Cheerleader Alex

This blog has nothing to do with teaching and everything to do with my new baby, my Camera:0) I am in love with it. These are not special pictures (they are because they are of AP), but now that I have a new camera to play with I thought I would try using Picasa to edit and other fun things with my photos. It is fun, but it takes while to get things done. Is this common or is it because my computer is a fossil at almost 3 years old?
During these particular pictures AP said she was a cheerleader. I asked her where she learned her moves, since they were similar to those of a cheerleader and I have no idea what video we have that has any in it. We also do not have cable. She replied, "The show we saw with Karen". I still didn't know what she was talking about since I didn't remember seeing a show with Karen and finally she found the words she was trying to say. She saw cheerleaders at the Christmas parade. I wasn't curious becasue I mind cheerleaders, I was one, I just didn't know where she learned what they actually did. She pays more attention than I thought she did.

Santa

Yesterday we had the awesome opportunity to go caroling at a nursing home with my MOPS group. Another awesome mom friend, Thanks Heather, helped me get the 5 munchkins there. We sang songs and had the opportunity to see Santa, while my 3 kids M, AP and mainly AR didn't want anything to do with him, G and S were all about "Santa". It was really adorable. AR went by him, but only because she was tempted by the candy cane he held.
To tie into all the excitement, I chose to read books about "Santa" today. First I read the classic The Night Before Christmas, by Clement C. Moore and then I read a new favorite of my 3 kiddos Careful, Santa!, by Julie Sykes. Once we were done reading about Santa I helped the kids decorate paper Santa Hats that are now decorating my windows. I used red construction paper for the hats, helped them glue a cotton ball on the tip, and let them use fun foam Christmas shapes to decorate the rest. They really love the fun foam stickers. They spent a good 15 minutes decorating it. AR takes a long time to get each back off of the stickers. I only have to help S get the backing off and he goes to town sticking them on. Everyone else does it on their own. I love it:0)
I would love to say that everything went smoothly when we went caroling, which for the most part it did. AP just threw in a hitch when she said she had to go pee (we were in the car and moving), but couldn't even wait long enough for me to get her to the garbage can in the car. She ended up going on her pants as I was pulling them down. Thankfully it was not in the car seat, as everyone knows how challenging that can be to clean out, especially in the winter.

Gingerbread

I haven't posted in a long time it seems. With all the snow and the fast approaching holiday season our household has been pretty busy. We have been working on Gingerbread stories and activities. First we read the story Gingerbread baby, by Jan Brett, which is a version of the Gingerbread boy/man. She is one of my favorite children's lit authors. There is an exhibit featuring her at the Oshkosh museum that I get to see with M's class in 2 weeks. I can't wait. We worked on basics with the story. I also had prepared gingerbread fun dough for them to play with. They loved it and spent about 30 minutes playing with it. A bonus for those who love the smell of cinnamon is that even after washing their hands the kids still smell like cinnamon.

Mix 1 c. cinnamon, 1 tsp. ginger, 1 c. applesauce, 1/4 cup school glue.

Another day we read the story The Gingerbread Doll, by Susan Tews. It is a story about a little girl who lived in Wisconsin during the great depression. I thought it was a good story and the kids listened to it. Good lesson about being grateful and loving to for what you have, if presented in that fashion.
I am also going to post things that I intend to do with Gingerbread theme, because I just don't have time to post every day, but think they are fun ideas. I intend to read the following books this week Gingerbread Boy, by Paul Galdone, Gingerbread Friends, by Jan Brett, Maisy Makes Gingerbread, Who's in My Gingerbread House, and The Gingerbreadman, by Jim Aylesworth. There is a poem I am going to read.

Stir a bowl of gingerbread smooth and spicy brown
rollit with a rolling pin
up and up and down
with a cookie cutter
make some little men
put them in the oven
till half past ten

I am going to have the kids decorate a gingerbread man cookie and eat it for snack. I am going to attempt a gingerbread house with grahm crackers, works better for small childrenthen makign real gingerbread houses. You can also use a milk carton and wrap it with brown paper, but I don't have any small milk cartons:0) Sand paper is a great paper to cut gingerbread men out of to decorate, you could just use brown paper. To get older kids more activily involved you could have them make the batch of cookies and/or the gingerbread dough, with five kids and limited time I am not able to, but wish I could.
To add to any of the lessons you could have the kids talk about the similarities and the differences in the different versions of the Gingerbread man. Even young children will be able to do this, especially if you read them in the same sitting. These stories also lend them selves to sequencing. See if your child can remember who the Gingerbread person came across first second, third, etc.