A Royal Masquerade Picnic!

Here are some snippets from Miss A's birthday a while ago (one of those posts I never got around to sending)!  The theme was a "Royal Masquerade Picnic".

The invitations were custom designed by the very talented Andrea at  "Where the Green Grass Grows" - she is wonderful to work with!  

I added the glitter and gold/pink ribbon embellishments.  We included a glittery pink mask for each guest to wear to the picnic (I downloaded the pattern online and cut it out of paper) .  

I made an extra special mask for the birthday girl, of course!  ;)

For entertainment before the picnic lunch, I set up stations for the girls to visit as they chose.  The one above is the "Reading Atrium" with blankets and books.

The"Creativity Garden" was another station and contained items for coloring, pink sparkly playdough and cutters, as well as a place where they could make their own handprint castle (I modeled mine after this one by Posh Little Pixies).  

This was the "Outdoor Ballroom" complete with ribbon wands for each young princess (and a special one for the birthday girl).  We had music playing so the girls could dance and twirl to heart's content.  They each were allowed to take their wand home as a party keepsake.

These are pictures of the picnic spread.  Each girl was given her own picnic basket (also a keepsake) filled with pink and gold embellished picnic food items.  

Side note:  I think I bought the baskets at Dollar Tree.

The cake!  :)  Pink and gold outside with pink and lavender-ish layers inside!  I wasn't so thrilled with some of layer colors I mixed - some ended up looking more gray but oh well.  It tasted good and the birthday girl seemed pleased which is what really counts.  :)

Before they went home, each young lady was given the opportunity to visit the jewels fountain.  I had made pink felt jewelry rolls for each girl which she could then fill with her jewels of choice as a final keepsake from the party.  I had a sign nearby that read:

Thank you for making this day a treasured memory!

Please accept a parting gift of jewels from our precious princess to yours!

Note: jewelry rolls have been provided for the safe transport of your new gems!

For those crafty mommas who want to do something similar but keep it low cost, if I remember correctly, I made the fountain with Dollar Tree candlesticks and plates.  :)

Now...on to plan our Back 2 Homeschool day!  ;)  I've had an idea simmering in my brain for a while now...

CONTEST UPDATE - Finished at #62 - THANK YOU!

Thank you... THANK YOU.....THANK YOU!!!  :)

I'm so blessed to have such great followers, fans, friends, and family who helped me move up the list to #62!!!  YAY!

I think that is pretty wonderful!  :)  I appreciate the encouragement and votes so much!  :)

4Blocks - A Visit to Grandma's House Reveals New Math Manipulative!

One of the perks of having a creative mother with 30+ years of early childhood teaching and consulting experience is that an afternoon at grandma and grandpa's house is a recipe for FUN!  :)

Case in point - 4Blocks.  My kids  L-O-V-E pattern blocks - my youngest being especially intrigued by them at this early point in his life.  Well, one day we walked into grandma's house and found a pile of foam shapes and puzzle forms on the dining room table.  

Need I say more? The kids WENT TO TOWN with these!  

Grandma had about FIFTY pages of ideas, patterns, and puzzles so the kids had plenty to keep them entertained.  Did I mention the pools of higher level thinking in which their little minds were submerged?  Yep, I definitely consider it a plus when kids have fun AND exercise the brain.  :)

Named 4Blocks because each shape is made up of exactly four blocks, these could be considered a more mature cousin to pattern blocks (but one who can still get down on the floor with the littles).  We quickly found that there was something challenging and fun for both my tiny tot up to my now-second-grader.   

Mr. J could mix and match abstract patterns to his heart's content while Miss A could amuse herself with the more complex puzzles which required some heavy duty problem solving skills!

I had my camera with me and started snapping pictures of the happy occasion AND encouraged my mom to get herself a Teacher's Notebook account or TPT account and offer these for sale.

And oh HAPPY DAY - she opened up a store and posted them today!  Woo-hoo! :)  Now you can purchase the entire packet of puzzles and shape patterns so you can make your own set of 4Blocks!

Here's the link to her store Hands, Heads, & Hearts.

NOTE that the downloadable packet does NOT come with foam blocks - you will need to make your own set which allows you the freedom to choose your own colors and medium or create a set exactly the same as hers.  (Some of the patterns are in color so if you plan on using those, you will need to make blocks in the same colors).

I'm thinking it would be pretty neat to make a set out of patterned holiday papers to add to centers (and how cool would it be to come up with some textured ones made of sandpaper or light corrugated cardboard!).  But why stop there?  These could also be used in small groups of students or siblings as a timed game to see who can complete their shape puzzle first OR even be set out as a hands-on alternative to busy work when kids are done with an assignment.  

Whether you homeschool, are a classroom teacher, or your kids just happen to love pattern blocks - you will definitely want to take a look at these!

Don't just take my word for it, see below for what my mom has to say about the ways in which these can be used.  :)  And when you are done - race over to her store and snap up a packet!  

At 67 pages (yes, I did say 67) for only $3.00 - that is an amazing bargain (note - she may be raising the price in the future so I'd suggest buying the packet now)!!!

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BON VOYAGE, FIRST GRADE!!!

We waved "bon voyage" this week to our school year.  Sniffle, sniffle.  Actually - I was experiencing some major burn-out, so I was VERY happy to close that last book.  :) 

For our final couple of weeks of first grade, I decided to go with a bon voyage cruise theme for some ways to review a bit of what we learned this year.  

It is important to keep your ship in tip top shape, right?  Here is a "swab the deck" activity I had Miss A work on.  

I wrote several of her spelling words on a sheet protector using a WET erase marker.  It was her job to clean up the words that were misspelled (the messes) by mopping them off the deck using a paintbrush (mop) and bucket of water (little cup with water in it). 

The nice thing is that this activity can be used over and over - just plug in sight words, spelling words, math facts, etc.

Look out the portholes and see the flying fish!  Miss A matched the fish answer to the math sentence porthole.  I used highlighter tape so it could be easily removed, and I could re-use the portholes for different math facts or another activity later on.

This is a picture of Miss A donning a lei for the bon voyage party aboard the ship.  She colored in her face and clothes and I placed BLANK highlighter tape around the neckline where a lei would belong.  

I then gave Miss A a spelling review test of some of her sight and spelling words.  She had to write the words on the highlighter tape as I gave them to her.  If she wrote the word correctly, we removed the tape and she glued a flower to that spot.  If she did NOT write the word correctly, the tape stayed there.  

The following day, we would try the word again until she completed the entire lei.   :)

This was an art activity Miss A completed to go along with our sailing theme.  I could not find a poem that fit with our theme and the end of first grade, so I just made up my own.  Download it for FREE here.

Of course, we spent some time working on a first grade memory book as well.  Mommies like to keep such things!  

(If you are interested in purchasing a first grade memory book,  mine is available for sale in my TPT store here.)

PLEASE NOTE THAT ALL POEMS AND PAGES YOU SEE ABOVE ARE CREATED BY ME AND MAY NOT BE USED, COPIED, OR CHANGED IN ANY WAY WITHOUT MY PERMISSION (in other words, if you like it - please buy it instead of trying to copy it.  It isn't expensive, and I have put a lot of time and effort into it).

In addition to our "cruise" duties, we decided have an end of the year party aboard our "ship" and invited family.  I made some boarding passes and sent them out.

Miss A worked on a sign for our front door.  She wanted to make the words look like clouds but quickly realized that might take quite a while and not fit as well.  Instead, we opted to just make the first letter of each word a cloud letter and then write the rest of the letters with a marker.

When the guests arrived, they were greeted by our little ship's captain and sent to the deck where they could sign the "ship's log".  For this area, we had the guests complete the fingerprint flower poem and autograph/well wishes page from her memory book.  

The guests then donned leis and headed to the ship's galley for refreshments.  We even had entertainment (compliments of the ship's captain once more) AND an end of the year slideshow!

Prior to people's arrival, I had set up one wall that was the "bow" of the ship where the portholes looked out on the work Miss A had done at the beginning of the year.  An opposite wall contained the "stern" or "end of the year" work in portholes so guests could marvel at the amazing progress in one year's time.

If you've never done this - try it next year!  It is SOOO neat (at least it is for me) for both the kids and adults to be able to compare work from the beginning of the year to what has been accomplished by the school year's end!

Speaking of END - did I mention it is the END of our school year (insert giddiness)?!?  If course I did but it is definitely worth repeating!  Woo hoo!  And now I guess it is time for me to end this post (I know, I know - a bit over the top.  Just point me in the direction of some dark chocolate to make it stop).

For those wondering, I might be posting some things in the summer that did not make it into the blog during the year.   And just a heads up, if your kids like pattern blocks (or still do), make sure you check out the post about 4Blocks - coming soon!  :)

UPDATE:  Click here for a link to the 4Blocks post.

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Lesson Theme: Emergency 9-1-1

This past week (and a little of the week before), we spent some time discussing what to do in an emergency and how to dial 9-1-1.

A lesson in good citizenship?  You bet!!!  You are training someone how to help others (or themselves) in a real emergency!  If you like some of the activities we did below - you should be able to find them in the (very) mini unit I quickly came up with to go along with our theme.  The unit is available for FREE in my TPT store here.  :)

We started by watching a free online video for kids  available at this address.  We then reviewed information from the video and discussed it.  

I made up some scenarios printed on paper and we went over them together.  Miss A had to decide whether the situations were real emergencies or not.  If it was a real emergency, she would write 9-1-1 next to it (I originally thought it would be fun to use number stamps, but we didn't have any so Miss A just wrote the numbers instead).

I was also curious to see what she might consider an emergency - how accurately she was grasping this information - so I made a 9-1-1 web chart of sorts.  I wrote the "9 1 1" at the center with arrows pointing outwards and then asked her to draw pictures of emergencies which would require her to dial 9-1-1.

Curious what she thought of?  Of course you are!  ;)  She drew a house on fire, a car accident, an unconscious adult, and a dog attacking someone.

We also discussed why we should NOT dial 9-1-1 unless there is a real emergency.  I emphasized how the emergency teams might be on the way to a jokester's house when someone else REALLY needed their help and wasn't getting it.  (You might emphasize how the child or children would feel if they were the ones urgently needing help).

To go along with this part of being a responsible citizen, I made up a little poem we read together and then Miss A illustrated a picture of why it is important to only dial 9-1-1 in an emergency.  The man in stripes is a fireman (if I remember correctly) at a jokester's door when someone in a house far away is REALLY needing help.

Something that I thought of during this unit is how many young children might be unfamiliar with phones other than cell or cordless phones.  The video we watched emphasized the many kinds of phones which could be used to dial 9-1-1 if you were in your home OR away from it.

I wanted Miss A to be prepared by knowing what different telephones look like so she could spot one in an emergency and not be shy about using it.  For this reason, we did a "telephone" scavenger hunt of sorts online.  We looked up photographs of different phones the video had mentioned and Miss A chose some for me to print.  She then cut them out and glued them to a paper to create a phone collage.

Once we had learned about emergencies and different types of phones, it was time to practice!  I drew a map on a large piece of paper, and we created an accident on the map using toy cars (we did this more than once in different areas on the map).  

Miss A then flew into action!  She pretended to dial 9-1-1 on a (disconnected) real phone and answered the questions from the 9-1-1 operator (me).

One of the main goals of this activity was to help Miss A learn to describe where an emergency had occurred if at an unfamiliar address.  She practiced looking for street signs, landmarks, stores, etc. on the map to help the operator know just where to send the emergency vehicles.  :)  

If you do this at home, make sure you take some time to actually pretend at a real intersection or park.  It is one thing to look at things on a fun map, but can be a completely different experience when standing out on a real street corner.  

And for those emergencies at home?  Well, Miss A has been learning her address, but I know how quickly one can forget things in a panic, so I decided to make some little reminders we could post by the phones in the house.  

Miss A helped me fill in the "9 1 1" part, and I filled in our address.  I also added our home phone number underneath so Miss A could see it and confirm the number if asked to do so by the emergency operator.

I made sure Miss A went with me to post the slips by the phones so I could make sure she knew where they were.  I also wanted to make sure they were at her eye level or in an area where she could still easily read the information if she needed to.  

Hopefully, as a child, Miss A will never be called upon to use what she has learned in this unit.  However, I feel better knowing she is now much more prepared for an emergency situation should one ever arise!  :)

First Lost Tooth!

STOP THE PRESSES!!!

Miss A just lost her first tooth!  :)

She was SOOO excited and wanted to have a party to celebrate.  I agreed we must mark the occasion somehow!  Sooo...

I made her a tooth crown from a sentence strip (I folded and folded and then cut the folds into a tooth shape, opened it up, and voila - tooth crown!  Just think of a connected string of paper dolls.).  Then she colored one tooth black to symbolize the missing tooth.

We also had a favorite dinner, and despite it not being our dessert night of the week, we made tooth fairy cupcakes to have for dessert (hey, you only lose your first baby tooth once, right?).

How does one make such cupcakes?  Easy - just add 1 cup or less of baby teeth (white chocolate chips), 1 cup or less of adult teeth (mini marshmallows), and 1/4 cup of tooth fairy dust (sprinkles) to your cupcake batter...

and mix, mix, mix to achieve cupcakes any tooth fairy would be thrilled to eat (not to mention a little girl who has just lost her first tooth)!

I frosted the cupcakes with an easy icing and tried to make it look like little teeth.  I added one chocolate chip to each cupcake to symbolize the missing tooth.

With dinner over and Miss A finally in bed and asleep, the moment of truth had come.  I slipped into her room, reached under her pillow, and pulled out the envelope containing her tooth and this note...

How hilarious and adorable is that?!  

I wrote her a response in very little handwriting (saw some other moms' posts/ideas who had made little fairy notes and left them behind, and I decided to do the same).  In the note, I praised her lovely tooth, understanding why she did not want to part with it.  

I also basically told her I owed her mother (me) a favor and would leave the tooth under her (my) pillow as a gift to repay the debt.  Thus, the tooth fairy would have paid her debt, I would be happy because I had been given my daughter's first baby tooth to keep for my memory box, and Miss A would be happy knowing her tooth would still be close by AND she would still receive the money for her tooth.  

Now that is what I call a win-win-win situation.  ;)

Side note for those who might be concerned:  Miss A knows the tooth fairy is just pretend but we LOOOVE to pretend at our house!   :)

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