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JDaniel4s Mom

growing & learning with him

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+.

Read.Explore.Learn- Bunnies

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Welcome to Read. Explore. Learn! This meme was designed to be a place for you to share the learning opportunities, crafts, field trips, and other activities you have done this week that tie-in to children’s books. I look forward to seeing the ways you have learned with and explored books.

Steps:

  • Link your activity below.

  • Please place the Read.Explore.Learn. badge on your post or create a link back to this meme.

    Read.Explore.Learn badge

 

  • Please try to visit at least three of the other people that have placed links below and leave a comment. I will visit each of you and leave a kind comment.
  • If you are not linking up an activity and are just visiting, please try to stop by a few of the links below.
My Book Tie-Ins of the Week:

 

 

Suki The Very Loud Bunny by Carmela and Steven D’Amico is a tale about a rabbit that lives outside the box. Suki is loud and full of adventure. She wakes up early each morning and greets the world around her with ear-splitting cries of “Good Morning”. She wants to look beyond her home to visit the wide world. When she does, she gets lost and has to use her loud voice to call for her mother.
Suki learns lessons as she explores the world that changes her life, but not her personality.
Little Bunny in Little Bunny’s Sleepless Night finds he wants to explore the world beyond his own too. He is lonely sleeping in his house all by himself. Little Bunny decides sleeping at a friend’s house would be better. He tries owl’s house. Owl stays awake reading at night. He tries skunk’s house. Skunk forgets he is there and sprays him when he gets scared at night. Each of his friend’s houses isn’t right for him. Finally, he realizes that home is where he needs to be after all.

 

What did we do?

Building Structures and Roads with Cardboard

JDaniel asked me to cut cardboard rectangles out from some cardboard for a project. He hadn’t decided on the project, but he wanted to do one.
I showed him how to build a lean-to with the rectangles and he had fun building one for his bunny.

 

We later used the rectangles to create a cardboard road for his bunny to practice doing the Bunny Hop down on his way home.

 

We had a great time with the cardboard. It will be fun to take it out later and see what JDaniel will create with it.

 

What bunny books have you read to your children?

 This post is linked to Feed Me Books Friday, Link and Learn,  We Play and It’s Play Time.

Bunny-Ful Gifts for My Prince

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While Prince William and Catherine may not like receiving the gifts pictured below from their wedding guests, JDaniel loved receiving them from the Easter bunny.
Moving from right to left the gifts were as follows:
  • An entertaining film on taking care of the Earth called Curious George Goes Green.

  • A machine crafted sculpture crafted from chocolate commonly called a chocolate rabbit.

  • A deviled egg holder in the shape of an English hare containing  twelve colorful orbs filled with organic treats.

  • Two pieces of literature for the Easter Bunny to read when he relaxes and puts up his rabbit feet for a moment after multiple stops at others homes prior to dropping off non-regal treats at our house.

  • A plate that used to contain a slice of carrot cake with cream cheese icing before the Easter Bunny savored the treat we put out for him. It now contains only small crumbs.

  • A furry doorman who was charged with greeting the Easter Bunny while our family was asleep last Saturday night. Apparently the doorman savored carrot cake too. He was found to have crumbs in his whiskers.
This post is linked to

Bunnies Rescuing a Giraffe and Old Movies

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 Rescue Bunnies by Doreen Cronin and Scott Menchin is JDaniel’s new favorite book. It is about a Newbie bunny and her field test to become a rescue bunny. Newbie and her team are sent out to save a giraffe that has become stuck in the mud in hyena country and desperately needs help. Due to the fact that the bunnies are going to hyena country, Newbie is told that they may have a code red situation. In a code red it is time to evacuate and leave the giraffe behind.
You can probably guess what happens. Yes, they issue a code red, but Newbie won’t leave the giraffe behind. She ties herself to the giraffe and the other bunnies have no choice, but to save both of them.
Throughout the story various rescue bunnies utter lines from old movies. I thought it would be fun to see if you recognized any of these old movie lines.
Please list the lines and the movies that you remember in your comment. I will list the answers on Saturday.

 

Here we go:
1.“I am serious…and don’t call me Shirley.”

2.“You can’t handle the truth!”

3.“Nothing is going to hurt you tonight. Not on my watch.”

4.“You had me at hello.”

5.“Snap out of it.”

6.“I’m King of the World”

7.“Here’s looking at you,kid.”

Do you remember any of these?

 

 

Today is “B” day on Mrs. Matlock’s Alphabe Thursday.

 

 

Pause Life for a Moment- Slowing Down to Clean Up

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Pause Life for a Moment

When I get in a rush to move on to something else and JDaniel has toys all over the floor, I start “helping” him clean them up.
He has totally picked up on this and has started to move on to the something else leaving me to clean up.
This tends to make me frustrated as he plays somewhere else in the room or heads to his room.
I usually bring him back to the room and encourage him to help me clean up. JDaniel does help, but very slowly.
Yesterday while I was on the phone, he dumped Legos all over the floor and couches minus its cushions. The cushions had been spread on the floor to create a walking path I was informed when I came into access the situation.

I sat myself on the floor beside the empty Lego container and asked him to help. He rose to leave the room and I informed him it was lunch time. If he would like to help with lunch, he would need to clean up.
JDaniel slowly picked up two or three Legos and put them in their container so, I picked up two or three. He picked up a few more and I picked up a few more. Lego after Lego I mimicked his movements.
He realized in very little time that if he picked up ten Legos I would pick up ten. The Legos were picked up in no time.
I slowly got up and mentioned that if he could take care of the cushions I would make a surprise lunch. He jumped to his feet and started placing them on the couch and love seat.
By the time I got the kitchen he called me back. I found him standing in the middle of the living room with all the cushions put away.
“Ta-da!” he announced.
I am so paused for a moment yesterday it gave him a successful moment we could be excited about.
There are days I need to help move things along. Yesterday I am glad I took it slow.
Pausing to let him clean up instead of my jumping in and look what happened! Ta-Da!

 

Muffin Tin Monday- Hopping You Had a Wonderful Easter

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I hope you had a wonderful Easter. Today’s tin hoppingly filled with bunnies. JDaniel had bunny cheese toast along with turkey, mango, banana slices and pickles on bunny picks. Half of a dyed egg also made it into this tin.

The picks came from a game the Muffin Tin Mom mentioned was available at Dollar Tree. We have never tried picks before and JDaniel really enjoyed them.

I had hoped to use the picks to convince JDaniel to eat turkey sandwich meat again. He has had turkey sandwiches for lunch for months and loved them. He has decided turkey is not good. He has decied most meat is not good. JDaniel has alwasy been a hearty eater of almost everything I give him. I hope this is just a stage.

Did your children go through a stage where they stopped liking certain foods?

 

Tissue Box Challenge Winners!

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Each of the entries in the Tissue Box Challenge was truly wonderful. I am so glad that The Activity Mom  and I didn’t have to make the choice.

We left making the choice of winner up to the amazing Maggie of Red Ted Art.

She wrote this in a note to us today:

My is it HARD to choose…. But so cool to see all the ideas!

The first prize winner is the The Three Pigs by My Oatmeal Kisses. They have won a learning kit for Time for Tots

Maggie shared that she liked  how they saw a house in the “tissue box” – they propped it up and hey presto you have a basic house. She also loved it when you make nursery rhymes or stories real by creating a craft around it. I can just  imagine my children playing with this and putting on a “show”.
Wonderful. (and of course, I am rather partial to the Loo Roll piggies too).

The second prize winner is  The Earth Day Bird by Creativity My Passion. They have won a set of three paper back books from Tiger Tales Books.

Maggie shared that she loved how they saw the nice print on the box and converted into something wonderful – i.e. you couldn’t have made it with an ordinary box… and it is a wonderful way to look at something ordinary and see some extraordinary in it! They used the pattern and part of the box to form the new bird. It is like a Pheonix rising from the ashes.

The winner of the third prize is Sensory Box by Two Bears Farm. She will be receiving a set of board books from Tiger Tales.

Maggie shared that there were two “mystery boxes” submitted, and of course both ideas were fabulous. It was really hard to choose one over the other. But I went for this one in the end, as I thought it was fun to have the 3 different boxes to put your hands into. It is nicely decorated and the little curtain is great. I can just imagine the “excitement” of  having a feel and reminds me of science days at the museum when I was
little.

Honorary Mentions

The other sensory box by My Montessori Moments

Painting with tissues boxes by Teach Preschool.
Maggie thought it was a great way for exploring art – colours and textures. It was so bright and colourful!

Rocket by Baby Brainstorm.
Maggie love it  because it combined a fabulous set of recycled materials and looks brilliant!

We want to thank all who entered for sharing their super creations with us!

 

Happy Easter!

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JDaniel and I created this tissue box flower box and flowers for our Easter table. We had such an enjoyable time gluing the center on the flowers and displaying them on and around the box.

 

I hope that wherever you are breaking bread and rejoicing in Christ’s resurrection this year that you are surrounded by joy and peace.

 

If that is not where you are, I hope that you will find the joy and peace you seek in the coming year!

 
 

Read.Explore.Learn.- True Meaning of Easter

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Welcome to Read. Explore. Learn! This meme was designed to be a place for you to share the learning opportunities, crafts, field trips, and other activities you have done this week that tie-in to children’s books. I look forward to seeing the ways you have learned with and explored books.

Steps:

  • Link your activity below.
  • Please try to visit at least three of the other people that have placed links below and leave a comment. I will visit each of you and leave a kind comment.
  • If you are not linking up an activity and are just visiting, please try to stop by a few of the links below.
My Book Tie-Ins of the Week:
What Is Easter?: Adams, Michelle Medlock: 9780824918781: Amazon ...
We read the Thanksgiving version of this book and loved it. What is Easter? is the  Easter version. It covers all things that Easter isn’t and then explains what Easter is really about. I wish that it would cover what it is first, but I still really enjoyed sharing this book with JDaniel. The traditions in what it isn’t part were fun to talk about and share.
I really liked The Easter Story. It explains Easter is an easy to understand way. It skips the crucifixion and some of the other scary events leading up to Christ’s death for which I am grateful. JDaniel would have been very upset about them. While he will hear about them when he gets older, I am glad he didn’t have to see or hear about them in this book. The Easter Story does cover events leading up to and following Christ’s death that JDaniel could understand and learn from.

 

What did we do?
Tissue Box Art

 

I couldn’t co-host a Tissue Box Challenge without creating something with a tissue box this week. I cut out the pieces and JDaniel helped with the gluing of the bunny below.

 

Jelly Bean Egg Rocks

 

I found a wonderful little book on 1+1+1=1 called The Jelly Bean Prayer. It describes a specific color on each page and how it symbolizes something God has created or done. Yellow is for the sun, black is for our sin, and red is for Christ’s blood and so on. We explored rocks I decorated to represent the jelly beans in the book.

 

 

What have you been doing with your children to get ready for Easter?

 

Better Than Aladdin’s Wishes

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One evening as the day drew to an end a mother sat with her son on his bed telling him an ancient tale about a boy named Aladdin.

“Aladdin,” she said to him, “was a young boy who was sent to search for a magic lamp in a dark and eerie cave. Once he found the lamp he realized that the man who had taken him to the cave was going to take the lovely jeweled lamp away from him. Aladdin knew that this special lamp maybe magic and he wanted the magic for himself so, he found a way to keep the lamp for himself.”

“Was it magic?” asked his mom.

“It was magic. Aladdin discovered that it contained a genie while trying to clean the lamp. In a puff of smoke the genie was released from the lamp,” his mother replied.

“What did the genie want?” the boy wanted to know.

“The genie was grateful to be free from the lamp and gave the boy three wishes. He could ask for anything and it would be his,” his mother told him.

“What did he wish for?” the boy asked.

“First he wished for food to eat. He and his mother didn’t have a lot of food. Next he wished gold plates and they were sold by his mom to get money for their family. Finally he wished to be with the one he would love and he married a wonderful princess,” his mom answered.

“I’m not tired. Can I have one more story?” the boy asked looking up at his mother with hopeful eyes.

“Yes, I have an even better story about someone who gave people more than three wishes that would be gone in a short time,” the mother said wrapping her arms around her son to cuddle him close.

“What was his name?” the boy wanted to know.

“We call him God. Remember how we pray to him at meal times and in the morning to start the day?” the mother asked him.

“Yes, we have to thank him for the things he is doing in our day and we can ask him for things too,” the boy responded.

“Well, God has told us in the Bible that we can ask him for things whenever we need them. He didn’t say that we could only ask for three wishes like Aladdin did,” the mother explained.

“He doesn’t answer every prayer the way we want him to the way the genie did,” the boy said adamantly.

“No, he doesn’t answer every prayer the way we want him to, but he does hear our prayers,” he mother answered slowing leaning her son back until his head hit the pillow.

“Thank goodness! If God were like the genie in Aladdin, we might end up with things that we wouldn’t want in a short time or things that we would want to change later. God seems to know what we need and when we need it,” the mother stated pulling the blue blanket her son favored up to his slowing dropping chin.

“Right now I think God thinks it would be best if I got a puppy,” the boy announced.

“Let’s pray about it,” his mother said slowing standing up and walking to the door of her son’s room silently praising God that a puppy hadn’t just appeared at the foot of her son’s bed.

This post is linked to Mrs. Matlocks’ Alphabe Thursday. It is “A” week.
 
 

What is Your Biggest Toy Challenge?

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We have  toys tumbling out of crates, closets, and baskets at your house.

There more toys than one little boy can play with at our house. We have toys for small children and toys for school age children JDaniel isn’t old enough to play with.

Every time we get a box of hand me downs from my sister Kate or my sister Michelle comes to visit we get more toys. I hate to say no to them. JDaniel will grow into the toys for older children eventually. The age appropriate toys always look like fun.

I am just running out of room for toys. If you could look into my closets and under our beds you would find toys stashed away.

Some of these toys are things JDaniel has outgrown but, still likes to play with every now and then some as little as once a month. Yes, those I should let go.

I have a wonderful idea for those extra toys. It will help you sort through all toys you have and do something special with them.

Stay tuned next month to read my Genius Tip on how I beat this challenge!

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