Preschool Co-op Lessons: Trees and Plants

On Thursday of my first week teaching preschool, our theme was trees and plants. I only had three in my class that day because one was out of town and one was sick. After doing puzzles and block and the calendar/weather/letter/color/shape routine, we sang our songs, In the Leafy Treetops (an LDS Primary Song), and Trees (to the tune of The Farmer in the Dell, which I found online). Then we read several books about threes, The Giving Tree by Shel Siverstein, Up, Down and Around by Katherine Ayres, and A Tree is A Plant by Clyde Robert Bulla. (I think only having three kids in the class probably allowed them to pay attention to reading books longer!)

Then, for a "sensory activity" we went outside, and my husband had these packets of sunflower seeds and little containers left over from something they did at his work, so each child got to fill a container with soil (which I had bought), put some seeds in it, and put more soil on top. Then we watered the seeds and the kids got to take them home. I put my daughter's in the windowsill above our kitchen sink, and five days later, the seeds sprouted!


Then, since we were already outside, we went on a short walk and looked at my neighbor's garden and talked about all of the vegetable plants she has growing there. By this time, it was already almost time for snack, but I let the kids play for a few minutes while I got it ready.

For our craft, I had prepared large pieces of paper each with a drawing of a tree (I just drew them myself) and I had some cut up some pieces of green tissue paper to be "leaves." The kids used glue sticks to glue the "leaves" on the trees. Most of the trees ended up being a bit sparse, and one child took creative license with the placement of the leaves (she put them on the trunk). I think they are very lovely trees!
















We always close each day of preschool with the same set of songs:

Ring around the rosey
Pockets full of posies
Ashes, ashes, we all fall down!

Cows are in the meadow
Eating buttercups
Thunder, lightning, we all stand up!

Teddy bear, teddy bear
Turn Around
Teddy bear, teddy bear
Touch the ground
Teddy bear, teddy bear
Give a jump a try
Teddy bear, teddy bear
Wave bye-bye

Thank you for being our friends today
Come back again and we'll sing and we'll play!

Preschool Co-op Lessons: The Farm

I recently taught for my daughter's co-op preschool for the fist time. We have five kids in the class, and we rotate it to each mom's home each week, so when it was my turn, I taught two lessons. Here is the structure of the day:

9:00-9:15 Structured Play
9:15-9:35 Circle Time
9:35-10:05 Sensory Activity and Free Play
10:05-10:20 Snack
10:20-10:40 Art Time
10:40-11:00 Outdoor/Indoor Play
11:00-11:15 Clean up and close

For both days, I did puzzles and blocks for the structured play. Circle time consists of a welcome song, which includes each of the children's names in the song, followed by updating the calendar and weather chart, and there is a song we sing for the weather, too. Then we go over the letter, color, and shape for the week. Our week we had the letter C, the color yellow, and triangle. We have a color book in the preschool box (which travels to each home, along with the calendar and weather chart) with pictures of things that are all one color on each page, so the kids get to point to one thing that the like on the yellow page that is yellow, and there is also a shape puzzle book where all of the pictures on a page are magnetic puzzle pieces that are the same shape, so the kids get to take a piece, say what thing they have that is a triangle, and then put it back. All of this is basically the same in every circle time, no matter whose house school is at for the day..

On Tuesday, our theme was The Farm. We sang some songs about farms: Old MacDonald Had A Farm (the children really enjoyed getting to choose what animal sound we were going to sing) and The Farmer in the Dell (I had one child be the farmer and let her choose who would be the wife, and she chose who would be the child, and so on, and as they were chosen, they got to stand up). Then we read the book Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin, which is about a farm, but it is a bit of a higher level and their attention wasn't staying focused on it. I had some other farm-related books picked out, but I decided to skip them. We sang another song "This is the way we..." with farm chores for the actions, while I got out my laptop. I used this website to play real recordings of animal sounds and had the children listen and try to identify which animal it was. I think they got all of them except for the turkey.

For our craft on Tuesday, I printed pictures of a pig on pink cardstock and mixed some shaving cream with a little brown paint in a cup for each of the kids. I explained about how pigs need mud to protect their skin, and let them use their hands to smear the shaving cream "mud" on their pigs. It was really fun! They took a long time to dry, but I thought they looked kind of neat after they dried.


It was actually really cool for my daughter that we had just learned about farms in pre-school because we ended up going to a farm, Smallwood's Harvest Farm Park near Leavenworth, WA, as a family that weekend. She fed the animals, rode the cow train, and did other fun farm-related activities.

Baby Signing Time giveaway at Enjoy Birth

I first heard of Signing Time before I had kids. One of my really good friends in college was a Special Education major. She took American Sign Language for "foreign language" credit and she showed me one of the videos, explaining that they were produced by well-known LDS producer and composer Lex D. Acevedo (whose arrangements of instrumental hymns I listened to while in labor with my daughter). She also told me a little about the inspirational story behind Signing Time.

Soon after, I was in a language development class required for my Early Childhood Education major, and someone asked the professor about infant sign language. He admitted that he didn't know much about it, but he suspected that teaching children to sign would delay their speech because they would sign instead of talking. He obviously didn't know much about it, so he should have not answered the question. Research indicates that babies who learn sign language have significantly more advanced speech development than their non-signing peers when measured at 24 months and 36 months. There are many other benefits to baby signing, including reduction of aggression in toddlerhood and higher scores on IQ assessments at age 8.

Although I hadn't looked at the research, I was fortunate enough to have my negative conceptions of infant sign language challenged by my wonderful fellow daycare/preschool co-workers who used a few simple signs ("more" and "all done") to communicate with the one- and two-year-olds at mealtimes. I saw that it made it a lot easier to know what they wanted, and my mind was opened to the idea.

When my daughter was a baby, I read a little more about infant signing, and decided it was a good thing to do. I taught her some signs, including "more," "all done," "hot," and "music." (There were a few more I tried to teach, but didn't have enough opportunities to practice them for her to learn to use them). With my son, I have use the sign for "milk" to refer to breastfeeding, which he uses (which cuts down on him trying to pull down my shirt). He also uses "more," though he won't sign "all done" for some reason, though I think he tries to say it. He doesn't have any discernible words yet, but he can communicate some things to me. I want to teach him more, but feel I don't know enough signs to be able to teach him as much as I would like.

Recently, we rented a Signing Time DVD from our local library. Most of the signs were not really useful for a baby, but my three-year-old daughter really enjoyed the songs. She watched it over and over and will show me the signs she learned from it. I think it would be precious if someday she were to meet a child who uses ASL and could communicate some with him or her.

I was excited to see that Sheridan at Enjoy Birth is giving away her used Baby Signing Time DVDs, CDs, and a used BabySigns book. I think these materials would definitely get use at our house--I think my kids and I would all enjoy them! If you think you would like some great resources for signing with your baby, visit her blog to learn how you can win!

Becoming the Mother God Wants Me to Be

Mother and three children, By François Louis Lanfant, dit Lanfant de Metz (1814–1892) (http://www.zeller.de/) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

I have had some challenging times in the past few weeks since I found out I am pregnant. I have been lucky to not have morning sickness, which I know is a huge blessing. At the time I found out, I was nursing a 13 month old, basically still on demand (have been working on cutting him back a little), and I think nursing has really contributed to the first trimester fatigue, which has, at times, been overwhelming. I feel like if I'm having this hard of a time taking care of two kids while pregnant, how am I ever going to take care of thee kids? I've also been moodier this pregnancy than in my previous ones. I feel like I'm not even the same person anymore, like my body gets taken over by a really mean person, and I am not being the mother I want to be.

I am constantly reminded that I can't do this alone. I have thought a lot about this verse:

There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. (1 Corinthians 10:13)

I feel that God wants me to have this baby, so He will also provide a way to make me stronger so that I can handle the challenges of this pregnancy and adjusting to a new baby. In the April 2011 General Conference (which I found out I was pregnant the day before), I was very affected by the words by the talk What Manner of Men and Women Ought Ye to Be? by Lynn G. Robbins. He discusses how parenting provides opportunities for parents to teach their children Christlike attributes and for parents to develop their own Christlike qualities. I want to read this talk over and over again because this is the kind of parent I want to be. So much of it applies to me, but I want to share this quote:

A sweet and obedient child will enroll a father or mother only in Parenting 101. If you are blessed with a child who tests your patience to the nth degree, you will be enrolled in Parenting 505. Rather than wonder what you might have done wrong in the premortal life to be so deserving, you might consider the more challenging child a blessing and opportunity to become more godlike yourself. With which child will your patience, long-suffering, and other Christlike virtues most likely be tested, developed, and refined? Could it be possible that you need this child as much as this child needs you?

Although my current situation is not about struggles with one of my children's personalities, it helps me to remember that my goal is to become a more Christlike parent. I believe that the Lord has lessons to teach me, and this pregnancy is an opportunity for him to help me learn to have more patience, self-control, and love as a parent, not only when it is easy to do so, but also when it is very, very hard. If I am paying attention to His lessons, I hope that all my experiences in parenting, especially the challenging ones, will help me become the kind of woman and mother He wants me to be.

Motherhood: It's the Little Things

A young mother of three spoke in church today for Mother's Day. She mentioned that life as a mother can be overwhelming sometimes, but it is important to recognize the little things that make it worth it. Here are some of my "little things"

• Seeing my three-year-old daughter develop into a little artist. She can now draw "people" and "flowers."
• Celebrating a successful trip to the potty.
• Seeing my one-year-old son sign the word "more" for the first time.
• Seeing my daughter gently nurture her baby dolls.
• Hearing my daughter sing songs, including one I am pretty sure she made up, called, "Hurry Up and Put Your Shoes Back On."
• Rocking my son to sleep.
• Playing "long distance peek-a-boo" with my son, who likes to peek around doorways at people.
• Building block towers with my three-year-old and watching my one-year-old joyfully knock them over.
• Seeing the two of them laugh together.
• Tender sibling moments like this one:
  

Unexpected Parenting Lessons

I had an interesting experience recently that is a bit off topic from my usual posts, but since birth is about becoming a parent, I thought it wasn't totally inappropriate to share here.
One day, towards the end of my children's and my recovery from an icky cold/cough, my daughter was using drawers and chairs to climb around in the kitchen, and I discovered her with a bowl and a wisk trying to combine cornstarch, salt, and an egg. (Yes, she is very independent for a three year old.) At first I was angry at her for making a mess, but I soon realized that she was, in fact, showing an interest in baking, so I decided to stop yelling at her, get out my measuring cups, and let her help me bake something.

Since I suspect my son is has a problem digesting dairy, if I was going to bake, I needed it to be something without dairy and something without margarine, since I was out of Earth Balance vegan margarine (did you know that many commercial margarines have whey in them?). I decided on the Amazing Vegan Brownies recipe from www.godairyfree.org. One thing I love about this recipe is how food-storage friendly it is--everything in it can be stored for a long time since it doesn't use milk, eggs or even any milk or egg substitutes. (and I had just a few weeks before this taught a lesson for a Relief Society activity on the importance of and how to start a home supply of food). The taste and texture were a little strange, but they were still brownies to me. My husband thought they were awful, but he pretty much hates all "health food," especially unusual desserts.

When the brownies were in the oven and I was cleaning up the kitchen, I thought about the Waldorf idea that parents should try to incorporate their children into their daily work routines. I haven't completely figured this out yet, but I like the idea of involving my kids in my chores instead of putting on a movie or a TV show off the DVR (we have 90+ episodes of Dora the Explorer recorded) for them while I work. My daughter watched a lot of tv while the sickness went through the house--of course that makes sense when she was so sick she couldn't get up to play, but she was getting better and I didn't want her to get too used to it, so making the brownies was a good opportunity for us to actually do something. I haven't fully figured out involving her in my cleaning, but she does like to help scrub the toilets when I do swish and swipe, likes to help wipe the table, and she will help me make beds sometimes. She also loves to help me bake, and there are lots of things she can do--I let her dump the ingredients into the bowl after I measure them.

As I finished cleaning up the kitchen, I noticed that my daughter had disappeared to her room. I went to check on her, and found her sitting on her bed looking at a book. It was one of my favorite picture books, The Seven Silly Eaters by Mary Ann Hoberman. I thought, "Of course!" We had just read the book at bedtime the night before and in her cooking experiments, my daughter was trying to apply what we had read in the real world to the book. By baking with her, I had just taught an integrated literacy/math lesson without realizing it! The Seven Silly Eaters is about cooking and baking. It tells the story of a mom of seven children who each only eats one food, and the mother works constantly to keep them all happy by making each food for each child. In the end, they combine the foods together and make a cake. A recipe for the cake is on the authors website, and I hope to make it with my daughter some time to further expand her experience with the story (though I will have to use a milk substitute in it if I make it while I'm still dairy-free).

I learned from the experience to always pay attention to what my children show interest in, (even if they are making a mess with it) because where there is interest, there will be opportunities for learning.

Making baby food is easy. Toddler food, not so much.

I have made baby food for both of my kids. I mostly did purees frozen in ice cube trays. The Wholesome Baby Food website has been my go-to resource for this. I have found it is pretty easy to make purees, but really struggled when my babies got old enough to not want purees but not quite old enough to always eat everything the rest of the family was eating (say we were having pork chops and a baby spinach salad for dinner--not exactly 11-month-old friendly). I often end up resorting to the expensive pre-made "todder food"--those sauce-less ravioli things are pretty neat, after all.

But I would love to have some resources for more homemade options for my son's current age. Especially because I'm pretty sure my son has problems digesting dairy. I'm not sure if it is a problem with the milk sugar (lactose) or the milk protein (casein) yet--still trying to figure that out (that matters because some dairy foods, such as cheese, do not contain lactose). Many commercial toddler meals contain dairy, so I have to check the labels, and it limits the selection for him.

I was intrigued back in December when I read Enjoy Birth's review of the book So Easy Toddler Food and thought it might be something our family could use sometime. This was before I discovered my son's dairy issues and before he decided he didn't want to be spoon-fed anymore. I forgot about the book at the time, but now I realize that I also think some of the info in the book would also be helpful for my 3-year-old, since food battles are pretty common with her. And I could use the recipes for both of my kids. I was excited to learn today that Enjoy Birth is having a giveaway of a free copy of the book. Click here to find out how you can enter the giveaway.

Giveaways for moms and birth workers

Sheridan at Enjoybirth is doing two giveaways on her blog. One is for birth workers and one is for moms. (Since I am both, I'm entering both giveaways).

For Moms: Tag*a*Long Giveaway

The Tag*a*Long is a handle you can attach to a stroller for a child to hold on to while you push the stroller. I think this is a great idea. We don't own a double stroller because when my son was smaller, I'd wear him in my wrap and my daughter would ride in the stroller. Now that they are bigger, I like to put my son in the stroller and have my daughter walk, but she needs something to hold on to so she doesn't wander and the Tag*a*Long would be perfect because if she holds onto the stroller itself she is in my way.

For Birth Workers: $25 Injoy Gift Certificate Giveaway

Injoy supplies birth and parenting educational materials, including videos and web-enhanced booklets. Many of the materials would be a great supplement to any childbirth education program or could be used as an informative resource for doulas or for healthcare providers.

If you are interested in either giveaway, check them out today!