Educational | The Angel Forever

Category Archives Educational

Impromptu Butterfly Poem

Posted on May 18, 2010 8:00 pm by TheAngelForever

Kids, they never fail to amaze you from time to time. Of course, the risk is that they can also embarrass you in public places. NHL and I just got back from his school. Tonight, they had a Literacy Celebration for Readers to Leaders. The PreK kids started off with a Poetry in Motion show for everyone. Once that was over, the kids broke up into different groups. NHL went with the PreK to 1st graders to read a poem together, hear a story and make a craft.

When we were finished here, there was an open microphone poetry event. The younger kids arrived first and were ready to get up and share. The first few got up and just stood there. I watched as other parents were mortified with what their children were doing. Then, NHL stood up and went to the microphone. I assumed he knew his poem by heart. I was wrong. With a packed library of parents, students, teachers and the principal standing, NHL went to the microphone and created the following poem on demand:

The plan had been to read the acrostic poem titled Worms, but it was MIA. NHL was on his toes thanks to the following inspiration:

The moral of the story is that kids are full of surprises. You really never know what type of beautiful, bizarre or poetic words will fall from their lips. NHL, I love you my sweet, six year old poet.

Categories:
Educational fun kid talk laughs nhl photos school

Melvin the Magnificent Molar

Posted on May 17, 2010 9:14 pm by TheAngelForever

A few weeks ago, NHL went to the pediatric dentist for his six month visit. While the boys were busy playing with the video games and other items, something else caught my eye. There was a shelf filled with books. The books were not on just any subject. No, these were all about teeth and going to the dentist.

As a parent and teacher, I understand the importance of specialty books for children. Reading to kids about topics that are unknown and potentially stressful may help to ease anxiety. This is especially true when you talk about doctors/dentists, new siblings, potty training, losing teeth, surgery and especially death.

Not long after our appointment, I read about an opportunity from TwitterMoms to review a new book called Melvin the Magnificient Molar! by Julia Cook and Laura Jana, MD. I immediately asked to be a part of the group. Dr. Laura wrote me back and asked for our information and what we wanted inside the book since it was going to be signed by both of the authors.

About Melvin the Magnificient Molar!

Written by Julia Cook & Laura Jana, M.D.
Illustrated by Allison Valentine
All ages (2 and up), 32 Pages

Meet Melvin, the lovable tooth. Through Melvin’s view of the world, this book encourages children in a fun-loving, unique way to actually want to brush their teeth. By promoting brushing, flossing, and regular visits to the dentist, Melvin shows readers young and old how to make sure they will have happy teeth and healthy smiles that will last them a lifetime!

Melvin the Magnificent Molar! can be purchased directly from Julia Cook’s website for $9.95. When ordering from there you can also have the books autographed and personalized at no extra charge.

Dr. Laura recently did an interview about the new book on ABC News that can be viewed here. She talks about Childrens’ oral health and how to form good habits early.

What we thought:

When you open up Melvin the Magnificent Molar, the About This Book page really caught my eye. Julia Cook and Dr. Laura Jana write about the importance of taking good care of your teeth. They explain that teaching this lesson to children is often difficult to do. What they decided to do was have Melvin speak to children from a tooth’s perspective. The main character takes you on a journey as he explains all things that are involved with keeping a healthy smile. Melvin tells children to visit their dentist every six months from one years old on, caring for their baby teeth, using fluoride toothpaste, flossing and what to expect when you visit your dentist.

My boys loved listening to the story of Melvin and his friends. At six, NHL knows how we stress taking good care of his teeth. Still, being reminded by a friendly character is always helpful when we inevitably have an argument about brushing teeth, or having x-rays at the dentist. NHL enjoyed the cheerful, fun groupings of the words on the pages. He especially liked the different sized and color fonts that help to tell the story about the sleeping scummies that turn teeth green.

As a parent and teacher, I love the details that go into Melvin the Magnificent Molar. Cook and Jana really cover all of the bases for kids learning about oral health. Thank to Allison Valentine’s wonderful illustrations, we are all able to enter Melvin’s world from his point of view. Kids learn more about Mister Thirsty (my boys love him), Scaler, Miss Tickles, Magic String and getting a Coat of Fluoride. I also think that Melvin helped my son to be less anxious about losing his teeth. While at the dentist, he found out that two more teeth are starting to wiggle and is pretty anxious about this. I think that Melvin reminded him that it is part of his teeth’s journey to be like this story telling molar.

Thank you to Julia Cook and Laura Jana, MD for putting this book together for kids of all ages. I know that I am a fan and am looking forward to reading their next collaborative book entitled It’s You and Me Against the Pee. My boys also loved the sweet message inscription to them on the inside of their book. A very nice touch indeed!

Disclosure: I wrote this review while participating in a Twitter Moms RAMBO alert campaign. I received a copy of the book from the authors to facilitate my candid review and no other compensation was given.

Categories:
books doctor Educational jsl nhl photos Product review

Journey Through the Body

Posted on April 17, 2010 3:55 pm by TheAngelForever

Dear NHL and JSL,

Today, we decided to head out of the house early. Daddy and I wanted to take both of you to the Journey Through the Body. We had heard about it many times in the past, but for one reason or another had never gone. We arrived just after it opened for the day.

We immediately ran into the first exhibit all about the intestines and kidneys. NHL, you were fascinated with how long the intestines in our body were. Then you and Daddy both were able to touch real kidneys.You thought it was gross and squishy (not my kid)!

Meanwhile JSL, you were not a happy camper.You were not sure if you wanted in or out of the stroller. Of course, I think a lot of this had to do with the costumes that were wandering about. There is just something strange about wandering cows, chickens, grapes, bananas, apples, peas and corn. From here we went into the main area that housed most of the other displays and things. In here, both of you learned about the heart, lungs, food pyramid, brain, teeth and more.

After we finished in the main room, we went upstairs to learn about the ear and bones. You were both mesmerized by the walk though ear/hearing display. As a science teacher, I loved all of the hands on activities. It was geared perfectly to kids like both of you and the volunteers there were amazing.

When we got back home, both of you took our the hospital masks and things to use with your doctor kit.

Perhaps a career in a medial profession will be in your future. Remember to always follow whatever your dreams are and you can make them come true.

Love,

Mommy

_______________________________________

If you want to participate in Dear Kid Saturday, head on over to Cutest Kid Ever by clicking on the button below.

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Dear Kid Saturday Educational fun jsl nhl photos weekend

National Geographic Little Kids (Review/Giveaway)

Posted on April 12, 2010 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Admit it, we all love getting things in the mail. Adults may not like the bills, but most other items are welcome, especially magazines to read for pleasure. Kids today are lucky, there are a lot more magazines specifically geared to children. NHL, now six, has had magazine subscriptions to several different publications. JSL, almost three, was still a little too young for most of them.

Recently, I was asked by Family Review Network to review National Geographic Little Kids magazine. I had heard about it, but had never actually seen it at stores. The concept intrigued me since it is made for children ages three to six. I figured this was a great opportunity to see how kids on both ends of the age spectrum liked the new magazine.

About National Geographic Little Kids:

Aimed at preschoolers ages 3 to 6 and their parents, National Geographic Little Kids is the magazine for young explorers, packed with teaching tools to help parents inspire a love of learning in their children. The Association of Educational Publishers chose National Geographic Little Kids for its highest award, the Golden Lamp, in 2008 and named the magazine Periodical of the Year in 2008 and 2009. National Geographic Little Kids also won a Parents’ Choice Gold Award for 2008, 2009 and 2010.

Filled with lively photographs and engaging stories to develop prereading and early reading skills, plus interactive picture games and puzzles to teach logic and counting, each 24-page issue contains fresh and imaginative instruction tools. There are captivating animal stories, answers to questions on kids’ favorite topics, features on different cultures to inspire a sense of understanding about the world, plus interactive experiments to introduce simple science. Each issue also includes a set of six wild animal cards.

National Geographic Little Kids is a perfectly sized magazine for little hands, at approximately 6 1/2” by 7”. National Geographic Little Kids is available by subscription for $15 a year (six issues; international subscription cost varies) and on newsstands for $3.99 a copy. Explore online at littlekids.nationalgeographic.com.

What we thought:

NHL immediately took the National Geographic Little Kids and went to the couch to read them. We received the current issue (seen above) and three past magazines to review.

He immediately dove into the January/February 2010 issue with Lion Cubs on the cover. NHL adores lions and wanted to get inside to see what he could learn. As I watched him reading, he had no trouble with the words. He could quickly read from cover to cover and tell me about the photos and items inside. He had fun trying to tell what the items were on the Naming "What in the World Are These?" activity page. When he got to the pages on the lions, he was mesmerized with the photos of the lion cubs. True to National Geographic, the photos are stunning and surrounded by just the right amount of print for this age group. Next, NHL did the Little Lions Maze and named all of the other animals in the picture.

As a parent and teacher, I really liked how National Geogrpahic Little Kids puts a little of everything into these magazines. There is a Geography section filled with maps, vocabulary and pronunciations of foreign words (like Phane in Botswana). If this is not included, a Culture section is given with similar items for children to learn some new words.

For my younger son, JSL, there was a matching game. When JSL heard what his big brother was doing, he jumped in and was able to do a nice introductory matching game with mittens. There were also rhyme time pages as well as sorting out which item in a photo is different than the others and how are they the same. Great early learning skills for an almost three year old.

An activity page with a craft item is also included. The items that are needed are clearly labeled and photos of children with finished projects as well. The boys are both eager to try some of the ones included in the National Geographic Kids.

As a Science geek, I loved the Science Experiment pages. Past issues had Drawing With the Sun, Spinning Eggs, Balloon Trick and my personal favorite Dancing Raisins. When NHL was looking at the January/February 2010 issue, the Dancing Raisins immediately caught my eye. I actually did this experiment in my classroom with older elementary students. It was presented in a developmentally appropriate way to teach 3-6 year olds the wonder of buoyancy. Kuddos to National Geographic for making science fun!

Over all, we really enjoyed National Geographic Little Kids. I do feel that the magazine in general is probably a little too young for my first grade son. He enjoyed the photos, but often wanted more than the text offered to him (good thing they have National Geographic Kids for his age). I do believe that we may ask someone in our family to get JSL a subscription to National Geographic Little Kids for his birthday (this May). Although parts will be over his head, the general feel of the magazine will offer a lot of great subjects to him for exploration. Of course, mommy will be just as excited to see it come in the mail.

If you are interested in subscribing to National Geographic Little Kids, they have given a special URL with information about it. Please click here for details.

Giveaway:

Thanks to National Geographic Kids, one lucky reader will win a copy of the current National Geogrpahic Little Kids magazine.

Rules for Giveaway:

MAIN RULE – Answer the following questions: If you could pick an animal to feature on National Geogrpahic Little Kids, which animal would it be and why?
1 Bonus Entry – Head over to National Geographic Little Kids website and tell me an activity, recipe, or experiment that you would like to try and why.
1 Bonus Entry – Tweet about the giveaway on Twitter. Be sure to include @TheAngelForever and National Geographic Little Kids Giveaway in the Tweet. Please leave a direct link to your Tweet in a separate comment for each daily entry. Example Tweet (feel free to use): Chance to win copy of the latest National Geographic Little Kids magazine from @TheAngelForever http://bit.ly/d0JpVk Stop by to enter
1 Bonus Entry – Subscribe to my RSS feed (or let me know if you already are) in a separate comment.
1 Bonus Entry – Leave a comment on any of my non-giveaway posts from the month of March/April. Be sure to leave a comment here to let me know which one. This Bonus entry may be done only twice per person.
1 Bonus Entry – Enter any of my other current giveaways (keep checking back – more being added all the time). Be sure to leave a comment here to let me know which one.
3 Bonus Entries – Add my blog button to your website and leave a link with the location. Be sure to give yourself 3 comments for credit.
5 Bonus Entries – Write a post on your blog linking to my blog about the giveaway. Be sure to leave 5 comments about this to get credit for all of your extra entries

To enter, please follow the rules above within the comment section. Contest starts today April 12th and ends at 10:59 EST on April 25, 2010. You do not have to be a blogger to enter, but must leave a valid e-mail address for me to contact you for mailing address once the giveaway is over. I will select the winner using random.org and contact you via e-mail. You will have 48 hours to claim the prize. If there is no response, another winner will be selected. Open to U.S. residents only.

Disclosure: This post was written for Family Review Network as part of a program for National Geographic, who supplied the magazines for review and giveaway. No other compensations was given. The opinions expressed in the review are my own feelings about the product.

Categories:
Educational giveaway jsl nhl photos Product review

Barefoot Books for Earth Day and beyond

Posted on April 10, 2010 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Blogging has allowed me to "meet" so many wonderful people. Several years ago, I found Susan’s original blog and we became friends. The two of us would write comments on each others posts, we would e-mail each other and even chat on Twitter. Our oldest boys are both the same age, so we help each other virtually as we sent our boys off to kindergarten in September 2009. I also recall Susan mentioning more than once that she wanted to take a step into the business world. Recently, Susan made this dream a reality with her Barefoot Books Marketplace.

I first heard about Barefoot Books through Susan when she started to do her research. The books looked fabulous. As a teacher ,I am a book addict. I dare say I have a collection of picture books that I started when I was in college, even before I did my student teacher. My Children’s Literature course made me really appreciate the talents of various authors and the gifts that the illustrators add to their books.

Susan asked me if I would like to see and review a Barefoot Book gift set. I immediately said yes because it is always wonderful to help out a fellow mom. Just before Passover, we received a Barefoot Books box. The boys immediately wanted to see what was inside. Here is what we found:

We received the Barebook Books for Baby Gift set. Here is more about it:

A perfect ‘welcome home’ for a new baby

Welcome a new baby into the world with a hardcover edition of Baby’s First Book, featuring Clare Beaton’s exquisite hand-sewn collages. Paired with a cuddly White Bunny Rabbit puppet, this gift set makes the perfect present and is presented in an eco-friendly, reusable green shopper tote with a gift tag to personalize.

Inside the book:

My thoughts:

As someone that often needs to give baby gifts and other items to young children, I appreciate that Barefoot Books has gift sets like the one that we received. You could tell that a lot of thought went into the items that were included. The tag alone made it such a personal gift. The boys immediately claimed the rabbit puppet as theirs. Of course, we also read the book together. Each page was filled with the illustrations by Clare Beaton that allowed for a lot of discussion. The boys were able to repeat the nursery rhymes with me, tell me what the clothing was depicted, make up a story about the bears (seen above), or repeat the animal noises. There was a wealth of things that we could add to this book, especially with my two year old.

I must admit that I was partial to something with Baby’s First Book. I adored Clare Beaton’s illustrations. Not only did the author do them herself, they were actually hand-sewn. As a teacher, it looks like a felt board story was done with extra detail on each and every page. I could actually see framing some of the pages from this book in a nursery for a child. Yes, they really were that gorgeous. Beaton is a very talented artist.

When I looked over the catalog from Barefoot Books I realized something else. I had read several other Barefoot Books. Just a few weeks ago NHL took The Beeman by Laurie Krebs out of the library. We all loved the details about the world of bees and beekeeping, along with the amazing illustrations by Valeria Cis. There were other books that I also recognized.

Giveaway just in time for Earth Day:

How would you like a chance to win the Whole World Gift Set from Susan and Barefoot Books?

The set seen above is being given away on Susan’s Barefoot Books blog to celebrate Earth Month. Head on over to see more details about the gift set and to enter the giveaway.

Have you ever received or given Barefoot Books? If not please head on over to check them out at Susan’s Marketplace.

Disclosure: I received the Barefoot Books set complimentary of Susan to facilitate my review. The opinions expressed are 100% mine about the product. No other compensation was received. I have linked to Susan’s marketplace to assist a fellow mother in her new business.