It's Earth Day! Yay! So in celebration, I wanted to point you toward some blogs that can help you make every day Earth Day. These blogs will give you lots of info about not only making the earth a healthier place, but also will give you info about making your family healthier. They are great resources that I go to all the time. Take some time to check them out. You'll probably find yourself returning!
Nature Moms Blog - Check out the giveaway going on right now!
Green Baby Guide
Green and Clean Mom
Crunchy Domestic Goddess - Check out the giveaway going on here too!
These are a few favorites. And you'll be able to find more as you begin exploring these few I've listed. They often have giveaway drawings for great products for your home and family. I entered a few this week! Let me know what you think of these sites!
... And I'll try to return to some more literary posts here soon!
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Friday, April 18, 2008
Recycle Your Take-Home Crafts and Activities
I'm not even going to bother starting this post off with another apology. I guess you can just expect my posts to be a bit fewer and farther between. Especially as my due date creeps closer and closer.
Continuing with our Earth Day theme we've got going, I want to encourage you to be recycling your child's crafts that they bring home. whether it's a Literacy Launchpad activity or a project from school. It's obvious that you can't keep everything your child brings home, no matter how much you want to. If there's a particular project they made that you want to remember, take a photo of it, then toss the project itself into your recycling bin (you do have a recycling bin, right?).
I've been trying to make an effort to reduce the amount of non-recyclable materials I use in our Literacy Launchpad activities. You'll notice that the "Three Billy Goats Gruff" magnets from this week were sent home in a paper pocket instead of a plastic baggie. So once those magnets make it safely onto your fridge, make sure you recycle that paper pocket.
Continuing with our Earth Day theme we've got going, I want to encourage you to be recycling your child's crafts that they bring home. whether it's a Literacy Launchpad activity or a project from school. It's obvious that you can't keep everything your child brings home, no matter how much you want to. If there's a particular project they made that you want to remember, take a photo of it, then toss the project itself into your recycling bin (you do have a recycling bin, right?).
I've been trying to make an effort to reduce the amount of non-recyclable materials I use in our Literacy Launchpad activities. You'll notice that the "Three Billy Goats Gruff" magnets from this week were sent home in a paper pocket instead of a plastic baggie. So once those magnets make it safely onto your fridge, make sure you recycle that paper pocket.
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Recycled Crafts
This is my first blog posting in celebration of Earth Day on April 22nd!
This blog post was inspired by some poking around I was doing on the internet today. See, I'm in need of some coasters for my living room, and I know there are many ways to make coasters out of things I probably already have, rather than going and buying coasters. (I'm all about NOT buying things NEW!) So I was searching for some coaster-making ideas when I stumbled onto some great crafting websites!
I figure, if you're visiting this blog, it's probably because you either have children, or work with children. Either way, I'm sure you could use some resources for cool craft ideas to do with your kiddos from time to time. So listed below are some places to visit for how-to instructions on making craft projects out of recycled materials. There are literally hundreds of ideas among these sites collectively. So get creative, and find a way to tie a recycled craft project in with a fun story! With this many ideas, it shouldn't be tough!
I wish I could incorporate more of these ideas into my Literacy Launchpad activities, but the volume of supplies I usually need often makes using recycled materials challenging. Hmm... I probably just need to be more resourceful. I'm open to suggestions if you've got 'em!
Make-stuff.com
Eco-Artware
All Free Crafts
Makingfriends.com
Kaboose
There are a few to get you started. You'll find tons more if you decide to start surfing around! Let me know if you find an especially cool idea, or if you give any of these ideas a try!
This blog post was inspired by some poking around I was doing on the internet today. See, I'm in need of some coasters for my living room, and I know there are many ways to make coasters out of things I probably already have, rather than going and buying coasters. (I'm all about NOT buying things NEW!) So I was searching for some coaster-making ideas when I stumbled onto some great crafting websites!
I figure, if you're visiting this blog, it's probably because you either have children, or work with children. Either way, I'm sure you could use some resources for cool craft ideas to do with your kiddos from time to time. So listed below are some places to visit for how-to instructions on making craft projects out of recycled materials. There are literally hundreds of ideas among these sites collectively. So get creative, and find a way to tie a recycled craft project in with a fun story! With this many ideas, it shouldn't be tough!
I wish I could incorporate more of these ideas into my Literacy Launchpad activities, but the volume of supplies I usually need often makes using recycled materials challenging. Hmm... I probably just need to be more resourceful. I'm open to suggestions if you've got 'em!
Make-stuff.com
Eco-Artware
All Free Crafts
Makingfriends.com
Kaboose
There are a few to get you started. You'll find tons more if you decide to start surfing around! Let me know if you find an especially cool idea, or if you give any of these ideas a try!
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Miss Me?
Wow! I haven't been doing too well lately with posting on a weekly basis lately, have I? There's been so much going on lately. Most of what has kept me from posting lately is that I've been sick. I'm hoping that I'm finally getting over it (fingers crossed). So I apologize for being gone for so long.
Our field trip was cancelled, and as of right now, I don't know a good date to reschedule it for. I'll keep you posted.
April 22nd is Earth Day! Woohoo! I'll be trying to post some green tips throughout the month. So stay tuned for that.
That's it for now. Just wanted to let you all know that I'm still alive! :-) And I'll be back soon with a real post!
Our field trip was cancelled, and as of right now, I don't know a good date to reschedule it for. I'll keep you posted.
April 22nd is Earth Day! Woohoo! I'll be trying to post some green tips throughout the month. So stay tuned for that.
That's it for now. Just wanted to let you all know that I'm still alive! :-) And I'll be back soon with a real post!
Monday, March 24, 2008
Field Trip Cancelled!
There was a Literacy Launchpad field trip planned for this Saturday (the 29th) at the Nashville Public Library, but it has been cancelled due to a personal family issue. I'm very sorry! Hopefully I will be able to work out another field trip for us before the end of the year. With the way things have been going lately though, I make no promises! Again, I'm very sorry. Thanks for being so understanding!
Monday, March 17, 2008
Improvising
Ever leave your house for work and have that nagging feeling that you've forgotten something? I get that feeling almost everyday, and I'm always forced to go through a mental checklist of everything I'll need for the day before I walk out the door. When I left the house today though, I had a stronger-than-usual nagging feeling that I didn't have everything I needed. I had done my mental checklist though, and so I ignored the feeling. When I got to my school this morning, nothing seemed awry. I began my lesson confidently with my first group of students. Then I got about halfway through today's lesson, and reached into my big bag to get out my supplies for our toilet paper bunny craft... That's when I realized that I had forgotten to bring my toilet paper rolls!!! I had put them in separate bag, and didn't put the bag in my car! Panic immediately set in. I now had no project for my kiddos to make, and they were all waiting... starring at me with their cute little faces and asking, "Can we make bunnies like in the story?" Think, think, think I was telling myself. And that's when I decided I could improvise.
The original plan was to glue the bunny parts onto a toilet paper roll. Then I had popsicle sticks that I would help them stick through the bottom of the toilet paper rolls so they could make their bunnies hop around and say "Muncha! Muncha! Muncha!" like in our story! But I quickly realized that I could let them glue all the bunny parts onto the popsicle sticks themselves, and they would still be able to make them hop around. It worked! The kids loved them! And they turned out cute... not as cute as I would have liked, but cute enough!
So we had bunnies on sticks hopping around, pretending to climb over fences, under walls, and through water to get to Mr. McGreeley's veggie garden (I was Mr. McGreeley in the puppet play). The lesson lost none of it's purpose or charm through my improvisation. Hooray!
There was only one other time I have ever forgotten something I needed for a lesson, and it was the BOOK (this was a couple years ago)! There was no way of improvising my way around that one! Thank goodness that wasn't the case today!
P.S. Check out our book list in the side bar for more info about this week's story: Muncha! Muncha! Muncha! by Candace Fleming.
The original plan was to glue the bunny parts onto a toilet paper roll. Then I had popsicle sticks that I would help them stick through the bottom of the toilet paper rolls so they could make their bunnies hop around and say "Muncha! Muncha! Muncha!" like in our story! But I quickly realized that I could let them glue all the bunny parts onto the popsicle sticks themselves, and they would still be able to make them hop around. It worked! The kids loved them! And they turned out cute... not as cute as I would have liked, but cute enough!
So we had bunnies on sticks hopping around, pretending to climb over fences, under walls, and through water to get to Mr. McGreeley's veggie garden (I was Mr. McGreeley in the puppet play). The lesson lost none of it's purpose or charm through my improvisation. Hooray!
There was only one other time I have ever forgotten something I needed for a lesson, and it was the BOOK (this was a couple years ago)! There was no way of improvising my way around that one! Thank goodness that wasn't the case today!
P.S. Check out our book list in the side bar for more info about this week's story: Muncha! Muncha! Muncha! by Candace Fleming.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Green Childcare
I am somewhat of an environmental enthusiast, and so when I saw an article in Kiwi magazine about this eco-friendly childcare center, I was really excited! It would be interesting to know specific details about what earth friendly choices their making, but even regardless of the specifics, it's a step in the right direction, right? I would love to see more of this going on!!
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