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JDaniel4s Mom

growing & learning with him

The Purple Flash Taught Latin Class

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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.

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!

 

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.



Great Green Gobs of Greasy, Grimy Gopher Guts!

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Great green gobs of greasy, grimy gopher guts have been coming out of my son. JDaniel has had diarrhea and a sinus infection this week. There are been great green globs from head to diaper. Thank goodness the Target diapers we use have been doing a great job. Thank goodness I stockpile tissue when it is on sale. We have been through plenty of both. I won’t gross you out with specific details of either. Just know that it is probably as bad as you think. All I can do for now is sing the line from the song above and keep him clean.

 

I did find this picture on the internet called Great Green Gobs of Gopher Guts. This pasta and cauliflower dish looks better than what JDaniel has.

 

I am a little nervous about Mrs. Matlock’s Summer School color of the week for next week. What could come out of JDaniel that would be blue?

Muffin Tin Monday- Breakfast with an Ocean View

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This week’s tin has water-related animal pancakes. Did you figure out what they are supposed to be? There are fish, flamingo, and dolphin pancakes. They are above a sea made of grape jelly, blueberry applesauce, and red grapes.

JDaniel loved this meal so much he asked for it again later. The pancakes had to be broken up for him for dipping. He tried to break them with his fork with little success. It was really important that each piece be totally dunked in jelly or applesauce. It just had to be. He is learning to be more flexible except when it comes to dipping.

 

 

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Two Animal Books and Tracing Animal Textures

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This week JDaniel had read Animals Talk and Animals Go by Emily Bolam. These beautiful board books don’t contain a lot of print. Each animal has a single word they would say in Animals Talk. The Animals Go book contains a single word for what each animal would do. They don’t actually show the animal moving or talking. These leaves open the avenue for you to talk about the words and act them out for them or with them. The page opposite each animal has a great textured page that displays the animals covering. JDaniel loves to feel those pages.

 

I modeled for JDaniel how to make a crayon rubbing on the peacock page.

JDaniel and I worked on the snail and lizard page together. This was so much fun.

Disclaimer: I review books for Tiger Tales Publishing. I was sent these books to review. The opinions stated are my own.

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Muffin Tin Monday- Christmas Breakfast in August

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When you let your two year old pick out the tin for his lunch, he may pick out a Christmas tin in August. The Santas, snowman, and gingerbread men are covered with food, but I bet you can still see their outlines.

We tried a new breakfast casserole this week with leeks, blueberries, and turkey sausage. It was good. It needed something, but I can’t figure out what. JDaniel also had blueberry muffins he helped make and grapes. He loved it all.

We will continue our breakfast for lunch next week. I can’t decide if it will be french toast or pancakes.

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Two Red Ys

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We were exploring downtown Greenville and came across this red sculpture. It is titled Untitled. When JDaniel and I stopped to look at it, I asked him what he thought it was. He replied “Ys”. It really does look like two ys stacked together.

This sculpture is sort of symbolic of conversations I have with JDaniel some days. They seem to be filled with a least two whys.

Here are a couple of examples:

Conversation One

JDaniel:“Why did we have to stop car?”
Me: “There is a red sign that says stop on it in front of the car”
JDaniel: “Why sign?”
Me: “There are a lot of cars on the road and if we didn’t stop we could hit one.”
JDaniel: “Mom, no cars here.”
Me: “The law says I have to stop anyway”

Conversation Two
Me: “What color is that car in the picture?”
JDaniel: “Orange car”
Me: “Close. What color is that red car in the picture?”
JDaniel: “Orange car”
Me: “Honey, that car is not orange. It is a red car.”
JDaniel: “Why?”
Me: “They decided to make it that color in the book.”
JDaniel: “Why?”


Birthday Books and a Birthday Box

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This week we are celebrating not only the blog’s birthday but my mom’s 70th birthday. JDaniel and I read two books about birthdays and decorated a box to hold the gift cards we are giving my mom for her birthday.

Links below are affiliate links.

Bella- Birthday Party by Mandy Stanley is about a little bunny named Bella that comes upon a birthday party picnic not far from her home. She is welcomed into the party and given a costume to wear so will be like the other party guests. ( They are all in costumes of one type or another) When the rain threatens to end the party, Bella guides the others to a natural shelter of trees and grass to have cake. My favorite part comes at the end of the party when Bella is given a treat bag that she takes home and shares with her whole family.

This is a wonderful book. The illustrations and story are so well done. Bella and all the other party-goers treat each other so well. They share and enjoy just having fun.

Who Made This Cake by Chihiro Nakagawa is one of JDaniel’s favorite books. A whole crew of little construction workers arrives at the boy’s house to make his birthday cake. The book walks you step by step through the process the crew goes through to make the cake.

Craft

We are giving my mom several gift cards for her birthday. JDaniel helped me decorate this lovely gold container with glitter glue from Dollar Tree. I wrote the G for Grandmere on the lid. He made most of the squiggles. JDaniel really seemed to like it.

Disclaimer: I am a blog book reviewer for the publisher of these books Tiger Tales. I was sent Bella: The Birthday Party to review. The opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Mrs. Matlock’s Alphabe Soup- Revisiting K

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Mrs. Matlock’s Alphabe today is called Alphabet Soup. She is having everyone in the meme point out a post that we loved. I really enjoyed writing about my sister Kate and her one special Easter egg in a post called just that Kate and One Special Egg.

I hope you enjoy reading it.

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