go Orange!

September 10, 2012 By Deirdre

I think I have mentioned to you that I want JDaniel to grow up to be a world changer. Well, a wonderful movement afoot right now called Moms Fighting Hunger is giving both of us a chance to be world changers and fight hunger.

Moms Fighting Hunger is a group of mom bloggers that are remembering National Hunger Month during the month of September. Actually, they are not just remembering it, they are doing something about it. At the end of this post, I have several ways you can get involved and have your family fight hunger too.

What did we decide to do to fight hunger?

We went to one of our local grocery stores armed with a list of food our local food pantry needed in orange shirts. The campaign suggested we wear them and share why we were wearing them with others. I was able to share with two clerks at the grocery store about the campaign.

While at the grocery store, we searched for orange foods that were on their list. The food packaging was sometimes the only part of the products we found that were orange, but we thought it would count. The campaign didn’t suggest we look for orange foods I just thought it would be a fun look for food in the campaign’s color.

JDaniel found oatmeal in individual packets that were peaches and cream.

He found that Uncle Ben’s rice came in an orange container and decided we needed several of them. JDaniel also found peach applesauce, canned meat, ramen noodles, and canned fruit.

The box macaroni and cheese section had tons of orange boxes it was hard to decide which ones to put in the basket.

All in all, he found three grocery bags of food that we could take to the food pantry.

When we got to the Golden Strip Emergency Relief Center, we asked one of the volunteers to take a picture of us going into the building. Yes, it looks a little staged that is because it was.

I was shocked to see how empty the food pantry’s shelves were. This is just one of four shelving units they have. The others looked very similar to this.

I think we are going to go back each month and drop off food. We will probably continue to shop with a color theme. Next month I think we will look for red foods.

Why? I count myself blessed that when my child is hungry I can put a meal on the table for him filled with healthy foods like chicken salad with mandarin oranges, mac and cheese, carrots and whole grain cheese crackers.

If you feel blessed to be able to do the same and want to become more involved, please visit the Moms Fighting Hunger Facebook group. You will find all the information you need to help there.

Bad Kitty (An Alphabet Book)- Read.Explore.Learn.

September 7, 2012 By Deirdre

This week we explored Bad Kitty by Nick Bruel. Bad Kitty really likes to eat foods that are bad for her like chicken cheesecake, jellyfish jelly and nightingale nuggets. When shhe isn’t served what he likes, he does really bad things like overturn her cat box.She really doesn’t want mushrooms, xigua or vegetable stew.

Bad Kitty (An Alphabet Book)- Read.Explore.Learn.

Bad Kitty takes you through words from A to Z. Four times in this humorous book. Once when the good foods are shared. The second time when what bad things Bad Kitty does are shared. Thirdly when the bad foods are pictures and lastly when the kitty does good things to thank her people for the bad food.

What did we do with the book Bad Kitty?

Cat Whisker’s Counting Game

This cat game is a little like the starfish game we played a few weeks ago. JDaniel and I both had a cat who really needed whiskers and toe claws. We rolled a die to see how many we got to add each time it was our turn.

I tried to keep my cat symmetrical and someone else didn’t. The goal was to give the cat a total of twenty. I think we both saw the number twenty differently.

Hungry Cat Kitchen Search

JDaniel and I both had a cat game board. When it was our turn, we pulled a letter out of a bowl. Then we had to find something in the kitchen that started with that letter for the cat to eat. If we found one, we got to move our cat up a square on the game strip.

Remember Bad Kitty liked to eat odd foods and household items. He did in our game too.

More Book Extension Activities

Brown Bear, Brown Bear Mask

Zombie Goldfish Optical Illusion Activity

The Very Caterpillar Activities

Disclaimer: I was sent the book Bad Kitty and an audio cd of the book to review. All information and opinions about the book are my own.

Particularly Loves Microorganisms Lunch for Kids

September 5, 2012 By Deirdre

On the first day of school I stopped by and picked up lunch at McDonald’s to have with JDaniel and my husband. Yes, my husband came home for lunch on the first day. He might have otherwise, but he wanted to check out the work of the men power washing our house.

When we got home JDaniel was so upset, he didn’t want McDonald’s for lunch! “I was supposed to get a muffin tin lunch!” he declared. We hadn’t talked about having a muffin tin lunch this year on the first day, but we did have one last year and I guess he thought it had become a tradition. ( Love to make come up with lunch for kids ideas so I didn’t mind.

“What kind of muffin tin lunch were you expecting ?” I asked him.

“It should have been a microorganism lunch! You know I love them!” he stated.

Well, I do know that he loves microorganisms. He discovered a book about them in the juvenile non-fiction section of the library and he had to have me read it to him. I kind of wish I had kept him in the children’s fiction departments instead of bringing him over to section that would introduce him to lice, bed bugs, and all their relatives.

We have been picture walking through books on this subject all summer. I read mostly the captions that are under the pictures of these interesting creatures. The text about them is very detailed ( JDaniel says that it is boring if there are too many words in a book.) and nightmare causing. (JDaniel thought his bed was covered with them in the middle of one night this summer. He was probably right, but I didn’t tell him that.)

He talks endlessly about microorganisms with anyone who will listen. Most his friends just shake their heads when he starts spouting the details about these tiny creatures. Adults are so impressed he knows about such a unique topic.

Last week we went to a baseball game with my husband’s division at work. My husband’s boss asked him what he wants to be when he grows up. JDaniel told him he wanted to be a microbiologist. Later my husband’s boss commented that it sounds like the times have changed since kids wanted to be firemen and policemen. I think there are still a lot of kids that want to be those things just not my guy.

On JDaniel’s second day of school he came home to a microorganism lunch. This lunch really could have used a microscope instead magnifying glass, but I couldn’t figure out how to make one. Thankfully he was very pleased.

Making This Lunch for Kids

The most microorganisms are really Halloween shapes cut out with cookie cutters from cheese and honeydew. I think they create wonderful creatures for this lunch for kids along with microscopic peas in mac and cheese and granola bits in cinnamon flavored applesauce. Oh! There is shredded turkey too.

Particularly Loves Microorganisms Lunch for Kids

This post is linked to Alphabe Thursday on Mrs. Matlock.

What is one of your favorite lunch for kids ideas?

Taking Time to Play- Creative Playhouse

September 4, 2012 By Deirdre

Please stop by Creative Playhouse after reading this wonderful post and browse through her posts. I love the post on spray painting leaves. The fall would be a perfect time to try this wonderful idea at home.

I’m really happy able to be a part of this guest post series. Its been great to reflect on the time we spend playing together and how that benefits us as a family.

Creative Play House Taking Time to Play

I’ve always tried to take lots of time to play with Jake (2.5 years old); letting him lead the way but always there to interact, assist (if he needs me to), and play along. Since Jake’s baby sister, Poppy, was born 6 months ago I’ve made even more of an effort to set aside time to play with him, but Jake has also been a little frustrated that he hasn’t been able to play with Poppy. He’s just lovely with her, giving kisses and cuddles, stroking her head, and passing her toys, but up until now she obviously doesn’t really play back or interact very much.

Now Poppy is sitting up and holding things and is starting to clear and so joyfully interact with Jake it’s fun setting up ways for them to actually play together. I was excited to receive 2 big bags of play balls for free; a kind lady in my community was giving them away. I turned our pop-up tent upside down and filled it with the balls and we have our very own ball pool in our play area.

Ball pools are great for all ages; its big sensory play, and lots of opportunities to explore shape, colors, movement, and physical sensations. And they’re just loads of fun!

Jake jumped in first and loved it, of course! When he was done I popped Poppy in, she was so mesmerized by all the balls.

Jake was excited to see that she could play in the same way that he did. He passed her balls and she grinned, he giggled, then she giggled; it was very cute to watch! They both went in together too, but I was too busy supervising to be able to take a picture.

They both loved it; Jake could jiggle Poppy around as he moved the balls, and they interacted a lot. There aren’t many activities a 6-month-old and a 2.5-year-old boy can safely enjoy together but this was fantastic, and I hope they start lots more playing together!

Katherine has a background in special education, and early years childcare, and has a BA and MA in the creative and performing arts. She blogs at Creative Playhouse about her children’s activities and interests, manages and writes a collaborative parenting blog, Mummyology, runs an online community of Mums in Jersey and a retail site Cherishable, and is a stay-at-home mum to Jake (2.5) and Poppy (6 months).

The Gingerbread Man Loose in School- Read.Explore.Learn

August 31, 2012 By Deirdre

Today is one of my two places at once days. The amazing Shell of Things I Can’t Say invited me to come and share something that is on my heart on Her blog. To say that I was thrilled to be asked doesn’t full explain how I felt.

Shell is a big blogger with her feet on the ground. Her blog posts are filled with heart, humor, and love. While I was just content to be a her friend, I am over the moon about sharing my words in her world.

If you get a chance, please stop by and read them.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

This week I am going to share a wonderful children’s book called The Gingerbread Man Loose in School by Laura Murray.

The Gingerbread Man Loose in School- Read.Explore.Learn

This wonderful tale of the gingerbread man searching his school for his class is such fun. He wanders the hall looking for them and gets to meet various school employees and see where they work. The school nurse, coach, principal, and art teacher are all visited.

Finally the gingerbread man finds them and finds that they were look for him.

This books is presented in a comic book style. There are multiple areas of text and illustrations on the page. JDaniel didn’t have trouble following this story though.

What did we do with the book The Gingerbread Man Loose in School?

Gingerbread Man Snack

A gingerbread man cookie cutter filled with bran cereal and a few items to decorate him with was JDaniel’s afternoon snack on his first day of school.

The raisins taken out of the bran cereal, a few candy corns, and a couple grapes were the decoration options.

JDaniel loved each and every item in this snack. He did not feel like creating a gingerbread man with the decorations though. He did inhaled all of the food. A few stray bran flakes were left on the floor, but that is all.

Reviewing Body Sections Game

JDaniel and I sat down to review four sections of the body using word/picture cards, a sandpaper gingerbread man, and some items to decorate with with.

I sounded out the words on each card after he told me what body part was pictured. When we had reviewed each card a few times and he had found that section on his body, he had decorated that section.

Here are some of my favorite Posts from last week’s Read.Explore. Learn. link up:

The Gingerbread Man Loose in School- Read.Explore.Learn and Viking Ships

Academy at Thousand Oaks linked up this amazing Viking boat after reading books on Vikings. JDaniel saw this boat and said, “Wow!”

This amazing Great Wall of China was created as a way to explore books Teach Beside Me had read on China with her children.

have you explored children’s books this week?

Pretend Play Open Air Cooking Playdough Cookies

August 30, 2012 By Deirdre

When children pretend, they’re using their imaginations to move beyond the bounds of reality. A stick can be a magic wand. A sock can be a puppet. A small child can be a superhero.

Fred Rogers

Pretend Play Open Air Cooking Playdough Cookies

There are times when I put out craft or learning materials and I just move to the side of the kitchen and watch JDaniel and his friends play. JDaniel and the little boy next door came up with this wonderful pretend play activity all on their own using just few items that have been left on the kitchen table or were available in the kitchen. It was such a joy to watch.

How did the pretend play unfold?

I put out homemade purple playdough, cookie cutters, cooking utensils and a cutting board for JDaniel and the boy next door to play with on the kitchen table.

The little boy next door came up with idea of making cookies with a happy face spoon. JDaniel decided they need to be baked in the oven before they could be eaten.

One boy decided that a child size chair would be a perfect open air oven. The other boy decided that the cookies needed a plate to be baked on. I don’t remember which boy decided on which idea.

JDaniel announced he had fire to bake the cookies with and took his Olympic torch off the refrigerator. I stepped in to provide the tape for the fire.

Both boys had to check and recheck the cookies to make sure they weren’t going to burn.

The boy next door decided when it was time to flip the cookies. I wasn’t aware that cookies need to be flipped. Maybe if you cook them under an open flame they have to be flipped.

After checking them over and over again, they are finally ready to be served. It was determined that I was the official cookie tester.I had to admit to the two chefs after taking a few virtual nibbles on the cookies that purple happy face cookies are really delicious.

The key to their delicious flavor was to hold them a few inches from my mouth and pretend that the scent they were giving off is chocolate chips. In reality I knew they really smelled like playdough, but this activity was all about pretending and so I pretended they smelled wonderful. What wonderful pretend play moments are happening at your house or have in the past? This post is linked to Mrs. Matlock’s Alphabe Thursday.

Back to School Traditions- His Return to School

August 29, 2012 By Deirdre

This year he was a little nervous about going in and he asked if he could wait until next time to go all the way in. He just couldn’t help it walking away from me though. His new classroom is decorated in a puppy dog theme and he just had to head in and look them all over again.

Back to School Traditions- His Return to School

We went to the Back to School Open House and met his wonderful teachers last Friday. They are going to keep him hopping. Both are no nonsense very loving ladies who are super organized. They even gave us homework to do over the weekend. I had paperwork to fill out on his interests and fears. JDaniel had to decorate a poster board dog with his favorite things. JDaniel is one of three Daniel’s in his class. In school he is known as Daniel so, he has been a little worried that he won’t know which Daniel the teachers are talking too. When we came home from the open house, I had a special lunch for him featuring his preschool’s mascot. He announced that it was very cute, but that it shouldn’t have prunes on it. “Prunes don’t do good things to me,” he said. He is very happy about being in school so he can see new friend and make new ones. We had trouble keeping up with some of his old friends over the summer. Everyone’s summer was filled with trip, camps, and swimming lessons.

I am really excited for him. He has been so excited about learning sight words this summer and starting to write. Jdaniel is going to really bloom this year in school. I can just feel his learning roots growing.While I am excited about the time he is going to be at school learning, playing and making new friends, I wasn’t ready to send to school for five days. Many of his friends from last year are in five day class. JDaniel will just be going for three. I am so glad my husband and both agreed this was best for all of us.I so love being with him and know I will be enjoying this final year with him. It has felt like we have flown through this chapter of our lives together. The Being Home chapter has only a few more pages left in it. Those pages will be truly cherished and some may be tear stained.Next year he will go to school for five days and hopefully I will be teaching school five days. I will be using some of the time he is school this year to update my resume and take some teaching courses.His teachers asked what I am hoping for this year. Well, here is my answer. I am looking into this new school year with great expectations of his learning new things, growing new friendships, and making memories to carry with him.More Back to School Tradition Posts:Back to School Traditions Link Up

Back to School Traditions Link Up 2013

The Awful Aardvarks Shop for School- Read.Explore.Learn

August 24, 2012 By Deirdre

This post contains affiliate links.

This week I am going to share a wonderful children’s book called The Awful Aardvarks Shop for School by Reeve Lindbergh. It is filled with fun and terrible destruction of mall displays.

The Awful Aardvarks Shop for School- Read.Explore.Learn

The aardvarks head to the mall to search for the items on their back to school list and can’t help break every rule in the mall etiquette book.

They run. They pull things off the shelves. They play with the toys and don’t put them back on the shelves. They stress out the shopkeepers.

The book isn’t just filled with terrorizing the mall. By the end of the book with the help of a bagel boy employee tells them to clean up. Guess what they do! They really do.

I am not advocating tearing up the mall, but I love the humor in the book and I love the idea of cleaning up messes.

What did we do with the book The Awful Aardvarks Shop for School?

Aarvark Tracking Activity

A simple tracking practice folder can be made by drawing straight dotted lines and connecting them with straight line ramps.

Children can practice the tracking movement they will use in reading using the simple tracking folder. I added a cutout of an aardvark for JDaniel to push along as he practice tracking.

Clothes Pin Spelling Practice

ABCs of Exploring Books with Children: R-Z

A simple picture of an object with its name placed beneath it can lead part of a very simple spelling activity. The only other thing you will need are clothes pins with the letters of the word written on them.

A child can simply clich the clothes pin with a letter underneath the letter it matches.

Here are some of my favorite Posts from last week’s Read.Explore. Learn. link up:

Biting the Hand That Feeds Me has an amazing tribute lunch to the book The Pigeon Find a Hot Dog that I am in awe of.

3 Dinosaurs created an amazing craft based on Kevin Henkes’ book birds that I really loved.

How have you been exploring books this week?

This Year’s School Supplies List- More Than Crayons and Glue

August 23, 2012 By Deirdre

This Year's Supply List- More Than Crayons and Glue

When I first started teaching decades ago, the school supplies list had maybe ten times on it. Most of the items lived in the student’s deck. A box of quart size zip lock bags and a box of tissues were collected and used by the class as needed.

With budget cutbacks due to a tough economy school supply lists seem to have gotten longer and they no longer contain just the items a student will keep in their desks. Many of the items are for the teacher and classroom.

JDaniel’s preschool class list includes things like Clorox wipes, thin washable whiteboard markers, cardstock, and baby wipes. These items for the whole class and I totally understand they are needed.

Another trend that I have noticed is the listing of very specific items and brands. I get that there is a reason for that. There really are some brands of crayons that I favor over others and I always loved when a particular brand of tissues was sent in. Sometimes it can be hard to find them though.

JDaniel’s school supplies list contained mostly brand specific items. As I mentioned some of them I understand. Some seemed like a personal preference. Given that they were the teacher’s preference I bought them. I know teachers deserve the best.I bought everything on the list. It took me visits to two store to find the right items with the right brand names. Thankfully some of the items were on sale. I did search briefly for coupons and price matches for the remaining items, but wasn’t able to find any.

While at Walmart searching for a specific type of marker with the help of a Walmart clerk, I showed her my list and asked her if she had seen any of these on items on sale. She commented that she hadn’t even seen price matches for them in the paper.

“You are probably one of those handful of parents that will buy all those items in the brands they are asked for. You are blessed to be able to afford to,” she pointed out. She also mentioned that she had been blessed to be able to afford the supplies on her list too.

Many of you have been rushing around to find the school supplies on your children’s lists. Your list was probably not as specific. Many of my friend’s children’s list weren’t either although. I bet there may be some of you that do have this kind of list.

When I asked some of you on Facebook about this issue of growing supply list and my list in general, I got wonderful responses. Many pointed out the schools need the supplies and if we can afford them we should give all that we can. Others shared how expensive the school supplies were getting. Still others pointed out that what I spent for school supplies isn’t anything compared to what they are having to spend.

I thought I had spent a lot. Last year I spent around $30 for JDaniel’s K3 school supplies. This year due to my not doing a great job of searching more than two stores and not having coupons the cost of supplies was $50. I still have to buy his handwriting book so the total will go up.

My cost isn’t typical of what my friends have spent. Several friends have children that go to a school that just asks parents to sent in $25 for supplies. What do you think about this? Has your school supply request list grown longer and longer?

Did you have any unique supply items on your list?