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My Preschool Star

Posted on January 29, 2012 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Dear JSL,

This past week was your turn to be the Star of the Week in your class. You were only the third child and first boy, so we were making things up as we went along. Last weekend, we had the sheet home from school with what we needed to send in. First, we had to fill out the All About Me page

Name – JSL
Favorite color – blue
Favorite book – If You Give a Pig a Party
Favorite toy – Bumblebee Transformer
Favorite food – Mac and Cheese
Members in my family – JL, B, and NHL

Then, you had a bag to put a few items for the week in. You needed something that God made and we picked a feather from Whiskers. Your favorite book which I went in to read to the class on Wednesday, and three toys. The toys had to stay for the week, so this was a tough decision. In the end, you picked Bumblebee, a Buzz Lightyear on his ship, and Pirate Stitch. The last item was to include 12 photos for the bulletin board (featured on Wordless Wednesday). The two of us went through a bunch of photos and made a folder. Then we worked on narrowing it down to the 12. You finally picked these out to share with everyone.

On Tuesday, you shared your photos and feather with the kids in your class. Wednesday, I went in to read your favorite story, and on Friday you shared the rest of your special toys. It was a fun and busy week. I was so proud of how much you helped to work on this project and heard that you did a great job sharing. You are growing up so quickly and I am so proud of you.

Love,

Mommy

Categories:
books Dear Kid Saturday Disney fun jsl looking back photos school

Thankful for Speech Therapy

Posted on January 26, 2012 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

It is no secret that, as a parent, I have become quite familiar with special services for my children. Thanks to NHL’s low muscle tone, he received Occupational and Physical Therapy to work on his fine and gross motor skills. With the hard work of everyone involved, you would hardly know that he once was a two year old that was unable to walk.

About two years ago I started to battle to get JSL some Early Intervention. His speech was not very clear, but he would “talk” a lot. Sad to say, the system failed us at the start, but has certainly made up for it since that time. In late September 2010, JSL started getting speech two days a week. By this time, he was frustrated, we were flustered, and everyone wanted our little boy to be understood.

We still have no idea why JSL dropped sounds in almost every word. His hearing was fine and other items checked out. It was not simply beginnings, certain letters, or endings – it was all over the place. The little guy’s speech patters were a mystery. Luckily, his preschool knew that he had qualified for services and suggested a therapist to work with JSL. We are so very lucky to have CT in our life. JSL adores CT and we saw improvements quickly. At the end of last year, JSL qualified for summer services and continued sessions this academic year. I do believe that CT is a miracle.

With this burst in speech, JSL has come out of his shell a lot more. He’s so much more outgoing once he gets to know you, and loves to perform song/dance routines. Here is the little guy after his music enrichment class where he made a new instrument. He is singing Shalom Chaverim – the Goodbye song in his classroom.

With recent budget cuts, I do not know how much more time JSL has with CT. More about those cuts and implications for children in New York and beyond coming soon.

Today, I wanted to thank all of the therapists, like CT, out there that work with kids to catch them up to speed before they head off to Kindergarten and beyond. As a parent and teacher, I truly get all of the hard work that they do both on and off the clock for our children. If your child receives therapy, remember to stop and thank their provider for all that they do.

Categories:
jsl looking back nhl photos school video

Preschool Star of the Week

Posted on January 25, 2012 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Categories:
Disney fun jsl looking back school Wordless Wednesday

Tuesday Tales – Newbery Books

Posted on January 24, 2012 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

On Monday, the American Library Association announced the 2012 Youth Media Award Winners. Some of the awards given out were the Newbery Medal, Caldecott Medal, Coretta Scott King Award, Theodor Seuss Geisel Award, and many others. To see the full list of 2012 award winning books, the ALA has the press release with all of the titles, authors, illustrators, and other important information on their website.

As a parent who has an older child that is now reading chapter books, I like to keep up to date on these new award winning books . Of course, during my days in the classroom I read a lot of them as well.

I previously wrote about some of the Newbery titles that I have read over the years. I not only read these because I adored seeing all of the children’s literature that are out there, but also to see what to use within my classroom. I will not lie, I often selected titles that were Newbery Medal or Honor winners. They were not the only titles, but most years I would select 1-2 Newbery trade books to read as a literature unit.

The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
The View from Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg

The four books above have something in common. They are all Newbery Medal or Newbery Honor books. They are also four books that I taught during Language Arts units in my own classroom. Each of them is unique in their own way. They connect with other subject areas and are fantastic books.

I know that I hope to check out the new Newbery winners for 2012 soon.

Have you read any of the 2012 award books? I would love to hear about them. What have you read recently? Please be sure to link up to your Book Posts in the comments below. Include something you read on your own, with a child or someone else. Tuesday Tales are all about spreading the love for books.

Disclosure: Four Amazon Affiliate links are included in this post with the four book titles mentioned. I will receive a percentage of money for the sale should you opt to buy the books through that link.

Categories:
books Educational me moments school Tuesday Tales

Making Today Matter

Posted on January 16, 2012 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Today both of my boys are home from school. My oldest son is in third grade and has learned about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. over the years. His four year old brother is still too young to really understand. Of course, in the back of my head, I know that NHL is aware of who Dr. King Jr. is, but does he understand just how he helped to change life for so many in our country? I am not sure he does since he is only eight and only knows life where he and his friends see no difference in skin color. Something so simple in that statement makes me know that my kiddo is learning so much.

In honor of this day, I wanted to share some great projects that would be fun to do with children today or in February in honor of Black History Month. When I was teaching, I had a lot of great projects that we did for this day and to celebrate the month of February, but I wanted to check what others were doing. Of course, I went to Pinterest and searched for the holiday.

Yes, I have a board just for MLK Jr. Day, but I thought I would share a few of the items here. I could just imagine these wreaths being made in a classroom, homeschool, or at home with kids. They would be great to display and remember the person behind the holiday.

Source: littlegiraffes.com via TheAngelForever on Pinterest

These freedom bells look perfect to do with younger children.

Source: funfamilycrafts.com via TheAngelForever on Pinterest

When I went to the website that hosted the original idea, it also had a song called Freedom, Freedom, Let it Ring that you sing to Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and I think my oldest son may have heard this years ago.

Freedom, Freedom, let it ring,

"Let it ring, " said Dr King.

Let us live in harmony,

Peace and love for you and me.

Freedom, freedom, let it ring,

"Let it ring," said Dr King.

For older children, I love the idea of taking a trade book and mixing it up with the holiday theme. The Crayon Box That Talked is about a group of crayons that do not like each other because the colors do not like each other. They learn a valuable lesson that worked nicely into a classroom crayon box of tolerance and accepting different crayons from a group.

Source: mrsbrownart.com via TheAngelForever on Pinterest

So how do you celebrate this day with your family? I know that we are hoping to go out and make a difference today within our community. My kids will see that today is not just a day off from school, but a day to remember the importance of a man who changed the world.