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+.

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.

I don’t think he got that it was a picnic meal. He ate while inside the house at the kitchen table. I do know he loved it.

Happy Labor Day!

My Words are Stuck Mom

September 3, 2010 By Deirdre

Just last week my little clear speaker started getting his words stuck. He starts to say something like “What are you doing?” What comes out of his mouth is “What, What, What.” He gets so frustrated with himself and his words. This isn’t all the time. Sometimes it’s when he is tired. Sometimes it is when he has just gotten up. Sometimes it just happens.

I got worried and talked to my mom and my husband’s mom about it. My mom said that it was just a stage that he was going through and it would pass. My mother in-law remembered that both my husband’s sister Angela and her great granddaughter MK have trouble with this too. “Their brains were processing things too fast for them to speak their thoughts,” she said.

It is so hard to hear him struggle to get words out. I try to stop him and have him count 1, 2, 3. Then I have him try to start the sentence again sometimes that works. If it doesn’t I try to get him to slow down and focus on something else. That seems to work sometimes too.

We were at my mother in-laws over the weekend and she go to hear the what whats and the I I Is firsthand. When got ready to leave, she mentioned we might want to talk to a speech pathologist that we know. It is easy to say that it will pass. It is hard to hear him struggle. This is probably just a stage. We hope it is.

The Indigo Haired Boy Taught Us about Vaccinations

September 1, 2010 By Deirdre

I really struggled with what to write about using the color indigo. Mrs. Matlock’s Summer School class is studying the color indigo this week. JDaniel and I went to Lowes to find an indigo paint chip to help me think about things that are indigo. I thought about making play dough or finger paint that was indigo. Since color mixing has never been my forte, I feared someone would come along and point out my indigo wasn’t really indigo at all. I tried finding pictures of indigo things on Google and found some people have purple things the call indigo and others have blue. That search wasn’t much help to me. While watching TV., I noticed Sid the Science Kid has indigo hair. I decided to tell you about Sid a boy who has indigo-colored hair if your television tint is just right.

We don’t watch a lot of the television each day. We do watch Sid the Science Kid periodically in the morning. Who is Sid? He is the Indigo Haired Boy that has a cartoon science show for preschool-age children on PBS. On Monday Sid announced at the beginning of his show that his grandma was coming to his school to give him and his friends vaccinations for the flu. He wondered what vaccinations were and why he had to take one. His parents told him it was something that parents decide to do to keep their children and the people around them healthy. The show proceeded to explain ways to avoid getting and passing on germs along with more information about vaccinations once Sid got to school. Hand washing, elbow coughing and keeping your house clean were three of the ways to stay away from germs covered. It was really informative episode for JDaniel and me. There were lots of opportunities for us to talk about germs, antibodies, and shots.

We as a family have chosen to get flu shots. I know not everyone makes that same choice for their families. If you choose to get them, the episode of Sid the Science Kid may be a good one for you to watch with your child.

How to Work on Print Awareness

August 31, 2010 By Deirdre

Birth to 2- years old

Have your child hold the book.
Point to words in books with few words
Have them track the words on the page while holding their finger. Go from left to right.
Read aloud labels, signs, menu, etc..

2 to 5- years old

Point to some of the words as you say them
Have your child turn the pages
Have your child walk you through the story and tell it to you
Hold the book upside down and see what they do

I don’t have a lot to add to these ideas. They are all basic skills needed to interact with a book and the written word in the world around them. They just need to be practiced over and over again. I don’t mean until your child is bored with them. I do mean until they seem to own them.

The Three Horrid Little Pigs Need Manners and a Craft

August 27, 2010 By Deirdre

The pigs in The Three Horrid Little Pigs by Liz Pichon didn’t have the right tools to make their way in the world. They couldn’t or won’t build decent homes for themselves. They had horrible manners. They didn’t learn to look out for each other. They weren’t good for their mother either. I think that must be why she kicks them out of her house. A very kind and helpful wolf tries to mentor the pigs in homebuilding. They don’t want any help and treat him with contempt. Finally, after each has their home taken over by other animals they all decided to seek help from the wolf.

This is a humorous and yet telling look at the three pigs. The author opens the door for parents to talk to their children about manners and making judgments about others. I love the way the text in the story flows from one page to the next sometimes midsentence. The illustrations fill each page and beautifully paint pictures of what is happening in the story. The watercolor style is such fun.

This week we made a house out of popsicle sticks. That means we had to eat a lot of popsicles. There was no fussy from JDaniel about that.

I drew this picture and had JDaniel add some of the same elements to his house.

I labeled parts of JDaniel’s house as he drew them. He hung both of our work on the fridge when we finished.

Disclaimer: I was sent a copy of this to review by Tiger Tales. The thought and opinions in this post are my own.

JDaniel Moved to the Blue Room

August 25, 2010 By Deirdre

JDaniel moved from the nursery for walkers to the two-year-old Sunday school room on Sunday. His new room is called the Blue Room. I think it is because the carpet is blue. This is a big change for us. His old room had chairs built into the table and a large play area. He mostly played, read books and snacked in the nursery room. The Blue Room has tables with chairs, a play area, and a circle time area. In the Blue, Room JDaniel gets to hear a Sunday school lesson and sing songs while sitting in a chair just like a big boy. He also gets to do a craft at the tables. He still gets a snack and playtime too. It was the sitting in chairs and focusing on the teacher that was really new to him.

I tried to prepare him for the change. We stopped by the room early in the week when I had to stop to pick up the two-year-old curriculum. I get to be his teacher every other week. We looked at the tables and the toys. He was really excited about getting to be a big boy now at church. My sister Michelle had sent a big box of hand me downs in the box we found a toddler-sized Spider-Man backpack we decided would be better to use for Sunday school than a diaper bag.

When Sunday came, we had a rough start. He didn’t understand that mommy would be going to church and returning to teach his class during the Sunday school hour. He didn’t know that lady who greeted him at the door. The children he knows from the nursery weren’t there yet. I left hearing him cry and watching him reach out for me while someone else held and rocked him.

By the time I got back to teach his class he was playing with cars, had located a Bob the Builder book, and now had smattering of graham cracker crumbs around his smiling face. I think he is going to like the Blue Room.