Wordless Wednesday

Princess Deer

My daughter is a planner.
She is an individual.
Once she has made up her mind she cannot be swayed.

These are characteristics I recognize in myself.  Characteristics I value.  Characteristics that will serve her well throughout her life.

Characteristics that make Halloween exceedingly difficult.

We figured it out last year.  She decided to be a cow.  Yes...a cow.  Luckily we found a cow hat while wandering through the vendors at the Fryeburg Fair.  An oversized white sweatshirt was turned into cowhide with the help of a Sharpie and a sewn on tail.  I combed the racks at the discount store until I found some fuzzy animal print pants.  It didn't seem to be a problem that they were leopard, not cow print and I certainly wasn't going to mention it.  A decorative bell and a bucket shaped basket (because who would milk a cow into a trick or treat pumpkin) completed the outfit.

It took some creativity, some luck, and some work, but we (I) did it.  I had a damn cute cow for Halloween!

That was last year, but now is now and costumes don't repeat.

A Princess Deer.  That is what I am up against this year.  Seriously.  I don't even know where to begin.  A Princess Deer?

I have gotten some guidance of course.  And it 's interesting to hear about the finer points of costume creation from a four year old point of view.  Brown with white spots, since a princess deer would not be a grown-up deer.  A gown made of grass, since deer live in the woods.  A mask.  A pink princess crown.  Are you getting the picture yet?  Yeah, me neither.

A yard sale last weekend yielded a homemade woodland elf costume.  I think I can work with that.  I'll venture again to the discount store where I am hoping brown, child size faux fur is in fashion.  Might see if I can order a hat with deer ears from Etsy.  If you have any ideas, I'd love to hear about them.

I'm sure I'll come up with something!
 

App of the Month: MiniMod

It's that time of year here in New Hampshire.  NECAP time.  New England Common Assessment Program.  Time for all third through eighth graders to prove to  government officials that teachers are teaching and they are learning.  Kids all over the state are sharpening their #2 pencils (well, the teachers are anyway), getting extra sleep (yeah right), and drinking lots of water (hopefully, since water is essential for optimal brain performance).  Teachers all over the state are trying to get their students to understand the importance of doing their best on standardized test while at the same time not raising their anxiety levels.  Parents all over the state are...well...actually I don't know this one.  I have a preschooler and a toddler and teach kids before they reach testing age, but I would imagine that parents are concerned and want to help their child succeed.

I came across the MiniMod apps by e Skills Learning when I was searching for apps to strengthen the reading comprehension of my higher level readers.  I purchased a Lite version of MiniMod Basic Cloze Practice for $2.99 to test it out.  I was immediately sold on the product.

With MiniMods for many of the skills tested on common standardized tests, including Cloze (fill in the blanks), Reading for Inferences, Reading for Details, and Word Structure, and reading levels from second through sixth, grade, Minimods are great practice.  The questions are posed in a great Bingo game format that a student can play alone or against a friend.  When my students played, they were engaged, excited and learning.  As a teacher...that is what I am looking for!

MiniMods are pricey.  When you are used to 99 cent apps, paying nine dollars seems like a lot.  However these apps seem to have been crafted with a great deal of thought and meet very specific student needs.  They target the areas in which a student is weak in their reading comprehension and provide increasingly difficult tasks in a format (game based and technology based) that kids want to interact with. Improvement is inevitable.

Check out MiniMod...you'll be glad you did!

I Love My IPAD!

RIP Steve Jobs.  You have the distinction of being a person who truly changed the world forever.

I am in my second year of having IPODS in my classroom and I love, Love, LOVE them.  My kindergarten and first grade students can learn, practice and create independently with them.  No longer is my technology teacher heavy. 

And now I have an IPAD.

Absolute infatuation.  I am enamored.  Besotted.  Bewitched.  I could go on but I imagine you get the point.

If you are a teacher...do what you can to get one of these in your classroom.  For your students.  For yourself.  And then follow this blog...via Friend Connect or Facebook...to get ideas on how to use it.

Wordless Wednesday...

App of the Week: Project NOAH

We did a lot of berry picking this summer.  When Sam, "I hungy NOW", figured out edible things grew on trees and bushes she was stunned!  She ate so many her poop was lovely purplish, greenish technicolor for most of July.  That was fun.  

During our two weeks at summer camp, our cabin was surrounded by wild blueberry bushes and she got very used to picking her own snacks.  She was never far from my sight, but I worried quite a bit.  I knew that while she knew what was good to eat, she didn't yet have the capacity to distinguish what was not.  One evening she was quite occupied around the corner of the cabin, and we were quite occupied with other things.  After a few minutes I went to check on her and saw to my dismay that she was happily munching on blueberries.  And not blueberries.

Well...shit.

We paid the camp nurses a visit, watched her closely, and finally gave poison control a call.  Luckily, according to poison control, a baby pre-molars won't chew berry seeds and that is where the toxins are.  So whatever it was...she'd be fine.

Phew!

But I still didn't know what this plant was, and while reassured that Poison Control said it was fine, still really wondered if my kiddo had ingested toxins or not.  So we tried to figure out what it was.  We searched the internet and asked some of the camp staff that was known to know their plants.  To no avail.

Enter my new favorite app...Project Noah.

 

Project Noah is a citizen scientist app, working to build a huge inventory of cataloged nature photos that others can search through.  Also, you can upload a photo of something you would like identified and someone else out there will tell you what it is.  I took a picture of my mystery plant...and a few days later had my answer.  "Canada May Flower".  And no, not poisonous.

In addition to uploading your own wildlife spottings, you can undertake "Missions".  This fall when I am doing my unit on NH forests, I think we might join the "Project Red" mission and photograph all the red we find in the forest around us.

Wordless Wednesday...

How to Potty Train Your Child in Less Than a Week Without Really Trying

Potty Training.  We mama's all must suffer through it.  I seem to have stumbled upon a rather easy method for potty training, and not being one to keep such important info to myself...here you go.  A fool-proof, stress-free, easy way to potty train your child in less than a week.  You hardly need to do thing!

Step 1:  Have a baby.  I am partial to girls as I have two of them, but I suppose a boy would be fine.

Step 2:  Read all literature regarding potty-training before your child learns to roll over.  Maybe even before giving birth.  It is always important to be ready when the time comes.

Step 3: Disregard anything you find on the diaper-less baby..."Elimination Communication".  Ewww.  There is a time and a place for diapers.

Step 4: At the very early end of when the "experts" (The What to Expect series) say, you should begin.  Around 18 months...although most hold off until at least 2.  Given that your baby is smarter than most, as mine was, start right away.

Step 5: Put a potty in every room.  Show your child how great the potty is.  Sing and dance around the potty!  Everything you do will create a positive association with the potty!

Step 6: Buy Pull-Ups.  They are twice as expensive as diapers but it doesn't really matter since your child is far above average and will be wearing them for less than a week.

Step 7: Don't worry when your child shows no interest in the potty or even resists all of this positive stuff you are doing.  All perfectly normal.  Try this for several weeks.  When it doesn't work, give up for a few months.  Maybe your kid isn't that far ahead on the learning curve.  Try again when your child turns 2. 

Step 8: Now is the time!  You are ready, they are ready!  Except by now your child is no longer a sweet, compliant baby.  Your child has turned into a strong willed, defiant child.  Try rewarding with M&Ms.  Try a sticker chart.  Try reverse psychology...then give up for a few more months. 

Step 9: At 2 and a half, start freaking out a little bit since they have to be potty trained to attend that top pre-school you have registered for and it begins in a few months.

Step 10: Get a book book that guarantees weekend potty training success and read it cover to cover.  Spend a weekend in hell doing everything the book says.  Give up again.  The pre-school can't be serious!

Step 11: Around age 3 try again.  Your child now understands the concept of actions having consequences.  Create a sticker chart or download a cool app.  At this point, your child should respond pretty quickly and be completely potty trained in a few months.  Congratulations!

What's that?  I promised in less than a week?  And without really trying?  Oh right!

Step 12: Have a second baby.  Preferably of the same sex.

Step 13: Completely forget about everything you tried the first time around since it was all silly and didn't work anyway.

Step 14: Be lucky and have your younger completely adore the older.  

Step 15: Always have the older leave the bathroom door open! Bribe them if you must. This is a very, very important step!

Step 16: At some point near the age of 2 your child will start trying to sit on the potty whenever their older sibling does.  At that point use your toddler-ese and come up with a short phrase to use when it is time to pee.  In our house it is "Sammy potty now!"

Step 17: Whenever your older child uses the potty, yell your equivalent of "Sammy potty now" and stick your younger kid on the potty as soon as the big kid is done.

Step 18:  When the little one sits, pees, poops, whatever...have the big kid cheer and shout.  You can join in too if you want.  In less than a week you can stick your kid in underwear.  

Congratulations!  You potty trained your kid in less than a week and hardly had to do a thing!

Wordless Wednesday...

Wordless Wednesday...