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+.

Answers To Questions About JDaniel’s Teeth

September 17, 2010 By Deirdre

As part of a Oral Health Media Tour, I was able to ask some questions of an expert on teeth care.

Please click, here to view the answers to my questions.

Disclaimer: I was asked to send in questions on children’s dental health and post the answers to the questions. I am not being compensated for this in anyway.

Angel Hair Attracts Ageless Ladies

September 15, 2010 By Deirdre

Two weeks ago we went to spend the weekend with my mother-in-law in her new apartment. JDaniel was thrilled. He fell in love with the idea of apartment living when we first toured her apartment before she moved in.

Now that she is living in the “Big House” (The apartments in her senior living community are in a place they call the “Big House”.) she eats one meal a day in the community’s dining room. It is a great place for her to meet friends and spend time around other people for a wonderful meal. She knows almost everyone there. We went with her to dinner during our visit. There were people stopping by to chat with her every few minutes.

Were they stopping to ask how she was doing? No, they were stopping to check out her youngest grandson JDaniel. They admired his hearty appetite. They commented on how well he was behaving. They wanted to clutch his angel-like curls. Lady after lady stroked his curls or squished a handful of them in their palms. “What amazing curls!” they each would say. Did JDaniel notice all this attention to his hair? No way! He was more interested in whether his Nana had more fried okra on her plate and whether mom had any salmon croquettes left on hers. He didn’t even seem to notice he was being fawned over.

Some day he will love the attention of the right lady. She may even be a little older than he is.

Finding the Beat and Sounds in Words-Phonological Awareness

September 14, 2010 By Deirdre

Last week I wrote a post called Let’s Talk While We Read. This week’s literacy topic phonological awareness is also based on a lot of talk. Phonological awareness has to do with the rhythm and rhyme of words.

Ways to Work on Phonological Awareness:

Birth to 2-years old

Say or read nursery rhymes so your child hears the rhyme. Stress the rhyming words.

Sing to hope your child hear syllables in words. In most songs, each syllable get a different note.

Make up your own silly, nonsense rhymes.

2 to 3-years old

Play word games such as, “What sounds like ran?” or “What starts with the same sound as ball?”

Point out initial sounds and ask what other words start with that sound.

Clap out the number of syllables in children’s names or other people and places

4 to 5-years old

Ask whether two words rhyme: Do cat and dog rhyme? Do cat and hat rhyme?

Say words with a word segment left out: “What word would we have if we took the sea away from seahorse?”

Put two word segments together to make a word: “What word would we have if we put cup and cake together?”

How we work on these skills at our house:

I love rhyming with JDaniel in the car. We run through the alphabet to find words that make sense with a word family. Ie: all, ball, call, dall, eall, fall .

I printed out picture cards for JDaniel. We identify one of the pictures and beat it out on his toy drum.

Rhyming Mat Game from Pre-K Literacy. The site has three mats like the one below.

Activity Mom had a Rhyming Bingo that came from HeidiSongs on her site we are going to use.

Online Activities

Rhyming Words with Reggie

Muffin Tin Monday- Curious George Lunch

September 13, 2010 By Deirdre

JDaniel isn’t old enough to sit through a movie. I decided to make him a lunch based on his favorite television show. Curious George has been a favorite for a long time.

He had a toasted cheese monkey sandwich, a yellow hat made from a banana, banana yogurt (just because we had it), Curious George fruit chews, along with C and G made with cookie cutters from apple slices.

$35 GC to India Blue Winner!

September 11, 2010 By Deirdre

Jakiesmom has won the $35 GC to India Blue. I know she will have a wonderful time selecting her prize. Thank you to all the entered and voted for India Blue.

Bella- The Fairy Ball and a Bubble Wand Craft

September 9, 2010 By Deirdre

All summer I have been sharing Tiger Tales books I was sent to review. Today’s book is the last one in the box I was sent of Spring releases. The book is called Bella-The Fairy Ball by Mandy Stanley. I have shared Bella with you before when she visited a birthday party. In Bella- The Fairy Ball a beautiful fairy chain Bella has made is whisked out of her hands and carried in a hole in a old oak tree. Bella finds that her chain is needed for a Fairy Ball in Fairyland. The fairies shrink Bella down to their size so she can visit the ball too. They also give her a special dress to wear to the ball. Later she is also given a wish by the Fairy Queen for sharing her daisy chain. Bella wishes that her family could meet the fairies too. I love that she makes a wish that is for others.

This book is a wonderful book filled with lessons about giving and sharing. Bella shows children how to be grateful and thankful. This is great book to talk about with your children and share ways they can give and share.

Since fairies sometimes use wands. JDaniel and I tried using a bubble wand to blow bubble fluid I colored with food coloring onto paper. JDaniel has recently regressed in his bubble blowing abilities. So he wanted me to do most of the blowing. He enjoyed popping the bubbles and rubbing the wand on paper.

The Purple Flash Taught Latin Class

September 8, 2010 By Deirdre

When my sisters and I were in high school, we all took Latin from Mrs. Sleeper. She was in her early seventies at the time but acted like the youth she taught. She seemed to sprint around the room rejoicing in a language she loved to teach. She must have been exhausted by the end of the day. During class this slight woman with a bun wound around the back of her head would share conjugations of verbs and Latin phrases like they were a part of her. I not sure she really taught Latin. I think she must have lived it. Mrs. Sleeper wore only purple clothes. She said, “Purple is the color of royalty.” She drove a huge red boat-like car named Vesuvius. She took students around the world to visit ancient ruins every year. Mrs. Sleeper filled her students with the knowledge and love of the living dead language she loved.

Many of you will have started school by now. (When I taught in Virginia, we started right after Labor Day. ) I really hope that your children will have teachers this year like Mrs. Sleeper. I remember so much about her and the subject she taught because she was so joyful about what she taught. She was fun and innovative. Mrs. Sleeper kicked her trashcan every time we talked about an irregular verb. She had us make movies and write plays about characters from Roman times. She gave deep smiles to you when you answered a question correctly or she passed out a test you had done well on.

Whether your child’s teacher wears purple, red, yellow or green, I hope she or he has a great joy for what they teach.

Did you have a Mrs. Sleeper in your life or your child’s? Please tell me about them in your comment.

Cleaning Up Grocery Store Parking Lots or Laboring in Lots

September 7, 2010 By Deirdre

JDaniel hates to see trash in store parking lots. He points to it and declares, “A mess.” I started to pick up the less messy pieces of trash and put it in the trash to show JDaniel that it is important to take care of the environment. If there is a trashcan nearby it hasn’t a problem to pick up the corner of a bag or smashed can and carry it to the trash.

It can be a problem when there is trash all around where I park and/ or it looks really gross. To JDaniel the trash on the ground is the trash that needs to be taken care of. To me, it looks like a nest of germs waiting to spread to the two of us. I don’t want either of us to get sick because we cleaned up other people’s clutter.

There seems to be three solutions to this growing problem. We can avoid the parts of parking lots with trash. We can start to carry a broom and dustpan to clean up the debris. I can carry rubber gloves in the trunk so I don’t have to touch it.

Let’s Talk While We Read

September 7, 2010 By Deirdre

This is the fourth post I have done on Literacy Awareness. I first looked at vocabulary in a post called Setting Up A Literacy Center- Vocabulary. Next, I did a post on Reading! Reading! Books and Words Everywhere!- Print Motivation. Last week I posted a post called How Does a Book Work- Print Awareness. This week’s topic something I love to do with JDaniel. It is talking about books.

My mom says I was born talking. My husband tends to be more on the quiet side. Yet both of us try to talk about what we are reading with JDaniel.

Ways to Work on Narrative Skills

Birth to 2- Years Old

Talk about what you are doing. My son asks me all the time, “What are you doing.” Sometimes I am just driving the car.
Tell your child stories and make up silly songs.
Encourage your toddler to tell you about things.
Listen patiently and ask questions. Reread favorite books over and over again

2 to 3 years old

Have them tell you about their day
Talk about what is happening first, next, and last in a story.
Have them read you their favorite book.

4 to 5 years old

Ask questions like “What do you think is happening in this picture?” and “What might happen next?”
Add adjectives to words your child says. If he says, “ Dump truck”, say “yellow John Deer dump truck.”
Have your child tell you what is happening in a picture they have drawn.

How do we do this at our house?

It is the most natural part of reading. We chat about the pictures and story as we read.
We try not to break the flow or rhythm of the story. It may mean reading the story and than going back and asking questions if asking them during the story will keep JDaniel from enjoying the book.
We keep favorite books out where we will encounter them and can talk about them.
We don’t do it every time we read a book.
How do you share while you are reading?

Muffin Tin Monday- Labor Day Picnic Tin

September 6, 2010 By Deirdre

JDaniel had a picnic meal in a muffin tin. There were potato chips (We never have chips in the house. He was thrilled.), hot dogs, potato salad, cantaloupe in the shape of 6’s since it is the 6th day of September, blueberries, and watermelon.