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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+.

Muffin Tin Monday- Labor Day Picnic Tin

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Red, White and Blue Lunch in a Muffin Tin
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

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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

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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

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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

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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.

Mom's HouseI 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

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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.

A Stepstool Can Lead a Toddler to Trouble

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A stepstool looks a harmless kitchen tool until you see what a toddler can use it to help him do. I have had the same white plastic step stool for years. This step stool is light and easy to move from one location to another. It is a great thing for me to have in the kitchen. At 5 feet 3 inches tall I have needed one to reach high shelves and clean the top of the refrigerator.

It is unfortunately a tool JDaniel loves to use to help both him and me. He uses it to help get himself into his booster seat. Next he may use it to help him climb into our bed. He may than pick it up and use it to help him get into the sink to “help” clean the dishes. It can be moved to the counter to “help” me make dinner. The stool may then be taken to the living room and be used to reach our books that interest him. If I haven’t remembered to close the bathroom door, it could be used to explore the bathroom counter.

If he needs it and it is somewhere else on the first floor stand clear, JDaniel will rush off to get it and bring it back. I could be working on dinner and get nudged by the step stool to make room for JDaniel to stand on it. He just wants to see what is going on and “help”.

The step stool has gone into timeout from time to time. If it is used in a way that leads to trouble, it sits on our bed for a time. Without it JDaniel can’t climb into our bed to retrieve it. It has to sit there and wait to be retrieved by an adult.

My husband has suggested that maybe the step stool could go away permanently. I hate to take it away forever. Without it I can’t reach the top shelf and JDaniel can’t get into his booster seat.

 

Facture Looks Like A Great Photo Gift

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I just read about a wonderful new product on Twitter Moms called Fracture. It is product that combines a digital picture and a shatterproof piece of glass. It looks so cool. The sleek lines would look great with any décor. I am so excited about trying this. I think it would make a great Christmas gift. All I will need to do upload a picture and they will print it on glass.

The company mentions the following:

Fractures are very safe: all sharp edges are removed, and they are completely okay to touch and handle.
Fractures are durable: the prints are shatter proof (unlike traditional glass frames), and the images will not fade for years beyond average prints.

If I am among the first 100 participants, I will be writing a follow-up post about Fracture with my feedback after testing it out.

Disclaimer: “I wrote this blog post in response to a TwitterMoms RAMBO alert, making me eligible to get a Fracture picture frame for review. You can learn more about Fracture at http://www.fractureme.com/.”

Reading! Reading! Books and Words Everywhere!- Print Motivation

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Last week I started a series on Setting Up a Literacy Center with vocabulary related activities. This week we are going to look at print motivation. Reading words and books everywhere we go.

 

Ways to work on Print Motivation

 

Birth to 5-years old

 

    • Read to your child even as a newborn. You can talk about the pictures as well as read the words.

 

    • Engage your child in the story by pointing to the repeated words or phrases and “reading” them together.

 

    • Make book sharing a special time to cuddle and be close to your child.

 

    • Let your child see you reading books, magazines, and newspapers.

 

    • Give books or gift cards to bookstores as gifts.

 

  • Visit your public library.

Here are some ways we do this:

    • We read our environment. We read boxes, signs, mail, words on trucks, store signs and billboards.

 

    • Books are located in every room of our house. Yes, we have them in the bathroom.

 

    • JDaniel loves to “read” his dad’s book on Fighter Jets. We have been picture walking them for over a year.

 

    • I leave out words in sentences of books JDaniel is familiar with to have him fill in the blank.

 

    • We visit bookstores and the library to look at books a lot.

    • Reading stories before bedtime is part of our nightly routine.

 

    • My husband and I have our bible reading times with JDaniel nearby.

 

    • Sometimes I read while he is playing.

 

  • We pick up grocery circulars when we go to the grocery store. JDaniel loves to “read” them on the way home and while I get dinner ready.

 

 

If you are not a strong reader, you can:

    • Check out books with CDs or tapes from the library. You can listen and “read” the books with your child.

 

    • Take your child to storytimes and have them listen to others read.

 

    • Listen to storytimes on the radio or internet together.

 

  • Ask your librarian for high interest low vocabulary books. They are available on all types of topic and easier reading levels.

 

 

 

 

Muffin Tin Monday- The Alphabet for Breakfast

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Muffin Tin Monday - Alphabet for Breakfast

Muffin Tin Monday has started their themes back up for the fall. The theme for this week is the A,B, C or alphabet related tins. I decided to stick with my theme for Muffin Tin Mondays this month which is breakfast and make an A, B, C breakfast.
The breakfast came out yummy. I know because I made a tin for myself. JDaniel was allowed to select which tin he would like to eat from. He chose one and then he wanted the other. It might have had something to do with the fact that my tin still had a doughnut in it or maybe it was because he is two.

Muffin Tin Monday - Alphabet for Breakfast- Yum!

The A, B, C breakfast tin contained strawberry applesauce, blueberry pancakes, a cereal mixture, a piece of doughnut, eggs scrabbled, and a fruit salad.

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