What We’ve Been Reading – Oct. 9, 2010

The Brambly Hedge Series by Jill Barklem

I’ve missed writing these posts!  Summer was just too busy and I took a break from all the memes I normally participate in.  We’ve read so many great books that I almost don’t know where to begin.  

Early in the summer I began reading longer books to M as we ate lunch.  He loves books and his attention span for a good story has always been amazing.  Amazing, as in totally flooring me when he would sit still (this is a boy who never sits still) for a long Dr. Seuss book when he was 11 months old.  There were two of them actually – Are You My Mother? and To Think that I Saw it on Mulberry Street (which is a pretty long book!).  A good book has always been worth sitting for with him, something I’m very thankful for!  It seemed like those months between 1 and 2 1/2 years were nothing more than a succession of him toddling over to me with yet another book in his hand.  :) 

Okay.  Enough bragging. (sorry!)

I want M to begin learning to visualize stories in his mind without needing to see the illustrations, and the Brambly Hedge books by Jill Barklem are perfect for that.  They do have beautiful illustrations, and I lshow them to M after reading the story to him. 

Honestly, some of these books aren’t all that long (although some are), but they are each full of suspense and magic.  I mean “magical” in the sense of a young child’s view of the idea of small mice who live in a little village and have homes like we have, only in miniature; and who have work to do; and who, best of all, go on wonderful adventures. 

The nice thing about these books is that there is almost always a suspenseful moment, and it’s then that I close the book and leave M wanting more.  ;)  We normally take 2 days for each book. 

Hands down, his favorite of the series has been The Secret Staircase.  The two main characters are 2 mouse children – Primrose and Wilfred.  It is midwinter and the village is preparing for its annual winter festival.  As Primrose and Wilfred rehearse a poem they plan to recite, they go searching through the attcs of the Old Oak Palace (the home of Lord Woodmouse), for costumes.  Primrose finds a key, Wilfred finds an old door behind a curtain, and together they find an old staircase leading up into the tip top branches of the oak tree.  The climb the staircase and… you have to read it to your child to see what they find. ;)

This book sparked M’s imagination like no other book has done.  He spent weeks with a little key from a small piggy bank in his pocket.  At random times he’d grab my hand and whisper that he’d found a door.  We’ve gone all through our house, “discovering” old hidden rooms. :)

His other top favorites from this series are The High Hills and Sea Story .  I hope you check these great books out!

For more reviews of children’s books, check out Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns.

Have a beautiful day! :)

 

♥ School ♥ – week 2, part 1

“The mother’s heart is the child’s schoolroom”

– Henry Ward Beecher

So, I’m playing around with what to title my school posts.  I’m looking for something catchy, and I’d like to make reference to the quote above, since I love it and it’s what I try to keep in mind while we are “doing school”: listening with my heart, following my maternal instincts, etc.  However, Mama’s School of Love doesn’t quite sound right, hee hee. ;) Any suggestions?

Wondering why this is just “part 1” of week 2?  Well, we started week 1 out with colds, and ended week 2 with an out-of-town funeral.  My husband’s very sweet uncle, Bud, passed away on Wednesday.  So, between recovering from being sick and then packing and heading out of town on the spur-of-the-moment, only a tiny bit of school was actually done.  I’m going to carry my plans for the week over into another week.  Honestly, I’ve been running behind on everything since my grandmother’s funeral at the beginning of the summer.  Another funeral and all the stuff attached to such an event just makes it harder.  I hope to get back on track next week!

For now, I thought I’d give a quick explanation of how I have M’s shelf activities set up each week.  I bought these last spring, but have not gotten around to posting about them until now.  Here’s how they looked over the summer, for the most part (this was right before M’s birthday, so I had cleaned off a couple of shelves to make room for new toys):

I have been playing a trial and error game with rotating M’s toys on these shelves; I’m not sure it’s working like I envisioned, but I plod on anyway.  Now that we are doing more preschool-ish activities again I’m using the shelves on the right for school activities and the ones on the left continue to hold toys.  

Some things are out permanently (more or less): the music instruments and songbook (shown on the top left in the photo above, but have been relegated to the corner on the floor at this point); M’s ABC collage and trace book; his phonics box (mentioned in this post); and whatever math work we are doing, which is currently bead bars and number cards.  I also have his flannel board tucked in beside the shelf, and all our flannel board sets in the folders on the bottom shelf. The remainder of the shelves hold rotated activities.

I’m trying to rotate a total of 6 to 8 activities every week.  I put out 3 or 4 activities each Monday and 3 or 4 every Thursday.  Each activity stays out for one week, unless it’s something he’s really loved and shows an interest in continuing to do.  Or, if it’s a one time thing – a craft or just a little something fun – then obviously once it’s done, it’s off the shelf.  If I have something to replace it with I will, but if not I just move everything around so the shelf looks full again. :)  Initially I planned to only use the top two shelves for school activities, but I can not put out enough activities for M, as he absolutely loves them, so I decided to use the entire 4 shelves of the one unit.

Recent activities on our shelves

I’m trying to use more attractive baskets and trays for his activities and I do think it helps grab his attention when things are presented in a pleasing way.  I made this cute little “work mat” for him too, for when he’s doing something potentially messy (using markers, etc.).

Most of the activities I set out are related to language or math work we’ve done, or are fine motor skill practice of some sort, for which I get most of my ideas from Montessori practical life activities.  I also try to include one sensory bin or sensory activity per week, although this doesn’t always happen.

The activities on M’s shelves are meant to be semi-independent work.  This means it’s something he knows how to do and can do completely on his own, or it’s something he will bring to me for instruction on how to do it, then complete it on his own.  I have to say I am usually in the room with him doing something and we keep up a running conversation regarding what he’s doing and how he’s doing, with a lot of me jumping in and out of any particular activity as needed.  There are a few activities that totally engross him and it’s then that I say a prayer of thanks and try to think in something more than 20 second intervals. ;)  We also have “together” activities, not on the shelves, which are things that we, well, do together.

I think this all sounds like more work than it actually is.  I actually have fun planning and preparing M’s “work” for him, both shelf activities and our “together” activities.  And I love, love, love spending time with him actually doing them.  I just wish I didn’t need to sleep so that I could have everything perfect, all the time.  But I can’t.  I’m already tired enough. ;)

I’m linking this up to Preschool Corner, and Weekly Wrap-Up.  Go check them out to see what other moms are up to with their kiddos!

Have a beautiful day! :)