{First Grade} Holiday Literacy Center

Hey, y'all!  We're doing a Grinch/Reindeer Unit next week to finish up the holidays, but in case you wanted a little preview of what we're doing (or need an idea for a holiday lit center!), I thought I'd post one activity I'll include in our literacy centers.

Santa Sentences

You can find specific directions here. 

In this activity, there are 5 pre-made sentences.  Teachers will cut/laminate the pieces for each sentence and the student will arrange them in a meaninful order.  Afterwards, students will write the sentence on the recording sheet and respond to the question that is asked.  You can find the pieces here and the recording sheet here. 

I hope you can use this activity!  Please let me know if you're not able to view the links :)

Avoidance.

Everything in my being is telling me to eat the Dilly Bar that is taunting me from the freezer right now. 

Dilly bar.  Dilly bar.  Dilly bar.

But, honestly, I'm experiencing a little post-Thanksgiving jelly belly, so I'm really trying to resist.  Mostly by blogging through the urge :)

Okay, so anyway, I'm fairly certain that my 2-year-old could full well recite the entire 25 minutes that is A Charlie Brown Christmas. Because we watch it EVERY. SINGLE. NIGHT. And, despite the fact that I could recite the entire letter to Santa that Charlie scribes for his sister, I do enjoy the fact that Becks will cozy up to me on the couch and watch it. Because snuggles from my boy are a rarity these days.

{Becks dancing with the Peanuts gang.  Kid's got moves.}

He's totally into pretend play with blocks and his train set.  I love watching him entertain himself and make up little conversations between him and his toys.  I catch bits and pieces, which are often incoherent to me but I'm sure make perfect sense to him.  It's precious and one of the best parts of watching him grow up.  {And, from the teacher perspective - a developmental milestone :) }

I tried to catch a picture of him in the act, and captured a little snapshot of our lives right now: the holiday decor looming and poor B snoozing pitifully in the background.  He had a Spanish presentation this morning and pulled an all-nighter last night.  We both have finals next week and I think that we're both extremely ready for a much-needed break from school.  I love my 1st grade chickadees dearly, but they're making me feel a tad loopy lately with their contagious excitement for the season.  And by contagious excitement, what I really mean is incessant talking and inability to remain still for longer than a millisecond. 

They kind of make me feel like, hmmmm, a crazy reindeer? 

{Thanks to Becks for snapping this pic.}

And, by the way, I did not eat the Dilly Bar.  Yet.

Advent Adventures: December 8th

We've been busy preparing for Christmas in our home! I love this season so its such a joy to be able to incorporate Christmas crafts and activites into our daily homeschool time! My only complaint is that December is just not long enough to pack everything into it that I would like! Let me share with you some of the things we have gotten around to!

Besides adding an ornament to the tree on our family Advent calendar each day, I also set up individual Advent charts for the girls to add stickers to after breakfast each morning. It has 24 different shapes on it so each day I tell Piper a shape and she has to find it to put her star sticker on! Taitum obviously is free to put her stickers wherever and they have all ended up on the baby Jesus at the bottom! Both girls are so excited to add their sticker each day! There are also other options besides shapes for these charts that you can find at Hubbard's Cupboard Christmas.

We took a couple days to make angels, the first being a Hand and Footprint Angel. Getting to put paint all over your hands is always a big hit in our house so the girls had a great time with this! Plus they got to share this craft time with some friends, making it even better!

On another day, Piper made a Shape Angel. It was a good way to talk about different shapes during craft time and she was overjoyed about being allowed to use glitter!!

Piper and I got down to buisness making our Christmas cards. We used potato stamps, something I've been wanting to try for a while. I had never thought about using a cookie cutter to cut the shape you want in the potato. I always thought you had to carve the design yourself and I don't know about you but my potato carving skills aren't that great! Then when browsing through some craft sites I came across some Christmas card ideas! After deciding on trying the potato stamps, I went looking for cookie cutters that were small enough. I found some at Michael's and really debated between the $9 metal ones and the $3 plastic ones. Ever frugal, I of course went for the plastic but was very afraid that they wouldn't be sharp enough to cut the potato well. In the end, they worked out perfectly! We worked on quite a few and then hung them on an impromptu clothesline in the kitchen. I like the look of it hanging there so much, I'm considering replacing the cards with something decorative rather then taking the line down! As well, I am hoping to try some of the other card making ideas next week on the ones we have left to create!

We spent a day talking about how Jesus is the Light of the world. On that day, Piper made a toilet paper roll candle like the one from the Christmas plan at Hubbard's Cupboard.

Its not quite Christmas break yet so we are still in education mode but with a merry twist! Here Piper is doing a Candy Cane ABC match game from the 1+1+1=1 Christmas Tot pack. She finds this rather challenging which I'm glad for but it does mean guiding her through a lot of it!

We also have been continuing to work on shapes. I printed these off for the Christmas Tot Pack and we played 'shape hunt' one day. Here Piper is looking at a shape and getting ready to go off and find something in the house that has the same shape. I don't have any pics of the hunt as I was right in there with her (have you ever tried to find something triangular in your house??!) but I can tell you it was a lot of fun!

On another day, I had her match the correct shape piece (from our Mighty Minds set) to the Christmas shape cards.

For numbers, I printed off Christmas numbers from the Christams Tot pack and had Piper identify the numbers and then add that many paperclips to the card. I am constantly amazed at how enthusistic Pipe is about the simplest of activites!

Finally, I tried a color-by-number nativity with Piper (I added the number/color key myself). This was another activity that she needed some assistance with but overall, I believe she got the concept. I cut it out and she glued the pieces together and added the glitter!

Well, this has been our week! I hope that some of our activities inspire you to get creative with your kiddos (or yourself! Crafts are for 'big kids', too!). What fun crafts or activities are you doing? Is there anything that you do traditionally every year?

Tot School, Taitum Style!

While combing through homeschooling sites to find resources for Piper, I have also come across 'Tot School'. This is basically setting aside some time each day to get down and play one on one with your tot - in my case, Taitum! I was very excited to come across the idea and examples provided of fun, age appropriate activities at 1+1+1=1. Considering the amount of time and energy I was finding myself putting into Piper's homeschool preschool, I felt it was only right to be providing Taitum with some specific opportunities to learn AND, more importantly, have my full attention!

I have found that starting homeschool with Piper has been a huge learning curve for me and a bit overwhelming because there is SO much out there! So I haven't been quite organized enough yet to do Tot School with Tait every day but try for at least two or three days a week. Sunday nights, her and I are generally alone so I always do something then. The rest of the time Piper is usually involved but I try to focus most of my attention on Taitum for that chunk of time. Piper is far more demanding of my attention then Tait is so it has been a bit of a challenge but a good one, worth taking on! I would also say it has been a good lesson for Piper to learn to allow Tait to have my attention.

I have also found it difficult to simply follow Tait's lead. I set up an activity and try to show her what to do but more often than not my little girl's idea of fun is completely different! I force myself to go along with it despite so desparately wanting to do things the 'right' way. And in the end, you know what? I have FUN! My baby girl is a blast! The things she comes up with are cute and adorable and she loves it! And regardless of the fact that we've 'gone off track' I know she is still learning and taking so much in just by playing with me!

If you're interested, I encourage you to read more about it since Carisa at 1+1+1=1 explains it so much better (It was her idea in the first place!). Some helpful posts are: Where Do I Begin? and Tot School FAQs.

Besides an overall goal of trying new activities and experiences for Taitum on a regular basis, I also hope to soon implement the idea of Tot Trays. This will probably happen around the same time I get around to setting up Workboxes for Piper! But 1 step at a time (at least that's what I keep trying to remind myself!).

Finally, here is a glimpse of some Tot School moments over the past week and a half...

'Pouring' practice with some pom poms, plastic containers and measuring cups!

Finger painting (and taste testing?) after making an angel Christmas craft that you'll see in a later post!



I had hoped to teach her how to use the shape sorter correctly...Taitum had other plans which involved stuffing Eener bear into the container :) We played 'peek-a-boo' with him for a bit.



Then we spent some time with the ring stacker. It was so cute to see her concentrate so hard on getting the rings on but then....

She decided to fill the shape sorter bucket with the rings and other items.

And then dump it all out everywhere! This was so funny for her! So we did it over and over quite a few times!

Random Monday Musings

1.  I am feeling really good about life today.  Apparently, a festive interior, a Christmas Eve scented Yankee candle burning much of the day, and the last 2 weeks of the school year winding down will bring out the holiday spirit in a person.  It helps that I finished lesson planning for the remainder of 2010 today, too :)

2.  I had breakfast for dinner tonight at my parents house and it was totally YUM.

3.  We went to our first holiday party over the weekend at our neighbor's house.  So fun. 

Me, Brian (host), and Lauren (neighbor and sorority sis) 

B and Eric (Lauren's bf)

4.  How amazingly talented are the singers on The Sing Off ?!  Omigosh.  Love it.  And can you be any more cleverly named than "Pitch Slapped?"  Ha! 

5.  Beckham went to bed tonight with very little fanfare.  He's all into this "Just one more story...." or "Just one more minute..."  which usually turns into a nightly sob-a-thon when we deny his requests.  Tonight though, he was perfect.  Please, stop what you're doing, and knock on wood on my behalf.

6.  We snapped our Christmas picture this weekend, and - if I do say so myself - it turned out super cute!  This isn't the pic that we chose, but a cute one nonetheless. 

7.  Let's talk about how I just had to purchase storage space on Google so I can upload pics to the blog!  It was only five bucks for 20 GBs, but still! Has this happened to anyone else?

8.  Someone is nearing the end of her 20s.  I turn 28 in 17 days.  GULP. 

9.  I'm pretty sure I'm going to be starting a school-related blog here in the near future.  FYI.

10.  Please wear your pajamas inside out, do a dance, or just send your winter weather my way: I WANT A SNOWDAY.  Thanks and have a happy Monday :)

One Lucky Girl.

Gosh, I didn't realize that it was already December 6 and I hadn't blogged since the 1st.  I guess time flies when you're having fun too busy to know what day it is :)

There hasn't really been much new going on.  Tripp is about the same- good days and bad days.  All we can do is embrace the good ones.  Honestlly, right now, if it wasn't for his poor eyes and mouth, I think we could be okay.  Both the eyes and the mouth are the saddest things.  And for both, there is pretty much nothing we can do.  Dr. Defusco is working on getting someone to help with his mouth- and that's a pretty hard task to take on.  She's been our #1 advocate from day one.  Love her!  But the eyes- I think we are done.  Other than steroid shots every few months, there's nothing left to do.  And if you could see his eyes right now (like up close and personal)- they are bad.  And it's really really sad.  

But when I talked to Dr. Defusco last night, we discussed maybe TRYING to get him on some type of schedule.  He's killing me with his "sleep all day, up all night" routine.  She said that if I could get him up a little earlier in the morning (this would probably involve a lot of kicking and "would be" screaming) and then try my hardest to keep him up during the day (haha) that I could give him a small dose of melatonin to help him sleep at night.  Now, I know all of you have heard me talk about my son and how what he says, goes.  Well, I don't think that will ever change.  But I'm willing to at least try for him and for me- so I'm not getting sick soon from sleep deprivation.  

Also, we talked about getting him on a long-acting pain medicine instead of the morphine.  That way I could give it to him once and it could work all through the day.  Instead of giving the morphine, letting it wear off, then giving it again and trying to control his pain every 4 hours- which isn't working.  This might help him (hopefully) to be able to function better throughout the day, instead of coming up and down off of his " drug highs."  I just can't explain to you the amount of open wounds he has all over his body.  And changing his diaper, changing his trach dressings, or doing a bath is DEVASTATING.  And I will do anything, and give him whatever pain medicine he needs to make him as comfortable as possible.   

On a brighter note, from what I hear... we are supposed to have a pretty good turnout for the "Trot for Tripp."  I'm so excited that people are willing to participate and also that they are becoming aware of this disease.  Since Tripp was born, I always said that it would be great if all of the EB families could all live close and in one state.  But if that was the case, then I guess we couldn't spread the word across the counrty like we are doing now.  As far as I know, Tripp is the only Junctional EB child in Louisiana (other than sweet little baby Owen, who passed away in the NICU months ago).  And it makes sense because he is said to be 1 in 2 million.  And it just makes me smile to know that so many people in this area, this state, and even in the country are starting to learn about EB.  And it's taking one person at a time.  Through blogs, by word of mouth, through fundraisers, email, facebook... it's amazing.  And I'm so grateful for all of you who have been so supportive through all of this.  

Oh, and I just found out that my awesome friend, Dianne (the one who is doing the fundraiser for Tripp) will be on the radio again tomorrow morning, so please tune in to listen to her!  She will be on Kajun 107.1 at 8:15 am and Tangi 96.5 at 8:30.  Thank you again, Dianne- for making all of this possible!!

I want to send out some thank-yous.  And I know already that I am leaving many people out, and I'm sorry.  I truly appreciate every little thing that is done for Tripp and I. 

I want to thank all my great friends for another beautiful flower arrangement that you sent.  It came just in time to be a beautiful centerpiece for Thanksgiving dinner.  

Thanks Mrs. Lori Hess, Mrs. Brittany Navarre and to Maurepas 7th and 8th graders for the cards, stuffed animals, books, and the gift card (that the kids raised the money for themselves) that they sent to Tripp.  He loves his rudolph and I very much enjoyed reading your cards and words of encougament.  I cried a little, I'll have to admit :)  You kids are amazing and so thoughtful to have done such a wonderful thing for us.  I will keep your cards forever, so that one day Tripp can read your sweet words :)

Thanks to Theta Phi Alpha sorority at SLU in Hammond for the cards, book, and precious "Penguin pillow pet" that they sent for Tripp.  These girls have been spreading the word about Tripp since they found out about him.  They had a fudraiser to raise money for DebRA outside of the student union during EB awareness week.  And they always do kind things for us, even if it's just to send me a nice email.  Thanks again, girls.  

And to all my lovely blog readers who have asked for our address and send special things for Tripp- books, puppets, music cards, etc.  I am touched by each and every one of you and appreciate every gift, thought, prayer, or kind word.  I am one lucky girl with a beautiful baby boy and a whole lot of great people who love him.  Thank you all again.  

Love,

Holiday Cards from Shutterfly

Considering how behind at life I am right now, it should come as no surprise that up until last night I hadn't even considered our family Christmas card, let alone snapped a cute pic of all of us.  But now we have, and, honestly, that wasn't the hard part.  Becks actually cooperated and our pic turned out cute!  Getting a 2-year-old to smile on cue is no small feat.

The hard part is choosing from the gazillion adorable Christmas Photo Cards at Shutterfly.  OMIWORD, I don't even now which one is my favorite!  I have, well, a gazillion favorites!  Topping my list are the following designs...

Holiday Love Sketch  5X7 folded card
I love the vivid red and the fun font!

Celebrate Family Christmas Card

How cute are the colors?!  LOVE!

With Glee Christmas 5x& photo card

Again, the font is what gets me!  I'm a sucker for cute writing!

I have actually been a member of Shutterfly for years and own many of their products.  They are an amazing company with a quick turnaround time.  It's been my experience that the purchase usually arrives within a week, and sometimes as short as a few days!  So, if you're anything like me {impatient}, you'll appreciate the fact that your product arrives promptly. 

I own several Shutterfly-made photo books, and have ordered calendars from them also (a great gift idea by the way!).  I couldn't be happier with the quality and the ease in which you can create/order your product in their user-friendly website.  And, if you're in the market for birthday invitations, you must check them out.  Super cute products! 

To any other bloggers who haven't taken advantage of Shutterfly's promotion, go here for more information!  I'm being gifted 50 free cards from Shutterfly for writing and submitting this post.  For something I was going to do anyway, I just couldn't resist!  The promotion runs until the 15th, so there's still time left for any slackers one like me who hasn't ordered any yet :)