Category: All posts

Author Focus: Keri Smith

By Mariah Bruehl, 25th March 2015

For the past three weeks, my daughters have been asking me “How many more days until spring?” The Midwest winter was long this year, so my girls know that spring means sunshine, warmer weather, bike rides, park play dates and long strolls around the neighborhood.

If your children, or students, are anything like mine, they love to collect things on those lazy day walks. We can’t get down the block without picking up at least a handful of leaves, acorns, rocks, and sticks. Our strollers, bike baskets and pockets become filled to the brim with tiny treasures. So to honor my little collectors, and the first full weekend of spring, we grabbed a few plastic bags, pencils, a notebook, a camera and Keri Smith’s book How to Be an Explorer of the World before we set off in the direction of our nearest park.

Now some of you may be asking, who is Keri Smith? On her website, the Canadian born Smith describes herself as an author/illustrator turned guerrilla artist. My teaching partner introduced me to her a few years ago, and I immediately bought Wreck This Journal (2007), which is arguably her best-known book. In it, Keri plays with the idea that imperfections are merely a part of the creative process. Imperfections are what make each artist’s work unique. She encourages the reader to let go of any inhibitions and do things outside of her comfort zone. The reader is told to tear pages out, color outside of the lines, and scribble wildly. This book will remind you that creativity is about the journey and not always the end product.

In a November 2014 interview with Time magazine Keri said, “What I’m doing is trying to get kids to pay attention, to look at the physical world more, and to question everything.” On the initial pages of How to Be an Explorer of the World (2008), Keri does just that. She urges us to always be looking and to notice the ground beneath our feet. I love that one simple idea. So as my daughters and I began our walk this afternoon, I told them that we were going to go a bit slower today and look for things that we haven’t noticed before. Of course we would still collect any interesting objects we found during our exploration and then go home and observe them more closely. My six-year-old was looking forward to documenting her findings in a notebook and using her microscope to observe things more carefully.

Before we reached the park, our collection included natural items such as a piece of bark, several pine cones, and a few different kinds of seedpods. However we also found some man made items like a page off a very small calendar and a curious piece of green string. We probably wouldn’t have picked them up had we not been noticing everything beneath our feet. Both discoveries surely had stories attached to them, and I knew this would be a starting point for another day’s activity.

It took us twice as long to reach the park. We stopped often, looked closer, observed longer, and talked more. Inevitably one of us would say something like, “I never noticed that hole in the tree before” or “Did you see those tiny white flowers growing up from the grass?”

When we returned home, I let my children’s interest level and desires drive what came next. Of course my six-year-old thought we should go around the circle and share what we discovered on our walk. She started by telling us: 1) what she found (and named it if she was able to), 2) described what the object looked like, 3) told us what the object reminded her of, and 4) shared why she liked the object or why she chose it for our collection. This is about the time that my four-year-old decided that she preferred to go inside and play. The process of collection was enough for her, and I respected her wish to change direction.

But my older daughter wanted to continue the exploration. She started out by making a list of what we found. Then our conversation was drawn towards discussing similarities and differences between the objects, which then led to sorting things into categories and labeling them. We decided to put everything into a box so that she can observe them again on another day. Tomorrow, I will show her how to carefully draw the objects and notice minute details that she didn’t notice today. I will encourage her to document colors and textures and ask questions. We may use the Experience Documentation Log or the Object Documentation Log at the back of Keri’s book. We might just create our own logs.

As you experiment with How to Be an Explorer of the World, I recommend trying all of the explorations, in any order, but here are the ones my daughters and I have at the top of our list:

Exploration #1 – Right Where You Are Sitting
Exploration #5 – The First Thing You See
Exploration #14 – Sound Map
Exploration #46 – Found Patterns
Exploration #54 – The Language of Trees

Be sure to check out more of these resources as you explore the ground beneath your feet!

Find Keri Smith’s website here.

More Books by Keri Smith…

* This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

An Invitation to Learn About Seeds

By Mariah Bruehl, 19th March 2015

Despite the deep snow all around us, there is a stirring of spring under our feet. The temperatures are not bitter cold as they were, we can stay outside for longer and linger in the sunshine more and more. As the days begin their slow warming cycle, our thoughts turn here on our homestead to the coming gardening year. Though the soil cannot yet be seen, let alone planted, we are plotting the myriad plants that we hope to grow in our garden this year.

While we can’t get our garden on outside, we can begin to learn a little of the plant life cycle inside. Call it a placebo, but I want to share my enthusiasm about seeds with my boys beyond their practical help in the garden. I want to share with them the mysteries of life beneath the soil.

The first activity we explored was this free activity from Montessori Print Shop .This activity involves matching the names of seeds to their pictures as well as the plants they come from. It encourages children to understand where seeds come from and to notice how many of them are common in our own kitchens. This is a great opportunity to talk about the uses of some of the seeds too. For example fennel is great for tummy aches and sunflower seeds are a common and nutritious food.

Next we moved on to looking at the evolution of the bean seed. I chose this one because it is something we eat often and so familiar. I wanted to look at this common item from a new perspective and learn the science behind the food source.

For my 6 year old I used this great free resource from Twinkl (Bean life cycle worksheet (younger children), it is an sequencing activity to help develop their understanding of the order in which each step appears. The first worksheet works on sequencing, while the second encourages understanding of the cycle of the seed/plant. It is very simple but really effective and a great way to begin learning about life cycles more broadly.

For My older son we used this great resource from Exploring Nature (Bean life cycle worksheet (older children). This activity also involves sequencing but to a higher level and requires identification of more subtle differences as the plant evolves from seed to plant. A great follow on from this would be to actually plant a bean seed and watch it grow, matching it to your sequence to see if it follows the same pattern.

For my younger son I gave him another matching activity (known in the Montessori method as Nomclature) that gives more detailed vocabulary on seed development. This activity (found free on The Helpful Garden website)-introduces scientific terminology is a great way to encourage confidence and curiosity in children. Once they know the terms they can apply them to other types of seeds that they come across.

I also provided an extension activity found on the Montessori Print Shop , that goes into more detail about each life stage, explaining the terminology in more depth. This would be a great accompaniment to some seed observation and dissection!

Along with the information it’s really wonderful to explore real seeds and watch them grow. You can soak beans and use them for dissection and observation, you can grow a seed in a small cup or even germinate seeds on paper towels to watch them sprout. By sheer luck I discovered a cluster of sprouted seeds inside the squash I was cutting up for lunch! Along with a magnifier, these provided a great way to interact with living, sprouting seeds.

Investigating Spring: Resources for Young Scientists

By Mariah Bruehl, 18th March 2015

Springtime sun and rain puddles naturally raise our children’s desire to explore outdoors. Often, we do not need anything but the time and desire to be outdoors to initiate springtime investigations. As soon as we walk outside, observations begin. However, there are a few other tools we can provide children to further their natural curiosities.

Children’s literature is plentiful and rich with books about birds, seeds, flowers, mud and weather. I almost always start with literature in introducing topics to students. There is magic in story and deep connections develop between reader and text. Conversations begin naturally through text and story and often ideas or questions emerge for exploration. When this happens, it is the perfect time to lay down the book and explore with our senses. Maybe take a spring walk bringing along observational tools: sketch book, pencil, watercolor, magnifying glass, and a field guide or two. Or, set out a collection of seeds to sort, classify, and pattern. Or begin planting some seeds in trays and record daily observations.

Children’s Literature

1. A Seed is Sleepy by Dianna Hutts Aston and Sylvia Long

Dianna Hutts Aston and Sylvia Long have created such a magical book in A Seed is Sleepy. The illustrations are whimsical yet realistic. When looking through the text with young readers have examples of some of the seeds in the text and see if, while sharing the book with you, they can locate the seeds in the illustrations. Discuss actual size, versus the magnified size presented in the book. Ask your child why the illustrator might have decided to create them magnified. Discuss how to illustrate observations scientifically: realistic with great attention paid to detail such as color, size, and shape. Also, discuss the wording of the text. How is a seed sleepy? How is a seed adventurous?

2. Spring Walk by Virginia Brimhall Snow

The flower illustrations in Spring Walk jump out at the reader quickly as the flowers are in bright, bold colors as spring flowers naturally are. The illustrator highlights the colors even more with a detailed but colorless background. The flowers jump out because of their prominence. A fun way to use this book may be to teach your child how to take close up photographs (micro) that bring out the details. Or, one may sit with a sketchbook, pencil and watercolor paints to practice detailed, observational sketching.

3. Flowers are Calling by Rita Gray

Rita Gray has written a springtime rhyming text to share with readers why flowers are an important part of spring and what insects / birds use them as a food sources. Kenard Pak’s illustrations are delicate and detailed. A child may sit for a while with each page to study the arrangements of flowers, insects and birds. This book may be used as a field guide to bring along on a wildflower walk. There are several pages dedicated to simple, yet stunning illustrations of spring flowers which the author names and describes.

4. Mama Built a Little Nest by Jennifer Ward and Steve Jenkins.

The study of birds in springtime is perfect to take our students and children outdoors. The book Mama built a little nest by Jennifer Ward and illustrations by Steve Jenkins provides readers with a beautiful story accompanied by detailed facts. Ward introduces us to many different birds and invites us to learn how they create their nests. Jenkins collaged illustrations are colorful and bold. It could be fun to try creating a collage of a birds’ nest found on a spring walk.

5. Feathers: Not Just For Flying by Melissa Stewart and illustrated by Sarah Brannen

Another bird book to delight young readers is the new book entitled Feathers Not Just for Flying by Melissa Stewart and illustrated by Sarah Brannen. This gorgeous non-fiction book is ideal to refer to when studying the birds of spring. The author focuses on feathers and their many uses. One idea may be to have students study found feathers and create detailed sketches. These sketches could then be written about in poetic form such as Haiku poetry.

6. Mud by Mary Ray Lyn

This story, by Mary Ray Lyn, is a lovely introduction to the exploration of mud. Lyn uses few words yet the words are perfect and will provide new vocabulary for our younger students. The illustrations by Lauren Stringer have a unique perspective, as though the reader is the one playing in the mud. Read aloud Mud and then explore by taking your child outside to explore in the mud. Let him/her take their shoes off and describe what it feels like to walk through barefoot. What words describe the feeling? What does it smell like? Do you hear any sounds? Or bring some mud inside using a plastic container. Put out some newspaper or plastic and begin exploring with your child. What does it sound like when you mix it up with a stick? Can you paint with it? Does it have a smell?

7. Laughing Tomatoes And Other Spring Poems / Jitomates Risuenos Y Otros Poemas De Primavera

Let’s add in some poetry and better yet poetry in two languages: English and Spanish. This colorful, poetry book is perfect for ages up to fifth grade. The author brings spring alive with poems about spring and how it makes people feel. Poems range from quite short (3 lines) to many lines. The illustrations are whimsical and light: a real spring feel! Enjoy this book with your child and then play with writing some spring poems together.

8. Spring An Alphabet Acrostic by Steven Schnur and illustrated by Leslie Evans

This spring acrostic poetry book is perfect for the Kindergarten / First grade classroom. The author uses acrostic poems to tell the story of spring. Follow this book up with students creating their own acrostic poems about what spring means to them.

9. Lost in the Woods by Carl R. Sames II & Jean Stoick

This beautiful picture book tells the story of a young doe and the first days of its’ life. The photos will captivate young learners and is a perfect accompaniment to discuss spring births.

10. And then it’s spring by Julie Fogliano and illustrated by Erin E. Stead

The pictures and words work together to tell a fun story about waiting for spring. Children will relate to waiting for spring to come and the excitement that follows when it finally does. Use this book to discuss personal experiences in waiting for spring.

11. Rosie Sprout’s Time to Shine by Allison Wortche and illustrated by Patrice Barton

Rosie Sprout’s Time to Shine is a lovely, personal story about growing up and making choices. Children will connect with Rosie and how to tries her best to do the right thing after a mistake. Children may enjoy planting their own bean plant and make observations after listening to this story.

12. Amazing Plant Powers by Loreen Leedy & Andrew Schuerger

Loreen Leedy has created another fun non-fiction text that will grab young readers attention. In Amazing Plant Powers Leedy provides readers with catchy facts, micro photos and detailed drawing. Try creating catchy brochures with students to display information learned about certain plants. They will love emulating Leedy’s style in publishing.

*This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

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A Cinderella Study for Big Princesses

By Mariah Bruehl, 17th March 2015

While we all get swept up in the happily ever after notions of today’s fairytale characters, it’s important to break open the concept of being a “princess” and widen the definition of what that might look and feel like for girls, both young and old. For deep within these tales are valuable lessons to be learned that go way beyond finding your prince charming.

My first year of teaching was in an amazing kindergarten classroom. We were very fortunate to have a guest teacher come to our class once a week over a period of time to introduce the children to a Cinderella Study. I watch watched, captivated each week, as Karen Balliett, shared Cinderella stories from around the world and lead thought provoking discussions about the universal commonalities as well as the cultural twists among them.

1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 /

Years later, the time was ripe for sharing the Cinderella Study with my daughters’ book club and it turned out to be a great experience! We gathered our favorite versions of the Cinderella tale (see above).

Everyone had their own copy of the printable above and we started out by introducing the elements of story. Once the girls knew what each term meant, we read the different versions and took notes on each one. As we read, the girls started to notice different nuances in the story.

In some of the stories Cinderella had to look beautiful every time she saw the prince, in others that was not the case. In some versions the Cinderella figure marries the prince and in some she does not. In the versions where Cinderella does marry the prince, in some of them she shows forgiveness to her step-mother and step-sisters and in others she does not. Where the magic shows up and what is required to access it differs from tale to tale as well. The possibilities for discussion are endless!

Once we finished our exploration we took some time to draft notes on our own Cinderella stories, which then led to final writing pieces. By the time we got to writing our own stories there was not moment of hesitation as each girl new exactly what they wanted to write. We ended with a lovely author share, as we munched on carrot sticks and hummus, and eagerly waited to hear each other’s inspiring tales…

Printables

A Charley Harper Scavenger Hunt

By Mariah Bruehl, 10th March 2015

Our world is full of opportunities to learn and discover something new if we keep our minds open and experience new things. It is also essential to show this concept to the children in our lives.

Last summer, I was able to attend an amazing concert and light show called Lumenocity (see below for a clip from a YouTube video).

This was a phenomenal experience where art, music, and technology were combined! The show featured a local artist that was new to me, Charley Harper. I was stunned that I had not heard of this artist before, especially with his local ties. After the program, I was hooked on his artwork. I immediately came home to search for more information and view more of his works. I was also excited to share this new to me artist with my daughter. Charley Harper’s works are so playfully perfect for children and she was able to see how enthusiastic I was about learning something new.

Charley Harper was an American Modernist painter who specialized in wildlife artworks. Capturing his subjects with a minimal amount of visual elements, he illustrated many books and created many prints and posters. I love the clever titles for his artworks and their simple, yet beautiful depictions:

Art and nature certainly go hand in hand! I decided to combine the two in an activity to get children moving outside, appreciating art and nature all at the same time. Using the artwork of Charley Harper, I have created a fun spring scavenger hunt. Use this printable to go on a nature walk and see how many of these creatures you can discover. I hope that this activity will open your eyes to the beauty of spring and lead to new interests and activities around your house, just as experiencing a new artist has done for me.

If you get hooked on Charley Harper art like me, check out the Charley Harper Art Studio to see more of his works. If you are looking for a mindful gift for someone in your family they have an outstanding selection of children’s products. We have two puzzles at our house, and I have my eye on some of the books, sticker sets, and coloring cards.

Are We Imposing a Glass Ceiling on Our Children?

By Mariah Bruehl, 9th March 2015

As a society, we tend to underestimate the potential of children. As educators, we are trained to adhere to developmental models, and as parents, we feel the pressure to check off a predefined list of specific milestones at each age and stage of development.

Although these behaviors are natural for parents and educators who are striving to do everything they can for their children, they may at times (often unwittingly) impose limitations on our expectations. This narrowly defined focus may cause us to miss out on other signs of growth, insight (and possibly brilliance) from our children. As our children get older, the checklist becomes even more standardized when they move into a one-size-fits-all educational paradigm.

Although understanding the milestones of child-development is important, perhaps we should pose some questions…

Do they prevent us from noticing and nurturing other traits, characteristics, or strengths that are equally important?
Do they on some level, impose a glass ceiling by predetermining what children are and are not capable of?
Do they on a subtle level, cause us to dumb down our language, responses, and expectations of our children based on this “common knowledge?”
Do they lead us to believe that children are only considered capable if they process and demonstrate their understanding in predetermined ways?

Observant parents and educators realize that there is much more to children than meets the eye. Children are inherently driven to actively investigate and make a positive impact on the world around them. When presented with stimulating and engaging experiences, children intuitively take full advantage of the opportunities to learn. It’s up to us as parents and teachers to encourage children to tap into their potential by nurturing these internal processes.
Maria Montessori once said:

“The child is endowed with unknown powers, which can guide us to a radiant future. If what we really want is a new world, then education must take as its aim the development of these hidden possibilities.”

― Maria Montessori

Loris Malaguzzi, founder of the schools in Reggio Emilia, Italy, agrees about the untapped potential of children:

“All people, and I mean scholars, researchers, and teachers, who, in any place have set themselves to study children seriously, have ended up by discovering not so much the limits and weaknesses of children, but rather their surprising and extraordinary strengths and capabilities, linked with an inexhaustible need for expression and realization.”

― Loris Malaguzzi

By realizing that children possess hidden potential that may exceed our narrowly defined expectations, we can make a more concerted effort to help them unleash it.

However, this DOES NOT mean pressuring children to read by age five. Shifting the content of a third-grade curriculum to a fourth-grade level and claiming to have raised “standards” is not the solution.

Too often, current school curricula do not leave much room for exploration, investigation, or at times, even questions. Combine that with mandated, high-stress, high-stakes tests, that are written to confuse and trick children, and teachers who are being evaluated based on those scores—and you have a recipe for disaster. Not only are we placing a glass ceiling on our children, we are tying the hands of our most gifted and talented teachers.

Have you noticed an increase in your child’s level of anxiety related to performing in school? Does your young child already feel as if they can’t keep up academically? Is this how we intend to inspire the next generation of children to live into their potential? Given the recent cognitive research that shows how stress inhibits meaningful learning, I hardly think so.

What if Maria Montessori was right?

What if children are capable both intellectually and emotionally of far more than we as a society ever allow them to reach or express?

What does that mean for us as parents and educators? As a society, are we placing our resources, talent, time, and energy in the right places?

The good news is that as parents and teachers, we can tune in and do little things that can make a big difference for the children in our lives…

Connect

Find little moments to slow down and be fully present with your child. Let go of expectations, set plans, or preconceived ideas of how this time will go. Be present with your child and follow their lead. Listen intently and make suggestions based on an interest they express. Pick-up on one of their ideas and run with it. This shows the children in your life that their questions deserve answers, their thoughts are interesting, and their ideas are worthy of coming to fruition.

Free Time

With so many facts and skills being squeezed into the school day and more pressure to cover greater amounts of data, one of the best gifts that grown-ups can give their children is time to discover and pursue their personal passions. For it’s the endeavor that is chosen approximately 10 minutes after the infamous “I’m Bored…” declaration that shows you where your child’s true interests lie.

Tune Into Your Expectations

If given the support, children will rise to our expectations. It is up to us to constantly check in with ourselves about what we are really expecting. If we are tired of seeing a certain behavior in our children, we need to make sure that we are not actually looking for or setting them up for that behavior.

On the other hand, when we really believe that our children are capable of doing something, more often than not, they do. Hold the picture of them being respectful, treating their siblings kindly, sharing their things, or whatever your goals are for them, clearly in your mind. Then, speak to them, treat them, and respond to them as if they are on their way to achieving that goal. When you really believe that your children are capable, then the inevitably slip-ups, simply become teachable moments.

There is nothing more exciting than when our children surprise us with their brilliance, insight, and creativity. Let’s give them every opportunity for them to show us their best selves…

Resources for Teaching Kindness

By Mariah Bruehl, 6th March 2015

Kindness. It’s truly one of the simplest ways to connect with one another. It can be exchanged through a smile, a wave, a handwritten note, or a hug. Kindness doesn’t need to cost anything, and it doesn’t have to be extravagant.

Growing up, my mother always told me to be kind and that it pays to be nice. When I was young, I knew that you should hold a door for someone, take a moment to smile and say hello, and offer help to those who look like they may need it. I grew up believing that you should go out of your way to care about and be thoughtful of others, from all walks of life. Now, I’m doing my best to impart that same simple wisdom onto my daughters. I tell them they should always say please and thank you and that gifts (no matter how small) should be followed up with a note of appreciation. I tell them that each of their classmates deserve kindness, even if there comes a time when one of those classmates isn’t kind to them. We talk about empathy and taking time to really think about other people’s perspectives. I explain to them the importance of including others who look like they may need a little extra compassion. When my girls leave in the morning for school, I always tell them “Be good to your teachers, and be good to your friends.” They are learning that those few words have great and powerful meaning behind them.

Teaching our children to be kind, compassionate, generous, and appreciative is perhaps one of the greatest gifts we can give one another. I believe that it’s our responsibility as adults, role models, leaders, parents, and educators to not only teach these behaviors to the next generation but also to model them ourselves.

Here are a few resources to help all of us share more deliberate kindness in the world.

The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation

 www.actsofkindness.org

The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation is a non-profit organization that is dedicated to encouraging kindness in homes, classrooms, and communities. Their website is overflowing with free resources as well as ideas for how to spread kindness like volunteering at a community garden, donating old books, writing a poem for someone you love, or simply saying good morning to a stranger. In addition, you can read about and share your own stories of kindness. This site is truly an invaluable resource.

Teaching Tolerance

http://www.tolerance.org

Founded by the Southern Poverty Law Center, Teaching Tolerance helps teachers and schools fight prejudice, promote equality and celebrate diversity. I have used many of these lessons year after year in my elementary classroom. Be sure to read about the national campaign, Mix It Up, a Teaching Tolerance initiative that encourages students to step outside of their comfort zone and get to know someone new at lunch. Mix It Up inspires students to make connections and develop relationships with classmates across social boundaries. This can be easily adapted in the classroom as well.

The Kindness Journey

http://thekindnessjourney.com/resources/

This website follows twelve-year-old Jaden Winn and his mother Amanda as they embark on a yearlong journey across the United States. Their main goal is to educate and inspire people along the way to join in the #kindnessmovement while raising funds for Life Vest Inside, an organization dedicated to uniting the world with kindness (http://www.lifevestinside.com). If these two don’t move you to spread the love, I’m not sure what will!

Picture Books that Promote Kindness

Each Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson
The Invisible Boy by Trudy Ludwig
The Lion and the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney
Because Amelia Smiled by David Ezra Stein
Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters by John Steptoe
Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett

Chapter Books that Promote Kindness

Wonder by R.J. Palacio
Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo
The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes
Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White

Finally, use the printables below to spread more kindness in your home, classroom, or community. What will your deliberate acts of kindness be?

* This post contains affiliate links

Flower Print + Scrape Painting

By Mariah Bruehl, 3rd March 2015

With blizzards, cold fronts and low temperatures blanketing much of the country, spring and its promise of warm days and flowers poking up through the ground seems far, far away. But with a simple art project, you can magically create spring inside, no matter how cold it is outside! Read on for a fun painting project and art history extension.

Supplies:

Table covering
Heavy paper (watercolor or cardstock)
Paint (I really like Biocolor paint)
Paper plate
Fresh flowers
Ruler

This project can get messy, so cover your work area with newspaper, butcher paper, or a disposable table cloth.

Squeeze blobs of paint onto the paper plate, leaving plenty of room to press the flowers down into the paint. Now it’s time for flower painting fun! You are essentially replacing your paint brush with a fresh flower, so dip the flower into the paint, then gently press onto your paper.

Experiment with mixing paint colors and using differently shaped flowers as you cover your paper with flower prints.

Don’t worry if petals or other parts of the flowers get stuck in the paint—that just adds fabulous texture! Show your child how to twirl the flower back and forth in a circular motion to create a different type of mark. Younger children may also enjoy brushing the flower across the page just like they would with a paint brush.

Once your masterpiece is complete, set aside to dry.

Extend the painting fun and enjoy an easy teachable moment by introducing your child to the Impressionist paintings of Claude Monet. Towards the end of his life, Monet focused almost entirely on painting the water lilies in his garden pond, creating paintings that make the viewer feel as if he or she is gazing down into the water. Read a picture book about the artist to learn more about his life and work. Some of my favorites include: Philippe in Monet’s Garden by Lisa Jobe Carmack, Where is the Frog?: A Children’s Book Inspired by Claude Monet by Geraldine Elschner, Katie and the Waterlily Pond by James Mayhew and The Magical Garden of Claude Monet by Laurence Anholt.

To transform your flower painting into a Monet-inspired work, you only need some blue paint and a ruler. Squeeze a line of blue paint along the far left edge of your painting. (Left-handed children might find it easier to manipulate the ruler if the paint is squeezed on the right edge of the painting).

Use the ruler as a scraper, and drag the blue paint across the paper.

If needed, add additional lines of paint in the middle of your artwork so that you can completely cover the paper with blue paint.

I love the effect the scraper makes, smearing the flowers and creating a beautiful impression of rippling water—just like Monet! Experiment with how wet or dry your flower prints are before scraping paint across them (in the above painting, my flowers were not that dry at all, and you can see in the upper right how much of the flower smeared).

For more Monet-inspired art-making ideas, take a look at this Pinterest board with suggestions suitable for toddlers to teens! Or, if you’re ready to hang up your artist’s smock, channel your inner scientist and use any leftover flowers for this fun Dissecting Flowers lesson.

Secret Kindness Pals

By Mariah Bruehl, 27th February 2015

February is an ideal month to start a new trend in your home or classroom… Secret kindness pals create excitement and add warmth through kindness to the classroom.

Begin with Literature

To begin our exploration of kindness, I start by reading aloud. I have found that literature provides the perfect introduction and helps weave ideas together for students. The short chapter book entitled, Horrible Harry and The Green Slime by Suzy Kline shares a story of a classroom where the teacher chooses to give her class secret pals. The first time I read this book to a class I had a student ask if our class could have secret pals. I said “yes” for many reasons and one of them being that the timing was perfect. It was very close to Valentine’s Day and Random Acts of Kindness week had just started.

Literature Links:

Horrible Harry and The Green Slime by Suzy Kline
Each Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson

A Week Filled with Kindness

Our kindness week is filled with excitement as students think about different ways to be kind to their secret pal and to others. We create lists with simple ideas to spread kindness: hold the door for someone, help another student get their book bag out of their locker, draw a picture, write a poem, bake some banana bread, and many more. We draw pictures for our secret pal making sure to include colors, activities or people he/she enjoys. We discuss how being kind feels and how it feels to be the receiver of a kind act.

Conclude with A Clue Poem

I ask students take part in writing clue poems about themselves to conclude and reveal our secret pals. Each student composes a poem with ten clues about themselves. Students also write the name of their secret pal but not their own name on the top. This way we do not know the writer but do know who it is for. I then read each poem aloud, tell the class who the secret pal is and we all try to guess who wrote the poem. When we figure out the writer, he/she then delivers a special Valentine’s box to his/her secret pal.

A Personalized Surprise for our Secret Pals

I often choose to conclude our mini-unit on the day of our Valentine’s party for the simple reason that my students can make a Valentine’s collection box for their secret pal. You could easily conclude on a different day with a different type of simple gift. I ask students, as a family homework activity, to create a personalized Valentine’s box for his/her secret pal. Students know their secret pal through our classroom community but I also have each student fill out an interview about him or herself describing their favorite places, people, activities, etc. This information is passed along to their secret pal. This way he/she can add personal touches to drawings, poems and the Valentine’s box. The results are often beautiful and varied ~ as students really think about their pal and his/her interests.

Website:

https://www.randomactsofkindness.org

All Natural Fizzy Bath Bombs

By Mariah Bruehl, 25th February 2015

It’s mid-February and there is something in the air, something floating like tiny wisps through the heart shaped ether. That’s right, it’s snow. Well it is where we live anyway. Snow, snow and a bit more snow. So it’s appropriate that this month, the month in which love is celebrated in all it’s shocking pink, chocolate flavored glory, that we take a little time to show one another some real love and care.

Where we are, in Eastern Canada, winter is long and can feel a bit grueling. By February the novelty of the snow and cold has worn off and we are all longing for spring, but spring is a little way off yet. But that doesn’t mean we can’t indulge a little and find ways to feel warm and cozy in the mean time. It’s a great time for candle lit baths, snuggles by the fire and time to give our dried out skin a little extra love.

My two farm boys love nothing more that a good soak in the bath, so this seemed like a great time to add a little extra fun with some heart shaped fizzy bath bombs. Of course I want their bath to be cozy and good for them, so these are made with natural ingredients that will help keep their skin from drying out after snowy adventures outside. I made my fizzies with chamomile tea, to help battle colds and aid relaxation; you could use peppermint tea, lavender or just plain water, all should work well.

The ingredients are all items you may well have in your pantry, and any mold that you happen to have will work too. The only special item is citric acid, but that is easily found at home brew stores or your local Bulk Barn. If you feel like theming your bath fizzles, you can add your favorite essential oil to the mix. Personally I prefer to add the oils neat to the bath for a maximum hit of goodness, do what works best for you.

Chamomile Bath Fizzies

You will need:

1 cup of baking soda
1/2 cup of citric acid
1/2 cup of corn starch
2 table spoons of Epsom Salts
2 1/2 table spoons of Coconut Oil
3 Table spoons of cold chamomile tea (you could use a different tea, witch hazel or just plain water)
Up to 10 drops of essential oils such as lavender, chamomile or geranium. All of these oils are suitable for children.
1-2 drops of food coloring (optional), I used 1 drop of red to get a pale pink color.

If you have a mixer this is ideal, if not use a wooden spoon or whisk to mix the ingredients thoroughly. Mix the dry ingredients together and then add your oil. The mixture should become crumbly, make sure the oil is evenly distributed.

Next add the liquid, mix slowly and carefully. There will be a little bit of a fizz on contact but if you keep the mixture moving it should be minimal and the moisture will be absorbed quickly. The mixture will take on the texture of damp sand, once this happens stop adding liquid.

Press your sand like mixture into your molds, this is when you will know if you added too much moisture! If the mixture begins to fluff up it won’t set, my original batch was too wet and did just this. Luckily you can still add it to the bath and enjoy.

Leave the mixture in your molds overnight to dry. I used heart shaped candy molds and they worked perfectly. You don’t need to coat them with anything, once they are dry they will pop straight out.

These fizzies are perfect to gift to friends or simply to use yourselves, adding a little extra warmth and fun to a cozy, winter bath time.