365 TV-Free Kid Activities

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[jaynemoraski]

Day 148: Spiral hunt with Fibonacci

We’re headed outside to explore the patterns of nature. Why do some things just get bigger, while others expand through spirals? Where can you find spirals inside your home and out?

Though it’s too cold for many of you to explore the backyard (sorry don’t mean to rub that in…wait, maybe I do), we went on a hunt for snails yesterday. We found spirals on pinecones and snail shells outside. Inside we had some seashells and even found spiral shapes on us (Can you guess where)?

To further connect to the spiral concept, we decided to make Stromboli (rolled up canned pizza dough filled with ham and cheese) served with fruit roll ups for dinner. More spirals!

The mathematical explanation of this growth pattern was observed over 800 years ago by an Italian named Leonardo de Pisa. Most people call him Fibonacci (pronounced fib-o-nawch-ee). From Mensa for Kids, here’s a few fun facts about this spiral loving mathematician, that are appropriate for a 4th grade challenge math discussion.

Fibonacci’s work led him to this sequence of numbers: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144 … Can you figure out what the next number in the sequence will be? We call this the Fibonacci sequence, and the numbers are called Fibonacci numbers. To get the next number in the sequence, you add the previous two numbers together.

Look at this picture of arcs and rectangles. Each larger rectangle is about the same size as the two previous rectangles added together. Getting the pattern?

Nature is full of Fibonacci numbers and the Fibonacci sequence.

I think it’s enough for younger kids just to ponder the number sequence and go on a shape scavenger hunt. But for older kids, a full Mensa mathematical equation and arc building exercise is found here.

Jayne’s Book Recommendations:  Swirl by Swirl: Spirals in Nature by Joyce Sidman and illustrated by Beth Krommes (Houghton Mifflin 2011) is a poetic ode to spirals. A Caldecott medalist and a Newbery Honor-winning poet celebrate the beauty and value of spirals.What makes the tiny snail shell so beautiful?

Blockhead: The Life of Fibonacci by Joseph D'Agnese and illustrated by John O'Brien (Henry Holt and Company 2010) From Booklist,“Grade 2–5—Leonardo does his math problems so quickly that he has plenty of time to look out the window and count other things in nature. His teacher, however, chastises him for daydreaming and the other students call him a "blockhead.” Only his father’s advisor, Alfredo, understands that Leonardo has a fascination with numbers, a love that will eventually help him become the “greatest Western mathematician in the Middle Ages.”“

[jaynemoraski]

And these are some really cool links to other fun with Fibonacci:  http://themindunleashed.org/2015/04/this-animation-of-the-fibonacci-sequence-will-take-your-breath-away.html

and   https://vimeo.com/116582567

[jaynemoraski]

[jaynemoraski]

Can you ever have too many Peeps?

It all starts innocently enough. Your kids scour the neighborhood for treats at October’s end. Then the first tier goodies disappear, only to be replaced by more chocolate goodness over the winter holidays, then Valentine’s Day and Easter.  Thus leaving behind Twizzlers and Dum Dums and marshmallow bits that could sit there for YEARS and never get eaten.

Now those of you that love stale Peeps, don’t start throwing things at the computer. In our house the Peeps are fun to look at and certainly a signal of spring. But after the first two turns at the candy jar, the bulk of the Peeps are left behind.  What to do with these leftovers?   Fortunately, playing with your food is still highly encouraged in our home.

PEEPS DIORAMA MANIA: We spent the evening just playing. Letting the kids get messy and creative in making their own Peep-tastic scene.

Supplies:

PEEPS

Cookie icing to hold things together

Paper or pictures for the backdrop

Lots of imagination

I challenged each kid to come up with their ideas and just have some fun.

Here are their diorama creations:

Want some more inspiration? Peeps have a bit of a cult following and t Peeps lovers create complex dioramas each year for the Washington Post’s annual Peeps Diorama Contest.   See the example dioramas from previous contests (The Up House is one of my personal favorites).

Jayne’s book recommendations to go with this activity: Peeps: Recipes and Crafts to Make with Your Favorite Marshmallow Treat by Charity Ferreira (Author) and Liz Wolfe (Photographer) (Chronicle Books 2007; 96 pages).  The ultimate guide to playing with the cutest candy ever made, Peeps!!

And for your slightly older candy connoisseur try Peeps: A Candy-Coated Tale by Martin Ohlin and Mark Masyga (Harry N. Abrams 2006; 112 pages).This slightly edgy and fully hilllarious Who-Dun-It told mostly in newspaper stories describes the disappearance of a a prominent Peepsville family. Who is responsible? And more importantly, can they be rescued before their sell-by dates?

[jaynemoraski]

TV-free activity #200:  Houses for Change

I believe children inherently want to give back to the community.  Yet many of the volunteer opportunities in our community aren’t suited for our smallest helping hands.  This is a great activity from Family Promise that can foster the spirit of giving from an early age.

Houses for Change is an award-winning educational crafts project for kids to raise awareness of homelessness and raise funds to help homeless families. It is a national campaign that answers the question, "What can I do to help?"

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(photos from Houses for Change)

Using magic markers, crayons, collage material, stickers and your imagination, decorate a plain box to look like a house. Take the box home and in the following weeks or months fill the box with loose change. At a selected date, for example Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, Easter or the end of the school year, families bring their filled boxes back to the participating organization for a communal donation to Family Promise, or a local homeless organization or both.

Houses for Change has universal appeal. It has been adopted by schools, congregations, homeless organizations, the United Way, and the YMCA to engage their youth in a meaningful service project. The decorated boxes can be used at community service days and birthday parties as piggy banks; at churches as Advent, Lenten and collection boxes; and at synagogues as tzedakah boxes.

I hope your family, scouting group, or place of worship considers supporting this project.

Jayne’s book recommendation to go with this activity: 

“I Can Hear the Sun” by Patricia Polacco 1999. Penguin Young Readers Group. Grades 2–5.

School Library JournalGr 2-4-Polacco introduces an unusual cast of characters in this modern myth. Stephanie Michele works in the park caring for the wildlife, and, unofficially, for the homeless folks who live there. A boy, Fondo, shows up one day and seems to belong. Stephanie and Fondo share a sensitivity to nature that others can't comprehend or appreciate. Then, they learn that the people at the settlement house where Fondo lives plan to send him away because he is a special-needs case. He runs away and accepts an invitation by the geese to fly away with them. The park "family" vow to keep his disappearance a secret, but readers are let in on this "true story" because Polacco knows Stephanie Michele personally. This picture book that points up the need for acceptance of all sorts of people is filled with graceful language and deftly rendered multimedia artwork done in predominantly earth tones. The artist places her subjects center stage on the white pages and does an expert job of capturing their poses and expressions with an economy of line and touches of color. This title is similar to Polacco's Boat Ride with Lillian Two Blossom (Philomel, 1988; o.p.) in the suspension of reality, yet her writing always seems somehow, magically, to make anything possible.-Sharon R. Pearce, San Antonio Public Library, TX

[jaynemoraski]

Happy holidays from Florida (and the smiling alligator)

Happy holidays from Florida and all the alligators.....awesome illustration from http://www.jungledrumsgallery.com/

The Mazzottas - Jim and Kathleen - both have Christmas art / cards out there... don't know if the series has this particular image though. Check them out!

[jaynemoraski]

TV-Free Kids Day 199: Bits of the Bard

Think your kids are ready for Shakespeare?  I don't think mine are, not fully. So how can you give them a tiny taste of the bard's brilliance?

Try giving them little puzzle pieces to build on--both literally and literarily. You can use the puzzles you have at home, or try an online version. We found a cool website that will make a puzzle out of any picture you provide. Horizontal images work best for younger kids, so they don't have to rotate every piece that is made. You can make it very easy, or very complex, depending on your child's age. 

So after we worked on our puzzle strategy (finding the edges and putting them together to form the skeleton of the puzzle, then finding big blocks of color and matching those pieces to the original picture), we talked about how we could use puzzle strategies to tackle a difficult subject like reading Shakespearean language from 500 years ago.

Jayne's book recommendation for this puzzle project: Barefoot Books has put out a great book called Shakespeare's Storybook by Patrick Ryan and illustrated by James Mayhew (2011) that tells the stories behind Shakespeare's stories.  Did you know he started with fables and legends from around the world and didn't just create all of the ideas for his plays?  Pick one story from this book per night. 

Then read them tiny bits of the bard - only a few lines for younger kids. Break down the language and explain the imagery and other literary devices.  We read some of the most famous lines from Romeo and Juliet and talked about Romeo comparing Juliet to something as important and bright as the sun. 

The hope is that a simple introduction for Shakespeare will help kids find structure in the stories they read in high school and ease the difficulty of digesting the difficult language - building the skeleton of the story just like they do when they start to build a puzzle. Hopefully something beautiful will start to take shape.

[jaynemoraski]

TV-free activity #198: STEM Friday- plant stem project

Here’s a TV-free activity that supports 2nd and 3rd grade discussion of plant biology. Kiddo #2 is learning about the parts of plants and the importance of stems and roots.

It’s a tried and true experiment that demonstrates capillary action in stems. You know the one...put food coloring in the water of white carnations to see if the flower will absorb the color as it pulls the water up its stem, but have you ever done it at home?. Here is our TV-free challenge: make it your own by asking your child how you can vary the directions below.

Three white carnations

Three plastic cups filled with 1 cup of water each and then

1/2 TB (yes you read that right, it is a lot) of 2 kinds of food coloring

The third cup filled with plain water as a control.

Our variations:  First, orange is the new black, or at least orange and black are highly aprapos for an October experiment. 

Second, we wondered if stiffer stems like roses would transport the color better or worse than the flexible carnations. So we bought some cheap white roses as well. We hypothesized that the more flexible stems would carry the color faster. 

Steps:

Adult cut the stem at a 45 degree angle.

Add food coloring to two of the three cups.

Put the freshly cut flowers into each cup and then wait. Most experiments say It can take up to 24 hours to see a color change, but with the amount of color we put in, changes were visible within one hour. Yessss for instant gratification.

After one hour, the black started to show up first in the carnations as they turned an eery greenish-gray.

Hour three was definitely more colorful...you get the idea.

Result:  The color traveled faster up the flexible stems, but the roses ultimately got darker than the carnations.  We now need to investigate to understand our results, but the variations made it more interesting, and made us a lovely Halloween bouquet! 

Here’s the WHY (the “technical part” that explains the cool color change) adapted from Kelly Robson’s lesson on Capillary Action.

She writes, “Plants use capillary action to bring water up the roots and stems to the rest of the plant. The molecules of the water (liquid) are attracted to the molecules of the inside of the stem (solid). This attraction is used to help force the water up from the ground and disperse throughout the plant.”

Capillary action occurs when water’s attraction to the plant is stronger than its attraction to other drops of water. So, basically, a water molecule has to choose to stay with the other water molecules or to go stick itself to the organic tissue of the plant. When the molecule is more attracted to the plant, it is pulled towards the plant tissue. Although the attraction is stronger to the tissue, the water molecule still wants to bring its buddies. Therefore, the first water molecule still attaches itself to the plant tissue, and it also brings along water molecule.”

Jayne’s book recommendation to go with this activity:  What Do Roots Do? by Kathleen V. Kudlinski (Cooper Square Publishing 2007)

From School Library Journal: "Kindergarten-Grade 3–Unseen and unheralded, roots lead a secret life under the soil, anchoring and nourishing the leafy, spiny, flowery, fruiting bodies that soothe our eyes and shade our backyards. Palm, pine or maple,/it always is true–/half of the tree/will be hidden from you. Kudlinski's brief rhyming text describes them, from the tiniest root hairs to the strongest taproots, sucking up the water that makes its way up the trunk, out through branches and twigs, and into the leaves and beyond."  –Patricia Manning, formerly at Eastchester Public Library, NY 

[jaynemoraski]

TV-free activity #197: Fruit (roll-up) bats

A simple project kids can do, just in time for Halloween.  Create shapes with your fruit roll-ups, starting with a fruit bat!

You will need:

Fruit roll ups

Metal cookie cutters any shape you want.

Decorations for eyes

Even though our cookie cutter looks plastic, it has a metal edge that is really important to cut the fruit leather.  The plastic cookie cutters just didn't cut the tough fruit stuff (pun totally intended)--they left us cranky and mom cutting along the edges with a knife.

Bat eyes were Halloween sprinkles in our project, but you can use anything you'd like.

Jayne's book recommendation to go with this activity: Bats in the Band written and illustrated by Brian Lies (HMH Books for Young Readers August 2014). Like all the bat books [Bats at the Beach and my personal favorite, Bats at the Library], I could just sit and look at the illustrations, but it is a great story too.

From School Library Journal

       PreS-Gr 3—Bats wake up in the spring, hungry for food and even hungrier for sound. Their quest for a little night music leads them to a deserted summertime theater where a single light beckons them inside, past huckster bats selling T-shirts and posters, to the stage where other bats gather with improvised instruments. "We sing together as one voice./It seems the very walls rejoice!" A classical quartet, suspended upside down on matchstick perches, play violins, viola, and cello. A one-bat band is followed by a country bat sitting on a bottle cork and singing lonesome songs. A jazz bat's melancholy voice turns the room blue, while in a far corner little bats listen to children's songs. As the evening progresses, the main stage fills with bats. "Hearts are pumping, drums are thumping,/everything that's loose is jumping." Too soon, daylight signals the concert's end. Bats fly home to their rafters and dream of performing with the band. Luminous acrylic illustrations and rhyming text bring this nighttime concert joyfully to life. Like Bats at the Beach (2006), Bats at the Library (2008), and Bats at the Ballgame (2010, all Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), this latest adventure will enchant children, who will want to hear it, read it, and relive it over and over again.—Mary Jean Smith, formerly at Southside Elementary School, Lebanon, TN

[jaynemoraski]

TV-free activity #196: Truffula Tree Truffles

Time for something purely silly. When reading the Lorax aloud, we kept mis-speaking, saying truffles trees instead of truffula.  And voila, we knew what activity we needed to do next--find a way to make truffula truffles.

Jayne's Truffula Tree Truffles

 Truffles (makes 24-30)

½ package  (4 oz.) cream cheese, softened

1-1/2 package of Ghiradelli chocolate chips, melted

1-1/2 tsp.  vanilla

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

 For coating

15-20 drops each of neon blue, neon green and neon pink food coloring, divided

3 cups of coconut flakes, divided

12 oz package of Wilton’s candy melts in blue, green and pink

 For the tree trunks (We tried pixie sticks, they were too small. You could also used peppermint sticks. We found the wild colors of rock candy worked well, and it was more sturdy for the tree trunk.)

24 Rock candy on a stick

For the truffles, in a medium bowl, melt the chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl for 30 seconds and stir. Then repeat. This should take approximately 3 rounds of cooking at 30 seconds each. Stir until the chocolate is glossy.  Add the vanilla. Set aside

In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese until softened. Then sift in the powdered sugar over the cream cheese until blended.  Pour the melted chocolate mixture over the cream cheese. Refrigerate for one hour.  Then shape the chocolate into 1 inch balls.

Put the balls back in the freezer for 15 minutes.

While you wait, put the three cups of coconut flakes into three separate medium bowls.  Add 1 teaspoon of color into each of the three coconut bowls and stir, so you have three separate truffula tree colors to choose from.  Set aside.

In three more medium bowls, melt the three candy colors in the microwave, 30 seconds at a time until they are glossy and smooth when stirred.

After the chocolate centers have frozen, roll them in the colored chocolate melts, then immediately roll them in the colored coconut of the same color.  We used spoons to roll the balls around, and scoop the coconut over the top of the ball as well. It was actually easier (read less messy) than using our hands.

Set on parchment paper and let rest. When the truffula truffles have rested for 10 minutes, assemble the trees as follows:

Cut off the ends of the rock candy sticks, so only a ¼” of the stick portion is stick out of the candy.  Insert each rock candy stick in.  Refrigerate for 15 minutes.  Now they are ready to eat.

Jayne’s book recommendation for this:  Well, you guessed it, The Lorax by Dr. Seuss, (Random House) originally published in 1971.  

[jaynemoraski]

TV-free activity #195: I'll have an array on my waffle, please

As Kid #2 begins memorizing multiplication tables, we are looking for ways to incorporate math into daily discussions instead of strictly focusing on memorizing without connecting numbers to tangible things.  So here's an easy way to sneak multiplication math into breakfast...yes, we are playing with food again. Sorry folks, gotta eat, and gotta learn math. STEM Friday morphed into a Saturday morning breakfast, but there's chocolate involved so nobody got hurt.

"An array is an orderly arrangement, often in rows, columns or a matrix. Arrays are used in multiplication and division as it shows a great visual to show how multiplication can be shown as repeated addition a nd division can be shown as fair shares."  From math expert, Deb Russell

We went on an array hunt in the house.  Lo and behold, lots of my favorite things have arrays, chocolate candy trays (Life is like a box of chocolates...), waffles, egg cartons, etc.  What else can your kids find?

We then made our lovely waffle array and found different ways to dissect it.  The original array above is four rows of four squares.Kids can create a great math visual by filling the squares with raisins or chocolate chips. Then practice their multiplication:

1 row of chips x 4 chips in a row = 4

2 rows of chips x 4 chips in a row = 8 

4 rows of chips x 4 chips in a row = 16

 But what if you cut the waffle in half? Then you'll have two groups of 8.  And you can practice even more multiplication. 

Now dig in!

Jayne's book recommendations to go with this wonderful waffle math: Math Curse by the whacky mind of Jon Sieszcka and illustrated by Lane Smith (Viking Juvenile 1995) is a quirky book about a girl who finds math in everyday objects...an overload of mental math ensues.  This is a great book for 2nd and 3rd graders that don't take themselves too seriously. Off-the-wall questions are posed on each page, and there are answers on the back cover:  "How many inches are in a yard, and how many yards are in my neighborhood?"  Answers:  36 inches and  "a lot" of fun.

For older kids or those with more advanced reading, try, Everything on a Waffle by Polly Horvath (Square Fish 2001).  Age recommendation 10-14 years, 140 pages.  From Publishers Weekly: "Horvath (The Trolls) delivers another hilariously puckish read with this tale of a (possibly) orphaned girl from a small Canadian fishing village. Eleven-year-old Primrose Squarp refuses to attend the memorial service for her parents after they disappear at sea. "Haven't you ever just known something deep in your heart without reason?" she demands of all and sundry, convinced her parents are still alive. Meanwhile, she is shuffled from the custody of her elderly neighbor Miss Perfidy to her likable but somewhat feckless Uncle Jack. Not unlike another beloved red-haired Canadian heroine, Primrose whose own hair is "the color of carrots in an apricot glaze (recipe to follow)" attracts trouble like a magnet. In addition to singeing the fur on the class guinea pig, she manages to lose a baby toe and part of a finger in chapters entitled "I Lose a Toe" and "I Lose Another Digit" accidents that land her in the foster care of an older couple whose stature and girth give them the look of "kindly old hard-boiled eggs." Primrose's lively recital of her misadventures comes complete with recipes, pungent descriptions ("the feeling of joy swept through my soul like fire up a vacuum") and memorable characters, among them the tough-talking, golden-hearted owner of a local restaurant that serves everything (even fish and chips) on waffles. A laugh-out-loud pleasure from beginning to triumphant end." Ages 10-up.

[jaynemoraski]

TV-free day 194: Talk Like a Pirate Day - free booty from a book loving buccaneer

What can you do to honor the most splendid holiday of the year, September 19th - Talk Like A Pirate Day?  Make milk carton boats with your kids...and read great pirate books.

Jayne's book recommendation for this day?  Victricia Malicia by Carrie Clickard (Flashlight Press 2012).  This sea-faring tongue twister is lots of fun for anybody that likes to read. Victricia Malicia Calamity Barrett may have been born on her family's pirate ship, but this mild-mannered young lady is sick of the sea: she'd much rather be ashore with her nose permanently buried in a book. 

For more crafts, games and worksheets, visit Victricia's website.

[jaynemoraski]

TV-free day 193: Russian egg roulette (family style)

Sometimes we just need to be silly.  Thank you to late night host, Jimmy Fallon for a ridiculously silly segment on his show where he challenges a celebrity to smash an egg on their head. Some of the eggs are hard boiled, some are not. The first with two raw eggs loses.  For more on this, please see this clip (yes I chose the clip from David Beckham for my own enjoyment). 

To do this TV-free activity, you will need:

1 dozen eggs.  Boil 8 of them (double this if you have a big family).

An egg carton (or two)

Towels and a bowl (optional but really helpful). 

Old clothes for all participants

Showers for all immediately following the game. Really. Nothing worse than the smell of egg on the head the next morning.

Steps:  

Hard boil 8 eggs and let them cool.

Then place them in the same carton with the 4 raw eggs.

Choose wisely. Have each player choose the first egg they touch. Don't let them inspect the eggs too closely.  And no put backs!

Smash the egg on your head.  If it's hard boiled, you are safe.  

Goal of the game: The first person that gets the raw deal twice is out of the game. You can keep playing as long as one person still has only one raw strike against them.  

Jayne's book recommendation to go along with this activity:  We are just starting this one at home, but I cannot think of a better book to go with Russian egg roulette than Egg & Spoon by Gregory Maguire. (Candlewick 2014). How appropriate is a middle-grade fantasy set in Tsarist Russia with eggs in the title?  Age recommendation is 12 and up.

Let me know if you've read the book....we are just getting started with my 11-year-old, but so far, so good!  "The heels of military books, striking marble floors, made a sound like thrown stones. The old man knew that agents were hunting for him."   I'm intrigued already.

From the publisher: Elena Rudina lives in the impoverished Russian countryside. Her father has been dead for years. One of her brothers has been conscripted into the Tsar’s army, the other taken as a servant in the house of the local landowner. Her mother is dying, slowly, in their tiny cabin. And there is no food. But then a train arrives in the village, a train carrying untold wealth, a cornucopia of food, and a noble family destined to visit the Tsar in Saint Petersburg — a family that includes Ekaterina, a girl of Elena’s age. When the two girls’ lives collide, an adventure is set in motion, an escapade that includes mistaken identity, a monk locked in a tower, a prince traveling incognito, and — in a starring role only Gregory Maguire could have conjured — Baba Yaga, witch of Russian folklore, in her ambulatory house perched on chicken legs.

The New York Times Book Review - Leigh Bardugo:

…a series of dreamy, expertly painted vignettes, set pieces both absurd and spectacular…But in this surfeit of myth and mayhem, there are also moments of poignant quiet, when the grand quest of saving the magic of Russia recedes. In these moments, the human comes to the fore, and our focus narrows once more to a child longing for a parent, a mother longing for a child, the aching burden of living through suffering that life demands again and again. In Egg & Spoon Maguire sets his characters the fundamental challenge of stepping outside themselves and acknowledging the wider world and giving up the pleasure of being the center of the narrative. Sometimes he even lets them succeed. Readers may hunger for heroic deeds, but it is impossible not to root for girls and witches and aunts alike, and to cheer their little victories as acts of grace.

[jaynemoraski]

TV-free day 192: Balance on a butterfly's wings

How can an art project underscore the importance of finding balance in our lives? Yes, there are a lot of butterfly projects out there.  I hope this one, combined with a great book, will supply a little more TV-free discussion than normal. Butterflies are an excellent example of symmetry found in nature.  Look at pictures of actual butterflies. Then talk about the words below.

Balance: a condition in which different elements are equal or in the correct proportions.

Symmetry:  similarity or exact correspondence between different things

When working on the art project, ask kids to think about what happens in our lives when things feel out of balance.

Butterfly Balance Art Project

For the project, you will need:

Art paper made for painting

Acrylic paint (don't you love it when the list is so short?)

Step 1:  Fold a piece of paper in half (we used art paper able to handle a lot of paint). Free-hand a butterfly or use my template below. And of course, have the center of the butterfly on the fold...yes I put these ridiculous directions in because I did this incorrectly myself when in a hurry once...hate to admit that.

Step 2:  Unfold the butterfly and squirt paint on only one half of the butterfly.  Show your kids how one cut on a paper folded exactly in half can create symmetry. Then squirt paint on only one side of the butterfly.  You don't need to cover the wing in color, it will get covered in a minute.

Step 3: Gently smooth the butterfly (starting in the middle) out toward the wing tips. Be sure to smooth over the entire butterfly to get maximum paint spread. This will also remove excess paint.  Careful. This is pretty messy if your kids are exuberant with the paint.

Step 4:  Open the butterfly and examine it.  Is there symmetry? Are there some parts that are not completely perfect?  

Now, how does that balance relate to your life?  Is my butterfly different from yours?  Perhaps this could represent what is "normal" for you is different than "normal" for me and my butterfly.

In your own life, are things harder when your feelings feel too heavy?  Read the book below and talk about ways that families can work together to keep each other balanced.

Book recommendation to go with this activity: Whispering Wings by Jayne Peters (Puddle Duck Publishing 2013).

Nick's life is out of balance as he recovers from an accident. One morning when he wakes, he discovers five caterpillars on his window. They crawl in his pocket and throughout the day they change to butterflies that seem to whisper words of encouragement when his family needs them most.  Though he is having trouble walking Nick's abilities a discussed with dignity throughout.   The story is a great read aloud for families with small children and a good way to introduce some of the key concepts of the Virtues Project, a UN recognized program to encourage peace and mindfulness (dare I say balance and symmetry) in life.  

The last butterfly has a final word for Nick. As he works to walk and run again, despite being slightly off balance, he wobbles forward with a little Determination. 

Ms. Peters is a teacher and has learning projects to go along with her text on her website: http://www.jaynepeters.com/. The story is more of a learning text than most books, but it is a  lovely picture book which supports the Virtues Project. 

[jaynemoraski]

An alligator purse full of activities for homeschool, K-5 teachers and librarians

http://jaynemoraski.com/index_files/activitypack.pdf

[jaynemoraski]

Discover New Teaching Resources

Excerpt from Attentionology blog:

Discover New Teaching Resources

Posted on August 18, 2014 by Barbara Cleary in Attentionology for K-5 Teachers

Newly discovered on a teacher’s journey…a delightful picture book that wraps science lessons into a modern myth for K – 2 kids.

Hi and welcome back to Attentionology for K – 5 Teachers!

Do you agree with me that like life itself, teaching is a journey, not a destination?

One of the joys of an educator’s journey is the discovery along the way of new and wonderful teaching resources…

…resources that catch and keep kids’ attention!

I was recently introduced to a picture book that does just that. It tells a delightful modern myth as it also delivers K – 2 science lessons on species classification and coastal habitats.

How Alligator Got His Smile Back by Jayne Moraski, illustrated by Carl Kocich (Guardian Angel Publishing, Inc.), begins “when the earth was very young and animals looked very different,” as they do today.

But how and why do animals look and live differently? The lessons begin…

…in a story that features a prehistoric Alligator who frolics in the water with his best friend, the tadpole Frog.

As Moraski tells it, “their friendship suffers when Frog changes and is able to leave the water to jump across the land. Eventually, Alligator evolves into the (smiling) form we know today, and learns a lesson in the true meaning of friendship,” when his wish is granted.

Says Moraski, “my book (also) describes the origins of frog songs, mangrove swamps, cypress knees, and of course, how

A ready-to-color illustration to pair with How Alligator Got His Smile Back by Jayne Moraski, framed here with a green border.

alligators got their big grins.”

Award-winning trilingual children’s author, Nicole Weaver, describes How Alligator Got His Smile Back as “a fresh twist on the African folktale about the bragging crocodile.”

Kocich’s colorful and beautifully detailed illustrations frame the story characters and action with tile-like borders that would suit the most decorative aquarium wall.

Moraski has tied this book directly to K – 3 pacing guides and Florida curriculum standards, but take note…

How Alligator Got His Smile Back is consistent with current Common Core recommendations (for the US). In my view, the book presents basic environmental education in a way that teachers anywhere can adapt for their curriculum.

Moraski points out that “the book also explains coastal habitats and has a habitat activity.” Backmatter activities ask students to compare and contrast the two species in the book using textual clues to discern information.

Specifically, the book invites children to:

complete a species classification activity.

draw a Venn diagram that shows how alligators and frogs are alike and different.

create a habitat collage (a teacher’s or parent’s assistance with vocabulary may be needed).

Classroom-tested resources are a joy to discover on a teacher’s journey.

How Alligator Got His Smile Back fills the bill…

Help Alligator Find Tadpole Frog, a maze framed here with a yellow border, challenges young readers.

“The book’s non-fiction activities were developed,” explains Moraski, “through discussions with K – 3 teachers in two separate school systems, and tested in classrooms with positive teacher feedback.”

An ample non-fiction bibliography at the end of How Alligator Got His Smile Back encourages teachers and students to continue

Jayne Moraski, author of How Alligator Got His Smile Back, a modern myth with a science twist.

journeying to discover more new and wonderful teaching and learning resources.

Supplementary activities, like a Helping Alligator Find Tadpole Frog maze, are available to download on Moraski’s website.

Jayne Moraski’s professional background places her in a scientific setting today.

In addition to pursuing writing, she works on a diabetes research project at the University of Florida (US).

Living in Gainesville for the past twelve years, Moraski has “evolved herself” into a huge gator fan. To clarify (for those needing a sports update), the gator is the mascot of the University of Florida.

Moraski has written public relations and travel articles for the Florida tourism industry, academic publications in non-profit management, and several children’s magazines, including Highlights.

One of the highlights of How Alligator Got His Smile Back is the book’s treatment of bragging. The theme underlies this modern myth with a science twist.

Dealing with bragging is a part of Character Education in many school systems. Moraski’s character, Frog, is a guilty party, and kids who get to enjoy this delightful story will get the picture!

Have you produced or discovered a new and wonderful resource on your teaching journey? If you’d like me to profile work, please send a comment.

Remember, you don’t need to be a magician to work magic in any instructional setting!

Talk with you again soon,

Barbara ♥ The Lovable Poet

[jaynemoraski]

Day 191: See you later alligator art project by Ms. K

Very fun art teacher's blog from Ms. K and "Please Don't Eat the Artwork"

See You Later Alligators

May 16, 2013 by artwithmsk

One of my goals as an art teacher is to foster creativity in my students. It is extremely important to me that their projects are not cookie-cutter-carbon-copies, rather they are as individual as the individuals who made them. The last unit of art curriculum for the county denotes that crafting is involved. I type crafting with a grimace and a shudder because in my humble opinion crafting is a cheap way to do mass-produced art.

I was bored to tears by weaving with 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders because really, how much creativity is involved in manipulating some yarn? Sure they can choose their colors but in the end all the projects basically look the same. Weaving with paper allows for a little more creative freedom. These woven alligators were inspired by several pins on Pinterest as well as from Art With Ms. Gram. 

I wanted to make sure that they did not all look the same so I made tried to give students as many choices as possible. They chose which shade of green construction paper they would use for the body and  the way they made painted paper. They came up with their own the symbols which were painted in metallic tempera. Students designed their own  eyes and teeth, and the shapes for features such as arms, legs, and tails. I think these look wild and fun and ended up really reflecting the spirit of first (soon to be second!) graders.

We began by mixing primary colors to create secondary colors for painted paper.

Students used their painted paper to weave into a piece of green construction paper for the alligator’s body.

Some alligator bodies on the drying rack:

Then heads and tails were added with more green paper.

First graders cut eyes and teeth out of white paper:

Details and symbols were painted on with shiny metallic tempera:

The display is a farewell to first grade:

Some alligator close ups:

Jayne's book recommendations to go with this art project: Alligators and Crocodiles by Gail Gibbons (Holiday House 2010). I like Gail  Gibbons non-fiction animal  books and this is no exception.  She discusses how to tell the difference between alligators and crocodiles and provides interesting facts for kids K-3. And of course, you could always read How Alligator Got His Smile Back (Guardian Angel Publishing 2014)

[jaynemoraski]

TV-free activities day 190: Scribble dinner

Why should we eat dinner together more often? Most American families are starved for time to spend together, and dinner may be the only time of the day when we can reconnect, leaving behind our individual pursuits like playing video games, emailing and doing homework. Dinner is a time to relax, recharge, laugh, tell stories and catch up on the day’s ups and downs, while developing a sense of who we are as a family. - Dr. Anne Fisher "The Family Dinner Project"

So how can we linger at the table?  We made our table a scribble pad and it sparked conversation and a few more TV-free moments.

I like to suggest easy projects that working parents can actually achieve. I hope this is easy for your family too. 

You will need:  a roll of butcher paper, or brown mailing paper and colored pencils That's it

We used two long pieces to make our table cloth. Set out colored pencils and asked everybody to doodle something that happened to them or make up a story.  This one was at breakfast...the toast was terrified of the toaster. 

Jayne's book recommendation for this activity:

Scribble by Deborah Freedman (Random House 2007) seems like the perfect book for tonight's bedtime story.  The imaginative story won lots of awards and is a fun look sibling rivalry.

Connecticut Book Awards - 2008 Finalist

Fuse #8 - Best "Under the Radar" Picture Book for 2007

Rocky Mountain News - 10 Best Children's Books of 2007

Association of Booksellers for Children - Best Books 2007

Book Sense - Children's Picks 2007.

Review from Publishers Weekly

In this unpredictable blend of comic strip and children's drawings, two short-tempered siblings compare their magic marker artwork. Proud older sister Emma shows off her picture of a sleeping princess on bubblegum-pink poster paper. Defensive younger sister Lucie, less practiced with her pen, chooses mustard-gold paper and draws "a kitty" with a crude teardrop-shaped head and sticklike limbs. "It looks like a scribble," Emma tells her. Indignant, Lucie grabs a pen and scratches tangled loops, like twisted vines, all over Emma's Sleeping Beauty. This sibling squabble takes an unexpected turn, however, when Lucie's scrawled kitty, christened Scribble, decides to rescue the damsel. He leaps onto the pink page with Lucie and her actual pet kitten in hot pursuit. But "before Lucie could stop him, Scribble scrambled into a Giant Thicket, where deep within he discovered the Princess Aurora, who had been asleep for One Hundred Years." Scribble unravels the inky loops and finds an unlikely true love, a la Norton Juster's The Dot and the Line. Freedman, in her picture book debut, pictures the dueling sisters and their white kitten semi-naturalistically in pen, ink and watercolor, depicting their showdown in tidy comic panels with voice bubble dialogue. She creates their drawings in the naïve style of Lauren Child, and when Scribble comes to life, this anarchic, digitally enhanced art fills the pages and breaks the frames. The juxtaposition of realistic portraits and more playful designs results in often chaotic spreads, but Freedman's willingness to color outside the lines pays off-she's created a clever gem of a book. Ages 3-6. (May)