Baby, It's Cold Outside

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This Wondertime Wednesday edition is devoted to winter weather fun.  Hope you enjoy our round up of snowy, icy, and cold experiments and activities.

The following is a Science Lesson depicting how polar bears stay warm, from The Adventures of Bear.

Eperiement and explore with Monkeyin' Around's eye spy ice cubes.

For a fun and unique way to teach about how colors mix and change try Monkeyin' Around's colored ice experiment.

Here's a fun recipe from Dresses and Messes for snow ice cream! So yummy!

Playing with ice:  With this activity children learn the funny properties of water, They also learned that water thaws faster if we introduce the ice in water. 

Play, Explore, and Learn shares a great snow sculpturing activity to accompany the book Frozen Noses.

Our Adventures in Education just completed their snow and ice activities.  You will want to check out their creative way of creating their own ice crystals.

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Color Activities: Purple

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First published in 1955, one classic book that always comes to mind when thinking about lessons for the color purple is this one, the start of a whole series featuring Harold and his purple crayon.  Here are some suggested lessons from the author's website.  We also like this one on KinderArt®.  The book's publisher also provides a coloring page and use your imagination to finish the drawing page.

More recent additions to literature on the color purple include:

The author's site has a downloadable coloring sheet of Lilly and her purple plastic purse and a maze.  Teaching Heart has a nice thematic unit crossing several curriculum areas, complete with many downloadable resources and PDF's appropriate for K-1 students. 

This titles continues on a popular book series started with Pinkalicious, but is recommended with some hesitation.  The teasing, bullying, and conflict portrayed in the narrative may be unnecessary to introduce to very young children, it does end on a possitive note but the reference to purple is minimal. 

As Allie from No Time for Flashcards stated in her post mentioning this title, "I think it’s better to let children know that they don’t have to be ashamed of someone is bullying them, to ask for help and to overcome it. This book can be a useful tool for that message."

This book was featured on the classic children's PBS show Reading Rainbow, but the video and teacher's guide is no longer available except by purchase.  Learn more about Amy Hest on her author's website.

Step By Step Childcare has a Purple Theme that includes: songs and fingerplays, arts & craft activities, thematic ideas, and quick starts for any color day.

Preschool Express and Childfun both have Purple Themes for early childhood aged students.

More Purple Activities:

Color Mixing: In two containers use food coloring to make water red and blue.  Use an eye dropper to add drops of the colored water into a third container containing clear water.  See how many drops it takes of each to turn the water purple.

Grape Prints: Students dip an empt toilet paper roll into a shallow container of paint.  Make circle prints onto paper, clustering them together into bunches of grapes.  When the paint has dried the circles can be colored in or filled with a variety of purple collage materials.  A stem and leaves can also be added.  You can also make a different version by painting the grapes with carrot rounds and purple paint.

Planting Purple Flowers: Make purple flower shapes out of purple construction paper.  Program each with either a numeral or dots to represent a specific number.  Tape to popsicle sticks.  Take an old shoebox, turn it over and cut slits in the bottom, the same number as you have of programed flowers.  Write a numeral by each, students have to place the correctly number flower into the slit.

Purple Snacks:

Plums
Purple Grapes
Eggplant, just be sure you look at it, touch, and smell it beforehand so everyone can see the lovely skin.
Purple Cabbage
Grape Juice to Drink or to Make Popsicles with
Grape Jelly on Crackers/Bread/Toast

Have you done a purple color activity?  Let us know in the comment section and share your link so we can all come see it.  Don't forget to enter our two great giveaways, links at the top of this column!

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Musical Monday: Guest Post by Rachel of Quirky Momma

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Happy New Year Dear Readers!  We're excited to be back after our holiday break and back in the swing of things.  To kick off the new decade, we have some great suggestions from Rachel at Quirky Momma to share with you!

Activities for your Preschooler to learn about Hearing & Sound

1. Make music instruments from household items (ex: paper plates and beans stapled inside of the two plates = tamburine, a pot = drum, etc.)


2. Make a phone out of garden hose and funnels – whisper messages to each other on different ends of the house.

3. Bang a pot to teach rhythm with a favorite song

4. Choreograph a dance

5. Dance to youtube songs

6. Sing silly songs

7. Go on a hearing hunt – what do you hear? leaves rustling? birds singing? Cars? Airplanes? wind? etc.

8. Sing into a fan – How does the wind change the sound of your voice?

9. Pick a topic and start singing a silly made-up song about it.

10. Make a paper hearing aid and whisper to eachother. Can you hear it better?

11. Learn about vibrations and sound with this spoon and thread experiment.

12. Practice listening skills with the game “telephone”. With preschoolers, you can have them repeat a phrase to you, a tongue-twister, or repeat the intonations of your words.
 
Thank you to Rachel for sharing with us today.  Be sure to stop by Quirky Momma for more ideas and tips and don't forget to leave her some comment love for being our guest poster today!
 
If you have some suggestions of your own to add to the discussion please add them to the comments on this post.  Remember that we're always looking for readers who want to share their favorite children's music or music related activities with us.  Pitch your idea to us and you could be our next guest post!

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Saturday Spotlight: The Adventures of Bear

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The Adventures of Bear was chosen as our featured blog in last month's author challenge.  We are thrilled to introduce you today to Julie and her little corner of the world wide web.  She shares the following.

We are a trilingual family. We have 2 children, a 29 month old girl and a 5 month old son. I started the blog to document things I do with Bear (the two year old) and to give back to the community of moms from whom I have gotten so many great ideas. We have more or less decided to homeschool, so I have plans to continue the blog as we proceed on our homeschooling journey.

My inspiration comes from all the other wonderful Mommy bloggers out there. Joining the blogging community has helped me at a time when I am not living in the States and don’t have much of a support system beyond my husband. It is great to be able to draw on such a wealth of ideas.

My favorite family times are when all four of us are together playing and having fun. For example tonight, we all had a wild rumpus after reading Where the Wild Things Are. Bear was Max on my back (I was the wild thing) and I danced around. Then she had a turn on my husband’s shoulders. The baby lay on the bed watching us being silly. There was a lot of laughing! I love when we are all joyful like that.

I am known for my frugality. I make a lot (almost all) of my learning materials. I don’t have access to dollar stores or the Target dollar section. I have to make do with what I have. In addition, my printer broke two months ago so right now I cannot print anything at all. You won’t see me switching out my teaching materials and doing lots and lots of seasonal things. I would love to, but I don’t. We do a lot of hands on learning with manipulatives. And we do a LOT of art. Of the Open Ended variety.

I use clothespins for lots of things. Bear’s favorite has always been the Clothespin Color Game, but we also use them for spelling.

We do a lot of art. I look for things around the house for her to use. There’s a great post of that here. Even a toy can become a painting tool.

Along with this feature on ABC, The Adventures of Bear has also been featured on Crafty Crow.

We are so glad to have creative and inspirational moms willing to contribute to our site and to share their clever ideas with all of us.  Thanks!

For a chance to be our next featured blogger submit your activities for this month's author challenge: Joy Cowley!

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Author Challenge: Joy Cowley & Giveaway

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Today we are pleased to be kicking off a new Author Challenge!  This month the works of acclaimed children's author Joy Cowley will be feaured.  Joy Cowley is a multi-award-winning New Zealand-based author of more than 800 titles. She is widely recognized for supporting literacy programs and writing materials for struggling readers in the primary grades.

For her services to children’s writing, Cowley was awarded the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire by Her Majesty the Queen of England in 1992. Other honors include an honorary doctorate from Massey University, and a Dame Order of Merit from the Royal Crown in her native New Zealand. 

Well known titles by Cowley include the Boston Globe/Horn Book winner Red-Eyed Tree Frog, Mrs. Wishy-Washy, Big Moon Tortilla, and Gracias, The Thanksgiving Turkey.  You can learn more about this popular author at her personal website: The Official Joy Cowley Website.

This month's Author Challenge is sponsored by Hameray Publishing Group, who are:

Dedicated to publishing innovative literacy materials for today's educators. Combining a sound research-based method for boosting literacy with cutting-edge classroom solutions, Hameray develops literacy materials, including leveled books and teacher resources, targeting the needs of struggling readers, early readers, English Language Learners, special needs students as well as those reading at grade level in kindergarten to eighth grade.

To publish best-in-class educational materials, Hameray collaborates with top authors and leading educators. All Hameray product lines are evaluated by well-respected educators and teacher trainers prior to launch.

We're excited to share with you that Hameray Publishing Group recently announced:

The release of 15 all-new children’s books by award-winning author Joy Cowley. The highly anticipated return of Cowley’s famous characters - Mrs. Wishy-Washy, Dan the Flying Man, the Hungry Giant, the Meanies and Smarty Pants – promises to captivate today’s generation of early readers.

“Recently, many letters came from teachers telling me they learned to read with my books, and are now sharing that experience,” explains Cowley. “This truly warmed my heart! Within many of the letters were requests for further stories about student’s favorite characters. For this reason, I decided to revisit the special characters teachers already know well.”

Cowley introduced the much-loved Mrs. Wishy-Washy character in 1980, which quickly gained a strong following among educators. The character’s initial success led to the release of eight additional Mrs. Wishy-Washy titles between 1993 and 2005. Collectively, these titles sold over 40 million copies worldwide, and have been translated into many languages. While Mrs. Wishy-Washy remains Cowley’s most popular, all five of the revisited characters are celebrated by educators, critics and students alike.

The value of Cowley’s children’s books is seen not only through their popularity, but also by the support received from parents and educators.

Dr. Adria Klein, Professor Emerita and educational staff developer, endorses the all-new Joy Cowley Collection as effective reading material for students learning to read and write.

“Joy Cowley is one of the world’s most acclaimed authors of children’s books and her characters are beloved by generations,” affirms Dr. Klein. “It is great news that she returned to writing children’s books. These new stories about favorite characters will certainly be welcomed by children and teachers in the early grades.”

Cowley’s renewed energy for writing children’s books stemmed from constant interaction with her grandchildren and great-grandchild. Cowley explains, "the day I'm no longer with children is the day I stop writing for them, because the energy flow comes from them and goes back to them."

The all-new Joy Cowley Collection is written for first and second grade reading levels, and is of interest to students in kindergarten to second grade. To further engage students in the joy of reading, selected big book versions are also available. Meanwhile, Cowley is completing 30 additional early reader titles for release within the next two years.

The all-new Joy Cowley Collection is specifically written for early readers. The Guided Reading Levels of the titles within the series range from H to M, and the Early Intervention Levels range from 14 to 20. Teacher notes are included in the back section of each book. 

Review:
I have read and used many of Joy Cowley's picture books in my classroom previously, so I was excited to receive five of the fifteen new titles to review.  My three year old really enjoyed hearing the stories!  The fun rhyming, repetition, silly stories, and colorful illustrations caputured her attention right away. 

I realize that many of our readers are homeschoolers.  These are fantastic titles at a great price, less than five dollars apiece, that a wide range of learners will enjoy.  Your younger children will enjoy them as read alouds and older siblings will get a lot of use out of them as quality early readers.  Classroom teachers, these would be great to use as leveled reader for instruction.

The text is accessible with plenty of rhyming throughout.  The storylines are simple enough for quick retelling to check for comprehension mastery and I like how they are leveled for quickly matching up with abilities.  The handy teacher notes at the back of each provide good ideas for utilizing the books for punctuation, tenses, program solving, vocabulary, predictions, tying into prior knowledge, etc.

These readers, with a stapled binding, are a good size.  At over eight inches tall and seven inches wide, they are a larger than many readers I've utilized in the past.  Each one has a glossy cover and full color illustrations to engage readers.  The text is a nice and big and a basic san serif font is used, making the story easy to read.

Giveaway!

Hameray Publishing Group is giving one of our readers a set of the five books pictured in this post:

Dan and the Parrot: Grandma Fay has lost her parrot. Can Dan the flying man get it back?

Word Count: 230
Intervention Level: 18
Guided Reading Level: K

Mrs. Wishy-Washy and the Big Wash: No water! Mrs. Wishy-Washy takes the animals to town.
Word Count: 225
Intervention Level: 16
Guided Reading Level: I

Those Yucky Meanies! What do Meanies eat for lunch? It is yucky!
Word Count: 153
Intervention Level: 14
Guided Reading Level: H

Smarty No Pants: Smarty Pants washes his pants on a windy day. Will the wind blow them away?
Word Count: 210
Intervention Level: 20
Guided Reading Level: M

To Enter:
Visit Hameray Publishing Group's Giveaway Page and sign up to be sent the Joy Cowley Collection brochure.  Fill out the form provided.  ONLY entries through the Giveaway Page are valid.

Giveaway is open to US residents and closes in two weeks on Friday January 22nd.

Author Challenge Submissions:
We'd also like you to submit your learning activity links incorporating any titles or other learning materials or that are based on the works of Joy Cowley to us by the 22nd .  Please email us so we can feature you in the January Author Challenge post!  Look for our reader spotlight fom last month's challenge this weekend.

Disclaimer: Thank you to Hameray Publishing Group for providing the reviewers and giveaway copies of the books.  This review relates the genuine and unbiased opinions and experiences of Katie from Katie's Nesting Spot and yours may differ.  Materials provided by the publisher were used in this post.

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Life Skill: Goal Setting

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With a new year at hand many spend time wishing, dreaming, and hoping for the new year.  Others write very specific goals or resolutions with an end result in mind. 

Do you set resolutions?
Do you spend time working on new goals for the new year as a family?
Do you have a special tradition or activity for goal setting?

Tell us all about your plans for the new year by linking to a post related to goal setting or dreaming of wishes for the new year.

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My Storytime Friends

This giveaway is now closed.  The winnings go to comment #34, chosen by Random.org.  Congratulations Beth!

What better way to kick off a new year than by offering a fantastic, and educational, giveaway to our dear readers?  If you have children between the ages of 3 and 8 you are going to love what My Storytime Friends has to offer!

The My Storytime Friends kit includes a plush stuffed animal, a beautifully illustrated hard cover story book, and membership to My Storytime Friends online & Book of the Month club.  The My Storytime Friends membership includes: a new free book each month, online games, learning tools, and audio versions of all stories.

Upon arrival, each Storytime Friend is registered on the website with a unique code. After registration the kids had full access to the interactive website including: a post office, library, newsstand, friend store, and more.  Their first stop was the library where we chose the option of reading the interactive audio book.  Gavin especially enjoyed following along with the childlike watercolor illustrations on each page of the story.  The book, A Winning Dream, is about Brady Bear who finds his talent at skiing and uses it to help rescue a little bear in trouble. The book's theme is about overcoming challenges, finding your strengths, and using them to help others.  Although there was quite a bit of text per page, the length of the story was just right for keeping their 5 and 3 year old attention (and giving me enough time to throw dinner in the crock pot while they sat by me in the kitchen - double bonus!!).

This book, like all of the others offered by My Storytime Friends, is written by the award winning author Andrew Wolfendon.  Themes focus on helping others and achieving dreams.  

Similar to the Build a Bear concept, My Storytime Friends offer a fun line of dress up clothes: playwear, fanciful fashion, character costumes, and jammies, making the plush bear a fun toy as well as an educational assistant.  I tried not to let the kids go crazy on this part of the site, but they did ooh and aah over a couple of the cute outfit options.

With each book of the month Storytime Friends gives you the option of downloading and printing the book, printing a corresponding coloring book, listening to an interactive audio book, downloading the MP3 of the book, or using the hard copy to read. As a former classroom teacher I can see the benefits of each of these methods as students read, re-read, and practice retelling to display their comprehension. I especially love the MP3 options as I used to find myself reading story after story onto cassette tapes for classroom use.

The site also gives older children the opportunity to post a review of each book that they interact with.  This is an authentic way to practice important writing skills, as well as story recall.

After reviewing the product and site, it is exciting to imagine all the possibilities My Storytime Friends offer for children for both academic and entertainment purposes.  If you'd like to hear more about the product you may enjoy reading Katie's, Katie's Nesting Spot, review as well.

WIN

One reader of ABC & 123 will win a My Storytime Friends kit (retail $39.99).

We would love for you to win.  If you'd like to enter please leave a comment on this post.  It would also be great if you'd take a minute to check out the My Storytime Friends site for yourself.

Entry in this giveaway will close on Wednesday, January 13th at midnight EST.

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