Activity ideas - The Mommy Teacher

Annoying Behavior: Interrupting

Child: “Knock knock!”

Parent: “Who’s there?”

Child: “Interrupting kid.”

Parent: “Interrupting ki…”

Child: “Moooooooom!”

Have you ever felt like you cannot ever finish a sentence with another adult without having one of your kids jumping in with, “Hey, Mom?”

This happened to me just last week… on several occasions… at the store, at a play date, at the post office, on the phone, while trying to talk to my husband… I just kept getting cut off!

By the end of the day, I was fuming. There are only so many times you can hiss out of the corner of your mouth, “Shhh… just a minute…” while simultaneously giving the “Mommy glare” while also simultaneously smiling and continuing your conversation with the bank teller.

Grrr! My kids KNOW better! Or do they? I mean, I told them not to interrupt me the last time they interrupted me and then lectured them in the car until we arrived at our next destination where, sure enough, they interrupted my oh-so-important adult conversations yet again! They KNOW better! Right?

Well, do YOU? Did you know that the car flying across the room was THE coolest thing to ever be witnessed by anyone on the face of this Earth? Did you know that doing a spin-jump-kick is a feat that no other child has ever done before? Did you know that one of your children is looking at his/her sibling??? Did you know that these things miraculously only happen when you are on the phone? Did you? Did you? DID YOU? Huh, Mom??? MOM???

There are several different Mommy reactions to these constant interruptions:

1. Ignore the child and talk louder.

2. Mommy glare the child and apologize to the other adult for the child’s rude behavior.

3. “Shhhhh… Mommy’s talking… go play…”

4. Immediately stoop down, “What is is baby?” while cutting off the adult you are speaking to.

5. Or the annoyed Mommy, “Whaaaaat, kid?”

I have not only witnessed all of these reactions, but am also guilty of them. I do not think that any of these are appropriate reactions to, “Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom…” but you know, in the moment, well, we’ve all been there…

When my children interrupt me it just drives me crazy, so since it drives me crazy, I decided to fix it! ::cue “Bob the Builder” theme song::

My first year teaching, my mentor teacher gave me the best advice ever in regard to rules and procedures in the classroom, which has also been a staple in my parenting: “If something doesn’t work… change it!” Sounds simple enough, but how many times do we just put up with those annoying behaviors before working to fix the habit?

Why must my child interrupt me?

Your child sees something he/she knows that you do not see and immediately thinks, “Mom has to know about this!” That is his or her very first thought. No matter what Mom is doing, she needs to see this/take care of this/know about this. At this young age, children do not know how to prioritize order of importance, so everything is equally super important: shiny things, moving objects, Brother’s hair on fire…

How do I get my child to understand this behavior?

Define the behavior: Interrupting means that someone starts talking before the other person is finished.

Role play: Have your child begin to tell you a story and cut him/her off. Then switch roles.

Explain why interrupting is wrong: Interrupting is considered rude and disrespectful. It is hard to finish a conversation after getting interrupted.

Good interruptions: interrupting is allowed if there is an emergency.

How can we break the habit?

My son and I devised a secret code that has been working beautifully for the past week (so yes, we still have to see if it stands the test of time, but so far, so good)! Whenever I am talking and my son HAS to tell me something, he comes and holds my hand. I acknowledge that he is there to tell me something by squezing his hand back (giving him the positive affirmation and attention that he is seeking). He knows that when there is a break in conversation, I will then address him. If the other adult is still talking after a while, I periodically squeeze his hand again, and then stoop down to his level at the first appropriate break. I explained to him that Mommy also has to be respectful in conversations.

James LOVES our “secret code” and other adults have noticed and complimented him on his patience. He is proud when he remembers to come hold my hand and pastes a huge goofy grin on his face when I squeeze it back.

Of course I remind him about our secret code before running errands or arriving at a play date, but that 2 second reminder in addition to the time we took out to devise a new plan has broken that annoying habit of interrupting!

What behavior(s) or habit(s) would you like to change? Do you have any clever tricks to fix annoying behaviors?

*Note: I recommend only changing one small behavior at a time before working on another one. Trying to change several behaviors at once can actually have the opposite effect, sending your kid into change overload!

July 30, 2013 by Casey | 1 Comment

Those Dreaded Chores!

The endless job that everyone hates: CHORES! And boy oh boy, we mommies sure do have a lot of them! So how about a little HELP around here??? Anyone? Kids?

After a huge 6th birthday bash at my house, everyone (including me) wanted to run and hide at the mere mention of “clean up.” The amount of work to be done was just incredibly overwhelming. You know that feeling of “where do I even begin???” We adults feel it, and kids do too.

I have been guilty of sending my children in to clean their own room after they have taken all of 2 seconds to destroy it while I was busy with my own chores.

Kids: “Mooooom? Can you just come help us?”

Me: “As soon as I finish _____. You guys start and I will come when I can…”

And then frustration sets in when, an hour later, I have finally finished sweeping, mopping, doing dishes, picking up the living room, doing laundry, and they have accomplished, well, destroying the room even more, the mess now spilling into the hallway.

Fortunately, today was not one of those days. Today, I woke up with the mindset that WE (this includes the kids) were going to get things done around the house. When my kids woke up, I told them that at 8:30 we were going to begin our chores.

Big Kid: “But Moooom. I want to play my new board gaaaaaame!!!”

Me: “That is a GREAT idea! That will be our reward for when we finish cleaning up! Now, at 8:30, I want to see my Happy Helpers ready to work and when we get our chores done, we can play your new game! You have one hour to eat breakfast and do whatever you want to do. Timer starts: NOW!”

Tip #1: Kids react more positively when expectations have been established and there is an end goal in mind.

In this instance, I have given my kids an opportunity to choose their own task for the next hour, knowing that when that time is up, they must then do what Mommy needs them to do. My kids know that the term “Happy Helpers” means that I do not want any complaining when it is time to do chores; a positive attitude is expected. They also have something to look forward to when chores are over, so they should work efficiently (haha that’s funny right there ;-).

IMG_20130722_103105_809

Tip #2: Make a checklist. If it works for adults, it will work for kids too!

Just like Mommy and Daddy, kids also like to see which tasks have been accomplished and how many more are left. They are like little versions of us or something. And BONUS: they get to practice prioritizing, list making, fine motor skill development/handwriting (drawing check marks or lines through the chores that have been finished) and reading.

Here are some age-appropriate chores that we include on our checklist:

Sweep the floors.
Wipe the counters.
Tidy the living room.
Sort the laundry.
Fold the laundry.
Make the beds.
Pick up the toys.
Wash the windows.
Feed the dogs.

Tip #3: Let them choose which task to do first.

As soon as 8:30 rolled around, I showed the kids the list of what needed to be accomplished. “Oh, I want to wash the windows!” “I want to wipe the counters!” I gave one the Chlorox wipes and the other the Windex and let them go to town! Letting them do their favorite chores first put them both into Happy Helper mode (which means Mommy stays in her Happy Helper mode too)!

Tip #4: Simplify the task.

Laundry: Write categories on index cards for your kids to sort the laundry into different piles. That way, the piles are smaller when it comes time to fold them.

Give your kids their own pile to then sort again into “hanging clothes,” “clothes to fold,” “underwear,” etc. and they can bring them to their rooms to put them away.

Sweeping the Floor: take painters tape and mark out a square area for them to sweep debris into. I normally don’t task my 6 and 3 year old with sweeping the entire floor, but if they have spilled, for example, dry cereal, I pull out the tape and give them a place to sweep it all into. They find this incredibly fun for some reason. Then I hold the dust pan for them while they sweep it in.

IMG_20130722_093448_334 Picking up toys: Look around and what specific toys do you have a bajillion of that are scattered around the room? Legos? Blocks? Play food? For my kids, it’s cars. I tasked my 3 year old with the job of picking up all of the cars. It’s like a giant, 3D seek-and-find book! He had this giddy look on his face as he ran around the room searching for toys!

Notice how many bins I have on the shelf for other toys, but for the toys that we have the MOST of, it’s just one giant bin to throw them all into! Easier for Mommy as well!

Tip #5: Make a big chore seem smaller!

I like to take yarn or painters tape to rope off sections of the room so the boys can clean smaller areas at a time. We start in one area and get it clean, then move to the next area, then the next until eventually the whole room is clean! I mean, it’s easier for us Mommy Teachers to do that as well, right? First we will clean one room, then move to the next room, then the next. We have already mapped out our own grids in our heads, so give your kids a visual so they can learn to do the same!

One of my pet peeves is when I ask the boys to pick up a few items from the living room to bring to their bedroom and they pick up one toy at a time to carry across the house and place it just inside their doorway. I mean, at least pick up two things, one for each hand! So that leads me to:

Tip #6: Fewer trips = faster cleanup.

I recently got the “duh” idea to give my kids either bags or baskets to fill so they can bring multiple toys to their room at once. They race around the living room, fill their bags, run to their room and put the toys away (i.e. dump the toys on the floor).

Tip #6.5: Do this chore BEFORE the kids clean their rooms.

IMG_20130722_102716_593

Tip #7: Let it slide!

Sure they missed a spot… sure there are streaks on the windows, but they worked hard, they got [most of] the job done, and we have way too many chores on our list for today to be picky, so just let it slide and praise them for being Happy Helpers.

Warning: There WILL BE more messes, such as the water Leyson spilled that almost made Mommy face plant on the floor. Just add it to the “to do” list (it never ends anyway).

And, sometimes when you send the 3 year old in to just clean his room, he may actually surprise you…

…until you look under the bed.

Updated 8/3/13: Tip #8: TURN UP THE MUSIC!

A little music gets everyone moving!

http://youtu.be/POAJqQcLpFc

Please comment below with ideas and tips on how you handle chores with your kids!

July 23, 2013 by Casey | 1 Comment

Backwards Writing

“Look, Mom! I spelled ‘James!'”

I have had many parents come to me worried that their preschool or kindergarten aged child may be dyslexic* after he or she continues to spell and write words/letters backwards, upside down, in mirror image, or mix up letters within a word.

Let me say now that this writing behavior is totally normal at this stage in your child’s pre-writing and pre-reading development and in most cases* is not indicative of a learning disability.

Let’s think about this…

We, the smarter-than-the-average-preschooler mommy teachers, see a triangle. 3 sides + 3 points = triangle no matter how you look at it.

(Technically that last one is a pyramid says my 5year old, but you get my point.)

What, then, is the letter A?

It is but a mere visual representation of a sound in a word… a symbol… or simply, a shape, not unlike our friend, the triangle. We recognize this shape no matter the direction, font, size or color. Our brains are hardwired to group these similar shapes together so we can recognize them even though they may look slightly different than the Times New Roman capital letter A.

Our kids are naturally doing the same exact thing which is why they can still find the letter A in a pile of letters, even though some of the As are upside down.

To help teach correct directionality (the direction in which we read and write in English), use your index finger to guide reading: top-bottom, left-right. This is a learned skill and will become ingrained through repetition and practice. In Leyson’s case, if he knew that he should have spelled the letters out from left to right, the word would have actually spelled JAMES instead of SEMAJ – but with a sideways S and an E for an M… babysteps.

When Leyson spelled James’ name backwards, I then modeled how to spell his own name as he said the letters out loud to me. Leaving those letters in place, I then pulled a second set of letters for his name and asked him to put them in order directly under the one I had done.

“Which letter comes first? Which comes second?” Etc.

To fix his sideways S, I lined up a few of the same letter and laid them out right side, upside down and sideways and we chose the correct letter. This taught him that it DOES matter which way a letter is written… BAM! Epiphany.

Back to his spelling of James’ name:

Me: “Now, if we spelled the name LEYSON with the L over here on the left, what is different about how you spelled JAMES?”

Leyson: “I used an upside down E as an M!”

Epiphany x2.

* Dyslexia is a Developmental Reading Disorder (DRD) which is one of the most common learning disabilities. A small percentage of those with this type of DRD actually see and write letters backwards or upside down. Most often dyslexia is diagnosed within the critical beginning reader years (kindergarten – 2nd grade) if a child of normal intelligence still has difficulties with visual and/or auditory reading comprehension, spelling and phonological awareness.

If after age appropriate and developmentally appropriate reading and writing strategies have been correctly taught to your school-aged child and you find he or she is still struggling with reading, begin to log your perception of your child’s reading abilities and share it with your child’s teacher or doctor so they can determine if your child may need further evaluation.

July 10, 2013 by Casey | 0 comments

Summer Break Curriculum: Ocean Life

Summer break is about halfway over here in Louisiana! If you are just now joining our summer quest to never hear the phrase, “I’m bored,” please go back and read Part 1 and Part 2 of our summer learning curriculum and activity schedule. On the right hand column, you will see all of the summer schedule posts neatly organized for you to have quick access!

WEEK 5: OCEAN LIFE

So I apologize for the delay in the post about Ocean Life. I’d love to give you my reasons (my computer crashed so I’m having to sneak around to borrow one and we went on a vacation) but no one wants to hear those!

The kids had a great time learning about Ocean Life despite the fact that they never really showed too much interest in Finding Nemo – I’ve tried… what’s not to like about it? But as you all know, kids tend to have their own opinions about things no matter how much we try to mold their little minds ;-).

A nywho, our favorite activity from the week was our Ocean Life PUPPET THEATER! This activity was super cheap and was instant entertainment for DAYS! It is also a great way to encourage storytelling which increases skills in reading comprehension, writing and illustrating stories (this skill starts as early as kindergarten) and oral communication.

Materials:

Painters Tape, poster board, scissors, long skewers/craft sticks, 1 blue and 1 yellow plastic table cloth, black sharpie marker

To make the puppets, I used a foam board. YOU, however, should NOT use a foam board. That sucker was a pain to cut out all of the fishy shapes with all of the twists and turns. I ended up breaking most of the fish when cutting them out and had to play “doctor” to fix them all back together (great tie-in to our Community lesson). Just use 1 white poster board and it will save you time, energy, and unnecessary frustration.

I drew the fish onto my board using a black sharpie. The kids painted the fish and then went down for their naps (good timing on my part so they didn’t have to wait for the paint to dry). I cut the fish out and taped the long skewers to the back of the fish. (I ran out of skewers and used Popsicle sticks for the starfish, crab and crawfish* since they don’t swim too far from the bottom of the ocean anyway).

*I understand that crawfish are not normally found in the ocean, but as they have been raised in South Louisiana, my kids insisted we have a crawfish in our puppet show.

After nap time, the kids could not WAIT to put on the puppet show! My daughter’s room was the PERFECT theater because 1. she had the audience (stuffed animals galore) and what show would be complete without an audience? and 2. her closet made the perfect stage for the show!

We took the blue table cloth and hung it with tape from the clothes rod, and the 2nd table cloth (we used blue and taped yellow tissue paper to make “sand” but just using a yellow table cloth would be so much easier) was taped across the doorway of the closet at door knob level. This gave the kids enough space to crouch under and behind the yellow (sand) curtain and in front of the blue (ocean) curtain.

James had the idea to make a sign with the title and performers names and hung it on the closet doors for all of the audience (stuffed animals) to see. He also had the idea to use one of our lamps as the spotlight and designated his Mimi to be the lighting technician.

There are several different ways you can perform plays with your kids!

1. REENACTMENT: You can take a story that your kids know really well (a great one for this theme would be The Rainbow Fish or even Finding Nemo) and your kids can reenact the story. To simplify this, you can make sequencing cards for your kids to act out:

1. Nemo and his dad lived in an anemone.

2. Nemo swims out to sea and is captured by the scuba diver.

3. Nemo’s dad and Dori search for Nemo and meet a lot of friends on the way.

4. Nemo makes his great escape.

5. Nemo and his dad are reunited.

2. MAD LIB: You write a short story out and leave blanks for the kids to fill in.

Once upon a time there was a fish named name. He was color and color. His best friends was name the ocean animal. Together they liked to activity.

3. NARRATE: You can narrate the story and the kids can move and talk for the puppets.

4. STORY WRITING: This is great for older kids! Your kids write the story and include a beginning, middle and end!

5. TAKE TURNS WRITING THE STORY: Each person adds a new adventure to the story! Things can get a little crazy here!

Person 1: “Once upon a time there was a fish named Bob.”

Person 2: “Bob loved to swim to the middle of the ocean.”

Person 3: “He made lots of friends along the way.”

Person 1: “His best friend was a starfish named All Star.”

Person 2: “All Star loved to play basketball in the water.”

As for my kids? They preferred to #6, JUST PLAY! Sit back and see what your kids come up with! This is my favorite and each of my kids had such different ideas for the puppets that they each took turns playing puppeteer and audience member. They loved watching what the other came up with and would build off of each other’s stories! I love how these little minds work!

James’ story was great (says the biased mommy)! It was about a little fish who met a shark who wanted to eat him. All of his fishy friends decided to go talk to the shark to stop him from eating their friend. They offered him a peach instead. The shark enjoyed the peach so much that he never ate a fish again and the little fish and the shark became best friends. The play was called “The Fish, the Shark and the Peach” (fitting).

Leyson’s story took place in the river (Mr. 3-year-old wanted to create his own setting) and his fish spent the whole time swimming up and down the river. And then the rest of the time his play sounded very similar to big brother’s play.

CRAFT TIME FAIL:

Another activity we did was a near-complete failure. I say near-complete because the kids could care less that it didn’t work as it was intended.

My kids and I ATTEMPTED to make sensory-bag fish bowls. We cut out a hole in a paper plate and glued it to another paper plate – then decorated the plates, of course. We filled plastic zip-lock baggies with blue hand soap (gel probably would have worked better) and put small plastic fish inside. Then we placed the bags inside of the paper plate hole and made “fish bowls,” but yeah, they didn’t work. The kids DID enjoy squishing the fish around in the sensory bags! But then they started leaking because Mommy bought the cheap bags. ::womp womp::

Here is the craft that gave me the idea to make a sensory bag, but I should have just stuck to these directions instead:

“Read it again, Mom” has so many great book ideas, songs and crafts for this theme!

July 9, 2013 by Casey | 0 comments

Summer Break Part 2: A Theme a Week

Yesterday I posted about SUMMER SCHOOL and how we will be bridging the summer gap between Kindergarten and 1st grade for my older son, with my 3-year old tagging along in our school adventures, too. However, yesterday’s post was mainly about desk work which will only be taking up no more than 20 minutes per day.

Each week we will have a different THEME which will allow us to EXPLORE in depth different things that kids already ask a bazillion questions about. The days will be filled with discussions, field trips, science experiments and art projects that go along with that week’s theme. Will you join us on our journey to have the best summer ever???

Below I have posted activity ideas for weeks 1-3! Enjoy and help me brainstorm more ideas and comment below!

WEEK 1: SEASONS (May 27-31)

Here are a few ways that we will be exploring seasons:

Music: Four Seasons by Harry Kindergarten

And Dr. Jean’s song Macarena Months. If you remember the Macarena, you can do those motions along with this song. Who doesn’t love Dr. Jean and the Macarena? Double bonus!

Art: 4 Seasons Art Project: We will be gathering lots of random items around the house to design landscapes for each season (ex. cotton balls for snow, green leaves outside for summer, Popsicle sticks for trees, etc.)

Math and Gross Motor Skills: Sorting Clothes and dressing for each season! We haven’t put away all of the winter wardrobe yet, so we will sort through clothes and create outfits for winter, spring, summer and fall.

Writing: “What is your favorite season?”

Vocabulary: Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall/Autumn, temperature, months of the year

Science/Math: reading a thermometer, exploring the tilt of the Earth and how it affects the seasons

Math: Calendar – taking a look at the summer months and seeing what we have planned

Reading: We will be heading to our library each week to choose books to accompany our themes. This is where it’s great to get to know your local librarian because he or she can help you find the books you need – maybe even before you get there!

http://www.abcteach.com/free/p/partly_cloudy2_rgb.jpg — ABCteach.com

WEEK 2: WEATHER (June 3-7)

Music: Weather Song For Kids: “The Sun Comes Up!” from Dream English Kids

“Weather Song” from Have Fun Teaching! This one is very informative and catchy!

Science and Math: charting the week’s weather by observation, predicting what the weather will be later in the day and tomorrow

Art: painting different weather scenes

Gross Motor Skills and Science: playing in the sprinkler (rain) and making rainbows

Vocabulary: temperature, precipitation, weather, sunny, cloudy, windy, rainy, storm, types of clouds, meteorology, meteorologist

Science: making water tornadoes with 2 -liter bottles. Fill one 2-liter 3/4 of the way and duct tape the two openings to the bottles (leave the caps off) together, turn your bottles upside down and gently move the bottles in a circular pattern to make a water spout inside.

Computer: Interactive Weather for Kids: http://www.theweatherchannelkids.com/

Weather Wiz Kids: http://www.weatherwizkids.com/

ABCteach: Weather: http://www.abcteach.com/directory/subjects-science-weather-10012-2-1

http://www.abcteach.com/free/t/toesrgb.jpg — ABCteach.com

Music: “My Whole Body Can Move” by Jack Hartmann

Dr. Jean’s “A Tooty Ta” always gets everyone moving and shaking!

Science and Vocabulary: Discovering Outside Body Parts (arms, legs, hair, skin) and Inside Body Parts (heart, brain, lungs)

Art: Bones Project (creating a skeleton using Q-tips)

Chalk Outlines: we will trace our bodies with chalk in the driveway and will add hair, face, clothes, shoes, etc.

Hand puppets: we will make sock puppets to use on our hands using old socks, yarn, googly eyes, markers and more

Stick Figures: drawing specific objects is a learned skill so I will be teaching my kids how to draw stick figure people

Math: counting fingers, toes, eyes, nose, mouth… What do we have the most of? How many fingers do you and I have together?

Science: the 5 senses: Hear(listening for sounds), Taste (e ating salty and sweet snacks), Touch (feeling different textures), Sight (turning off the lights and shining flashlights on different objects), Smell (flowers, different foods)

Reading: My Body by Angela Royston and Sally Hewitt

Gross Motor Skills: Exercise! Practice hopping, skipping, jumping jacks, bending, and moving your body in every way! Talk about how important it is to exercise and move your body to stay in shape!

Science, Health and Nutrition: http://www.nutritionforkids.com/

ChooseMyPlate.gov has information on nutrition for families, eating healthy on a budget, daily food plans, sample menus and recipes and more! Amazing resource!

Field Trips: Bowling! Check your local bowling alley to see if they have the Kids Bowl Free summer program!

Find a local inflatable warehouse for your child to let loose and jump away (great for long naps later in the day)!

Playgrounds with equipment for climbing and balancing!

Computer: http://kidshealth.org/kid/htbw/

Please post below if you have any other activity ideas for our first 3 weeks of summer! I hope you will join us on our quest to have the Best Summer Ever!!! Stay tuned for updates on our activities, projects and ideas for the our other themed weeks!

May 25, 2013 by Casey | 2 Comments

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