Start Somewhere

Stop Waiting for Perfect

Blogging is one (but certainly not the only) area of my life that I put off getting started because I want to be sure I do it “just right.” The scrapbook stalled several years ago… the recipe binder needing organizing… the child’s closet needing cleaning… the craft… the repair… the garden… you get the picture. Fear of mistakes is a paralyzing feeling for adults and children alike, but the truth is, there are few situations that can’t be overcome by just getting started. Errors are rarely earthshattering and can often be creatively converted to masterpieces, but they’re hard on the ego.

A Gentle Push

Sometimes what we need is someone we trust to give us a gentle push (or a swift kick) to get us going. Knowing someone believes in you helps when you’re having trouble believing in yourself. Last week I was helping in B’s kindergarten class. The classroom next door had an incubator of chicken eggs just hatching and I got to take over a few students at a time to see the chicks. When they returned to the classroom, the teacher asked them to draw what they saw. They draw people and animals and objects every day on their reading papers, but for some reason, drawing the chicks they just saw was mighty intimidating. I walked between the tables to choruses of “I don’t know how to draw a chick!” and “Can you help me?” While my first instinct was to respond with, “Just try,” I knew that wasn’t going to get them past the artistic roadblock of trying to accurately capture a newborn chick in pencil and crayon. So I appealed to their sense of humor and reminded them that they did possess some expertise:

“Well, let’s see – chicks have a body and a head, and six legs, right?” [grumpy “no”s]“Oh no? Well I know they have long tails.” [annoyed “no”s with a few giggles]“And they also have big sharp teeth I think.” [exasperated “no”s and eye rolling]

Not baby chick day art, but art,
nonetheless.

Once they had to tell me what the chicks looked like (wings, beaks, feet, eyes) drawing them wasn’t such an enormous task. Were the drawings perfect portrayals of hours-old chicks? Not really. But they were sure adorable.

Start Simple

In Peter Reynolds’ The Dot, young Vashti experiences the same art paralysis. She doesn’t know how to begin. Her encouraging teacher advises her to make any mark on the paper. In a characteristically immature move typical of an uncertain artist of any age, she jabs angrily at the paper. Rather than responding with frustration, the teacher directs her to sign her mark and proceeds to frame and display it. Inspired by her teacher’s demonstrative show of confidence, Vashti creates a whole gallery of very creative dots that become part of a school show. The teacher’s lesson is not lost on Vashti – she repeats it to a peer who is awestruck at the show. This book is a lovely story to share with your own child when he or she is feeling fearful of a new undertaking, to read for yourself when you’re stuck before you’ve started, or to give as a gift to a special teacher or inspiring person in your life. We’ll be sharing it with B’s kindergarten teacher for Teacher Appreciation Week. 

Appropriate for preschoolers, primary grades, everyone!

By the way - Teacher Appreciation Week happens to coincide with Children's Book Week this year - hoping to share lots more about the books we're enjoying as the week goes on, but if I don't get the posts up, it's because I'm "perfecting" teacher appreciation gifts - check out the LittleSproutBooks Facebook Page.

Linking up with a massive Children's Book Week Linky - hosted by Reading Confetti, among others (Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas, Smiling Like Sunshine, Carrots Are Orange, Teach Preschool, and Toddler Approved)

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A Jump Start…

…And Back Behind the Wheel

I’m back! When I realized I the other day that it was early December last time I posted, I was shocked! And then again, I wasn’t. Just before the holidays, I shared my desire to release the overwhelmedfeelings that result from trying to do EVERYTHING and instead focus on doing SOME THINGS to satisfaction. I gave myself permission to not feel guilty about not sticking to a posting schedule. I successfully let go of the guilt, but I missed the creative outlet, the feeling of accomplishment every time I posted something I was proud of, and especially the interaction and inspiration of the blog community I’ve become a part of. I also discovered that while I didn’t want to commit to unrewarding activities just because I “should,” the commitment of a schedule is good for me, blogging or otherwise. I knew I wanted to get back to my blog, but without a schedule it kept becoming another thing “I’ll do tomorrow.”

Inspiration by Mail

In a serendipitous session of late night blog-browsing, I came across Amanda’s idea at The Educator’s Spin on It for an exchange of book and activity packs. Besides being a fabulous and fun idea, it was just the thing to put me back on a schedule and get me back in the bloggy-pool. So if you’ve read this far, thanks for the personal indulgence and now on to the good stuff:

What We Got

Our package came from Robyn at Pen Pals and PictureBooks. She sent us a copy of Lois Ehlert’s Fish Eyes. It’s an eye-catching counting book that lends itself to artistic expression as well as a variety of language and math skills. 

The package also included glue, paintbrushes, tubes of glitter, and construction paper fish. Her note pointed us to a recent post that featured her own experience with Fish Eyes. Like all Ehlert books, the colors and patterns are vivid, and while they don’t sparkle, glitter seems only appropriate in an attempt to capture the bright illustrations. The boys went to town with their glue “paint.” B experimented with patterns and stripes, while T favored abstract dots. I couldn’t help but decorate one myself… glitter is hard to resist! 

Fish Eyes provides a visually stimulating counting practice, but it doesn’t stop there. Each fish in the counted group has a cut-out circle for an eye, through which the color of the next page is visible. Because each number group is featured on a two-page spread, some of the cut-outs are on each side. We used counted the holes on each side and then practiced addition facts to determine the number of the total group (ie. 3 holes on the right plus 4 holes on the left equals 7 fish eyes). Ehlert also makes use of many vivid verbs to describe the number groups, offering opportunities for vocabulary development. The rhyming text calls upon the reader to consider what he might wish for. (Would he be a fish?) B decided it would be fun to be a fish as long as he knew he could turn back into a person. We very much enjoyed both the story and the art, and we are grateful to both Robyn for sending it and Amanda for the organization and jump-start!

**Don’t know if it was coincidence or careful planning on Amanda’s part, but our package went to the other half of Pen Pals, Whitney. We sent her a copy of The Alphabet Tree (the same one B gifted to his kindergartenteacher) along with some letter stamps and bug building supplies. Check out theadorable trees she created!

Appropriate for toddlers, preschoolers, primary grades.

[steering wheel photo credit kenski1970 on flickr]

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Feed Me Books Friday: Activities for Observing the Seasons

Even When Spring is Being Stubborn
I’ve lived in the same city for 25 years, and we’ve never had clearly defined seasons. Much as I’d like to think a date on the calendar means it’s time to bring out the spring wardrobe, I know better. Doesn’t mean I’m not disappointed that the first week of spring has been gloomy, rainy, and colder than the several weeks prior that were supposedly winter! So how do I explain to B that spring is more than just a flower on the calendar square?

Look Around!

Though we may not live where crocus in the melting snow signal spring’s arrival, or red and orange leaves blanket the ground in the fall, we can still find outdoor indicators of the seasons if we look closely. We’ve been noticing buds appearing on the trees during our neighborhood walks, and B has compared color, shape, and even scent! He noticed late last week that the tree in our front yard is now full enough of buds and tiny leaves that he can hide behind it again without being spotted through the branches. The urn of lilies I received from the boys for Mother’s Day last year spent the winter on the patio, and with no encouragement what-so-ever from me it is full of lush new green growth. Choosing a particular tree, bush, or field to observe as the seasons change is an excellent way to help children become aware of weather, life cycles, and the passage of time.

• Join your scientific observation with scientific expression by drawing or painting the object of your attention several times a year.
  
• Develop language and vocabulary skills by drafting a list of descriptive terms for the object, then comparing and contrasting the descriptors that apply during different seasons. (The tree may always be tall, but it is only sometimes full or fragrant.)
  
• Photograph the object you are observing each month on the same date, and create a time-line of seasonal changes. Older children (and more organized parents) might even photograph once a week to observe more minute changes. A collection of such photographs would make an attractive calendar display or computer screensaver.
  
• Ask an imaginative child to consider how the object feels about the season and weather changes. Use as a writing prompt for older children or take dictation.

Just Ask!

If you’re not sure where to start with your hunt for spring, pick up a copy of Where Is Spring? by Yang-Huan. Orginally a poem written in Chinese, Yang-Huan lyrically describes the sights, sounds, and feelings of the arrival of spring. Illustrations by H.Y. Huang and A. Yang add to the airy and fresh feeling of the book. Each page highlights different spring details, and on several pages the text becomes part of the illustration as it flows down river, meanders through a field, or blows on the wind. The simple storyline begins with a boy looking for spring, and he relies on his kite overhead to “ask around,” and assist with the search. Each response offers a different poetic personification of spring, such as “mopping the sky bright and blue,” “putting new clothes on the fields,” and “smiling on the faces of flowers.” The language and the pictures are just beautiful and you’ll enjoy seeing spring arrive in the pages of this book even if it hasn’t arrived at your house yet.


Appropriate for: toddlers, preschoolers, primary grades.


What signs have you seen of changing seasons? Are you recording them in some way?








Look Around

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Feed Me Books Friday: Exploring Art

Look What I Found!

The book I want to share this week is one of those lucky library finds that found its way off the shelf and into our favorite books pile. It’s no secret that hiding games and seek and find books are popular around here. I feel like the winner after finding this treasure on the library shelf.


Lots to Discover

Both B and I are enjoying I Spy a Lion: Animals in Art, by Lucy Micklethwait. As you might guess from the title, readers are challenged to find animals in the illustrations of the book. What you might not guess is that the art in question is composed of full-color reproductions of famous works ranging from classical to modern and including artists from Titian to Peter Blume. On the facing page of each reproduction, the reader is challenged in the classic game style, “I spy with my little eye…” Some of the animals are prominent features, even the subjects, of the artwork; others are more challenging and obscure details.


More than Fun and Games

Besides being thoroughly entertaining, I Spy a Lion, along with others in Micklethwait’s series, exposes children to great works of art and engages them in viewing it in a critical way. The art is not presented as spectacular in any way other than disguising the subjects of the game. But the act of searching for each animal and discussing the content of each work exposes children to not only viewing but experiencing these masterpieces. Once we found the animals identified in the text, we scanned the art for other objects to “Spy” and continued the game. Other books in the series include Shapes in Art, Colors in Art, Numbers in Art, An Alphabet in Art, and Transportation in Art. Sharing these books with your child is a cognitive double-dip: exposure to fantastic art and practice with developmentally appropriate themes and vocabulary. We’ll be requesting the rest of the series from our library for sure, and likely picking them up to add to our personal collection as well.
Appropriate for toddlers, preschoolers, primary grades, everyone!


Are masterpieces lost on the toddler set, or are they worth the effort to share? Don’t forget to link up your own recommendations below!


 

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