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JDaniel4s Mom

growing & learning with him

Bug Books and Other Bug Related Activities

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We loved working with bugs this week. JDaniel has been so into trains and construction equipment. Bugs were a great diversion.
Books
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We read two bug-related books this week:

The Very Greedy Bee by Steve Smallman is about a bee that decides not to share a wonderful field of flowers he has found with his other hive mates. He eats it all himself and grows to big to fly. He needs the help of other insects to make it home. This book has a great lesson on sharing and helping others.


The Delicious Bug by Janet Perlman is also a book on sharing. The two lizards on the cover both catch the same bug. Neither one wants to let go of the plump bumble bug. They have an argument with their tongues out that takes them all around the pond they live near. The lizards have to learn to share and how to apologize to their neighbors for their rude behavior.

Language
JDaniel was asked to select a letter and put it in a construction paper hive. He preferred to put them in his dump truck.

The printout for the hive came from First School. The letter bees came from Toddler Toddler.
Math
We used an old juice bottle a bee hive to place the correct number of bugs in and later dump them out.



We made a bug out of two take-home boxes from Cracker Barrel. We went to Cracker Barrel while visiting with my mother-in-law this week.

Music
THE BUGS ARE MARCHING INTO TOWN
Tune: “When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again”
The bugs are marching into town, hooray! Hooray!
The bugs are in a great big Bug Parade.
Some are black and some are red.
Some have antennae on their heads.
Oh, we’re oh so glad the bugs could come today.
Jean Warren
The song was taken from Preschool Express.

Books on Manners and a Craft

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JDaniel and I read a number of books on manners this week. Some got to read only once and then were taken back to the library quickly. Why did they go back so quickly? Many of the books on manners spent the first half of the book describing bad manners and they spent the second half of the book pointing out good manners. When you have a little boy who doesn’t miss anything, he picks up as much on what he shouldn’t be doing as much as what he should. Some books covered things he hadn’t thought of yet. I skipped over those new ideas.

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There were two really good ones we read. Do Unto Otters: A Book About Manners by Laurie Keller and D.W.’s Guide to Perfect Manners by Marc Brown. Do Unto Otters: A Book About Manners had too many words for JDaniel to sit through. I did picture walk through him and tell him the manners the rabbit wanted his new neighbors the otters to have. D.W.’s Guide to Perfect Manners is right about his alley. It highlights a lot of good manners and mentions a few bad manners to avoid and why.
After reading D.W.’s Guide to Perfect Manners, we made Arthur puppets with paper plates and had them practice the good manner.

Can you tell which one JDaniel made?

Children’s Books on Flower Gardens and a Circular Flower

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This week we have been reading books on flower gardens. I thought I knew which book JDaniel would like best and I was wrong. He really loves the book with the most detailed drawings and just a few words.

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We read:

Mortimer’s First Garden by Karma Wilson is about a mouse that decides to plant his last sunflower seed instead of eating it when he hears the people in his house say that planting seeds makes more seeds.

A Cottage Garden Alphabet is a beautifully illustrated book by Andrea Wisnewski. We have read it many times this week. I have walked in on him gazing at the pages on his own.

Zinna’s Flower Garden by Monica Wellington follows Zinna’s garden as it grows. She documents its growth in journal entries.

JDaniel made his own flowers by gluing circles onto paper plates. They made their way very quickly to the refrigerator.

Plethora of Painting and Mother Day Books

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JDaniel and I went to Creating Artists for Tomorrow ( an art center for children) with the Mom Later Than Sooner Group we belong to. He had the best time painting with and on all kinds of mediums. Yes, he even painted on a tree.
I was hoping to send some of his work to my mom and mother-in-law for Mother’s Day. We read several books about creating Mother’s Day presents. Right now the pictures are on the fridge where JDaniel hung them to admire. I may have to sneak two down while he sleeps and slip them into envelopes.

Here are some pictures of our painting adventure. I have also placed a list of the books we read below.

Here is some of his work:

He painted this by rolling golf balls through paint.

Two of these were made by dropping water on the paper and spraying the paper with colored water. The dots on the upper right were made using paint stamps and salt.

Here are the books we read:
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This great book called My Mom by Anthony Browne is about how a mom can do anything. This mom can sing, make anything grow, and make her child happy when she is sad. The floral design in the mom’s shirt appears in every illustration.

In Mother May I? by Lynn Plourde the little girl tries to help mom for Mother’s Day and ends up making a mess. All her mom really wants is a hug.

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stART- Earth Day Related Books and a Craft

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We read the following books that relate to Earth Day this week:

My Forever Dress by Harriet Ziefert is a wonderful book about a little girl whose grandmother reuses fabric from her favorite dress to make new clothing for her. In the end, she has to hand down the final dress to a cousin.
Barn Savers by Linda Oatman High is a great book about a father and his son who salvage wood and many other elements of old barns. This book paints great word pictures of what is going on while they work on one particular barn during the day. JDaniel loves this book.

Recycle Every Day by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace is another great book. It takes a little bunny through a week on watching how her family recycles. The little bunny has to decide what family does that she wants to illustrate for a poster contest at school.
The craft we did was a collage. (Yes, we did a collage last week too.) JDaniel was given triangles and squares from old wrapping paper to create his collage. It was fun to use the old paper in the project.


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Almost Wordless- Easter Eggs and Books

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Today I am going to share with your an Easter egg dyeing experience JDaniel has with his friend Morgyn. At the end of the post, you will find some of my favorite Easter egg themed books. You may want to read with your children before they dye eggs.

JDaniel and his friend Morgyn had a great time dying eggs.

 

Dyeing eggs with a friend.

JDaniel and I read these books about Easter eggs before Morgyn came over.

These are the finished eggs.

eggwfriend3

These Easter egg hunt books would be fun to share.
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Lessons Taken From Books- Christmas Day in the Morning

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Christmas Day in the Morning is a beautiful book by Pearl Buck with gorgeous illustrations by Mark Buehner. The story takes place on a dairy farm. A boy named Rob and his father have to get up early every morning to milk the cows. One morning he overhears his father tell his mother he wishes he could let Rob sleep in. This tells Rob how much his father loves him. The boy decides he want to do something special for his dad for Christmas. Rob decides that if he gets up early and milks the cows, his father will get time to rest. That is exactly what he does and in doing so he gives his dad the best gift of all his love.

What can you do to show the ones that you love how much your care between now and the New Year?

Taking Take Lessons from Books- My Teacher Sleeps at School

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My Teacher Sleeps at School is an awesome book! The students in the class see the teacher bring in a bag of food and a pillow and conclude that the teacher lives at school.Later in the book she takes her class to her house to see where she lives. As a first grader my class went to have lunch at my teacher’s apartment on the way back from a field trip. I remember being in awe as I sat in her living room and listening to her read Winnie the Pooh to us while she sat in her own rocking chair.

When I ran into students, they were always surprised to see me out of school. I think they assumed I slept at school too. What do your children think about their teacher’s lives? I bet they could write a funny story about their teachers using the facts they know about them.

Taking Lessons from Books- The Wall

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The Wall by Eve Bunting is an amazing story about a father taking his son to meet his grandfather’s name on the Vietnam Veteran’s Wall in Washington. He tells him about his grandfather. The boy and his father get to meet other people who are visiting the wall and talk about tributes people that have left there. This is hard book to read and not cry through.

 It is an important book to read. People need to remember those who have fought for our country. Even if you don’t believe in the wars they fought in they definitely earned the right to be remembered.

Take the time to write a soldier overseas, to call a grandparent and thank them for serving, to listen to someone you know tell you about their service. My sister and brother in-law are currently in the military. My father in-law and paternal grandfather served in World War II. Each of them was proud to serve our country.

I bet you have people you know that would love to be remembered.

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