Mama Bear Bedtime Books: Back to School

Showing posts with label Back to School. Show all posts

August 22, 2014

How to Make a Pencil Box out of a Swiffer Box

School started this week, and the boys already have homework! Yay... You can see my excitement there, right? Well, for getting homework done, you've got to have supplies: pencils, erasers, crayons, markers, scissors, ruler... So, here I am are at home, hunting for those darned leftover school supplies. I'm thinking, "I know they're somewhere in this closet, packed away with previous years of art projects, drawings, school pictures, grade reports, the kids' letters to me and my husband, old notebook journals with their illegible but cute handwriting...

While looking for a pencil in decent shape for my boys, I'm faced with this time consuming distraction, struggling to get them to actually sit down at the table to get started with their homework.

So, when cleaning my house the other day, I noticed how wet Swiffer boxes make pretty good pencil boxes. The size of the box is great (not too small or not too big), and the lid is pretty resilient and easy to open and close. I had one of those "Aha!" moments, and thought I could use it as a pencil box.

This was a super easy project. I wanted to decorate the box, so that way it would be more exciting for the boys when getting supplies to do their homework. Hey, anything that makes homework time more exciting is a plus! I got out my bag of colorful craft popsicle sticks, and I also used Glue Dots (glue lines are perfect for the popsicle sticks, but you can use the craft style circles as well).

The design is up to you. You can create patterns, use just one color, or make it colorful like mine. At home, we called ours, "The Box of Many Colors". My kids really enjoyed the colorful pattern and even gave me some suggestions on adding some thin popsicle sticks at the top. Although they did not do this project with me, this was so easy to do that you could make this art project with your child if you wish.

Now that the box is done, it's already sitting on the corner of the kitchen counter, full of school supplies, peacocking... When the boys are ready to do their homework, all they need to do, is open the "Box of Many Colors" and get to work! A simple, cheap, and easy way to make our lives a little bit easier.

Pencil Box
What You Need:

Empty Swiffer box (wet Swiffer)
A package of popsicle sticks
Glue Dots (glue lines)
Your and your kid's creativity!

August 16, 2014

Operation Go to Bed!

Posted by Unknown on 7:10 PM in Back to School,

Aaahhhh! Summer Time... Eating watermelons and ice-cream, swimming, riding bikes, walking barefoot, playing with the hose, staying up to almost midnight... Wait! Did I say it out loud? Yep, every year is the same old story... I tell myself, "This Summer is going to be different! No matter what, we're going to bed early every night!" But, getting my boys ready for bed early when the best time to ride their bikes in the Summer is 8:00pm, is like getting cows to dance the tango... it ain't happening...

Then comes August, and my husband and I think, "Finally!" But then, the first day of school approaches and we go, "Huh, we're in trouble!" All of a sudden we have school supply lists, meet the teachers day, parent-teacher meetings, soccer kickoffs, boys scouts meetings, volunteer for snacks, and birthday parties. By the time I see my calendar, it's so full of notes and reminders that I can barely see the dates anymore... I look at it and go, "Wait, what day is that again? I can't see it under all these '@' symbols, locations, and the list of snacks to bring!"

Now, besides all these changes, the most difficult thing for us is returning to a decent bedtime routine. We usually, "theoretically," start waking the boys up a little earlier in the morning a few days before school starts. That way, we can gradually put them in bed earlier at night, about 9:30-10:00pm. Did I say "theoretically"? Yep, because many times we look at the clock and it says 11:00pm, and the boys are still chatting, annoying our poor cat and dogs, asking for water or chocolate milk, needing to go potty... It's that endless story...

We do have reading time! My husband usually reads chapter books to our oldest son while our youngest reads easier books for beginner readers. Still...

So, this year I thought about a better plan that I'm calling, "Operation Go to Bed!" Simple and easy. No uneccessary nagging needed. I'm planning on starting today. That's right! Today! Three days before school starts. If it works, we can stick to it, and, like experts say, after six months, the new routine will become automatic. *Hope* Alright, so here's my "Operation Go to Bed" plan. Ready? It's not complicated at all! Easy as 1, 2, 3! Wish me luck!

OPERATION GO TO BED

Step 1: Announce out loud the operation to the boys

Step 2: Write down the rules on a big chart (with the boys of course... they need to practice some writing...) and post it in their bedroom

Step 3: Write down:

ALL Electronics OFF- 6:55pm
Dinner - 7:00pm
Bath/Brush teeth - 7:45pm
Reading - 8:10pm
Bed/Lights OFF - 8:45pm

Step 4: STICK TO IT

Step 5: If in case someone blows it one day, be cool and forgiving and start fresh the next day

Step 6: If it works, wake up mom, because you might be dreaming...

photo credit: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/lotzman/4272153318/">Lotzman Katzman</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/">cc</a>

August 14, 2013

Help Your Pre-K Child Learn and Read the Alphabet!

Posted by Unknown on 8:07 PM in alphabet, Back to School,

Hello everybody! Here's a video of my 5 year old son reading and learning the alphabet with our book "Crazy Town Upside Down: An Alphabet Book"! We're using both the book and workbook to help him learn/practice the alphabet sounds and letters, so he can be ready for kindergarten! Plus, he really enjoys our book too! :D

August 11, 2013

Writing Lowercase Letters: Up to Down or Down to Up? Does it Matter?

Posted by Unknown on 5:37 PM in alphabet, Back to School, handwriting,

I really thought it would be helpful to share some insights with some moms who might be wondering why their children are writing some of their letters in an opposite direction. Does it matter? Is it something wrong? When I was a teacher, I taught many students who were writing some or all of their letters from bottom to top (also known as vertical reversal). For that reason, I decided to briefly explain what vertical reversal in writing is and things we can do to help our children correct this writing style.

Vertical reversal in writing is usually caused by discrepancies between the child’s eye and hand dominance. For example, a child might be left-eye dominant but right-handed, or vice versa. Since writing requires simultaneous hand-eye coordination, this visual-motor integration discrepancy can cause confusion in the child’s brain during the process of writing. As a result, the child’s brain has to work harder to process the skills needed to write, which can be exhausting.

Vertical reversal can be corrected by using a combination of fine-motor/kinesthetic (finger tracing), visual (teach the child to visualize the letter), auditory (child listens to an adult describe the letter), oral (teach the child to say out loud the actions required to write a letter while writing it), and motor planning skills (teach the child to think about the sequence needed to write a letter).

Helping children remember how to write their letters correctly and associate the sounds they make were primary reasons my husband and I developed an alphabet book called “Crazy Town Upside Down”. When I was teaching my students, I created funny stories to help them remember the letters and was using a combination of these skills (kinesthetic, visual, etc.) to help them practice writing. These strategies really helped them remember how to write the letters, especially the ones they were reversing vertically. When I developed this book, my plan was to help children associate the letters with their stories. In addition, the characters’ actions are also associated with the actions/steps needed to write a letter. For example, the other day I asked my son (he’s 5 years old) how to write the letter “a”. He thought for a second and wrote the letter “a” with his finger in the air. He started correctly, counterclockwise, and then from the top to the bottom. I asked him how he remembered to write the letter “a” and he said, “Alex the acrobat! She does cartwheels around the loop (he made the gesture again with his index finger), gets to the top, and then she does a flip down into the bowl of soup!” In that case, my son used the words in sequence such as “around, “top”, and “down”.

There is nothing wrong with children who write a few of the letters from the bottom up. Sometimes, it’s just how their brains are wired. However, it’s probably a good idea to help them correct this writing style, if only to minimize the level of stress/energy when writing.

Hope this helps all moms who are a little concerned about their little ones writing letters in an opposite direction.

Wish you all the best,

Vanessa